Formula Indie Sessions _ Interview with Motel Montpellier
Motel Montpellier is a conceptual rock band with a performative approach that goes beyond music. It is a place where different stories and characters intersect.
Although we have varied influences, Motel is unlike anything else and strives to create a truly unique sound.
What is your earliest memory connected to music?
Our first memory is of getting together as kids to listen to records in a dark room. With nothing to distract us, we let the journey take us from beginning to end.
How did your passion for creating music begin?
When playing, this always appears almost randomly. Listening to music and wanting to replicate it and see how it’s made. Pink Floyd, Yes, The Beatles, and others are our musical parents, and they inspired us to start all of this in the first place.
What’s the story behind your current music project?
Motel Montpellier was born out of a need felt by all of us to make the music we like to listen to. It’s been 10 years since we played live for the first time, and we were just kids back then. Motel Montpellier is that safe place where creating and expanding is the rule, and everything is easier because we’ve been friends our whole lives.
How would you describe your sound to someone who has never heard your music before?
Motel is rock, jazz rock, piano rock, pop, Argentine rock, progressive rock, theatrical rock. It is a musical journey that envelops you from the start and quickly draws you into its stories through the lyrics.
What is one thing you’ve learned that completely changed the way you make music?
Using the computer as another instrument became part of our sound, and we have no plans to stop. It modernized our songs and gave them many more colors than we already had.
What tools, instruments, or software are essential in your creative process?
That’s a tough one to answer, haha. Tata’s pianos are always a must—it’s the instrument that most defines and sets us apart. Then there’s Gringo’s guitar, which is also essential, and creating a melody that speaks to all of us. There’s never a shortage of references, books, and sounds that come from our heads beforehand. And we always prioritize everyone being able to contribute their grain of sand to the question. We’re very open and not egotistical in that sense.
Which indie artist or song are you loving right now?
Right now, Phoebe’s “I Know the End” is THAT song that’s playing on repeat. Then Rosalia’s latest, “Lux,” is incredible, and why not a little Sufjan Stevens to relax?
How have your personal experiences influenced your music and artistic vision?
Personal experiences ARE the art you create afterwards. They are inseparable and indivisible. Our artistic vision changes over the years and evolves precisely because of our experiences, and that is inevitable. In the last three years, we took a turn and wanted to make a splash, advancing toward our desires in an unstoppable way and giving our all to the project.
What emotions or messages do you hope listeners take from your work?
We like our listeners to go through the roller coaster of emotions we offer. Melancholy, then happiness, then euphoria, why not a little anger? That’s life, isn’t it?
What’s the most important lesson music has taught you so far?
Music teaches you to LISTEN. In every sense, to listen to others, to try to decipher what is left unsaid, to interpret silences, the anxieties of your peers, to speak when necessary, and to enjoy yourself. Above all else, music teaches that the most important things in life are the things that cannot be touched.
What is a dream venue or festival you would love to perform at?
We would love to play at Lollapalooza, Coachella, or any international festival where thousands of people can hear you and sing along to your songs.
If you could collaborate with any artist, past or present, who would it be and why?
We would have loved to have been born a few years earlier to collaborate with Lennon, Bowie, Floyd, Genesis… now Steven Wilson, Rosalia, Catriel, anyone who wants to invite us will interest us artistically.
Where can our listeners follow and support your music? (Website,Spotify, IG, links)
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/intl-es/artist/6kQN5ddTWLUI3ow9Mhp7q4?si=NQPRGMzbRaWvKvH8FiIUeg
Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/@motelmontpellier
IG:
https://www.instagram.com/motelmontpellier
https://motelmontpellier.com.ar
Looking toward the future, what’s your dream for the next chapter of your musical journey?
We would love to make an album full of collaborations and present it somewhere huge with all those artists. We want everyone to know the real Motel Montpellier, and include performers, actors, everything.
What do you hope listeners will discover about you along the way?
You are going to discover something unique, something you have never heard before and will even find difficult to reference quickly. We are in search of uniqueness, and that is what drives our project as well: to be unlike anyone else, while at the same time captivating those who listen to us.
