There was no big farewell show for Motel Beds. There wasn’t a massive press conference. Suddenly, eight years ago, one of the most popular acts on Dayton’s indie music scene was gone with zero fanfare. Now, against all odds a reunion show is on the horizon.
The members of Motel Beds, P.J. Paslosky (vocals), Tommy Cooper (guitar), Darryl Robbins (guitar), Tod Weidner (bass) and Ian Kaplan (drums), return for a performance with Human Cannonball and Wreck League at The Brightside, 905 E. Third St., Dayton, at 8:30 p.m. Friday, July 19.
Paslosky and Cooper, the group’s founding members and primary songwriters, started working on material together in the early 2000s. They worked under various band names before coalescing as Motel Beds. The first offering under the moniker was Hasta Manana, a six-song EP released in June 2004. After being inactive for several years, the band returned to action in 2008 and entered a period of great output.
The outfit functioned in a half-serious haze for a number of years, recording a seemingly endless stream of memorable songs. The three-song EP Go For A Dive (2009) was a sugar-sweet blast of melodic indie-rock that served as teaser for the full-length releases Moondazed in November 2009 and Feelings in January 2010.
Something changed for Motel Beds around the time they added Weidner, the longtime frontman for Shrug. The band members became more focused, the live show grew considerably as did the fan base. Motel Beds soon became one of the top draws in Dayton thanks to a powerful, high energy rock show full of catchy indie rock songs.
The focus on performing live didn’t slow down the recorded output. Sunfried Dreams and Tango Boys were released in 2011. The latter was the first studio appearance of Weidner. The album Dumb Gold and the EP Low Noise came out in 2012 and Sunfried Dreams was re-issued on vinyl in 2013.
Misra Records, at the time run by Oakwood native Leo DeLuca, released Motel Beds’ career-spanning LP These Are the Days Gone By (2014). It was the band’s only release for the label. The group’s final album, Mind Glitter (2015), came out on Anyway Records.
The members of Motel Beds recently discussed the demise and return of this iconic Gem City act.
THE REUNION
Tod Weidner: I didn’t think a Motel Beds reunion would happen again. Ian mentioned it to me. I said, ‘Yeah, good luck getting Darryl to go along with it. He’s basically Brian Wilson making records in his basement.’ He said Darryl was the one that approached him about it.
Darryl Robbins: I don’t know if it was an idea. I just mentioned it in passing but I was like, ‘I’d totally to do that.’ It had crossed my mind enough times.
Tommy Cooper: We were like, ‘Oh, we’d totally do it, but Darryl won’t do it.’ We used him as our scapegoat.
Robbins: You’ll never get Darryl to do it.
P.J. Paslosky: Yeah, Darryl will never do it.
Robbins: I mentioned it a few months ago and before I knew it, they’re like, ‘Can you play on this date?’ Oh no, Ian is making phone calls.
Weidner: All of a sudden, we had a date booked. He called our bluff.
Ian Kaplan: I totally called your bluff.
Cooper: I was going to hold out and then agree and look like the hero. It was like a year-long thing to make me look like the good guy.
Robbins: I was so burnt on the whole experience because we went at it so hard. We all know that.
Weidner: We weren’t really prepared for that.
Paslosky: It was at a point where we were like, ‘Hey, we put out some pretty cool albums we’re proud of. This is probably a good stopping point.’ You hit that wall where you’ve done as much as you can. You really don’t want to pass that threshold.
Robbins: It was a good time to get away from it but now it’s like, ‘Oh, cool.’ This has a nice succinct ending. It’s not open-ended anymore which fits me better. I don’t know if any of us would be on board with being a band again.
Paslosky: The reunion show should be fun. It doesn’t feel like it’s been that long. It’s really crazy. I never really thought we’d do this again and not because of anything band wise. There’s no animosity. We’ve all seen each other and hung out. It’s definitely not as much as when we were playing together but we see each other. I wasn’t against the idea, but I am surprised to know we’re doing this.
THE END
Weidner: The band just seemed to fizzle out. There was this feeling of unfinished business in my mind. We never really did a big farewell show or anything.”
Paslosky: At the tail end we had some shows we’d already agreed to do but we were all burned out. Looking at it now, at the very least it would be nice to do one last show where we’re all not half-assing it. We weren’t trying to half-ass it; we were just burned out. It’s hard to find that motivation. If this is the last time we ever play, it’ll be nice to go out and give it a good go. We needed an eight-year break, that’s all.
Cooper: The last show was really sad.
Robbins: That last show we did was with Nate Farley. He’s like, ‘You guys are done, right?’ I’m like, ‘Did we radiate that much?’ We didn’t know we were done but he could tell from our set.
Paslosky: We’re all like, ‘No we’re not.’ He’s like, ‘I know enough. I’ve been there. I’ve been in that situation. You guys are toast.’ And he was right. Never question Nate Farley.
Weidner: We stopped having as good a time. That was the beginning of the end. There were various factors that weren’t really related to the band itself.
Robbins: It was tough. It looked cool from the outside but as anybody knows, you’re in a crappy van for eight hours a day and hungry. We all work jobs. We all have families. At the time we were all pushing 40 or over it.
Weidner: It’s a tale as old as time.
Robbins: We weren’t in our 20s anymore so it was tough.
Weidner: There were a number of less than desirable factors.
Kaplan: I needed a liver transplant. Looking back on it, I was pretty sick then.
Weidner: I don’t know how you did it to be honest.
Kaplan: I don’t know either. I really don’t know why I did that to myself.
Weidner: It was like taking a tropical fish on tour.
Kaplan: I am very temperamental. I’ll fight my own shadow.
Weidner: We all kept an eye on him, but it wasn’t a usual situation when you’ve got somebody with severe immune issues.
Robbins: It might have been a better idea to take six months off and not do anything. That would’ve been the better way to approach it.
Cooper: We were doing stuff with labels. I appreciated that but then you have obligations. The most fun for me was when we were putting out albums through Fiction Band.
Robbins: Yeah, you’d put it on Bandcamp and it’s done.
Weidner: Unfortunately when we got to the stage where people could help us put albums out that coincided with us being burned out. That was a crisis a little bit because suddenly we’re beholden to somebody else’s schedule.
Cooper: We had responsibilities.
Kaplan: We owed money. That was a big problem.
ONE MORE TIME
Cooper: We always go on hiatus and stop playing for a couple of years. That’s what we do. This isn’t the first time this has happened.
Kaplan: This might actually be the last one at this age.
Paslosky: “t was fun to get together again but then it started to sink in like, ‘What did I agree to do?’ It’s actually been a lot less scary than I thought it would be. It’s been great playing these songs again.
Weidner: Tommy came up with a song list.
Cooper: It’s the ones that were our live staples over the years. There are a few others we’ve had to work on but most of these are ones we all know.
Weidner: We wanted to make it as easy as possible.
Robbins: It’s been fun. I’ve been trying to practice on my own and just get into my guitar thing and learn new guitar stuff. It’s simple and fun so it’s coming back to that. The songs feel fun to play for me.
Paslosky: We’re playing some old jams we probably hadn’t played eight years ago let alone a few weeks ago. It’s been good. I have the least amount of work and relearning to do because I can just make up new lyrics whenever I want. I never knew most of the correct lyrics anyway, so it’s been really good.
Kaplan: The most important thing is we’re doing this mainly because it felt like the time, and it seemed like it would be a lot of fun. We hope people agree with us.
Paslosky: We’re excited to play with Human Cannonball. They’re amazing but way too talented not to be doing more. We basically did this to get them to play and we could see them for free. That was our master plan. Then we have Wreck League, who I admittedly don’t know much about, but I’ve definitely heard their music. They sound awesome. It’s cool to have some younger folks on the bill. Hopefully some older folks will get to see those kids play as well.
