Lady Amelia writesAn Interview with Savoy Motel

[photo by Semi Song]

CHIRP volunteer Amelia Hruby met up with Nashville band Savoy Motel in July before their show at the Empty Bottle where they were opening for Royal Headache. Their debut LP/CD will be out October 21st on What's Your Rupture? And you can see them in Chicago opening for the Dandy Warhols on 9/24.

Amelia: Have you guys been to Chicago before?

Jeffrey: It’s our third time. We played here [the Empty Bottle] with the Black Lips and we’ve played at the East Room.

Amelia: Did you enjoy those shows?

Jeffrey: Yeah, it was great. The last time we played here with the Black Lips. It was a sold out show, and it was our Chicago debut and our third or fourth out of town show.

Amelia: How long have you guys been playing together as a band?

Dillon: About two years. We started recording two years ago, and we recorded for six months before we played the first show. We had two records done when we did our first show, but we practiced quite a bit. We wanted to make sure that the live set was its own thing.

Amelia: So, I read that you’ve recorded three records now but haven’t released them. Can you tell me a little bit about that process?

Jeffrey: The third record will be our debut. But honestly no one was interested in the first two.

Jessica: The third album evolved to sound more like we sound live. Because we were all more involved in the making of it. The first two were kind of more … not solo projects, but they were more Jeffrey’s [music].

Dillon: We also spent more time on the third album. Not that we rushed through the first two, but for guitar alone we spent months recording. Jeffrey recorded the records as well. He produced them, and we spent three days on the “Hot Ones” solo. Just on that one part, we spent two or three days, trying to make sure it was the best it can be.

Amelia: And that album will be out ….

Jeffrey: October 21st

Amelia: Will you guys be doing a tour surrounding that album?

Jessica: Yeah, we’ll be back in Chicago in September. We’re opening for the Dandy Warhols on their big tour.

Amelia: So what are you all doing with the rest of your summer?

Dillon: This is our only out of town show until the Dandy Warhols tour.

Mimi: So we’ll be playing Nashville and hanging out.

Amelia: What do you like about Nashville? How do you find the Nashville music scene?

Jessica: Plenty of places to play. There’s a show most nights of the week and people are starting to come there more. In the years past a lot of people would pass up Nashville because there wasn’t really a demand for rock music, but in the last five or six years it’s started to make a comeback, and there’s a really active scene there now. Tons of young kids starting bands and us old folks still rocking it.

Amelia: Last question, so the B-side of the single you put out before your upcoming album is called “Souvenir Shop Rock.” What is one of your favorite things you’ve ever bought at a souvenir shop?

Mimi: Chattering teeth, definitely.

Jessica: I’m thinking a hermit crab and that has to be the best thing I’ve ever bought at a souvenir shop because I’m extremely utilitarian and generally avoid those things.

Dillon: Airbrushed t-shirt or something like that. We used to go to Florida every summer when I was a kid, and I would always get a different one.

Jeffrey: I really liked this wallet/knife combo they used to sell at Opryland. I didn’t actually have one, but my best friend in kindergarten did. My parents wouldn’t let me have a knife yet, but it was also part of a change purse that was made out of fake leather and seemed extremely unsafe. I’d love to see one again, because it barely qualified as a knife or a wallet, but it had the Opryland logo on it and would probably look really cool now. I mean, but what purpose does this serve?