motel void

MOTEL VOID: You’re from Brooklyn, New York. How would you describe the current music scene there? Do you feel that you’re part of it?

BOOK/SPIRIT: The scene here is really really strong. I go to a lot of local shows, and I’m constantly blown away by how many great bands are doing their thing. We’ve managed to find our little niche in the scene, and we’re also constantly trying to meet and play with new bands to just continue. Meeting other bands and trying to build relationships and some sense of community is one of my favorite parts of being in a band.

MOTEL VOID: Your favorite local venues and artists?

BOOK/SPIRIT: We played at The Sultan Room in Bushwick earlier this year which was a dream for us. The light-up backdrop is super cool. I also really love the stage at Arlene’s Grocery on the Lower East Side because it’s so big that it can fit our pedalboards comfortably and also I can jump around a little more.

I don’t want to offend anyone by leaving them off our favorite local band list, cause there are so many that I genuinely could not list them all here. We just played our record release show with Short Porch, Onesie, and Good Time Mystery Vision at Arlene’s which may be my favorite bill we’ve ever been a part of (so far).

MOTEL VOID: You’ve just released your new album ‘Easements’. Could you tell us more about the recording and writing process of this record?

BOOK/SPIRIT: Most of the songs originate from some rough demo or riff that Mike or I will bring to practice and we jam on it. We jam a lot as a band which helps us to practice improvising and listening to each other, and creatively it helps us find some different directions we can take the song in and helped us to flesh out our individual parts and the overall arrangement. When we went to the studio, our producer, Colin, helped us to streamline the songs a bit more. My favorite part of the recording process was selecting which amp to use from the 20 or so that they had at the studio and dialing in all the sounds.

MOTEL VOID: Your biggest inspirations right now?

BOOK/SPIRIT: As cliche as it is to say “we all have so many different influences” I think it really does apply to us. Garrett listens to a ton of hip-hop and jazz. Mike listens to a lot more lo-fi indie stuff than I do, and Pierre is big into a lot of krautrock. Personally, I’ve been a huge Waxahatchee kick lately. I also bought Interpol’s “Turn On The Bright Lights” on vinyl the other week so I’ve been spinning that a lot and it sounds 1000x better than it does on Spotify.

MOTEL VOID: Your other plans for 2024?

BOOK/SPIRIT: We’ve already started writing for our 2nd album, so depending on how quickly that process goes we may try to get back into the studio again. We definitely don’t want to rush it, but we’re all pretty eager to start working on new material ASAP. While we do that we’ll continue to play shows in NYC, but we’re also started to expand into some small regional touring as well which is exciting for us!