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BY MIRIAM HAUSER

In print | Published April 29, 2010

_On Wednesday, April 28, The Phoenix’s Miriam Hauser interviewed Greta Morgan, former vocalist and pianist for The Hush Sound. Morgan is currently working on solo project Gold Motel. Gold Motel recently released an EP, and its first album, “Summer House,” will come out on June 1st. _

Miriam Hauser: To start off with, would you tell me what some of your inspirations were for Gold Motel?

Greta Morgan: Sure! Well, it’s kind of hard to say exactly, but a lot of the music I grew up listening to, like Peter, Paul and Mary, the Motown collection, The Kinks, The Beach Boys, The Beatles, Elvis Costello…

MH: Was the album influenced at all by your personal experiences?

GM: Yeah, definitely. I mean, personally a lot went into it. One of the biggest influences I think was living in California. And I’m a Chicago native, I was used to like treacherous, awful winters, and then was finally able to spend one winter in beautiful sunshine and just be able to like just hang outside and write. So I think sunshine was a big influence, kind of being able to turn over a new leaf, starting a new project was a big influence, and I guess sort of falling in love was an influence.

MH: So obviously [Gold Motel] is very different from your work with The Hush Sound, but what do you think sets it apart from your previous work? How would you compare it to your work with The Hush Sound?

GM: Well, I think the musicians I’m playing with have a lot to do with. You know, the way that they play has a lot of character, a lot of personality, and when I brought the songs to the band and we arranged them all together I think that was what helped give it like a quick evolution and a newer sound. And I think also I was just listening to more kind of classic songwriting and just trying to imitate a lot of the things I really liked about that, that I listened to there.

MH: Was your process of working on writing the songs very different from your process previously?

GM: It was quicker and easier. I think it was simpler and easier this time around. I think I learned more about songwriting from experiences of being in The Hush Sound. I just think I was a little bit more well prepared for what I wanted to do.

MH: How has your process changed? What sort of things did you learn from your work with The Hush Sound?

GM: In terms of songwriting, there’s a lot to be learned about what the idea of a song is and what the idea of a song should say. I think just structurally I learned a lot about being able to just simplify a song down into the simplified version of what it is. I feel like most classic songs you can kind of sum up in one sentence. You can say, “This is a song about losing someone you love” or “This is a song about leaving” or “The town where you grew up” or whatever, and I think I was kind of able to get down to the condensed version of what a simple song is.

MH: So, how would you describe your current sound, the sound of Gold Motel?

GM: Well, I’d say the sound of the band is very crisp, fresh and summery, and it’s modern, but it’s still a little bit nostalgic. I think it’s hopeful in a way. Even if the songs are sad, I think there’s this overriding sense of hopefulness in it.

MH: Yeah, I definitely felt that when I was listening to them.

GM: Oh, good!

MH: Many of the songs on the EP were linked together by common themes and threads. Does the album as a whole continue to develop on the themes of the EP?

GM: Yeah. I think the album of the whole is an even clearer vision of the band than what the EP presented. I think the album as a whole stays true to that description I just kind of gave, and I think it should be the soundtrack of everyone’s summer. I’m hoping.

MH: How has working on a solo album been different from working with a band and with a label?

GM: Well, I have a greater sense of freedom to the extent that no one was telling me which songs we could or couldn’t release. And then also, I think in The Hush Sound it was an equal writing division between me and Bob [Morris, co-founder, vocalist and guitarist of The Hush Sound]. You know, I’ve started writing all the songs at first, and then the band and I had been collaborating on some of the more recent tunes. But yeah, there’s been more freedom, and it’s exciting and spontaenous, and the process is very quick, it’s not thought out. I felt like with The Hush Sound we would talk about for months and months and months which songs would go on an album. We had some songs for two or three years before they made it on an album. But this, it’s like pretty much all the songs were written and then recorded and then released within a period of a few months.

MH: So, given that Gold Motel is so different from your work with The Hush Sound, how have fans [of The Hush Sound] been receptive to it? How have they been reacting?

GM: I would say 95 percent of the reaction has been really, really positive. I’ve actually had a lot of people coming and saying that they never could get into The Hush Sound but they really like Gold Motel. I wasn’t really expecting that, but particularly a lot of writers have told me that and then there are of course the like five percent of Hush Sound fans that say like, “We only want The Hush Sound. I don’t like Greta’s solo stuff, I don’t like Bob’s solo stuff.” And I understand that as a listener; I know what it’s like to be, to not want to accept change in one of your favorite bands.

MH: Do you hope ever to try and go back to some of the sounds that you played with with The Hush Sound or are you looking completely in your solo work to move away from that?

GM: I’m looking totally forward. We’ve already been running new material beyond, or I’ve already been running new material beyond what’s going to be on this album coming out June 1st, Summer House, and then I’m looking forward to making the next Gold Motel album after that, and continuing with the sound that we’ve already kind of laid a foundation for.

MH: Is there anything you would like to do to further the sound you’ve been creating with Gold Motel so far?

GM: I guess, just, we’ll continue writing and touring and it will naturally evolve.

MH: Is there anything you have to do now between the time Summer House comes out?

GM: We’re leaving today [Wednesday, April 28] to go on an East Coast tour, so we’re doing that, and then we’ll be once the album is released, we’ll be doing a Midwest tour and playing our release show in Chicago, so just between now and then, I guess there’s a lot of like approving the artwork and getting ready to send out the preorders and you know kind of the label side of things that we’re doing ourselves, that’s one of our responsibilities. Otherwise we just have to keep playing shows and having fun and getting ready for the album to come out.

MH: Do you think that working as a musician has affected the way that you listen to music or your love of music?

GM: Oh, definitely. I mean, before the band was signed, I was just a casual music listener, you know, I would only listen in the car. And I learned a lot of music taking music lessons or whatever, but I didn’t listen the way I do now, where it’s a very active activity, where you have to be actively focused on it while you’re listening. So over the course of kind of making albums and touring and whatever, music became more of a focal point in your life then it was before. I think music is the most instantaneous form of expression, and being able to understand music, it requires nothing. Like, being able to understand the novel “War and Peace” you need to know how to read, and you need to have an intellectual capacity to understand what the writer is trying to express, but with music, it’s like anyone can understand it, a ninety-nine year old man or a nine month old baby can react within five seconds to a new sound, so I like how instant it is and how instantly it can affect someone.

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