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Unsigned518 - Episode 141 - The Motorbabies · Unsigned518

• 0:01
  Speaker A: He was born on a Saturday in.
• 0:03
  Speaker B: 73 he loves park rock music. Fighting the 13th cabin in the desert rocky now on the beach guitar with a short whip radio back his motherfucking Andy scolding look at motherfucker cuz here he comes Andy scrolling, wearing his orange.
• 0:26
  Speaker A: Hat welcome to unsigned 518. I am here with motor Babies. How's it going?
• 0:32
  Speaker C: It's going great.
• 0:34
  Speaker A: So we're gonna start over. And you know, I always say it's not a visual podcast, but I say to my left, we'll start and just introduce yourself and what you do in the band and we'll run right down the line.
• 0:44
  Speaker C: My name is Tia. I play guitar, rhythm guitar, and I sing and I write a lot of the songs.
• 0:52
  Speaker D: Yeah, I am Zane. I play guitar and I write some riffs and stuff.
• 0:56
  Speaker E: I'm Sebastian. I play drums. I help with the guitar parts sometimes, but, yeah, that's it.
• 1:01
  Speaker A: So. And I don't know who wants to take the lead or if y'all just want to jump in, but I guess kind of go back to the origin story of motor babies, like, how it all came together.
• 1:14
  Speaker E: Well, we all knew each other in, like, high school or middle school. Middle school, I'd say. Yeah, we all knew each other for a while.
• 1:23
  Speaker C: Yeah, it was like, actually, the funny thing is the name the motorbabies comes from. In freshman year of high school, Zane and I started a band with some of our friends from then. And I suggested the name the motorbabies, and they were like, ew, no. And I was like, you know what? Fuck you. I'm gonna keep this name.
• 1:41
  Speaker A: You know, it was funny is. Cause I actually like. And I even. I made this reel where, like, I was getting a lot of, like, attention that, like, people thought, like, my show was in a production studio. It's a long story. But anyway, your message went into, like, my. My quote unquote junk message that I had been going through and I had been fucking mass deleting all of them because none of them were relevant. And it was the name that made me go, oh, wait, what's this? And then I looked and I went, oh, they're from Albany. And then I was, like, moved to the regular inbox. Oh, yeah, good job on the name, because otherwise it might have gotten lost to the. The pit of the spam folder.
• 2:25
  Speaker C: I know. I like the name. I like the name. And then basically it became a real band last summer when we were just getting ready for a one off gig that Zane and I were just gonna play with some other friends. For fun. And then that gig fell through because of all the smoke in the air, if you remember that. Oh, yeah, it was supposed to be. And so then we just. And then Sebastian joined because our drummer was afraid to play drums, and so then we just started messing around, the three of us. Cause we had nothing else to do, and it became a real thing.
• 3:06
  Speaker A: And so, you know, when you're saying, you know, guitar. Guitar and drums, do you not have bass?
• 3:13
  Speaker E: Funny story.
• 3:14
  Speaker C: We had one bassist who didn't play bass. She was just our friend, and then she was like, I don't play bass. So she left, and then we had another bassist for a while, but he. He's really great, but he was in, like, three other bands, and so he was like, I can't do this. So we are floating right now. We don't have a bassist, but we'll find one.
• 3:36
  Speaker A: Yeah. Is that something. I mean, is that a spot that you're looking to fill, or are you.
• 3:40
  Speaker E: Yes, but we can function without one.
• 3:42
  Speaker A: Right.
• 3:43
  Speaker D: Right.
• 3:43
  Speaker E: For the time being.
• 3:44
  Speaker A: Well, because that's another thing, too, is, like, a lot of times, you know, it's local musicians mostly that listen to the show. So, like, you know, if anybody is a bass player, like.
• 3:53
  Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, yeah. We're looking for one. Enjoy that.
• 3:56
  Speaker A: So as far as gig, you know, you were talking, like, one off gig that. That it all, like, kind of came together for that. Are you currently, like, doing gigs?
• 4:06
  Speaker D: We actually have a show tonight at Wizard Burger. We're playing tonight.
• 4:11
  Speaker C: Yeah. But we've been. We've been gigging this summer. We started gigging in, like, the winter of this past year. Okay. But, like, since we're all in school, like, it was really just, like, on breaks. And then our first gig was acoustic, and it was not. Not us, but, like, eventually we got there where we were playing, like, son of egg. We played son of egg a bunch. Yeah. And stuff like that.
• 4:37
  Speaker A: And I love that with it starting out, like, with acoustic or, like, you know, working with what you have and, like, how you said, like, it wasn't us. Like, you know, you weren't there. But the tenacity to push through it and know that something's coming out on the other side definitely is fantastic. Just work with what you got at the moment, and then something will come together.
• 4:57
  Speaker C: Yeah. Our goal with that, we were just like, we gotta sell it enough that people want to hear it plugged in. Like, yeah, I.
• 5:05
  Speaker A: And so as far as songs, like songwriting, who does. You were saying? I'll kind of help with the guitar. Stuff and the riffs. And how does the songwriting process work with you guys?
• 5:20
  Speaker C: I'm the most into songwriting of all of us, but I am not a riff writer. I've written a few riffs that have made it into the bandaid, but, like, mostly that's been building off of stuff that they do. They will come to me with stuff, and then I'll be like, okay, put it. Put this part here. Put that part there. Put this part here, and then we'll fight about it.
• 5:44
  Speaker A: That's the best. That's how you know. And it's always. It's what serves the song, you know? Yeah, that's what. You gotta keep it. What serves the song.
• 5:51
  Speaker C: Yeah. And then I write the lyrics mostly. Sebastian writes some lyrics, too, though.
• 5:57
  Speaker E: Barely. They were here and there on some of my own stuff.
• 6:01
  Speaker C: Mm hmm. But you'll come to me with. You'll come to me with stuff, and I'll build off of it. I get ideas from that, for sure.
• 6:08
  Speaker A: Do you find, like, I guess, a common goal between, like, the. The three of you? Like, what you're. What you're working for in the band where you want to take it, or is it still, like, in that?
• 6:21
  Speaker E: Not at all. Argue about this all the time.
• 6:23
  Speaker D: Yeah. I feel like we all want something a little bit different out of this band, and we do it for different reasons, which sometimes works against us in songwriting, but I think it's ultimately a good thing because we all bring different influences. I think it's cool.
• 6:36
  Speaker C: Oh, yeah. Like, it's. It definitely is something that changes what. What we do, but it. I really love it, because often I will find that the songs become something that, like, that just. They did not start as. Because we all put in different goals into them. Like, a few of our songs, I remember Zayn came with this metal type riff, and I was like, that's fire, but I don't know what to do with this. And I was like. I started doing acoustic pop folk rock stuff, and I was like, you know what? I'm just gonna write some shit about how this feels so phallic. And then it. And I love. And it's like. It just. I don't know. It adds something to it that we all are, like, doing different things, if that makes sense.
• 7:36
  Speaker A: It does, because, I mean, sometimes songwriting works well when everybody's like, hey, let's do this, and it's like, yes, let's all do this. But, like, sometimes you need, you know, obviously not too much because it'll pull apart, but if you get, like, that little bit of different direction tension. That's literally what, like, holds the shit together, you know?
• 7:56
  Speaker C: Yeah.
• 7:57
  Speaker A: Like, it's just a different. Different design in the songwriter.
• 8:01
  Speaker C: And then, like, often we will have practices where we're like, oh, I want to do a song that's like this. I want to do a song that's like this. I want to do a song like that. Like this. And then we'll end up sort of mashing them all together, and it creates really cool sounds that I'm proud of. Yeah. And I'm proud of them for, like, working with it. They're really good at it. They're really good at taking my shit when I'm like, oh, I want to sing like this, I want to do this.
• 8:30
  Speaker E: She is incredibly hard to work with.
• 8:32
  Speaker C: Oh, my God, you're blazing me.
• 8:39
  Speaker A: So how many songs, you know, and I know, and we'll get to the latest single later, but, like, at this point, like, how much of a catalog are you putting together and are you. Are you planning on recording, like, albums or.
• 8:53
  Speaker C: Oh, yeah, yeah. Like, it's all working towards an album.
• 8:59
  Speaker E: We probably got, like, twelve to 15 songs.
• 9:03
  Speaker C: Yeah, something like that. And some of them were like, these definitely go together, and then these kind of go together, and then there's, like, little gaps we're filling. And it's interesting. It's all sort of gotten similar themes going with it, and so I feel like it's on its way.
• 9:22
  Speaker A: Do you think? Cause one of the things that I like is hearing all the songs and being like, which ones work together? Which ones have this style's a little more forward. Do you find that's fun in categorizing and trying to put the songs together?
• 9:38
  Speaker C: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. And that is a big part of how I write lyrics, too, is I'm like, this song has similarities to this one, but it, like, takes it in this direction, so I should sort of take the idea I talked about on there, but, like, spin it in something that goes along with that and, um.
• 9:54
  Speaker E: Metaphysical type shit.
• 9:56
  Speaker C: Yeah, metaphysical type shit. Um, I think I. You guys can say something on this, but I think doing that, all of us, and, like. Cause we do that with the music, too, where we'll be like, we did something like this on this song. We should take this sort of idea in a direction, a different direction. And I think it has grown all of our interests in being in the band. I think it's, like, made us all want new things, too. Not that they're the same still, but.
• 10:31
  Speaker E: Yeah, we're ever expanding, always trying new stuff.
• 10:35
  Speaker A: That almost seems like a film director's view on songwriting. You know what I mean? To take a piece and be like, let me take a little piece out of here and put it in here and construct something different around it. I've never thought of writing songs that way. I'm like. And I'm not the chief songwriter in my band, but I'm going to be like, hey, guys, what if you. What if you took a piece of this song and started a fucking new one over here with it?
• 11:06
  Speaker C: I'm just a philosophy major. I like to.
• 11:08
  Speaker A: Oh, no shit.
• 11:08
  Speaker C: I like to, like, perseverate on things.
• 11:14
  Speaker A: I mean, being a philosophy major is probably a major leg up in songwriting. You know what I mean? Cause you can say subtle shit that people are gonna be like, wow. And other people are gonna be like, wait, she read that in a textbook?
• 11:29
  Speaker C: Yeah. Also, some of it just absolutely does not make sense. And I'm like, I know. Nobody knows what this means except for me.
• 11:38
  Speaker A: Yeah, I feel that a lot. So you have, at this point, a dozen or so original songs. You're seeking a full time basis. You're thinking of putting them in an album. Like, when you record the album, do you have. Are there plans? Like, not just distant plans, but is there anything date wise, like, when you're gonna record it and follow up? Question, are you gonna try to find a session musician to play bass on it, or one of you guys gonna handle it?
• 12:12
  Speaker E: Well, I was thinking we have some of the songs recorded for the main album we're working towards. We also have an ep we wanna get done, but that's probably gonna be done, like, next summer, realistically. Or just sometime when we have time.
• 12:30
  Speaker A: Yeah. And, I mean, you know, no shame in that. Cause we all gotta understand that, like, on this show and, like, most of the musicians I talk to have tons of other things to do before the music gets to take a precedence. You know what I mean? You have school and jobs and I family and, you know.
• 12:49
  Speaker E: So, yeah, these two were going to school very soon, so, yes, we kind of have to put this whole thing on pause a little bit until next summer, which sucks. But, yeah.
• 12:59
  Speaker D: Yeah, hopefully we'll keep writing when we're all in school. I mean, it worked really well last semester because I go to school in Rochester, and we use the studio there to record, and that's where we recorded the single. But it's a little different this year because she's going all the way out to DC.
• 13:13
  Speaker A: Oh, wow.
• 13:13
  Speaker C: Yeah. And then the school I'm going to does not have a studio. So it's like, I couldn't even ship them up there for that.
• 13:21
  Speaker A: You could probably find. There's probably down there. You never know. You might find someone who's got one that you could just do some stuff. But I still love that, that you're understanding that there's going to be a hiatus, but you're using it as a working hiatus, and I think that'll help when you come back because you'll come back with fire to play, you know, and you'll have all these ideas and.
• 13:45
  Speaker D: Like, that's the goal.
• 13:46
  Speaker C: Yeah. Like, the last year, while Zane was at school, I spent a lot of time just thinking about, like, what am I going to write about when we get to write together? And, like, what am I, what do I want to do with this?
• 13:59
  Speaker A: And, yeah, yeah, there is a lot of stuff that can be done, like, cerebrally, you know what I mean? See, big word. Like, you know, just like, sitting at my desk, you know, doing. I do social media for a day job, so it's not like I'm doing anything fucking, you know, life saving or anything, but, you know, like, when I'm, like, sitting there editing photos, a lot of the times I'm doing the same thing, being like, oh, what could I? You know, you start by an idea in your head and then it builds excitement. And then when I get home, I grab my base and I'm like, oh, see if it will. See if that idea that was in my head works.
• 14:32
  Speaker C: Yeah, yeah.
• 14:33
  Speaker A: A lot of times it doesn't, but, you know, yeah. So you have, you know, plans for an album. You've got the songs, you're gonna continue to write the songs. So, I mean, who knows? By the time you get back together and get ready to record, you know, you may have a whole new batch of songs and you may put, you know, put out a double album or something. You know, I'm a fan of that. Hell yeah. But we are gonna hear the single. And again, this is, at the moment, the only thing that's released. But it is released on everything. Correct. Like on Spotify and Apple music. Yeah, all the good places. So we're gonna play that song and then make sure that you follow motor babies and get ready for the comeback when you come back because I think it'll be great. But anyway, what is the name of the single that we're gonna heard of all the angels? And is there anything you want to tell us about the song or the recording of it before we hear it.
• 15:37
  Speaker E: Good question.
• 15:39
  Speaker A: Thanks, man.
• 15:44
  Speaker C: This was our first song. This was the first song that was a motor baby song. And I wrote it before we ever, like, I wrote most of it, the idea for it before we were a band. And then I very, like, I was like, oh, we need a song. So I just, like, turned it into this. And I was like, you guys wanna play this? So it's. We have moved in a different direction, but I really like what it captures of us. Like, we've grown since then, but it's. The songwriting is what shines on it. Not to toot my own horn, but, like. I agree, but they both also, in what they're playing, you can see them adding to that sort of stuff. And, yeah, I think that's what really shines on that song.
• 16:30
  Speaker A: All right, so let's check out all the angels motor babies, and then we'll be right back to wrap it up.
• 17:06
  Speaker B: Shame you'll never taste the eclipse bleeding me try to the lights go down but I will be alright when the lights go out sure that you would even want if you always know the tight settling for your house for the flies dancing with burning in your eyes? You're too scared to even look back. Only hate shows on the fight they got everything. You can hold me right? Drinking and you got out why be scared if you were inside? The secrets I keep getting me through? Looking through me thinking star nights out. You know I've never been doing so well if I'm falling well, only while it lasted it was all in your bathroom. Your bathroom for your life can't clean you up. Only had shows on the bible. You can always break my drinking and I can make you see how you want to do what I can so ever you can please fight only hate shows on fight you can hold me.
• 22:11
  Speaker A: All right, that was all the angel motor babies. And I want to thank you so much for taking time out of your day to drive all the way up here and do this with me. I really appreciate it. And before we go, just like with all my guests, I want to give you a chance to say what I refer to as your gratitude. So, Sebastian, if you want to start it off.
• 22:30
  Speaker E: All right, real quick, I'd like to give a shout out to Czr entertainment, sanctum productions, Albany rock pit, tummy rub studios. Yeah, that's it.
• 22:43
  Speaker D: Cool. Thanks to my parents for supporting me, obviously. And thanks to Tia's parents for giving us the place to practice. That's cool. And to Sebastian's parents for driving us around. And again, thanks to CZR and sanctum for having us and putting on shows for us. And thank you for having us here.
• 23:03
  Speaker A: Absolutely.
• 23:04
  Speaker C: Yeah. I'd like to thank my parents for listening to us play twenty four seven, and my neighbors for putting up with that too. And my brother for putting up with that. I'd like to thank my mom for driving us around. I'd like to thank these guys for putting up with my bullshit all the time. CZr Entertainment sanctum, our friends in happy birthday, James and Gollum, and cps for supporting all of us and also just being awesome. All of them are awesome. And then check out cps if you haven't. And then I'd like to thank you for having us here and everybody for listening.
• 23:52
  Speaker A: Alright, so they are motor babies. I am Andy Scullen. This is unsigned 518 and I'll see you on the road. Unsigned 518 is produced and hosted by me, Andy Scullen. New episodes are available every week wherever you stream podcasts. If you'd like to help support the show, please like and subscribe wherever you are listening. Or you could buy me a coffee@buymeacoffee.com. unsigned 518 if you would like to advertise on the show, send me an email at Unsigned five one eight mail.com and to be a guest on the show, reach out to me through Instagram Unsigned 518 take care of one another and I'll see you next week.
• 24:34
  Speaker B: Andy Scarlett, Andy Scullin.