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| (From left to right: Dak Lerdamornpong, Greg Erwin, AJ Jackson, and Aaron Sharp) |
Sometimes you have to hear an album or song several times before something clicks and you really connect with the music, but when I saw Saint Motel play at the Troubadour in April of 2009, it was love at first listen. Three years later, AJ Jackson (vocals, guitar), Aaron Sharp (lead guitar), Dak Lerdamornpong (bass), and Greg Erwin (drums) are still bringing down the house with their exuberant and eclectic brand of music that has been described as “indie pop”, “garage glam”, and everything in between. With the release of their first full-length album, Voyeur, and a tour that takes them across the U.S. and Canada, the fever around Saint Motel is definitely building. On July 16th, AJ Jackson took some time out to call me from the road, so we could talk about the band, the music, and intergalactic conspiracy theories.
AB: Great show at the El Rey on Saturday!
AJ: Thanks! If
we’re having a good time and moving around, hopefully the audience will
participate in the same way. It’s
kind of a cycle; the more the audience gets crazy, the more we get crazy.
AB: Your shows
have been known to get pretty raucous.
Have any of the band members ever sustained any injuries during
shows?
AJ: Nothing major.
Once, during last summer’s tour, I jumped off stage and was moving
around the crowd. When I jumped
back on stage, my cord got caught on something and it acted as an anchor. So, when I jumped up, I couldn’t
actually go very far and it slammed me down. That was just my shin, but I did sustain an injury to my
face today. When we were driving,
a bee flew in and got me right on the lip!
AB: Ouch! Do
you guys have any rituals before or after the shows?
AJ: We like to get together and psych each other up a bit
before we go on stage. We slap
each other around a bit, wake each other up, just to make each other present so
that we can really be there and remember it.
AB: The first time I saw a Saint Motel show was at the
Troubadour back in 2009, right around the time you released your debut EP ForPlay. How has the band changed since then?
AJ: We’re just more together as a band now. We’ve experienced a lot more as a band.
AB: You just released your first full-length album, titled Voyeur. Has your style shifted musically?
AJ: Yeah, I would say so. The music’s a bit different now with the introduction of the
piano. When we recorded Voyeur, we experimented a lot more with
different sounds and different song-writing structures. I feel like we got a chance to play
around a bit more, and not just limit ourselves to what we could potentially
play onstage. That’s why the songs
we recorded ended up being a little bit different stylistically than what we
have done before. The styles of
“Feed Me Now”, “Puzzle Pieces”, and “Daydream/Wetdream/Nightmare” is probably
where the music is headed.
AB: “Benny
Goodman” and “1997” have been receiving rave reviews, but my favorite song on the album is “You Do It Well”. I was wondering if you could tell me
about the origins of that song.
AJ: I went out to the desert with a few friends to the
Integratron. I’m pretty into all
things space or sci-fi and the Integratron is a nice culmination of everything
I’m into: conspiracies, aliens, time travel—everything fun. It was built in the 1950s in Landers,
CA by George Van Tassel. Great
Rock is nearby and it’s this massive rock that was at the center of a bunch of
underground rivers. The Native
Americans thought Great Rock had special powers and it was the center of a lot
of UFO conventions at that time.
Van Tassel and his wife built a hangout spot underneath Great Rock,
where a who’s who of science and celebrities, like Howard Hughes, would go and
have séances. One night during one
of these gatherings, George Van Tassel felt that he had received blueprints
from an alien power to build something, and he built what became
Integratron. The conspiracy story
is that right before he was about to go on a late night talk show to explain
what he had built, he mysteriously died alone in a hotel room. Shortly after, the government came to
Integratron, stole all the blueprints, took out everything except for the
structure itself, and no one’s ever seen them since. A lot of people think he was building a time machine or some
kind of teleportation device, like an intergalactic elevator. Some people thought it was the fountain
of youth, but no one will ever know, unless they de-classify the blueprints and
finish it. Now Integratron is used
primarily for sound baths, because it’s a perfect acoustic chamber. I was visiting Integratron and
Great Rock, and there’s a really weird vibe out there now. There was no one else there, except me,
my friends, and this sound bath person, and I played guitar and sang in the
center of Integratron, and that’s where the song came from.
AB: So, “You Do
It Well” references George Van Tassel’s work or the general vibe of Integratron
and Great Rock?
AJ: It’s not so much about Van Tassel. Great Rock was around long before he
found it. It’s more about the idea
that technology can be considered a god.
It’s about that kind of mindset.
AB: Saint Motel
has put out a lot of really fantastic music videos. What are your favorite music videos from other artists?
AJ: Pretty much
anything by Patrick Goddard, Keith Schofield, or Michel Gondry is always
amazing. Andreas Nilsson, the guy
that does all The Knife’s videos.
Those are all pretty amazing directors. I love music videos!
One of the first things I’ll do when I hear about a band is YouTube
them. I’ll either try to find a
music video or a live performance video.
I think that’s the best way to get to know a band.
AB: You had a
special guest join you on stage Saturday night at the El Rey and that kid had
some moves!
AJ: His name is Miles Brown and he is featured in our music
video for “Benny Goodman” that we will be releasing soon. We shot the video
three weeks ago, and the concept involved the origins of the Jackson 5. I needed someone to play a young
Michael type character, so I was looking for someone that was young, adorable,
and an amazing dancer. I did a lot
of research online and I found this video of Miles on The Ellen DeGeneres
Show. He actually invented a move
on set called ”The Benny Goodman”.
AB: When you’re not touring, LA is your home base. What are some of the things that you
love about LA?
AJ: I live downtown and I love downtown. I love the old architecture and the
restaurants and bars. I think it’s
a great area. The thing about LA
is that it’s so different from one area to the next. You kind of get everything you want in one city. There’s ocean, there’s mountains,
there’s the cool, hip area, there’s the expensive club area, and then there’s
the historic area. You have
everything you could ever want and you can always keep exploring new
things. Just when you think you’ve
seen everything, you realize you’re not even close. There’s all the museums, all the art galleries, all the
venues. You’ll never meet
everybody. You can run into the
same people, but at the same time, there’s always someone new to meet.
AB: Last May,
Saint Motel put on a Judgment Day concert at The Roxy. Can we look forward to an end of the world
concert on May 21st, 2012?
AJ: You know,
we talked about it before. So, who
knows? It’d be kind of funny—“The
Rapture Part Two: This Time For Reals”.
AB: I’m a
foodie, so I have to ask: If the world were actually ending, what would you
want for your last meal?
AJ: I don’t
know. Maybe, space ice cream?
AB: Did you just say “space ice cream”!?
AJ: Yeah! It lasts forever and it has a high
caloric value. It could keep you
alive for a little bit.
AB: Do you get
to pick flavors? Are there
options?
AJ: You’ve never had it?
AB: No!
AJ: You have to try it, like, tomorrow! It’s unbelievable! It comes in Neapolitan, so it’s
chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry.
AB: Something
for everyone.
AJ: Right. But make sure you don’t have an ice
cream sandwich or anything else for your first time. Make sure it just says “space ice cream”, not ice cream
sandwich, not space fries, not space pizza. Space ice cream.
AB: Have you
tried them all?
AJ: Yeah, it’s all garbage except for space ice cream. Space ice cream really is magical.
Great job Ash, their music is awesome... digging it.
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