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Band Gets Its Ha-Ha On
Fort Collins Now
Motorhome's members like to laugh, but they still take their music seriously
Kurt Brighton
November 2, 2007
The guys in Motorhome are seriously funny. They'll deny it, but don't believe them. At the band's live shows the between-song banter—and sometimes during-song banter—is an ever-escalating series of dares, one-upmanship of twisted, adolescent humor pushing to and beyond the edge of tastelessness.
"We're all funny, but we're not 'funny guys,'" said singer/guitar player Matt Thornton. "I mean, we don't write out jokes or plan anything. The stuff we say on stage is just an extension of our conversations—we can be laughing in the van on the entire drive to a venue—it just comes out. I can't help it, and I've tried. I'll say something and then immediately go, 'Oh, Jesus, did I just say that?' And I'll look over at my girlfriend and she's just shaking her head."
That's not to say that the band is a comedy act, or that they're bad musicians using humor to cover a lack of talent. In fact that's one of the amazing things about the group: even as they intersperse their songs—a rich, upbeat amalgam of country, rock, and bluegrass—with silly jokes and one-liners, the band will then break into a complicated three-part harmony or key change, and you know instantly that they're for real.
The group-made up of Thornton, guitarist/vocalist Matt "P-Mann" Mahern, Darren Radach on mandolin, drummer John Motley, and Ben Prytherch on bass—has been around for just a few years, stemming from open mic performances by Mahern and Thornton at the now-defunct Connor O'Neill's. And even though the band released a self-titled studio album just last March, the group is recording a show at the Aggie on Nov. 8, with plans to use the performance on a live album.
"It's a completely different sound, what we do live, versus what we do in the studio," said Radach. "Pretty much the way we recorded that album was individual tracking. So we thought this would be a quick and easy way to get another album out, maybe something a little bit more what we really sound like. Hopefully there will be some roaring in the background so people will think we're a big deal. Maybe cut and paste some crowd noise in there…"
The addition of Prytherch to the band is another reason Motorhome wanted to put out a new recording as soon as possible. Having previously played in a band with drummer Motley, the rhythm section backbone of the band has taken on a sharper, more compelling edge.
"They really mesh well, and they've got that going again now," Radach said. "If you don't have bass and drums working together, you can't really get anything else going."
Which brings it back to the main difficulty with Motorhome: describing the band's sound. There are elements of bluegrass, elements of jam band sensibilities, and there's a definite twang in most of the songs. But there's also strong, driving rhythms and a certain amount of power in them too. With a quirky set of backgrounds in various musical styles, Motorhome has a sound that is what most bands hope for but never achieve: unique.
"John's a punk rocker," said Thornton, "Ben's a rocker, and Darren's more of a bluegrass guy, and I'm kind of in between it all, and P-Mann's more of a jam band guy. So it all comes together. Without everybody it wouldn't have the sound it has."
Added Radach, "We kind of had established our sound based on everybody's background being different. We sound like Motorhome because we are all so different as musicians that it has to be that way. We're like, 'What are we?'"
Damn good would be one way to describe the band. Just don't call them funny guys.
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