Hotel St. George is a four-piece band from San Diego, but you would think they were the neighbors of English bands like Artic Monkeys or The Cribs with their catchy guitar rhythms and their quick, and equally catchy lyrics. The band formed in late November 2007, after a chance meeting between singer/guitarist Matt Binder and bassist/guitarist Erik Visnyak. As a guest at Matt's Thanksgiving Party, Erik proceeded to spill an entire glass of red wine on Matt’s borrowed Wurlitzer Piano.After a sincere apology and some chit chatting, the two decided to form a band, enlisting Erik’s pal Simon Leader to play the drums and guitarist Brian Reilly. Two months later they recorded their first EP titled Yippee!!!, a simple, but fun collection of songs reminiscent of early British Invasion. The song ‘Watch Out, It’s the Blues’ won a SPIN Magazine contest and became a feature song in the new video game MLB 2K10. The release earned them two nominations at the San Diego Music Awards, including Best New Band and Best Alternative Album.
The band followed up Yippee!!! with their second release titled Hundreds & Thousands. Where Yippee!!! was written mostly by Brian and Erik, H&T’s songs were written almost exclusively by singer Matt Binder. Less poppy and predictable, the new album was richer in maturity and texture. A lack of money and time for touring led them straight back into writing. The next record City Boy Lemon was by far the boys’ most collaborative to date. The record got picked up by LA based label, This Is Tightrope. The album was released August 2009 for vinyl/digital download only. With only 500 copies of the vinyl in existence, each copy was hand silk screened by a member of the band. The new album will be featured in the second season of the hit MTV show "The City."
The boys are now hard at work on their fourth record, tentatively titled Fun Shine Line. Though Hotel St. George is predominately a guitar band, the new album is heavy in keyboards and bass synthesizer. While we won't see a release until 2010, the band is confident in the album's new direction.
www.myspace.com/hotelstgeorge
