Dayton, Ohio rockers Motel Beds are aptly named. Their brand of stripped-down indie rock is the exact kind of thing one can imagine blasting out the windows on a long road trip, crashing at the end of the day in a motel bed after filling one’s ears to the brim with catchy guitar riffs. There are certainly plenty of memorable guitar hooks on These are the Days Gone By, the band’s latest outing for the Misra label.
Tommy Cooper, guitarist and founding member of the band, says to PopMatters about the LP, “These Are the Days Gone By is a compendium of what we’ve been up to these latter years here in Dayton. We put this album together as a sort of introduction to the band, though it does have never-before-heard material, added instrumentation, all tracks were (re)mastered etc.
“We also lovingly curated the record to sound perfect on LP—we thought hard on the track order, made sure to employ appropriate-timed side splits, etc. The first 500 LPs are all hand-painted by the artists at We Care Arts and the standard version comes on clear vinyl. It should also be noted that all these songs were inspired by the bottomless feeling of loss the band experienced when we got word that Cap’n Bogey’s Golf ‘n’ Games would be closing here in Dayton … (I kid).
“All this said, Beds have been operating out of Dayton for years on end; this is our point of reference, as all five of us grew up here. The Gem City is a strange place and it has a strange music scene and we’re happy to be part of it. After doing the split 7″ with TORRES on Record Store Day and working on These Are the Days Gone By these last few months, we’re happy to be working on another new record. We’re also touring way more than we ever have before. Come out and see us! PJ (our frontman) will surely give you a big Midwestern hug!”
Motel Beds have added a whole other artistic dimension to These are the Days Gone By by commissioning the Dayton nonprofit We Care Arts, a non-profit that describes itself as dedicated to “changing disabilities into possibilities”, to hand-paint the first 500 copies of the LP. A portion of the proceeds from these LPs will go to benefit WCA.
Check out a promo video explaining the involvement of WCA in These Are the Days Gone By:
Examples of the meticulously crafted LP art can be seen below:
TOUR DATES
08/16/14 • Cleveland, OH • Beachland Tavern*
08/22/14 • Dayton, OH • Dayton Rock Revue @ Gilly’s**
08/26/14 • “THESE ARE THE DAYS GONE BY” RELEASE DATE
08/29/14 • Fort Wayne, IN • The Brass Rail***
08/30/14 • Daytrotter Session • Rock Island, IL
08/30/14 • Chicago, IL • The Empty Bottle^
08/31/14 • N. Manchester, IN • The Firehouse
09/12/14 • Athens, OH • Central Venue
09/13/14 • Pittsburgh, PA • The Smiling Moose
09/14/14 • Youngstown, OH • Historian Session
09/25/14 • Cincinnati, OH • Midpoint Music Fest
09/26/14 • New Bremen, OH • Pumpkin Fest
09/27/14 • Buffalo, NY • Buffalo Poetry & Art Fest
09/28/14 • Buffalo, NY • Silo Session
10/03/14 • Indianapolis, IN • Do317 Lounge
10/04/14 • Dayton, OH • Dayton Music Fest @ Bob’s
10/10/14 • Bloomington, IN • The Bishop^^
10/11/14 • St. Louis, MO • Plush
10/17/14 • Nashville, TN • The Stone Fox
10/18/14 • Forthcoming
10/24/14 • Cleveland, OH • Happy Dog
10/25/14 • Morgantown, WV • 123 Pleasant St.
10/31/14 • Dayton, OH • Halloween @ Bob’s^^^
11/01/14 • Athens, OH • Halloween @ Jackie O’s#
11/21/14 • Dayton, OH • U.D. @ McGinnis / ArtStreet
12/05/14 • Charleston, WV • The Empty Glass
12/06/14 • Washington D.C.
* w/ Dreadful Yawns
** w/ Speaking Suns, Manray, Tim Pritchard & The Boxcar Suite, M. Ross Perkins feat. Buffalo Killers, Swim Diver
*** w/ Orange Opera
^ w/ Dead Rider
^^ w/ Mike Adams at His Honest Weight
^^^ w/ Hex Net + Mike Adams at His Honest Weight
# w/ Hex Net