Midwestern band MOTEL BREAKFAST have two releases under their belts, a debut album and a follow-up EP, both released within 2020! But that won't stop them from writing and having all new tracks for future content as well! The band talks about a whole lot more from the chat below!
1. Please tell us about the history of your band and its members.
Mick and I started playing together as a more folk-oriented two-piece in 2014 when we were both finishing high school. We met Jesse and Conor within the next year, and by the end of 2016 we got together to form as a 4-piece band. We named ourselves "Motel Breakfast" in Fall 2017 and released our debut EP that December. Drue officially joined us in mid-2018 after a few months of playing live with us, and since then the 5 of us have been working together to bring the best sounds out of ourselves and our songs.
2. What’s the origin of the band’s name?
We wanted a name that sounded cool but didn't take itself too seriously. And we wanted it to be easily searchable on the internet. After some months of tossing ideas around, "Motel Breakfast" came out as the winner.
3. Where is the band based out of and what is your music scene like there? Are there any local bands you could recommend?
We consider the band to be "local" to all three cities our members call home: Chicago, Milwaukee, and Madison. Since Motel Breakfast formed we've had members split between these cities, and we've spent a lot of time being members of each local scene. Each city has different flares; the Wisconsin cities can be fun because of how much smaller and more intimate the scenes are. Chicago has a lot more of an expansive music scene, but it still feels surprisingly intimate and welcome; a big city with a small scene feeling. Some great bands to check out from Wisconsin are Sleepy Gaucho (he actually produced the album we put out in February), Dogbad, and Luke McGovern. In Chicago we have a lot of friends from the southside scene where we grew up who are some of our favorite bands and people: The Dead Bolts, Uncle Sexy & the Nephews, Pat Egan & The Heavy Hearts, South City Revival, Railway Gamblers, Flying J & The Dripsters...just to name a few. Many of those bands were actually part of a music festival we put on in the Fall of 2019 with The Dead Bolts!
4. How would you describe your style?
Someone called us "speakeasy Americana" one time. Let's go with that.
5. What have you released so far and what can someone expect from your works?
Well we've put out two projects in 2020: our debut album ("Motel Breakfast", released in February) and a follow-up EP ("Left on Deming", released in October). Those are the best places to start - those 17 songs capture the current state of the band the best. If you have interest in hearing where we've come from, you can check out our debut EP "Weekends & Holidays" and the singles "Faceless / You & Me", but those are not as representative of who we are as a unit. Those first 2 releases were important for learning about making music and how to create with each other, but it didn't feel like we had our artistic direction figured out until we recorded the album late last year.
6. Do you have any new music in the works?
Oh yea. We're sitting on a lot of unreleased songs and we're super excited about what our future music is shaping up to be. But we don't have any concrete plans for when or how those will be released just yet. It's mostly in the demo phase.
7. How about playing shows and touring, have anything planned out?
Unfortunately no. We wish we could. As soon as the pandemic is over and live music returns, we will be booking lots of shows to make up for lost time.
8. What plans do you have for the future as a band?
It's tough to say because the pandemic has really thrown a wrench into our ability to make plans and work towards them. It's very hard to be an independent rock band working on your future when you can't play live shows. So the big plans are to keep writing and demoing music so that we can return to the stage with our best work yet.
9. Where can we listen to your band and where can we buy your stuff?
You can stream Motel Breakfast everywhere that music is available digitally. Spotify, Apple Music, Soundcloud, you name it and we're on it. If you're interested in buying some physical music or merch, check out our bandcamp page (motelbreakfast.bandcamp.com).
10. What is it you’d like a listener to remember the most when hearing your music for the first time?
I want a listener to remember the melody. If we get stuck in your head after your first listen, then the odds are pretty good you're going to want to come back and listen some more.
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