AEG Presents
The Motels & John McKay’s Reactor
The Motels
From their beginnings in Berkeley to their rise on the iconic stages of Los Angeles, The Motels have solidified their place as a cornerstone in rock history. Known for their timeless hits “Only the Lonely” and “Suddenly Last Summer,” the band continues to captivate audiences worldwide under the enduring leadership of vocalist Martha Davis.
The Motels’ story began in 1971 when Davis joined a Berkeley band called The Warfield Foxes. After moving to Los Angeles in 1975, they adopted the name The Motels—an idea sparked by the sight of motor inns lining Santa Monica Boulevard en route to their first gig. Despite an initial breakup, the band re-formed in 1978, with guitarist Jeff Jourard, his brother Marty on sax and keyboards, bassist Michael Goodroe, and drummer Brian Glascock. This lineup soon signed with Capitol Records in 1979 and delivered five albums through 1985, two of which earned gold record status. During this time, the band’s signature hits reached the Top Ten, cementing their place in music history.
By 2003, Davis had reassembled The Motels with a lineup that recaptured the spirit of their early days, including Clint Walsh on guitar, Nic Johns on bass, Eric Gardner on drums, and original member Marty Jourardrejoined on sax and keyboards in 2011. That same year saw the release of *Apocalypso* on Omnivore Records—a previously unreleased version of 1982’s *All Four One*, which offered fans a raw, unfiltered look at The Motels’ creative evolution.
In 2018, The Motels released *The Last Few Beautiful Days*, an album that demonstrated their continued relevance and artistic depth. The band is now hard at work on their ninth studio album, promising new material that reflects their enduring spirit and innovative edge.
The Motels continue to bridge generations, performing at major events like the Cruel World Festival and touring alongside other legendary 80s acts. With a sound that remains both timeless and contemporary, they are proof that a band can honor its legacy while still evolving and thriving in the modern music scene.
John McKay’s Reactor
Ex -Banshee, John McKay…
New album : ‘Sixes And Sevens’
The Scream, the debut album from Siouxsie & the Banshees, was released late enough in the punk era to bear some claim as the first post-punk album, with only minor traces of ‘punk’ and enough hints of what had come even earlier to feel utterly new.
Siouxsie was clearly the focus of the band, but the sonic dynamo was John McKay, composer of most of the album’s music and hit singles, such as Hong Kong Garden, while simultaneously creating a wholly new guitar sound that was harsh and brittle, yet melodically intoxicating, best articulated by a confounded Steve Albini many years later, “. . . only now people are trying to copy it, and even now nobody understands how that guitar player got all that pointless noise to stick together as songs”.
Many of the most influential guitarists of the past four decades credited John as a major influence, including Geordie from Killing Joke, Jim Reid of The Jesus And Mary Chain, U2‘s The Edge, Thurston Moore, Johnny Marr,and even the two guitarists who followed him into The Banshees – The Cure‘s Robert Smith and Magazine‘s John McGeoch.