The Strumbellas know that misery loves company, and that if we’re together, even in dark times, there’s some joy in that. Their songs of suffering and celebration date back to their 2012 debut My Father And The Hunter, and the band have obsessively chased big hooks, group vocal exuberance, and folk-rock propulsion through their 2016 breakthrough Hope to 2024’s Part Time Believer. The Juno and iHeartRadio Music Award-winning group’s new song Hard Lines gives listeners an urgent, new take on their iconic mix of intimate feelings with stadium folk sounds.
Determined to use every tool in their arsenal to write a good song, The Strumbellas started by looking inward: random song titles, non-sequitur ideas, scraps of paper, and voice memos of half-sung melodies came from everyone in the band. They then connected with their favourite collaborators, songwriters and producers anywhere from their home in Toronto to Vancouver, Nashville, or LA, to create demos that ranged from campfire-chord whispers to radio-ready productions. The long list was then whittled down by the band along with producer Chad Copelin (LANY, Sasha Sloan, Colony House), who recorded the band at his studio in Norman, Oklahoma. Copelin’s finely honed sonic instincts bring out a newly textured, insistently edgy side to The Strumbellas’ alt-folk stomp.
“We’re living in a lonely world,” says keyboardist Dave Ritter. “Whether it’s work or our home life or our screens, life seems cut up into smaller and smaller pieces all disconnected from each other. Hard Lines is about picking your way through the rubble of contemporary life and the hope that we can build things together again. It’s something we’re reminded of when we gather to write or rehearse songs, and when we get to play for people, that music brings us together, gives us some moments of connection that are hard to find these days.”
Hotel Fiction is an indie rock band from Athens, Georgia comprised of Jade Long (vocals, keys), Jessica Thompson (vocals, lead guitar), Aaron Daugherty (lead guitar, synth), Aidan Hill (bass), and Gideon Johnston (drums). Their sound has often been described as genre-fluid, with indie, pop, folk, and rock influences.
Jade and Jessica began writing, performing, and playing together in January 2019 while students at UGA. In August of that year, Hotel Fiction released their debut single “Astronaut Kids”, which received a warm welcome from the indie scene and went on to amass over 3 million global streams.
The band released their debut album Soft Focus in 2021, followed by their EP Enjoy Your Stay in 2022. In 2023, they were a primary feature artist on flipturn’s single “Halfway (Acoustic)”, which has accumulated over 2 million streams.
Their music has received recognition from EARMILK, Consequence of Sound, and Early Rising, and has been placed on Spotify editorial playlists including New Noise, wanderlust, Fresh Finds, Acoustic Love, Fresh Finds Rock: Best of 2022, and All New Rock.
Hotel Fiction has spent the last four years heavily touring the U.S., both headlining and supporting artists like flipturn, The Beaches, SUSTO, Beach Fossils, Adam Melchor, WILLIS, and Sunroom. They played Sister Hazel’s Rock Boat in January 2024, alongside Young the Giant, The Struts, and more.
In Summer 2024, they released their highly anticipated sophomore album Staring at the Sun, followed by a 40+ date U.S. headline tour
