By: Amy Aiello

I love having the opportunity to catch up with bands from Chicago, especially when it comes to performing on larger stages, like Lollapalooza. Gold Motel is a band on the rise, and have played with acts like Kate Nash, Company of Thieves, and Hellogoodbye. Being asked to play Lollapalooza was “a pretty big honor [to the band] and one of those things that make you feel like you’re pretty much on the right path.” Greta Morgan, singer for the band, went on to say that when the band found out they were to be playing Lolla, “We were really excited! The boys were all so calm… and as soon as we went to a rest stop I went into the bathroom and just jumped around for a little while. I had one of those movie moments. I was like, ‘how are you guys keeping this together?’ I was so excited!”

The band recently went on tour around England and Scotland, and hope to “do a US tour where every single show is sold out, to the point where people can’t get tickets to a show – not that we’d want to leave anyone out – but that level kind of demand shows that you’ve reached that tier of success.”

This self-sufficient band now has a manager and an agent on board to continue what they managed to do on their own, yet they still record their albums using a home studio set up. “We send [our albums] out to our friend Dominick out in Colorado [to do the mastering].”

When it comes to the stage show and the music, Greta says, “I think that the music is always the most important thing. There are bands that can get by having “schticky” performances, but I think it’s more important to have the music be the main thing that people connect with and have them come because they want to see a show. I go to concerts because I want to hear the songs, and I want to see the artists, and I want to feel the essence of what they’re all about. I don’t necessarily go to see a circus.“ “[The dynamic in this band is] like a middle school slumber party. Really we’re all just happy to not be working actual jobs. We’re disciplined but we have a lot of fun.”

Check out the bands music, tour dates and more at http://www.goldmotel.com.


Biography: With Gold Motel, it’s always summer, the bags are always packed, and the car is always running. Beneath tight pop hooks and warm melodies, Gold Motel’s songs are infused with joyous exuberance as well as sweet melancholy. The ten tracks on Gold Motel’s debut album SUMMER HOUSE are snapshots of dreaming, transient youth in constant motion – driving down desert highways, watching fireworks from the boardwalk, wandering the city in an endless summer but in the end always searching for the safety of home, friends, and love.

The Chicago-based quintet originated in warmer climates, Los Angeles in the summer of 2009. Greta Morgan (The Hush Sound) returned from a year in Southern California to her hometown of Chicago, bringing with her what would become the five song Gold Motel EP. Collaborating with her friend Dan Duzsynzski (This Is Me Smiling), recording began on a set of sharp, sunny pop songs with a decidedly West Coast outlook. Working with Duzsynski, Morgan realized that her pre-conceived solo project could grow into a full band effort.

Through the fall of 2009, Gold Motel transformed into a full-fledged band, adding Chicago music veterans Matt “Minx” Schuessler, Adam Kaltenhauser (both of This is Me Smiling), and Eric Hehr (The Yearbooks). The Chicago super group played together live for the first time in December of 2009 with a sold out headlining debut at Chicago’s Beat Kitchen, coinciding with the release of the Gold Motel EP.

Since then, GOLD MOTEL has headlined shows from Los Angeles to New York (and most cities in between) in support of Summer House, as well as supporting Hellogoodbye & Farewell Continental on national tours in 2011 and a UK tour with Hellogoodbye. In November 2010, they released a two song 7 inch vinyl, Talking Fiction.
-Chris Hamby