The Motels

The Motels
Background information
Origin	Berkeley, California
Genres	New Wave, Pop rock, Alternative rock
Years active	1975—1977 1978—1987 1998—Present
Labels	Capitol Records Oglio EMI Special Markets Cleen Sheets Music Scye Hi Entertainment Liberation Music
Associated acts	Berlin, The Pop, The Dogs, The Runaways
Website	Official website

The Motels were a New Wave music band from the Los Angeles area best known for "Only the Lonely" and "Suddenly, Last Summer", each of which peaked at #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1982 and 1983, respectively. Their song "Total Control" reached number 7 on the Australian charts in 1979. Martha Davis, the lead singer, reformed a version of the band called The Motels featuring Martha Davis, in 1998; as of 2008^[update] she continues to appear under that name with various line-ups.

History

First incarnation

The Motels

The first incarnation of The Motels formed in Berkeley, California, in 1971.^[1] Lisa Brenneis (bass) coaxed Dean Chamberlain (lead guitar), Chuck Wada (rhythm guitar) and Martha Davis (vocals, guitar) into forming a band (then called The Warfield Foxes).^[2] Hoping for better exposure and seeking a recording contract they made a move to Los Angeles in 1975. While in L.A., Lisa Brenneis left and the band changed its name to "Angels of Mercy" and then to "The Motels", with both Davis and Wada contributing original songs to the repertoire.^[3] The band acquired two new members around this time to fill vital slots; Richard D'Andrea on bass and Robert Newman on drums.^[4]

The Motels and two other local bands, The Pop and The Dogs, kicked off the local band scene with a concert at a self-produced show, 'Radio Free Hollywood' held at the old theatre, Troupers Hall. Prior to this show, few if any unsigned bands played local high profile clubs like the Whisky and The Roxy.^[5] The band guested on Rodney Bingenheimer's popular radio show and, after recording a demo for Warner Bros., which was turned down, they were offered a contract with Capitol Records. The band declined Capitol's offer and disbanded in 1977, citing musical differences amongst themselves.^[4] One song from their Warner Bros. demo, "Counting", was included on the Rhino Records compilation Saturday Night Pogo, released in 1978.

Chamberlain was heard again in his band Code Blue which signed to Warner Brothers Records. Richard d'Andrea joined The Pits and later enjoyed almost three years with The Know. Robert Newman is a successful art director and designer. Chuck Wada still writes and performs and is a financial advisor.^[6] Lisa Brenneis has written a series of books about Final Cut Pro editing software and grows pixie tangerines in Ojai, California.^[7]

Second, most successful incarnation

In March 1978, Davis and future lead guitarist Jeff Jourard (formerly of a pre-fame version of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers) decided to reform The Motels^[4] and extensive auditions resulted in a new line-up consisting of Jourard's brother Marty who played both the saxophone and keyboards, Michael Goodroe on bass, and Brian Glascock on drums.^[8] Short on funds, the band shared rehearsal space with The Go-Go's at L.A.'s notorious punk basement, the Masque, and they played in Chinatown, at Madame Wong's restaurant/nightclub with such regularity, they were nearly the house band.^[9] The Motels began to draw a faithful crowd around the L.A. music scene and on Mother's Day 1979 the group signed with Capitol and released their debut album The Motels 4 months later. Their first single, "Closets and Bullets," made no impact on the charts, but their second single, "Total Control," found its way to the Top 20 in France and the Top 10 in Australia.^[4]

In 1980 Jourard was replaced as lead guitarist by Davis' boyfriend Tim McGovern^[10] and the band went back into the recording studio to record their second album, entitled Careful. Released in June 1980, the album climbed to the #45 spot on the U.S. album charts.^[4] In Europe and the UK, the songs "Days Are OK" and "Whose Problem?" were Top 50 hits; "Whose Problem?" was also a top hit in Australia^[11] and "Danger" was a Top 20 hit in France.^[12]

The band hired record producer Val Garay for their third album, Apocalypso. It was scheduled to be released in November 1981, but after Capitol Records heard the final product, they rejected it for being "not commercial enough" and "too weird".^[9][13] The band attempted to go back and re-record the entire album but in the process, Davis and McGovern's relationship dissolved and by December 1981 McGovern was no longer in the band. (McGovern subsequently formed the band Burning Sensations.) The rest of the members forged on to finish recording the new album while using studio musicians to fill in for the vacant guitar spot for several of the tracks. Adrian Peritore (who went by the name Guy Perry because his former producer had misspelled his name on an album cover) was hired in late January and played lead guitar on some of the tracks, including "He Hit Me." The album, now titled All Four One, was released April 5, 1982.^[9]

All Four One (1982) was the band's best-selling album.

The first single from the All Four One, "Only the Lonely," reached number nine on the Billboard Hot 100 and number six on the Billboard Top Tracks chart. The song "Mission of Mercy" also had enough airplay to reach number 23 on the Top Tracks chart.^[4][14] Two other singles, "Take the L" and "Forever Mine," also made the Billboard Hot 100.^[13] Their first successful U.S. album coincided with the emergence of MTV, which led to music videos for both "Only the Lonely" and "Take the L." Davis won a "Best Performance in a Music Video" at the American Music Awards in 1982 for her performance in the "Only the Lonely" video.^[15] For the 1982 tour the band added keyboardist/guitarist Scott Thurston.^[9]

Val Garay was now firmly in control of album and video production and, upon the firing of Fritz Turner Management, became the band's new manager.^[9] The Motels returned to the recording studio in February 1983 and released the album Little Robbers in the fall. The first single from the album, "Suddenly Last Summer," was a Top 10 hit in the United States, and the album went gold in the U.S., Canada, and several other countries.^[14] In January the band appeared on Saturday Night Live.

In August 1983, at the insistence of producer/manager Garay, David Platshon was added on drums with Glascock reluctantly moving over to percussion.^{[citation needed]}

The first leg of the Little Robbers tour started in January 1984 but ended abruptly in February with the firing of Garay as manager for personal reasons.^[9] Drummer Platshon was dropped and Glascock resumed his spot on the drum chair. The band continued performing under new management with stops in Japan and Hawaii, and they recorded songs for two film soundtracks: "Long Day" was recorded for Moscow on the Hudson and "In the Jungle" was recorded for the movie Teachers. By mid-summer they were back in the recording studio to work on new material.

In late 1984 Capitol Records brought in producer Richie Zito to help maintain the band's commercialism.^[16] It took well over a year but with the finishing touches done at Giorgio Moroder's hi-tech studio in the San Fernando Valley,^[9] the group released their sixth album, Shock, in September 1985. The first single, "Shame," reached #21 on the U.S. pop charts and #10 on the U.S. rock charts.^[14] Two other singles were released, "Shock," and "Icy Red." From early 1986 to February 1987 The Motels worked on songs for a 7th album. It was not to be. Citing that the group was broke, on February 13, 1987, Martha Davis took each member in turn to a local bar to say she had decided to dissolve the band and go solo.^[9]

All members of the 1982-1987 version of the band reunited in 2004 for an appearance on VH1's Bands Reunited; rejoining Davis were Michael Goodroe, Marty Jourard, Brian Glasscock and Adrian Peritore (aka "Guy Perry.")^[17]

Martha Davis solo

Davis released her first solo album entitled Policy in October 1987. Musicians who worked with her included Clarence Clemons, Kenny G and Charlie Sexton. In November, she had a number 8 hit in Australia with "Don't Tell Me the Time", but in the U.S. the song only reached #80. While reviewers still loved her voice the album was panned as too lightweight and having no atmospheric punch.^[18] Soon afterwards, Davis asked to be released from her contract with Capitol.

After leaving Capitol Records, Davis focused on different music styles, and recorded songs for several movie soundtracks but it seemed her music career was coming to an end.^[19] Then, in the early 1990s, she started getting occasional surprise gigs which found Davis experimenting with new songs she had written.^[19] In late 1994 she played at some old haunts in Ventura, Los Angeles, and San Juan Capistrano, California.

Third incarnation: The Motels featuring Martha Davis

In 1997 Martha Davis began appearing live with a band composed of Erik Lemaire (guitar), Adrian Burke (bass), Jason Loree (drums), and David Van Pattoen (keyboards/guitar). This grouping began calling themselves Martha Davis & The Motels in March 1998. After 1998, the lineup was: Mic Taras on lead guitar, Angelo Barbera on bass, Kevin Bowen on keyboards, Michael Barbera on keyboards and sax, and Jason Loree on drums.^[20] The gigs consisted almost entirely of new material. In 2001 the band changed to a compact, four piece ensemble with Davis, Taras, Fritz Lewak (drums), and David Sutton (bass).^[21] By 2004 the band had performed more than 70 concerts and toured in the U.S. and Australia. As of 2006 the band included Davis on vocal and guitar, Nick Johns (bass/keyboard), Eric Gardner (drums), Clint Walsh (guitar), and Jon Siebels (guitar).^[1]

In 2005 Davis and the new Motels released an independent CD titled So the Story Goes. All copies sold out.^[22] Sony Records released a live album titled Standing Room Only, which was recorded live in 2006 at the famed Coach House Club in San Juan Capistrano, a small suburb seaside town about an hour out of Los Angeles. Martha Davis and the Motels still tour and record, and they have plans for more music releases in the future.^[1] The Motels featuring Martha Davis appeared on the U.S. version of Hit Me Baby One More Time and toured the U.S. and Australia in 2007.^[23]

In 2005, Martha Davis performed at Seattle, Washington's Teatro ZinZanni^[24], for which she collaborated with TZ Maestro Norm Durkee to make the special CD Omnium, which is available only through the Teatro ZinZanni gift shop. In August 2007, she joined other 70s and 80s acts for the Australian concert series Countdown Spectacular 2. She sang three Motels songs solo. Her second solo album So the Story Goes was released in 2005. Although it was recorded with many of the new Motels members, it was released as a solo album. Not until the album Standing Room Only was the band referred to as the Motels.

The album Clean Modern and Reasonable, issued in September 2007, was the first release under the banner "The Motels" in 22 years. The album contains acoustic versions of past hits, B-sides and Martha Davis solo material including new takes on "Take The L", "Only the Lonely" and "Suddenly Last Summer". In April 2008 The Motels released two new albums on the same day, This and Beautiful Life, the latter taking the listener on a dark journey through Martha's life.^[1]

On April 9, 2008, Martha Davis and the Motels performed on the reality TV program High School Reunion shown on the TV Land channel. The program staged a mock prom for the show's participants on the last evening. The two songs performed were Only the Lonely and Suddenly Last Summer.

The Motels 2009 summer tour found Martha Davis once again surrounding herself with all new musicians: Felix Mercer (keyboards), Matthew Brown (bass), Matthew Morgan (drums) and Matt Miller (guitar), however previous band members continue to play in the Los Angeles area.^[25]

Discography

Studio

Live Albums

Martha Davis Solo

Compilations

Soundtracks

Singles

Other Martha Davis Works

Albums Mastered But Never Released

Notes

References

• Rolling Stone Magazine - The Motels Return With Their "Version 2.0" - 9/2/99
• Orange County Register - Entertainment Section - 7/16/05
• Personal Writings from band members - Official website themotels.com
• Former band member Marty Jourard - Jourard.com
• Creem Magazine - Take The El Out Of MOTELS And It's Motes - February 1983
• Creem Magazine - The Motels: Martha Davis Feeds Her Family - December 1980
• Los Angeles Times - The Motels: Booked Solid - 4/29/79
• Orange County Weekly - No Vacancy - 10/5/2000

External links

• Official website
• Major website
• Biography from the VH1 website