Goodness Is Great: Five Questions With The Hotelier
The Hotelier. Photo: Kylie Shaffer
A few years ago, I began to notice that what I’ve often referred to as ‘third-wave emo’ started gaining a presence in the music world. This includes bands like Houston’s football, etc., Florida’s You Blew It and Into It. Over It., among many others. There was a band who came through as a support act that really caught my attention: Massachusetts’ The Hotelier. These guys seem to really grasp what emocore was about in the beginning and their 2024 album, Home, Like Noplace Is There, was one of my favorites from that year. Now, the band is back with a more mature sound on their latest, Goodness. FPH caught up with Christian Holden of the band to see what they’ll have in-store for Houston when they play here on June 8.
FPH: You guys started the band when you were still in your teens, right? Would you have done anything different if you had the chance?
Christian Holden: Yeah, we did. No, I don’t think of my life in that way. Everything’s been great and I wouldn’t change anything we’ve done.
FPH: The new album, Goodness, shows a lot of depth and growth for the band. Did you approach how you made this album differently than those in the past?
Holden: Sort of, in terms of the level of skill in songwriting that we brought to the table this time and how we interacted with the songs differently. But we really just did what we always do, which is just sit down and write songs and then put them together.
FPH: There’s a vast difference between the new album and the previous one, almost like the difference between the last two Promise Ring albums, do you worry that your fan base won’t gravitate to a newer sound?
Holden: I don’t worry about that too much. I think our last record built enough trust with our audience that they’ll like the new one. I mean, they’ll either like it or they won’t. But, we don’t have passive listeners as fans and they’re usually just ready for what we’ll release next, which is cool.
FPH: You guys have become known for a high energy live show, do you feel like you’re more energized when you have new songs to perform?
Holden: Yeah, I feel like being able to play the new songs is always fun. It’s less about going through the motions when you have new songs to play.
FPH: For anyone who’s never caught the band live before, what should people expect from your set in Houston?
Holden: Well, we’re constantly messing with different sounds and different ways to perform our songs live. We’ll be experimenting more on this tour. We’re always thinking of different ways to perform and we’ll do that with playing this new record. It’d be cool if people came out and sang along, but they should expect something different from the typical rock band.
It should be pretty awesome to see how the band experiments with the grander sound of their new album. You can see them for yourself when they perform at Walters on Wednesday June 8. The all ages show will also host sets from Told Slant, Loone, and football, etc. The show has doors at 7 pm and tickets between $12 and $15.
