Band of the Week: The Western States Motel

There are at least several songs on The Western States Motel’s demo cd that I’d want on a soundtrack for driving out in the middle of the desert at night in an old convertible with the top down. Out of all the new music I’ve been listening to recently -- and, christ, you could devote a full-time job to keeping up on everything coming out right now and still fall behind -- I swear I keep coming back to the lazy, strolling tracks on the TWSM demo the most.

But it’s not really like I’ve had any choice in the matter... I mean, the song Western Planez is the kind of tune that gets stuck in your head so completely that repeated listenings just cause it to find a better purchase there, rather than exorcising it away.

"One of these days and it won’t be long," sings Carl Jordan, the one-man band behind The Western States Motel, "look for me baby and I’ll be gone..." And maybe it’s the words or the way he sings them or both, but they make you want to empathize, to wish you were dating a no-good lady just so you could run out on her. (Much like how when you heard Husker Du’s Standing in the Rain back in high school, you immediately wanted someone to break up with you in the middle of a rainstorm.)

The Western States Motel has several dates planned between SF and LA in support of the upcoming self-titled album, culminating in a cd release party at Tangiers here in town on July 16th. Since that’s a ways out, I recommend heading over to the TWSM myspace page where you can download a few tracks off the demo in the meantime ... and find out if you have the same addictive reaction to them that a steadily growing number of my friends and I have.