I was just about to write about my interview with Martha Davis, the powerful, passionate voice and pen behind The Motels’ memorable ’80s hits “Suddenly Last Summer” and “Only The Lonely,” in anticipation of the band’s show at Stuart’s Lyric Theater this coming Friday, when I heard that it wasn’t going to happen.
Holy flaming bummer.
I was wondering what to do with the interview, which was a mellow, funny, chill half-hour on the phone, when Editor Larry suggested that I let you guys in on it anyway. Oh, that Editor Larry. Genius.
Anyway, here’s the best stuff I got from Martha Davis, who I was so looking forward to meeting, and who, I hope, will swing down this way some time soon.
THING YOU DON’T KNOW ABOUT MARTHA: According to her bio, she was a married Air Force mom…at the age of 15.
THESE MOTELS ARE REFURBISHED: The group of musicians taking up residence in The Motels are not the original line-up: In fact, they’re the third version. Davis says she fired the first batch – “When the money ran out, so did the enthusiasm,” she says. “We were together eight years, which is a long run for a band with all the pressure from the record company. Everyone was a little off their game. So I took them to a bar across from the studio, bought them a drink and fired them. It was Valentine’s Day. Michael (Goodroe, the bassist) calls it the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. “
SO AFTER THAT WAS OVER: Davis was playing with a second group, in place for about six years, until she recently relocated from Los Angeles to Portland, Oregon – “They’re still my best friends, and I’m sure we’ll make more music together, but it was getting more and more difficult for us to get together,” she says. “The new Northwest version has three Matts and a Felix.”
IT’S THE ECONOMY, MAYBE: There was no confirmation on why the Stuart show was cancelled, but earlier last week, Davis acknowledged that the current financial situation in the country had probably contributed to the tour getting a slow start – “We were under the gun” to get out on the road already, she says. “It’s just one of those years. I thought ‘I better get a band together! I’m always flying by the seat of my pants. If it’s not challenging, I’m not gonna do it.”
MY BAND, MYSELF: Even though Davis is the only original Motel, and though she’s recorded and performed solo under her own name for the past few decades, she owns the name and decided to use it – “Do they know Martha Davis as well as they know The Motels? No, not really.”
She notes that back in the day, she went out of her way to ignore record company wishes that the focus be more on her, as the lead singer and only very attractive woman in the band, but “at the end of the day, it was probably the right thing to do. I was the main writer.”
SPEAKING OF THAT “ONLY GIRL IN THE BAND” THING: “Only in the beginning was that a detriment. Our first gig was in 1971, when we were called the Warfield Foxes. I remember talking to somebody, and telling them ‘I want to be in a band,’ and the guy literally patted me on the head and said ‘Oh, that’s nice.’”
HER FAMOUS CHAMPION: “The only person who believed I could do it was Eddie Money. He was like (does very good Eddie Money imitation) ‘Yeah, Martha, you should do that! You write great songs.’”
MOTELS OR NO MOTELS, SHE IS NEVER GONNA RETIRE: “I will rock my entire life.”
THE SHOW YOU WOULD HAVE SEEN FRIDAY, IF, INDEED, THERE WAS GONNA BE A SHOW ON FRIDAY: “A collection of old Motels songs, and some new ones. I’m kind of being selfish about it. There is some songs that weren’t bigger hits, but stuff I like. This is a less pop atmosphere, and more like theater. It’s not a bunch of loosely connected songs.”
Check out what Martha has been up to and where you can find her around the country, in places (sob) that aren’t in Stuart, at www.MySpace.com/TheMotels.
