Gold Motel (Interview)

The clos­ing of 2009 saw former-Hush Sound vocal­ist Greta Morgan unleash­ing her long awaited solo mate­r­ial, and in turn, gar­ner­ing pos­i­tive reviews. Now faced with the prospect of 2010, we decided to send some ques­tions out to Greta, to find out her future plans, relat­ing to both Gold Motel and The Hush Sound.  She needs no more momentum.

Denis@RRR: Thank you for tak­ing time out to answer a few of our ques­tions. For any­one who has yet to famil­iar­ize them­selves with Gold Motel, would you care to give an expla­na­tion of how this project was formed?

Greta Morgan: Gold Motel is my new band--the sum­mery, upbeat musi­cal project I dreamt of while still play­ing in The Hush Sound. I recorded the album with Dan Duszynski (of band This Is Me Smiling) in Chicago.

Denis@RRR: Where do you draw your influ­ences, musically?

Greta: The music I grew up lis­ten­ing to is my biggest influ­ence: Motown record­ings, The Beatles, The Beach Boys, The Kinks, Peter Paul and Mary, Bob Dylan. Literary influ­ences have been the TV show MadMen, the poetry of Frank O’Hara, and author John Irving. The trees in my back­yard and the California sun­shine have also influ­enced my writ­ing in a hope­ful way.

Denis@RRR: You started your career in The Hush Sound. How do you feel you pro­gressed through The Hush Sound, and now into Gold Motel?

Greta: My four years with The Hush Sound proved a tremen­dous period of growth for me in terms of study­ing song­writ­ing, arrang­ing, and record­ing. I’m hun­grier and more excited about music now than I’ve ever been in my life! I finally have a clear vision of what I want and I’m mak­ing it hap­pen one day at a time.

Denis@RRR: Speaking of The Hush Sound, what’s hap­pen­ing - has the band bro­ken up, or are you sim­ply on hia­tus? Can we expect any shows/tours/releases in the fore­see­able future?

Greta: The Hush Sound will be play­ing a hand­ful of gigs in 2010, but have no cur­rent plans to record or tour full-time.

Denis@RRR: Gold Motel recently came out with their debut release, just before Christmas. Guide us through the writ­ing and record­ing process for the EP?

Greta: I wrote all the songs while liv­ing in Los Angeles this year and returned home to Chicago in August 2009 to record with Dan Duszynski (of the band This Is Me Smiling). The house where I grew up is emp­tied of clut­ter and on the mar­ket for sale, so Dan and I brought all his stu­dio gear into my home and recorded the 11 songs there. We’ve released 5 songs so far on the Gold Motel EP and plan to release the full-length album in June. It was the eas­i­est, most fun, most pro­duc­tive record­ing expe­ri­ence I’ve ever had.

Denis@RRR: The EP seems have some kind of per­me­at­ing story. What inspired the songs - is there an over­ar­ch­ing story in the EP?

Greta: The theme to the EP became appar­ent to me only after we pressed and released it. The first song is about those moments in the begin­ning of a rela­tion­ship where you feel com­pletely, immor­tal, con­fi­dent, and fear­less; the rest of the EP explores the feel­ings of doubt, jeal­ousy, inse­cu­rity, and loss that can be involved in the decline of a relationship.

Denis@RRR: How do you feel the EP was received?

Greta: The EP was received very warmly! Listeners (myself included) can be wary of change, espe­cially when their favorite band breaks up or changes the line-up. People have been com­pletely sup­port­ive of my new endeavor and I’m grateful!

Denis@RRR: How have you found ‘going solo’? Both in terms mak­ing your own music, and with­out label support?

Greta: I’m just begin­ning the process of ‘going solo’ -- The EP is a soft push to intro­duce my new sound to peo­ple who liked my other band, The Hush Sound. I’m still explor­ing the waters of the music indus­try and I’ve man­aged to get the music to many lis­ten­ers with­out a label, how­ever, I’m not shut­ting the door on label rep­re­sen­ta­tion forever.

Denis@RRR: Speaking of going solo, I’ve heard Bob is also mak­ing a solo album. If so, will it kick ass? If so, will it kick more ass than Gold Motel?

Greta: “Kicking ass” is sub­jec­tive, but I’m bet­ting Bob’s album will kick big ass!

Denis@RRR: Have you got any plans to take Gold Motel on the road this year? (nation­wide tour)

Greta: We are sub­mit­ting for nation-wide tours right now but can­not say any­thing yet! I’m sens­ing that it’s going to be an excit­ing and pro­lific year for our band and I can’t wait to see it all unfold. All the news will be announced first through my twit­ter (twitter.com/gretamorgan), so please fol­low me there to hear excit­ing stuff before the rest!

Denis@RRR: How were the few shows you did with Butch Walker?

Greta: We’ve played 2 of 4 sold-out Chicago shows with Butch Walker and last night was the most fun times I’ve had on stage in a long time. As well as being a friend of Butch’s, I’m a huge fan of his work; it’s a great learn­ing expe­ri­ence to watch his shows and talk about music with him.

Denis@RRR: Overall, what should fans be expect­ing from Gold Motel in the next 6 months or so?

Greta: We will be releas­ing a full-length ver­sion of the Gold Motel album in June and it will include some songs from the EP as well as 6-7 new songs. I’m sav­ing some of the best songs for the full-length. Just you wait and see!

Denis@RRR: Ultimately, what do you want peo­ple to take away from lis­ten­ing to Gold Motel?

Greta: I want peo­ple to lis­ten to the songs while hav­ing a good time. And if a few peo­ple pick up instru­ments to learn how to play them, that’s the best of all.

Denis@RRR: What were your favorite records of 2009, and what 2010 releases are you most excited about?

Greta: My favorite albums of 2009 were: Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca, Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It’s Blitz!, Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, Neko Case - Middle Cyclone. In 2010, I’m look­ing for­ward to solo mate­r­ial from Alex Greenwald (of Phantom Planet), Vampire Weekend’s “Contra”, and a new album from The Strokes. Don’t let me down, boys!

Denis@RRR: Thanks again for tak­ing the time to answer our ques­tions, is there any­thing you’d like to add?

Greta: For all the excit­ing news before any­one else hears, you can fol­low me on twitter-- twitter.com/gretamorgan. Otherwise, look out for the Gold Motel LP in June and look for us on the road in 2010!

Gold Motel’s debut EP is out now, inde­pen­dently.