Pottery WELCOME TO BOBBY’S MOTEL. Artisan

“Fusing reckless and manic energy, the record is part post-punk, part art-pop, and part dance floor acid trip, hinting at everything from Devo to Gang of Four as it boldly careens through genres and decades. The music is driven by explosive drums and off-kilter guitar riffs that drill themselves into your brain, accented with deep, funky grooves and rousing gang vocals. The production is similarly raw and wild, suggesting an air of anarchy. The result is an album full of ambitious, complex performances that exude joy and mayhem in equal measure, a collection that’s alternately virtuosic, chaotic, and pure fun.”

The Band

Austin Boylan - guitar, vocals
Peter Baylis - Keyboards, backing vocals
Paul Jacobs - Drums, backing vocals
Jacob Shepansky - guitar, backing vocals
Tom Gould - bass, backing vocals

Opener ‘Welcome To Bobby’s Hotel’ starts with a ominous drum thrash quickly followed by undecipherable vocals and off-kilter guitar riffs with a dramatic middway change of pace that features a notable guitar riff. The song melds seamlessly with the next track ‘Hotel Heater’. It’s an advebturous, stuttered piece that again varies its pace without a melody to speak of but a definite rhythmic backdrop that shouts unfettered dance moves. ‘Under The Wire’ by comparison is pedestrian rock with a dash of interest thrown in by drums that could so easily come off a modern jazz record, combined with keyboard and guitar from an indie rock band. A feature of the band’s music thus far is the prolonged instrumental passages that’s exhuberant as anything I’ve heard this year.

‘Bobby’s Forecast’ is a percussive feast with Latino choruses and talking vocal, with climbing instrumental passages that add substantial interest. It’s my highlight here. ‘Down In The Dumps’ sounds like something coming out of the swamps of the deep south of the USA but suddenly bursts into west coast rock with a deadly rhythmic backdrop. ‘Reflection’ where the song title is matched perfectly with the song’s vibe - slower, contemplative with clean instrumental passages and vocal. It’s another favourite. Then we’re into big band backing vocals with ‘Texas Drums Part 2 & 2′ which is dominated by percussive sounds, drums and a a repetitive vocal chorus with a single voice punctuating the mass vocals. Interesting!

‘NY Inn’ is a punkish, stuttered song while ‘What’s In Fashion’ crawls along but changes pace several times with metallic percussive sounds returning plus a tangible melody! ‘Take Your Time’ is a fast-moving rocker with punk overtones and is definitely one for the moshers…Finally, ‘Hot Like Jungle’ slows to a more human pace with clarity of sound at its heart and, surprisingly, a decent melody. It’s a good end to a often cathartic record that adheres religiously to its record company intro above. But it’s also a record that takes several listens, a little foreplay, to develop a little love…

3.5/5

Biography

Who is “Bobby,” you ask?

Enter Pottery. Enter Paul Jacobs, Jacob Shepansky, Austin Boylan, Tom Gould, and Peter Baylis. Enter the smells, the cigarettes, the noise, their van Mary, their friend Luke, toilet drawings, Northern California, Beatles accents, Taco Bell, the Great Plains, and hot dogs. Enter love and hate, angst and happiness, and everything in between. Beginning as an inside joke between the band members, Bobby and his “motel” have grown into so much more. They’ve become the all-encompassing alt-reality that the band built themselves, for everyone else. So, in essence, Bobby is Pottery and his motel is wherever they are.

But really, Bobby is a pilot, a lumberjack, a stay at home dad, and a disco dancer that never rips his pants. He’s a punching bag filled with comic relief. He laughs in the face of day-to-day ambiguity, as worrying isn’t worth it to Bobby. There’s a piece of him in everyone, there to remind us that things are probably going to work out, maybe. He’s you. He’s him. He’s her. He’s them. Bobby is always there, painted in the corner, urging you to relax and forget about your useless worries. And his motel? Well, the motel is life. It might not be clean, and the curtains might not shut all the way. The air conditioner might be broken, and the floors might be stained. But that’s okay, because you don’t go to Bobby’s Motel for the glamour and a good night’s sleep, the minibar, or the full-service sauna. You go to Bobby’s Motel to feel, to escape, to remember, to distract. You go for the late nights and early mornings, good times and the bad. You might spend your entire life looking for Bobby’s Motel and just when you think you will never find it, you realize you’ve been there all along. It’s filthy and amazing and you dance, and you love it.

https://www.potteryband.com/