Crashing Hotels

There is an uncanny sonic similarity between the English band Fujiya and Miyagi and San Francisco electro-dance-rock outfit Crashing Hotels. The duo's newest single "Never More" was joined by an accompanying music video today featuring a young girl wandering the streets of New York, replete with a lot of hair whipping. The band, consisting of songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Ao Anderson and drummer Tony Bednar, dropped their debut album Advisory Act in 2014 and are currently gearing up for the release of their sophomore EP sometime this year. - SF Weekly

San Francisco based Crashing Hotels are Ao Anderson & Tony Bednar who debut the single “Never More” & the video from Anderson, Brian Chu, Terry Barentsen as a Werehaus Production, starring a feisty & fired up Anastasia Albert. As described further in our following featured interview with the Hotels, the exaltation of energy is placed on a pedestal taller than structure where the “Never More” exists like a rising weather event where all the involved elements build a prosodic and rhythmic entry into a cyclone of electric keys and heavy riffs.

The Werehaus visuals for “Never More” takes the SF group’s sound to the NYC streets, & subways following the lead of a pint-sized protagonist. Strolling up from the underground, Anastasia skips tough with a mean step while making up an impromptu dance to Crashing Hotels’ jam. From Slurpee pit-stops to mouthing the lyrics sternly into a cell phone; twirling maneuvers bring cause for temporary rest during the song’s break down, right before before bringing the real rage and running about for the song’s big finale. The can’t take it no more sentiments here stew from the stifling routines of city life that seek to break forward the humdrum mechanisms and systems that supplement and support the status quo. Read our interview with Crashing Hotels right after the following debut look & listen. - Impose

San Francisco’s Crashing Hotels is not a band. It is not an alter-ego. Crashing Hotels is a life-form of aural pleasure. Seeking the wormholes that lead to the listeners heart. Today, Crashing Hotels shares The new single “Never More”, which you can check out below. - Northern Transmissions

Interview with Ao Anderson about the glitter-party that was held for the video release of "Could Ever Be True. " - The Werehaus

"Electro-goth."

This is what San Francisco band Crashing Hotels dub their sound, and it's a classification that could easily place them in the same vein as an electro band like Cold Cave. But songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Ao Anderson and drummer Tony Bednar's project's is a brighter one; a dance rock vibe that relishes in the extravagance of life and despair isn't an option. Their essence is captured in the subject of today's post, "Could Ever Be True."


It's a danceable track with a vibrance and free spirit to it, that still gives rise to an underlying darkness; a darkness that's appealing and draws you closer to the sound; a sound that makes you open your eyes as wide as they go until all you can do is move with the music. Crashing Hotels have painted these feelings in the track's new video, directed by Brian Chu from San Francisco production company The Werehaus.

The video has an overt Fear and Loathing vibe, where the appetite for consumption keeps escalating into cinematic glory through the cryptic depths of the Mojave Desert. A theme of broken glass and windows, in and out of the desert's ominous structures, sets the tone for a harrowing trip into Sin City. Once the video's story arc leaves the desert and arrives in Las Vegas, it explores themes of passion, hedonism, and the frothy opulence that Vegas exudes.

A pristine billboard with the words "The Future Is Bright" gloss a frame before a gorgeous Cadillac becomes the vessel for the cavalcade into Vegas and the words never leave your brain when considering the trip that these promising artists could be on.

We're excited to bring you the video premiere below and hit up the Crashing Hotels website to RSVP for the video premiere party this Saturday at Heron Arts in SOMA.

Enjoy the ride. - SF Weekly

Crashing Hotels
DJ Turf Yard was preheating the room upon arrival with a mix of soul cuts and singalongs, and the space swelled as the house lights darkened for Crashing Hotels. Behind props that included pulsating light rectangles, a smoking pyramid and a large television repeating a dizzying sequence of colors and shapes, Ao and Tony took the stage to an air of bemused intrigue. Most patrons came to see the headliners, but us early birds certainly got the best worms as the duo's motherboard of music dug electro-goth grubs from the cold earth. From behind a Heisenberg's uncertainty principle quantum fluctuation of sound that was constantly changing direction, Ao's nebulous vocals wiggled to the foreground. Songs ebbed and flowed like a king tide, washing in to flood your ears before receding back into the Bay. Impassioned shrieks and sporadic guitar noodling cut in with a serrated edge, and during more up-beat tunes Ao hunched over his keyboards shaking bleach-tipped dreads that stirred the crowd like an eggbeater.

“If I could make movies, I would make movies but I can't make movies and I still need that energy to get out of me," Ao said backstage after his set. “I'm not really a musician, I'm just kind of like a daydreamer.” Dream on. - SF Weekly

One thing you learn when you listen to submissions from aspiring musicians is that there are A TON of electronic composers out there, but it’s very difficult to stand out from the pack. Here are some of our favorite submissions we’ve gotten lately that at dip into the electronica genre.

Crashing Hotels may have the most conventional sound you’ll hear in this post, but I’ve had the “Hey man, that’s a cool, cool car” line stuck in my head for days. Others are already noticing – they’ve been added to a sold-out Noise Pop show, opening for Cathedrals at the Independent. - The Bay Bridged