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Interview by Marissa Ross.
Back in May, I went to the Viper Room to see a friend’s band. They were opening for this gig called Saint Motel. I’d never heard them and wasn’t even necessarily going to stay for their set. But I ordered another Cuba Libre and posted up at the bar. Within fifteen minutes, I was about ready to rip off someone’s pants. See, if Eddie Haskell had a band, it’d be Saint Motel. With the manners of choirboys and faces fit for Tiger Beat, they side swipe you with an insurgence of sexual prowess, quick quips and good ole’ rock and roll. Their music is fun indie rock with an incredible kick to the libido. They bring back that excitement of seeing a band live. They extenuate their sound with so much personality. From their pelvises moving like it’s 1953 in Graceland to their deer head décor, the music is an entire life force in and of itself. There is nothing better than buying a record you know the musicians love playing as much as you love listening. And there is nothing more dangerous than wisecracking seductive music makers that could be mistaken for teachers’ pets. If all the contagious riffs and adorable bravado don’t make you think they’re some of the most savage musicians in town, maybe the fact they’re multi-talented will. Saint Motel was birthed at Chapman Film School, one of the top film programs in the country at a university that also housed acts like Collin Hanks and supposedly, Jodie Sweetin. So, not only are they pumping out provocative tunes but producing collections of comedic shorts. Basically, there is no escaping. They are going to charm their way into your life by any means necessary- audibly, visually or God knows how. They’re sneaky. They wouldn’t even give me their ages let alone their more devious plans to take over the world with online cat montages. I know what you’re thinking: who are these multi-faceted, carnal creatures of LA’s indie scene? Well, first we have our film school founders: AJ Jackson, Jr (vocals, guitar) and Aaron Sharp (guitar, vocals). Then came Dak (bass) who they picked up at a sushi joint and G.S. Erwin who “approached us at a concert and said he was the right man for us.” They’ve been Saint Motel for a year now (after a stint in a band named Turkish Rocket) and released a limited EP while scoring gigs at South by South West and residencies in LA. After a couple failed attempts to conduct a professional interview at a twenty-four hour diner and a strange, possibly French bar, we ended up classily picking up beer and sitting around my living room. I tried to pry some answers out of the alluringly ambiguous men and cleared up some misconceptions while they stuffed my dog down their shirts. Marissa A. Ross: So, let’s start with your band name. AJ Jackson: That’s actually where we all met. MAR: It’s an actual place? AJ: Its somewhere between Nevada and Pittsburg. We can’t say where it is cause if we go back there ourselves, it may not be there. It was kind of a state of mind we were all in, like minds itching to play music. Aaron Sharp: It involved a lot of acid. Greg Erwin: We’re contractually bound to say that. AS: Look, we bulls**t all the other people who interview us but baby, we’re telling you the truth. (laughs) MAR: Oh, so you’re the one who writes all those lyrics? AJ: No, no that’s (points to the sky). MAR: God? God writes your sultry songs? There is an overwhelming response that yes, God wrote them. AJ: Well, we write them in part probably because of the fact we’re all saving ourselves and once we actually do give into our urges we won’t have so much built in sexual tension. I think it’s a lot of things. I’m sure us being celibate has to do with it in some fashion, not sure how much it contributes to it, how much society contributes to it. Society has a lot of blame… MAR: Wait, you guys are celibate? You’re f**king with me, right? GE: We don’t f**k, I thought we already went over this. MAR: So, these songs are more or less you venting your frustration? AJ: More or less. Frustration may not be an appropriate choice of words because… AS: Because it doesn’t make us sound cool. AJ: It’s not even that we’re necessarily venting, it’s more like conversation. Maybe it’s not even what we’re thinking, maybe it’s just what we’re saying. AS: We live vicariously through it all. AJ: Well, before we were celibate, we threw down though. I mean, this whole celibacy thing just happened last week… Dak: At the end of the day, doesn’t it make sense we don’t have sex? We act that way on stage because that’s not how we are. AJ: Honestly, it’s neither of the two. It’s never a middle ground but it’s never one way. It’s always fluctuating; one extreme or the other is really the reality. MAR: Alright, well now that we’ve got that cleared up, what’s the plan for Saint Motel? AJ: We don’t usually plan anything beyond a couple days. I’m thinking we’re recording on Thursday and that’s in a couple days. MAR: Living in the now, eh? AS: No, we live in the tomorrow. AJ: And tomorrow we’re jamming. MAR: You guys planning on releasing a full length soon? AJ: How full are we talkin’ here? AS: Our business model is kind of like Wal-Mart, we’re just trying to gouge everybody. GE: We’re price busters. AS: We’re working with Orientals to write our songs and we see all the other bands as mom and pop businesses we want to wipe out and work towards global domination. AJ: We outsource most of our musical inspiration. Actually we were going to have someone else come in and do this interview for us... AS: Sting’s son… Wayne. AJ: And we did. We’re not Saint Motel. We’re Cisco Adler, David Duchovny, the guy from the OC and Jackie Chan. Yeah, AJ called me today and said, “Yo, D. Would you mind doing this interview for me?” And I said no at first but then you made the offer too good to pass up. It’s great to be here, good friends with Saint Motel. And I'm happy to see Cisco again.
It was then decided that the interview should be very much like the grade school "Pick Your Ending" books. You can choose one of the following official Saint Motel statements: Saint Motel can summon the dead, yet never have. Saint Motel never wears shoes, ever. MAR: "You guys are all wearing shoes right now."- GE: "Because… Saint Motel has eleven toes." – Saint Motel was involved in a horrific accident involving a lot of toes. Saint Motel likes to play good cop, bad cop... and Thai cop. Saint Motel likes to go to water parks dressed to the nines. Saint Motel likes chamomile tea… spiked with Jack Daniels (or Jim Beam). Saint Motel don't want no scrubs… but have been chasing waterfalls. AS: "Didn't you guys think it was Jason Waterfalls?!" Everyone: "No…" Saint Motel has a cat-freaker-outer. Saint Motel loves disco cats. Saint Motel was ahead of the Bubble Burst in 1999, but didn't have any stocks. Saint Motel is sponsored by beer and co-sponsored by… other alcohol. Saint Motel doesn't want no dun-dunk-dun-dunk mothaf*ckas up in their grill. Saint Motel was Saint Motel's father the whole time. Saint Motel did it.
How ever you choose to end it, it is conclusive to say Saint Motel will entertain you." |
