With a wiry, compact frame and unruly mop of hair that rivals Sideshow Bob, Hot Hot Heat frontman Steve Bays is hard to miss. Perhaps even more eye-catching is his Roland Fantom, positioned front and center on the Hot Hot Heat stage. When he’s not flailing behind his silver synth, Steve is unassuming, but once he hits his mark, the personality and flavor of Steve Bays is so infectious that when watching him, you believe him to be twice his true size.

The latest sensation from our friends to the north packs a solid punch and blasts of keyboard genius. Despite the acoustical challenges of the Southern California’s Majestic Ventura Theatre — which boasts three stories of solid concrete walls behind its stage — Hot Hot Heat triumphed with their endlessly catchy hooks and innate musicality. For most of the night Steve bounced around behind his Roland Fantom-S6 and charged up the 1,000+ fans into a friendly frenzy of good times.

With simple backdrops and the occasional smoke machine, the show was short of flash but long on fun. You simply can’t stand still listening to this band.

Here’s what Steve told us about his favorite sidekick, the Fantom.

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When did you start on the Fantom?

I got the Fantom right when it came out. Originally I was using a Roland Juno-6 and an SH-09, which kind of gave that West Coast Snoop Dogg kind of sound. I also had a Rhodes and a Roland digital piano at the time, with weighted keys.

But it was such a pain to carry all of those keyboards around, so eventually I tried out two different keyboards, and then ended up with the Roland Fantom — mainly because the two hardest patches to put together are the piano ones. It’s really hard to get a good piano sound. And it’s hard to get a good organ sound. With the Fantom, the fact that you could add effects to it was all I needed; I often use the low-fi compression effect and the rotary/Leslie simulator patch.

You didn’t start out as a keyboardist?

I played everything. Drums were my main thing. Dustin was usually on bass and then Paul was usually the guitar player. But then Paul got a Roland Juno-6 from his Dad’s friend. No one else knew how to play it, and I had played classical piano and jazz for ten years. Up until then, I never thought of combining two worlds. I sort of had a double life where on the side I would be playing these jazz concerts with older musicians in their 40s and stuff. But then I was also always in these punk bands too. And now I am. . . .

You’ve stuck with the Fantom. Why is that?

The best part of the Fantom is… if you know what you want to hear, you can find it and get it. As I learn more and as I become more of a fan of music and a bigger fan of producing, the easier it becomes for me to manipulate patches. I can sculpt the patches to sound how I want them to sound. So I might listen to a record by The Band and then I go to the Fantom and I can get a Pink patch, which is emulating The Band with Bob Dylan. Or we might write a song that randomly sounds like Oingo Boingo or something and there will be a patch on there that emulates that sound. You’re not really limited by the technology. You’re limited by your imagination, which is inspiring.

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For more, visit the band online at www.hothotheat.com.