The Motels are a New Wave music band from the Los Angeles area best known for "Only the Lonely" and "Suddenly Last Summer", both of which peaked at #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1982 and 1983, respectively. Their song "Total Control" reached #4 on the Australian charts in 1980. Martha Davis, the lead singer, reformed a version of the band called "The Motels featuring Martha Davis" in 1998; as of 2010[update] she continues to appear under that name with various line-ups of musicians.
First incarnation
The Motels
The first incarnation of The Motels formed in Berkeley, California, in 1971.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). 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. The band acquired two new members around this time to fill vital slots: Richard D'Andrea on bass and Robert Newman on drums.
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 titled Radio Free Hollywood, held at the old theatre, Troupers Hall.[citation needed] Prior to this show, few if any unsigned bands played local high profile clubs like the Whisky and The Roxy. The band guested on Rodney Bingenheimer's popular radio show and, after recording a demo for Warner Bros. Records, 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. 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 Bros. 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. Lisa Brenneis has written a series of books about Final Cut Pro editing software and grows pixie tangerines in Ojai, California.
Second incarnation
In March 1978, Davis and lead guitarist Jeff Jourard (formerly of a pre-fame version of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers) decided to reform The Motels. Extensive auditions resulted in a new line-up of the band being formed, consisting of Jourard's brother Marty, who played both the saxophone and keyboards, Michael Goodroe on bass, and Brian Glascock on drums.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 that they were almost considered the house band. The Motels began to draw faithful crowds around the L.A. music scene and on Mother's Day 1979 the group signed with Capitol Records, releasing their debut album The Motels four months later. Their first single, "Closets and Bullets", made no impact on the charts, but their second single release, "Total Control", found its way to the Top 20 in France and the Top 10 in Australia.
In 1980 Jourard was replaced as lead guitarist by Davis' boyfriend Tim McGovern and the band went back into the recording studio to record their second album, Careful. Released in June 1980, the album climbed to the #45 spot on the Billbaord Top LPs & Tapes chart in the U.S. In Europe and the UK, the songs "Days Are OK" and "Whose Problem?" became Top 50 hits; "Whose Problem?" was also a top hit in Australia and "Danger" was a Top 20 hit in France.
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".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 band members forged on to finish recording the new album, utilizing studio musicians to fill in for McGovern on 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 was released on April 5, 1982 under the title All Four One.[9]
All Four One (1982) was the band's best-selling album.
The first single from All Four One was "Only the Lonely", which reached #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #6 on the Billboard Top Tracks chart. The song "Mission of Mercy" also received enough airplay to reach #23 on the Top Tracks chart.In addition, two other singles, "Take the L" and "Forever Mine", also managed to reach the Billboard Hot 100. The release of All Four One, the band's first successful U.S. album, coincided with the emergence of MTV, which led to music videos being created for both "Only the Lonely" and "Take the L". Davis won an award in the Best Performance in a Music Video category at the American Music Awards in 1982 for her performance in the "Only the Lonely" video. During 1982, the band added keyboardist/guitarist Scott Thurston to their touring line-up.
Producer Val Garay was now firmly in control of album and video production for the band and had also become their new manager, following the band's decision to dispense with their previous management company, Fritz Turner Management. The Motels returned to the recording studio in February 1983 and released the album Little Robbers later that same year. The first single from the album, "Suddenly Last Summer", was a Top 10 hit in the United States, with the album eventually going gold in America, Canada, and a number of other countries. In January 1983 the band appeared on Saturday Night Live. In August 1983, at the insistence of 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.Drummer Platshon was dropped and Glascock resumed his spot on the drum chair. The band continued performing under new management and they recorded songs for two film soundtracks: "Long Day" was recorded for Moscow on the Hudson and "In the Jungle" was recorded for Teachers. By mid-summer the band were back in the recording studio working on new material.
In late 1984, Capitol Records brought in producer Richie Zito, in an attempt to maintain the band's commercialism. After more than a year of recording, the group finally released their fifth album, Shock, in September 1985. The first single from the album was "Shame", which reached #21 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #10 on the Top Rock Tracks chart in the U.S. Two other singles were taken from the album: the title-track "Shock" and "Icy Red", with the former peaking at #84 on the Billboard chart. From early 1986 to February 1987 The Motels worked on songs for a planned sixth album. However, on February 13, 1987, Martha Davis took each member of the band in turn to a local bar to notify them that she had decided to dissolve the band and go solo.
All of the members of the 1982—1987 line-up of the band reunited in 2004 for an appearance on VH1's Bands Reunited; rejoining Davis were Michael Goodroe, Marty Jourard, Brian Glascock and Adrian Peritore (aka Guy Perry).
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 #8 hit in Australia with "Don't Tell Me the Time",[citation needed] but in the U.S. the song only reached #80. the album's critical reception was lukewarm, with many reviewers praising Davis' voice but noting that the album sounded lightweight and lacking atmospheric punch. Soon afterwards, Davis asked to be released from her contract with Capitol Records.
After leaving Capitol, Davis focused on different music styles and recorded songs for several film soundtracks but it appeared as if her music career was winding down.In the early 1990s she began performing occasional surprise gigs which found her experimenting with new songs that she had written.
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 group began calling themselves Martha Davis and The Motels in March 1998. After 1998, the line-up consisted of Mic Taras on lead guitar, Angelo Barbera on bass, Kevin Bowen on keyboards, Michael Barbera on keyboards/saxophone, and Jason Loree on drums. The repertoire performed at these gigs consisted almost entirely of new material. In 2001 the band changed to a compact, four piece ensemble with Davis and Taras being accompanied by Fritz Lewak (drums) and David Sutton (bass). 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).
In 2005 Davis and the new Motels released an independent CD titled So the Story Goes which sold out. Sony Records also released a live album titled Standing Room Only, which was recorded live in 2006 at the famed Coach House Club in San Juan Capistrano. The Motels featuring Martha Davis also appeared on the U.S. version of Hit Me, Baby, One More Time and toured the U.S. and Australia in 2007. Martha Davis performed at Seattle's Teatro ZinZanni in 2005, 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 1970s and 1980s acts for the Australian concert series Countdown Spectacular 2. Her second solo album So the Story Goes, which featured many members of the new Motels, was released in 2005.
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 Davis solo material, including new recordings of "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 of which was a darkly autobiographical journey through Davis' life.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 members continue to play in the band in a mix-and-match arrangement depending on the venue.
At the end of 2009 and the beginning of 2010, Davis made available two direct to download releases, one of which, "Mr. Grey", was a single from her forthcoming album, currently known as the Jazz CD.She followed this release with a album of children's songs titled Red Frog Presents: 16 Songs for Parents and Children which was released on January 20, 2010, while work on her Jazz CD continued.Martha Davis and the Motels still tour and record, and they have plans for more music releases in the future.
