Today we get to sit down with Motel Breakfast and talk music inspiration, heroes, and of course advice for musicians out there. Also, be sure to check out their music below on Spotify!
Here is the interview:
What is your inspiration to write your music? Is it your surroundings?
The biggest place that inspiration comes from is the people in my life. Most Motel Breakfast songs involve attempting to understand what it means to live and interact with people, analyzing perspectives in an effort to make sense. The late night conversations had over drinks. The early morning coffee talks. The strained moments that are difficult to find words for. Those are where a lot of the inspiration comes from.
What type of music did you listen to growing up?
Unsurprisingly I was very influenced by my parents’ taste while growing up. They are huge fans of Bruce Springsteen, John Hiatt, Bonnie Raitt, Van Morrisson, and lots of rock singer-songwriter artists in that vein. With so much of that type of music being played around the house and in the car while I was growing up, it’s not surprising to me that I ended up being such a fan of the classic pop song structure and the writers who often twist the most out of that form.
Is there someone you looked up to as a hero?
It has varied throughout my years of musical fandom, but these days I regularly cite Jeff Tweedy of Wilco as the type of lead singer/songwriter I aspire to be like.
If you weren’t a musician, what would you be doing today?
Well I think that’s actually a quite easy question to answer – I still hold a day job as as a DevOps Engineer for a small software startup company. Given that I earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering, odds are high I would be working in this field still if I wasn’t playing music.
What advice do you have for fans out there that want to create music?
Just do it. You’ve got to start somewhere, and crossing that first hurdle of trusting your creativity and voice is a really tough one to get over. Push over, believe in yourself. But then once you’ve build that confidence, look around at what your musical peers are writing and recording. You should always be inspired and challenged by what other people are making. And don’t be afraid to marvel when you see your peers doing amazing work.
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