“Interrobang” to take the audience down the memory lane to the ’50s & ’60s.
The American Hotel System, is a Grand Rapids, Michigan-based rock band formed by five college friends Jacob Betts (Lead Vox & Guitar), Hailey Petty (Drums), Jake LaMotte (Bass), Samuel Overman (Guitar), and C.T. McCallister (electric guitar). It aims to provoke the mind of its audience through heartfelt lyrics and intentional musicality. The band has been featured on several noteworthy platforms like Relix Magazine in August 2019, BuzzMusic Top 10 acts of 2019, and was among one of the Finalists in Music Prize 2021.
The Inception Of The American Hotel System
The band started as a group of friends coming together as seniors in college for a night only to play some of their favorite songs as a sendoff. This performance gave them a break and the band was invited to play at a fundraising event. This event proved to be destiny’s gentle nudge for them to step into the music industry professionally. From there, there was no looking back. They started working on a handful of original songs and recorded their first two EPs: A Search For Sunken Truth; Volumes 1 & 2, over the next 18 months and released their first full-length album; The Sunken Truth, in December of 2019.
“Interrobang”: The Occurrence Of The Idea
Production for Interrobang started in December 2019. The album was originally intended to be released in the fall of 2020 as a follow-up to The Sunken Truth, but the pandemic changed their plans. When the music industry was at its lowest, they quickly put the production on hold and focused on its improvement instead. They released one single, LOYALTY, and then paused production for 14 months. This break allowed them to refine the narrative of the album as a whole.
The Finale
At the beginning of 2021, The American Hotel System was able to resume production on Interrobang. They started with the recording of their first release Chains. The pandemic acted like an oven for the album, by giving them extra time to reflect on the pain and chaos happening around them, and they chose the themes like lifting your neighbor (LOYALTY), putting away conspiracy and nonsense (STORIES), and focusing on the love that grounds us (Chains).
When asked about how did such a moving idea occur to them, they said, “Weaving these songs together is a meta-narrative fiction of the tongue-in-cheek nostalgia from the 50s and 60s, the era in which the interrobang (the combination of a question mark and exclamation point [‽]) was derived to ask rhetorical questions in advertisement copy. This gaudy rhetoric acts as a satirical lens through which Interrobang commentates on contemporary western culture.”
And the sensational album “Interrobang” was born!
Message For The World
Creating songs is life-giving, but the favorite part of any artist is to perform those songs live. Members of The American Hotel System strongly believe that, “A band’s connection extends to the audience, and it makes for an experience beyond description. The memories that we always remember are the ones we make on stage connecting with the audience. The ones in the studio, at practice, traveling, and just spending time together.”
They always say, “Many of our songs come from a place of deep brokenness, sorrow, and questions. When people listen to our songs or come to a show, we want them to know that they are not alone and that they are loved.”
Check out their Instagram handle to know more about them.
