No Motiv

SoCal rockers No Motiv are ready to “Party Hard” as they embark on a tour this spring with metal head love child Andrew WK.

The quartet, which formed in Oxnard, California in 1995, has always found themselves unsure of where they fit in a touring climate. But, they are excited to be touring in support of their third album “Daylight Breaking” with an artist that draws as unique and diverse an audience as Andrew WK.

Guitarist and vocalist Max McDonald said, “It’s gonna be a cool tour because it’s with Andrew WK, and Locust. We’ve always felt like the skitsos on tours. We never felt we completely fit on the bill. So, it’s cool to play on a bill where no one fits.”

Jeremy Palaszewski, the band’s other guitarist, vocalist, and primary songwriter, seems to have a similar view about the possibilities of the Andrew WK tour. He, like his band mate, thinks it will be exciting to see what the Andrew WK machine has to bring in real life. He said, “I’m stoked. I’ve never seen him live and I’m looking forward to it. I’m interested in the crowd he’ll draw. I’ve never heard anyone say anything bad about him.”

The same can be said about these guys. They are laid back and enthusiastic about their music. While recording “Daylight Breaking” the band decided to do something new: record and produce the album themselves, which helped them maintain their identity: laid back California cool. So Palaszewski, McDonald as well as drummer Roger Camero (who was once the band’s bassist) sat down and began working on the album after their original drummer Pat Pedraza left the band to pursue other projects.

This gave them the chance to begin to pursue a vision that they had always wanted to but couldn’t with Pedraza in the band. “We felt liberated when he left. We could now work on some of that old stuff that we had wanted to use. The chemistry just came naturally,” said McDonald, “It’s nothing negative though. It’s all fun and games and we’re all doing what we love to do.”

This new atmosphere and the addition of bassist Jeff Hershey brought about the band’s more relaxed recording process. A process that included “a lot of ice cream, wine, and cheese,” according to Palaszewski, “We hung out till morning and then recorded.”

The product is “Daylight Breaking.” Its vision is one the band has wanted to pursue for quite a while. Although it tends to be rather dark most of the time, when listening to it it is clear that the band seemed content during the album’s production. “It was fun making this album. No one was there to crack the whip on us. Except us and we didn’t do it that much either. I wanna do it like that all the time,” added Palaszewski.

This attitude has left McDonald very happy with what people are listening to. “It has been very rewarding. We got a way with a lot of stuff that a producer wouldn’t have let us get away with. Producers take away character. I’ve always liked rougher sounding records. I like the sloppy, weird parts,” he said.

Now that the album is out spring and summer touring is under way for No Motiv. And they truly seem excited about opening for Andrew WK. McDonald added, “I like what he represents. He isn’t the type of person to close his music off. He’s punk rock.”

Palaszewski adds, “It seems like every tour we go on we always gain some new fans and this should be no different. All of our fans have something in common; they’re all good people. It’s cool, no meatheads or assholes.”