2020 brought two releases for Motel Breakfast -- their full length, self-titled debut, and an EP collection of live recordings, " Left on Deming." Both deliver a punchy, live sound and a listening experience I had certainly been missing in a year devoid of concerts.
"Motel Breakfast" is the band's longest and most expansive release to date. More than a collection of songs, the album offers a clear narrative divided into two chapters, thanks to a clever and welcomed instrumental track, "ADHD" set in the middle.
Both sections offer mostly first-person, introspective storytelling and a candid look at late teen and early 20s angst. For me, the emotional peak was the track "Hope" with its roaring chorus. It stuck with me for days after my first listen.
I sat down with band members Jimmy Drenovsky and Mick O'Donnell to talk about the album, which is available on vinyl now.
Nate: This has been such a challenging year for Milwaukee artists. Where was this created with the pandemic? Was this before or after things started shutting down?
Jimmy Drenovsky: So this was all recorded in the summer of 2019, so we were able to get everything done and we had the mixing session that we had that wrapped everything up was in September of '19. So then we kind of set together a few months of a release timeline, and try to put some weight behind promoting it and whatnot. And then it finally came out in February, but it was a few months coming. Our first session in the studio for it was June of 2019.
Nate: Well, it clearly resonated with Radio Milwaukee listeners since this album was near the top of the list. And for your band, I'd imagine this is really an important album being that this is your longest release to date and kind of your self-titled debut, even though you've released some EPs and LPs.
JD: Yeah, this is our first official full-length album. And we had really kind of just put out little things here and there trying to kind of confirm to people that we were more than just a cover band, but nothing that we really artistically bought into. This was also the first time we worked with a producer, we worked with Andy Goitia of Milwaukee's Sleepy Gaucho. He's just a guy that we met doing shows, and we stumbled into each other and he's like, “Hey guys, I'd love to work in the studio in some capacity, if you're looking for someone to help as you record.” And that really was a lucky relationship and friendship to blossom out of that. But that was part of the artistic effort we were putting into this for the first time that we hadn't really put into our music yet.
Nate: I felt really like it definitely had that live feeling. I could definitely just picture going into a show and seeing these guys play, like it definitely felt like a live experience.
JD: Well, that's definitely something that we wanted to do. We recorded analog for this, which was new. All of us were pretty green around the ears when it comes to our recording knowledge. It helped bringing in Andy as a producer. He was really pretty adamant, “No, you guys, you've got a great sound and a great live energy and chemistry; we want to capture that as much as possible. We don't need to be sitting in Pro Tools, chopping stuff up and turning you into musicians that aren't just you holding the instruments.” So that's another reason that I'm happy that you got that, because that was a goal of this to capture that. Frankly, none of us feel like we're the best musicians in the world, but we feel like we've got something special when we play together. And that's what we wanted to capture more than anything.
Nate: Well, the album really covers a lot of territory and it explores a couple of different styles coming together, too. There's definitely almost like the kind of '70s reference I picked up on, but then there’s like indie rock mixed in there as well. So it blends all that together into a sound that I think is super Milwaukee and super unique to yourselves, which was cool. I love the final track, “Let Me Burn.” It definitely feels like one of those end of the night songs, like we're putting up the chairs at the end of the night. I used to bartend in college and I'm just picturing, like you guys playing a show and closing the night out with that song. I love that. But for me, the real emotional peak of the whole album was "Hope." And I thought that was just such a strong song and such an interesting contrast. Tell us about that song.
JD: Yeah, so that's a song that had been in the backlog for a little while, and it's really strong on its own. And a lot of our challenge going into the studio then was how do we translate something that's got like a really powerful delivery. It's also got all these dynamics where instruments come in and go .... So we had to learn how to record it properly. We did some stuff with the arrangements where we added shout vocals in the background and really made it where the shout vocals kind of overtake the lead vocals, and it feels like the room is kind of like in this emotional embrace together. Very last minute, like literally midnight the day before recording, we messaged a friend of ours, Seamus, who played violin. Like he came, you know, with eight hours of notice, he was in the studio recording that part with us. So that was really exciting as well.
Nate: Yeah. That song, that's the one that stuck with me for days after I heard it. And I just felt like, you know, there's so much pain in that song and so much introspection. And when you get to that big, that hope shout it's almost like this roar, you know, and, and for that to be the word, hope, it was such an interesting contrast.
JD: Yeah. It's a song that still gives me chills to be singing it or playing it back. Like there are those peak moments that it breaks into a sort of emotional catharsis that I feel like I can speak for all of us in the band. We're really proud of how well we translated the emotion of that song into a musical experience that you feel, even if you're not following along with every word.
Nate: And the album is so personal and it's so upfront and straightforward, and it covers a lot of painful things. And I can tell there's some looking within on the album, a lot of first person writing. I noticed that "Hope" was an outlier, though. A lot is written in the second person. Is there any significance there?
JD: You know, there are some small things that are tough to go into too specifically, but on the whole you're right about that idea of kind of upfront vulnerability that a lot of the lyrics took on. You know, all five of us are songwriters on this album specifically. The lyrics chiefly came from me and Connor, the piano player, but I think what these songs kind of captured was a window into our years, the past like four years -- 18 to 21, 22 years old and learning how to see ourselves in the world for the first time. You know, we said this to each other in L.A., it feels like an album that could only exist, you know, if we made it at 22, 23.
