motel void

MOTEL VOID: Could you introduce your project in a few sentences? I haven’t found much information about you to be honest…

WEEKEND MOOD: WEEKEND MOOD is a nostalgic, melancholy slowcore project centered around themes of loss and love. It’s sad music with a tinge of hope and longing. The name comes from my favorite hat. It’s a random hat I bought in Mexico a while back and I wear it almost every day. Not because I love the words WEEKEND MOOD but because I have a weird shaped head and finding hats that fit is hard. So I cherish every one I find. When I finished this single I was trying to think of a name for the project and I am not exaggerating when I say I sat in my parents basement for 3 hours trying to come up with a name for this project. I was spiraling. Then I looked down at my hat on the table and I thought that’s perfect. I love the juxtaposition of the positive message of WEEKEND MOOD for a project that is going to be 99% melancholy songs about breakups and loss.

MOTEL VOID: You’ve just released a new single ‘how can one thing set me back, a decade’. Will it be part of your first record?

WEEKEND MOOD: This will be part of my first record for this project yes. I hope to slowly waterfall releases out over the next few months and then will compile them into an album. The sounds will vary from more droney/ambient to the classic slowcore sound of dragging sad chords and a drum beat slowly chugging along. But I do like to focus on lyricism and not release strictly ambient songs.

MOTEL VOID: Is this your first music project ever?

WEEKEND MOOD: This is not my first project, I have released music under David Berg. Which falls more in the indie folk category. This is my first project with this sound though, and that’s what I’m most excited for.

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MOTEL VOID: Could you tell us more about the writing and recording process of your songs?

WEEKEND MOOD: It’s chaotic to say the least. I am from the United States but recently I have been traveling all around Latin America. Peru, Colombia, Argentina, and Mexico. This means I have very little consistency as far as spaces to record in. I travel with my microphone, audio interface, laptop, and MIDI. I don’t travel with a guitar, so I have to borrow or find one in every country I end up in. At this point I have borrowed so many guitars in languages I don’t speak that I’m kind of a professional at it. But it has gotten me into some very strange situations. A guy I borrowed a guitar from in Medellin, Colombia asked me to come visit him in ER at 2AM because he didn’t want to tell his wife he was having health issues. So you know, normal stuff like that. My process has no consistency but it always starts with voice memos. I have thousands of voice memos on my phone. It’s my most cherished tool. Memos of me singing random melodies that pop into my head at any given time of day. In the bathroom, on the train, anywhere. When one of those sticks out, I try to write a song with it. For this more recent song, the melody is something I had recorded for a while. I tried to turn it into a folk song but it never really worked. I was at my parents house and found this old melodica in their basement, and loved the sound of it so much, I was up all night with it, having a blast, and that’s when this song happened. I plan to take the melodica with me on my next trip. It fits perfectly in my suitcase.

MOTEL VOID: Your biggest inspirations right now?

WEEKEND MOOD: I grew up listening to folk music. That will always be my favorite genre. Gregory Alan Isakov has been my favorite artist since I started writing songs a decade ago. But recently, I have become fascinated by the slowcore genre. Artists like Take Care and sign crushes motorist (same person). The slowcore genre has been so refreshing because it’s not traditionally “good” music. As in the production is rarely clean or refined. But for me, as someone who gets way too caught up in making music sound “good”. These artists have inspired me to just have fun. Let the mix be muddy, peaky, whatever. The only thing that actually matters in music is that it makes someone feel something. That’s it. You can get caught up in the science of it, but at the end of the day it either makes you feel something or it doesn’t. And these DIY bedroom artists with millions of streams are proving that. I feel like I’m able to get out of my own way with this project. Just seeing what happens. I have to make music. I mean like if I don’t strum a guitar or press a piano key it feels like I’m going to implode. But I have always put so much pressure on making everything as perfect as possible. Because of that, I get so tired of perfecting my own songs I never release anything. This is the opposite of that. And it’s made me fall in love with the process again.

MOTEL VOID: Your plans for 2024?

WEEKEND MOOD: My plans for 2024 are to write, write, write. Record, record, record. One thing I know I will do is put out a full album for this project. With a goal runtime of around 30minutes. I have a goal of going to Australia this year. But I have also been so motivated to record I may just rent a cabin and hunker down for the full year. Collecting as much weird gear as I can and recording whatever I can. I love traveling, it also makes writing music very difficult. But regardless of where I end up I will be recording whenever I can, wherever I can.