Saint Motel @ Union Transfer

WRITTEN BY: JESS MIHALCZO

Saint Motel kicked off their show on Saturday, October 23, 2016, at Union Transfer with a bang, on the heels of the recent release of their album, “saintmotelevision.” This marks one of the the first shows in which the band has played music from the new album.

Weathers, a band from Los Angeles recently signed to RCA Records, opened the show, playing plenty of their hits. This included their most popular Spotify-streamed song, “Happy Pills.”

Next, indie rock band Hippocampus, hailing from St. Paul, Minnesota showed off their charm, connecting with the crowd by using amusing lingo. The crowd seemed confused, yet delighted by their quirky personalities. The bright tone of the lead guitar appeared to put the audience in high spirits. The band played its hit single “Boyish,” as well as “Suicide Saturday” from its 2015 EP, “Bashful Creatures.”

At Around 10 p.m., Saint Motel graced the stage with their presence, greeted by a plethora of cheers from the crowd. They put a 1950s television in front of their lead singer, A.J. Jackson, and his keyboard. The television displayed trippy graphics and old school television clips, in addition to song titles and some of the songs’ lyrics.

They played almost the entire new album, as well as some throwback songs from their 2014 EP, “My Type” and their 2012 LP, “Voyeur.” The songs “Puzzle Pieces” and “Benny Goodman” from “Voyeur” were the biggest hits among the audience, judging by the way the crowd danced and singed along to every note.

The band featured A.J. Jackson on lead vocals, piano and guitar, Aaron Sharp on lead guitar, Dak Lerdamornpong on bass and Greg Erwin on drums. They had plenty of energy to go around and a great stage presence, coming across collected and tight. The overall production was well put together and extremely professional for a small venue. Saint Motel was even able to recover smoothly from some minor technical difficulties when the bass guitar started giving some feedback. The band played it off as if it was nothing, continuing its set while the crew ran to the rescue.

Of course, the night would not have been complete without the essential trumpet and saxophone players in the rear stage. Each got their well-deserved solos at certain points in the night, and the crowd went wild.

To end the night, Saint Motel finished with “Destroyer” and “Born Again;” two more songs from “saintmotelevision.” As expected, the band closed the night with an encore, performing its hit “My Type,” which sprung them into the spotlight only a few months ago.

Be sure to purchase “saintmotelevision,” available everywhere now.

iTunes: http://smarturl.it/saintmotelevision

Official Store: http://smarturl.it/saintmotel.store

Spotify: http://smarturl.it/SMTVspotify

Saint Motel single, “You Can Be You”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=so2dciexgg8