Motor Gun Hotel
Anaheim, California, United States | SELF
Music
Press
Motor Gun Hotel vocalist Jimi Craig lives and breathes rock 'n' roll. Without the sweet sounds of the devil's music, the 26-year-old, who already lives a fast life filled with temptation and opportunity, says he would truly be lost.
Craig was recently featured, along with his band Motor Gun Hotel, on Fuse's documentary-style show "Rock Bottom," the purpose of which is to give troubled musicians on the brink of success a chance to clean up their act. Its debut episode chronicled Craig's drug and alcohol use as well as the growing frustrations of his band mates, bassist Phil Luth, 21, and drummer Wendy Rose, 22.
On TV, Craig was portrayed as being completely out of control, drinking heavily and popping Valium, Xanax and OxyContin like handfuls of candy. Yet, although he admits he's no angel, he contends that a lot of what was on-screen was exaggerated for the sake of dramatic television.
"I had already come a long way with my addiction before we were approached to do the show," he says. "When they brought the idea to us, I was real hesitant because it just seemed weird to do a show like that. But after hearing a full story line from a producer, I said, '(Bleep) it, it's going to be a lot of publicity for the band, so I'll do it."
As a consolation prize for doing the show, the Anaheim band did get a huge push, though Craig had to spend six weeks in a rehab facility in Northern California.
"They spent like $45,000 to put me in a rehab in this giant cabin out in the beautiful redwoods, and I met a lot of people and l learned a lot about addiction, so it was all worth it," he says. "I wouldn't change the experience either, because after the show aired and we saw that they didn't make us look like complete (bleepin') idiots. We were happy."
Craig says that after the show aired, on Oct. 4, Motor Gun Hotel started to get loads of mail and friend requests on its MySpace page. Most of the feedback was supportive, asking where T-shirts and CDs could be purchased. The band put up a notice on its site telling fans to mail them checks if they wanted merchandise.
"By like Oct. 13 and 14 we started getting all these checks in the mail," Craig says. "But we didn't have any merch, so we found ourselves hauling it to get some shirts made, and we pressed some CDs ourselves, and we were taking all of this stuff to the post office to send to all sorts of random states. We never thought people would actually send us money."
After the band agreed to do the Fuse show, the company sent out a press blast alerting local media that Motor Gun Hotel would appear on the premiere. Craig says the phone immediately started ringing and songs began getting airtime on KLOS and KROQ's "Locals Only" program.
"It really did end up getting us some bigger shows and a lot of exposure. We've done a lot of stuff with KROQ and we're supposed to go into the studio soon for an interview on 'Locals Only.' We're excited about that."
In the beginning, Craig was skeptical about who he wanted to let into his band. After breaking away from another group, he went off into his own world and started writing, emerging with "Motor Gun Hotel," a song about hard living and desperation.
"After I wrote (that) I knew that it had to be the band name," he says. "It came from my childhood and growing up with parents who were pretty wild and partied a lot. I guess since I watched my parents go through all of that, that's why I think I'm so comfortable with how I am now."
Craig wanted to continue to make music, so he enlisted the talents of Luth and the duo soon auditioned drummers, although they were dissatisfied with their choices. Then Luth mentioned that a girl in his jazz combo class at Fullerton College might fit the bill.
"When he said that I was like, 'No way, man, I don't want a female in the band.' I was set against it because I didn't want there being any drama. But he convinced me to let her try, and we clicked right away. I was like, 'Damn, this girl is really, really good.'"
And now Wendy Rose and Craig are dating. (So she couldn't have been that bad.)
Motor Gun Hotel is currently working on booking more shows, writing new music and creating videos for YouTube and MySpace. Craig says the band is trying to plan a tour for spring, and he reports that the trio has just been asked to play the two-day Rock on the Range festival in Ohio, headlined by the likes of Godsmack, Rob Zombie and Stone Temple Pilots.
"Six months ago it was really hard, but things are starting to get a little easier for the band," he says. "We are busier and we're getting more recognition, which comes with a little bit of pay, so we've been able to take care of ourselves better lately. We can at least buy breakfast and dinner." - KELLI SKYE FADROSKI
Discography
Motor Gun Hotel E.P. 'MGH'
Photos
Bio
Living on the edge is a way of life in the rock n’ roll world - ask Motor Gun Hotel frontman and guitarist Jimmy Craig about this and his life is displayed within his lyrics. In fact, the band name came from a moment in his life which ironically is also one of his song titles.
After shuffling around various bands over the, he began writing a collection of songs on his own and auditioning different musicians. He found bassist Phil Luth and drummer Wendy Rose, both who were instantly sold on Motor Gun Hotel’s bluesy yet high energy rock n’roll sound.
" ‘Motor Gun Hotel’ became the name of our band because of a song I wrote in 2004 of the same title. The song is about growing up fast around a lot of bikers and living in and out of hotels throughout my childhood. Once I wrote the song, the title stuck out to me. Ironically, at that time, I was looking to form another band. I had been searching for a good band name that explained where I came from and where I was going. I thought ‘Motor Gun Hotel’ explained it all, and would be a perfect name for this new band I had envisioned,” explained Jimmy.
The trio began playing shows throughout Southern California and instantly built a dedicated fan base, opening for such bands as Death By Stereo, Green Jello, and Vanilla Ice. Their hard work helped them get selected to perform on the 2009 Sunset Strip Music Festival at the Cat Club.
In 2005, Motor Gun Hotel recorded their first CD with producer Dave Waterbury (former Spirit bassist) at Waterbury Productions. From those sessions, filmmakers Arie and Mark Van Schyndel included the song ‘Soul Pilot’ in their film, “Two Wheel Terrors.”
In 2006, the band recorded their second CD at The Sound Kitchen in Nashville, Tennessee with engineer JR McNeely (Paramore, Underoath). Songs such as ‘Lift Off’ and ‘How’s It Going’ gained airplay in Southern California on Kat Corbett’s ‘Locals Only’ show on KROQ 106.7 FM, as well as being featured on the station’s 2008 Compilation CD as well as playing several station sponsored events at the Slide Bar in Fullerton, CA. Other regionally syndicated radio shows such as the Frosty Heidi & Frank Show on KLSX FM 97.1 featured them on their ‘Should I Stay Or Should I Go’ segment, as well as the Mark & Brian show on 95.5 KLOS FM. A buzz about Motor Gun Hotel helped attract FUSE TV to feature them in a biography about upcoming rock bands called ‘Rock Bottom’ in 2008. They were featured in publications such as the OC Weekly, the Orange County Register, and Live OC Magazine, which further spread the band’s name.
In 2009, the band recorded a third CD with Waterbury at Waterbury Productions once again. Motor Gun Hotel was selected as the only unsigned nominated act for the 2009 Orange County Music Awards’ Best Metal Band of the Year category, amongst a list of nominees such as Avenged Sevenfold, Bleeding Through and Atreyu. They also were nominated in 2010’s Los Angeles Music Awa rds’ Best Hard Rock Band.
Links
