Brooklyn alt-country quintet Motel Motel has been credited with having "influences all over the map," according to BrooklynVegan, and it seems the band has taken full advantage of that fact this year. Having spent the majority of 2009 traveling around North America, the band is now breaking ground in Egypt and the UK in support of their celebrated Rebel Group debut, the New Denver LP.
On the heels of a cross-country US tour (including a sold-out show at New York's
Bowery Ballroom with
Harlem Shakes) and a set of
Paste/WOXY-presented dates in the Northeast, Motel Motel was flown to
Egypt this past month for a two-week long cultural exchange program. The band teamed up with the
U.S. Embassy in Cairo as part of the "Rhythm Road: American Music Abroad" program. This incredibly unique opportunity enabled them to tour around the country, working with children in music workshops along the way.
Band member
Mickey Theis called the recent trip "the most unexpected and exciting thing the band ever fell into." Though the band was facilitating the youth workshops, the children were not the only ones learning. Theis explains "it taught me about the power of music, the power of music to meld the chasms-political, ideological-that exist between people and between cultures."
Upon their return, Motel Motel is performing two homecoming shows in New York with electro-folk group
These United States before heading to the UK for a tour and several performances at
End of the Road festival. The band will then return to Egypt once more in October to play an International music festival, and come winter, will return to the studio to work on the follow-up to
New Denver.
Motel Motel's blend of alt-country and raspy folk rock caught on with writers and fans almost instantly after the band's self-released EP and subsequent full-length started circulating.
NY Press, The Huffington Post, NY Post, and
The L Magazine designated them as a "must-hear-band,"
SPIN declared the band's single, "Coffee," a "Song You Must Hear Now!,"
Wired did a feature on the band's DIY ethics, and
Paper recently
caught up with the band at their
Northside Festival performance.
Check out Motel Motel's video for "Coffee," directed by Matthew Murphy,
here.
And be sure to grab the mp3 Downloads for "
Coffee" and "
Cowboy."
Check out video footage of Motel Motel In Egypt here. Motel Motel Upcoming Dates:
Aug.28 Brooklyn, NY @ Union Hall w/These United States
Sept. 9 London, UK @ Hoxton Bar w/Wave Machines
Sept.11 Brighton, UK @ End of the Road Festival
Sept.12 Brighton, UK @ End of the Road Festival
Sept.13 London, UK @ The Flowerpot
Sept.15 Brixton, UK @ The Windmill
For more info, please visit:
http://www.motelmotelmusic.com http://www.myspace.com/motelmotel 
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MOTEL MOTEL RETURNS FROM EGYPT
