Hotel Neon 10: Reworks
Reflecting on 10 years of music with Hotel Neon
Long-time listeners and acquaintances will know that I play in a band called Hotel Neon with my twin brother, Mike, and our best friend, Steven. Incredibly, our debut self-titled album is turning 10 years old on July 30, so I’ve been in an extra introspective and nostalgic mood these days. It feels like yesterday (but also a lifetime ago) that we put that tape into the world. The memories from that time are vivid, even if our lives have changed significantly since then.
Some may be interested to know that to mark the occasion, we are releasing a re-recorded version of the album this month, mastered by Rafael Anton Irisarri and issued through one of my favorite labels, Fluid Audio. You will definitely want to sign up for the mailing list to be notified of the release. Dan, Jess, and Craig produce some of the most beautiful handmade CD packages you’ll find, and their support of our music has been an important part of our journey as a band. They’ve released multiple albums from us over the years and consistently given us a platform, so it feels fitting to return to the label again for this project: our 4th release with them, and first since All is Memory was issued on New Year’s Day 2021.
In today’s post, I thought I’d share a little about the history of Hotel Neon and the album, as well as what to expect with this new version of the recordings.
Origins of Hotel Neon
In the summer of 2012, Mike and I were asked by our friend, Jon, if we’d be interested in releasing a tape for a label he was starting. He played in a local Maryland band called Pallid that we’d shared several bills with, and happened to have access to low-cost (it might have been no-cost, I’m not sure) cassette duplication at the old Copycat building in Baltimore’s Station North neighborhood. We were busy with a post-rock project at the time, but had also been experimenting with drum-less/ambient music for a few years. We decided it would be fun to do something different, and we honed in on the idea of making a deep and dense drone recording - making something that would feel absorbing and enveloping if played at loud volume.
Since this was such a different style and process for us, we thought it best to give this release a new name and let it stand on its own - especially since there were no plans to continue with this project after giving Jon the files for the tape, and it would be such an oddball within our Sound of Rescue discography. The hunt for one-time-use band names began.
Enter Jack Kerouac’s 1957 novel, On the Road, which is full of such vivid language and colorful descriptions that even if you’ve never spent a second imagining your life as a train-hopping, hitch-hiking transient, you’re immediately sucked in and tempted to do so. Those who’ve read it may recall a particular scene at a hotel in Los Angeles, in which Sal and his new girlfriend, Terry, are game planning how to make it back to New York City with only $10 to spare.
While pondering their predicament, Sal observes a scene from his hotel room:
“In the middle of the night I got up because I couldn't sleep, pulled the cover over baby's bare brown shoulder, and examined the LA night. What brutal, hot, siren-whining nights they are! Right across the street there was trouble. An old rickety rundown rooming house was the scene of some kind of tragedy. The cruiser was pulled up below and the cops were questioning an old man with gray hair. Sobbings came from within. I could hear everything, together with the hum of my hotel neon. I never felt sadder in my life.
-Jack Kerouac, “On the Road” (1957)
Sometimes, a combination of words just sticks with you. That was the case here when “Hotel Neon” leapt off the page, and the rest is history. We loved the late-night, lonely connotations of a distant hotel’s neon sign, especially in the context of this story. The fact that its hum and drone is specifically noted by Sal as a part of the scene he’s witnessing seemed like an important reminder that sound can add meaning and emotion to our experiences.
We had an idea and a name.
First sounds
This was all happening in 2012, right after graduating from the University of Maryland. On our 23rd birthday, December 14, I came home from work at about 5 PM to drink a celebratory beer or five in my dingy apartment and begin work on our project. The mood turned quickly. To this day I remember the pit in my stomach when I flipped on the news and saw coverage of the events at Sandy Hook Elementary earlier that day.
I still find it hard to put into words exactly what that moment did to me. It’s one of those “touchstone” events in my life. I’m not sure if it’s even worth explaining here, or if it’s even possible…but I will say that it shaped so much of the way I perceive the world, how I move within it politically and morally, and how I now understand my duty of care to help and serve other human beings in this life. I felt a gaping wound internally and I still feel it to this day. It knocked me down, and I stood up a different person.
Again, I’m not sure I can explain exactly why, but the ramifications of that event immediately played out in song. It’s such a cliche thing to say and claim as an artist, but I’m being serious when I say that the only response I could muster at that point in time was to bury myself in music and try to redirect the energy into something that got me out of my own head. The result was the first track on the album, “A Lament.” Distant tones from a Fender Bass VI ebbing and flowing, footsteps in an empty hallway creaking throughout.
That deep sense of hurt, pain, and confusion served as a catalyst for the rest of the album. It flowed out of us extremely quickly and with little effort. I think the song titles and tonality of the album as a whole reflect exactly the context and situation we were in at the time, and a lot of people have asked me if we intended the words to be so “heavy.” Yes, we did, and it’s still something I’m quite proud of: how effectively we made our statement and left a sonic signature on something.
Release and early days
With the tape complete, Jon printed up some copies for us: 100 cassettes arrived in a plain cardboard box. Just a white shell, no labels, no J-cards, nothing at all…so I proceeded to hand cut some J-Cards myself out of craft paper, and stamp a label on them one by one. The result was posted to Bandcamp without any fanfare or promo. A few nice words rolled in from listeners, but we only sold about a dozen copies and it was forgotten pretty quickly. We played a few shows to celebrate the occasion, but more or less moved on.
A couple of key encounters occurred in 2014 that helped revive our commitment to the project. First, a posting of a Line 6 Echo Park delay pedal for sale nearby led me to make an offer. I thought it would be a quick transaction and I’d be home at a reasonable hour, but what followed was a meeting with the seller - Steven Kemner - that lasted several hours and multiple beers. There was incredible conversation, shared interests, and a lot of fun.
What followed was an informal agreement to “jam some time” - which of course, resulted in much more than that. A random gear sale spawned a deep friendship and an overflowing of music from the basement of a South Philadelphia rowhome. Ideas flowed effortlessly and the project felt new and exciting all over again. I’m so grateful for this chance interaction that led me to one of my best friends on the planet and kept this band alive.
Second, a listener from Japan named Ian Hawgood messaged us out of the blue in October, saying that he had heard the album on Bandcamp and was interested in re-mastering the album for his label, Home Normal. This turned out to be a seminal moment for the project, and resulted in catapulting Hotel Neon in front of so many new ears…we reached an audience that we are still grateful for. In a way, it makes me sad that such possibilities seem increasingly limited today. The net label and digital distribution scene is so much more difficult and crowded today. But Ian was a fierce champion for our music and did so much to promote the re-mastered sounds within his network and to amazing blogs and shops like A Closer Listen, Textura, and Experimedia. Without this, I’m not sure we would have continued with the project for much longer.
Currently
Ten years after inception, we’ve now played nearly 100 shows across the US and Europe, released 10+ albums and EPs, and made deep, lasting friendships with too many names to list. We’ve played shows with dream lineups and become so much more confident in the music we make. I feel a deep sense of gratitude and appreciation for every moment along the road that’s led us here. I never imagined that Hotel Neon would become the part of my life that it is now.
Hotel Neon 10: Reworks is not simply a remaster or remix; it’s been entirely reworked from the ground up. It should really be considered a new album. You will notice that some of the essential elements and structures from the original songs come through, but we made a concerted effort to build on those early ideas and present a distinct album with our current tools, techniques, and experience.
I’ll be honest and say that I’ve never been 100% satisfied with the original recordings - in retrospect, I’d even say they’re hard for me to listen to. Part of it is just my inability to listen to anything I’ve recorded with a neutral ear, as I tend to hate most of my recorded output the second it leaves my DAW. But I think it’s objective truth that “Hotel Neon” was, by definition, a beginner effort at recording drone music. The mixes are muddy, the dynamics are flat, and there’s an intensely DIY element to the whole thing…which is fine! But I’m certainly not above admitting its shortcomings.
Since the original album was recorded as a duo sharing files from 2 separate cities, it felt appropriate to reinterpret it as the more experienced trio we are now, but also to do it in the same room for live input and collaboration. The result is a much more elegant, refined, and listenable product, in my opinion…it’s not over-produced and is still sort of “punk” in its own way, but on balance it is far and away a more considered and deliberate album than the original. I’m excited to share it and make it a unique piece of our discography.
I’ll update this post with links and more info as it’s available, but you can expect the album to be released through Fluid Audio later this month (July, 2023). Once again, I’ll encourage you to sign up for their mailing list to be notified of the release as soon as it’s out there. The packages tend to sell out quick. We will also be releasing a cassette tape version through our own Bandcamp once the CDs sell out, if that interests you.
In the meantime, I thought it would be a fun experiment to share comparisons of some of the original and re-recorded pieces here for subscribers to listen to - see below for that.
Thanks so much for the support over the years, and here today. I appreciate everyone who’s been along for the ride for any amount of time.
Thank you,
-Andrew
To get a sense of the extra care and effort we put in to the recordings, here is the original album alongside the re-recorded versions of two tracks: “A Lament,” and “Lowly.”