The Hotelier

American indie rock band

The Hotelier

The Hotelier at Pirate Satellite Festival Hamburg 2015

Background information
Also known as| The Hotel Year
Origin| Worcester, Massachusetts
Genres|

* Emo
* indie rock
* post-hardcore
* pop punk

Years active| 2009 (2009)–present
Labels|

* Counter Intuitive
* Tiny Engines

Members| Christian Holden
Chris Hoffman
Sam Frederick
Ben Gauthier
Past members| Zack Shaw
Cody Millett
Scott Ayotte
Website| thehotelier.bandcamp.com

The Hotelier is an American indie rock band from Worcester, Massachusetts, currently signed with Dreams of Field Recordings. The band's second album, Home, Like Noplace Is There, has been featured on Spin's "The 101 Best Albums of the 2010s" list and is considered an "essential emo album" by AltPress.[1][2] The group has performed at the Pirate Satellite Festival, the Pitchfork Music Festival, and the Primavera Sound festival.[3]

## History

[edit]

### Early years and It Never Goes Out (2009–2014)

[edit]

The Hotelier formed in June 2009 when lead singer Christian Holden met Chris Hoffman, Zack Shaw, and Sam Frederick while attending high school in Dudley, Massachusetts.[4]

In 2009, the band released their first EP, titled We Are All Alone,[5] which received little success outside of Massachusetts. In 2010, the band released Two Song Demo.[6] In 2011, the band released their first album, titled It Never Goes Out,[7] receiving some attention.[8]

Originally named The Hotel Year, the band changed its name because they did not think the name was particularly good, and there was a band called My Hotel Year which they did not want to be confused with.[9]

### Home, Like Noplace Is There (2014–2015)

[edit]

The band released their second album in 2014 titled Home, Like Noplace Is There, which brought the band to attention in the emo revival scene.[10][11][12] After releasing the album, vocalist Christian Holden stated in a blog post on the bands Tumblr that "Our new album deals with some real dark stuff. So to all my brooding and slightly damaged friends, have your a happy album or Rugrats in Paris nearby. It’s partly about my experience with friends and loved ones in the past three years which were very complicated, toxic, and abusive. But laid within is a lot about the deconstruction of self for personal growth and transformation. I hope it helps you live and stuff. Apparently we are emo now."[13] Home, Like Noplace Is There ranked at number 1 on the AbsolutePunk staff's top 30 albums of 2014,[14] and number 6 on the users' top 50 albums of 2000-2015.[15] According to Marc Snitzer, writer for the Philadelphia City Paper, The Hotelier was named one of two bands "leading the emo revival".[16] The release of the band's sophomore album was ranked number seven on Alternative Press's list of the "12 Biggest Moments of The #EmoRevival in 2014".[17] Leor Galil, writer for the Chicago Reader named it his favorite record of 2014.[18] The band was also featured (for their second album) in a Boston Globe article highlighting the best music from Boston in 2014.[19] The album was included at number 29 on Rock Sound's "Top 50 Albums of the Year" list.[20]

The band was featured on Property of Zack's "Artists To Watch in 2015".[21] The band performed at the 2015 Primavera Sound festival in Barcelona, Spain.[22] In the spring of 2015, the band supported La Dispute and Title Fight on their co-headlining tour.[23]

### Goodness (2016–present)

[edit]

On February 15, 2016, Christian Holden wrote a blog post on the band's Tumblr account in which they mentioned an impending album announcement for an album entitled Goodness.[24] The album was formally announced the next day.[25] At the same time the band released a trailer for the album set to the song Goodness Pt I, a song sold as a limited edition numbered vinyl during the band's 2015 tour.[26]

The band premiered their second single titled "Soft Animal" on April 22, 2016.[25] The album itself was released a little over a month later, on May 27, through Tiny Engines.

## Members

[edit]

### Current members

[edit]

* Christian Holden - lead vocals, bass, occasional guitar[27] (2009–present)
* Chris Hoffman - guitar, backing vocals (2009–present)
* Ben Gauthier - guitar, backing vocals (2014–2016, 2018–present)
* Sam Frederick - drums (2009–present)

### Past members

[edit]

* Zack Shaw - guitar, backing vocals[5] (2009–2012)
* Cody Millett - guitar (2012–2014)
* Jade Dmitri - guitar, backing vocals (2016)
* Scott Ayotte - guitar (2016–2018, touring 2024–present)

### Timeline

[edit]

## Discography

[edit]

### Studio albums

[edit]

* It Never Goes Out (2011)
* Home, Like Noplace Is There (2014)
* Goodness (2016)

### Extended plays

[edit]

* We Are All Alone (2009, as The Hotel Year)
* Two Song Demo (2010, as The Hotel Year)
* Fest 12 Split (2013)

## References

[edit]

Citations

1. ^ "The 101 Best Albums of the 2010s". Spin. 30 June 2020. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
2. ^ "THE ESSENTIAL EMO ALBUMS FROM THE GENRE'S 35-YEAR HISTORY". Alternative Press. 18 February 2020.
3. ^ Galil, Leor (1 July 2016). "The Hotelier breach Pitchfork's emo barricade". Chicago Reader.
4. ^ Sanneh, Kelefa. "Suburban Renewal". New Yorker. Retrieved 6 February 2015.
5. ^ a b "We Are All Alone - The Hotelier". The Hotelier. 10 June 2009. Archived from the original on 27 December 2010. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
6. ^ "Two Song Demo - The Hotelier". The Hotelier. 7 May 2010. Archived from the original on 8 November 2011. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
7. ^ "It Never Goes Out - The Hotelier". The Hotelier. 2 January 2011. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
8. ^ "Interviews: Christian Holden (The Hotelier)". Punk News. Retrieved 6 February 2015.
9. ^ Cooke, Shawn. "Lead singer of The Hotelier talks ambiguity, imagines the worst". The Pitt News. University of Pittsburgh. Retrieved 20 June 2016.
10. ^ Slessor, Dan. "The Hotelier - Home, Like Noplace Is There". Alternative Press. Retrieved 25 December 2014.
11. ^ Cohen, Ian. "The Hotelier - Home, Like Noplace Is There". Pitchfork. Retrieved 25 December 2014.
12. ^ Blest, Paul. "The Hotelier Want to Cut Through the Bro Culture Crap". Vice. Retrieved 25 December 2014.
13. ^ Ryan, Kyle. "The Hotelier's "Housebroken" empathizes with the bitches being kept in line". A.V. Club. Retrieved 6 February 2015.
14. ^ "AP.net Staff List". AbsolutePunk.net. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
15. ^ "AP.net Users Rank Their Top 50 Albums (2000-2015)". AbsolutePunk.net. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
16. ^ Snitzer, Mark. "Two bands leading the new emo revival". Philadelphia City Newspaper. Archived from the original on 30 September 2015. Retrieved 6 February 2015.
17. ^ Bogosian, Dan. "12 Biggest Moments of The #EmoRevival in 2014". Alternative Press. Retrieved 6 February 2015.
18. ^ Galil, Leor. "I changed my mind: Year-end lists matter". Chicago Reader. Retrieved 6 February 2015.
19. ^ Caballero, Martin; Garelick, Jon; O'Neil, Luke; Reed, James; Rodman, Sarah; Smith, Steve. "Best of Boston Music 2014". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 6 February 2015.
20. ^ Bird, ed. 2015, p. 25
21. ^ "Artists To Watch in 2015". propertyofzack.com. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
22. ^ "Primavera Sound 2015 lineup announced". Treble: Music news, reviews, interviews and more. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
23. ^ Reandelar, Dana. "La Dispute To Play A Few Intimate Shows This Spring". Under The Gun Review. Retrieved 6 February 2015.
24. ^ "While I've done one of these the past two years". Retrieved 16 February 2016.
25. ^ a b "People Really Love The Hotelier". Thefader.com. Retrieved 26 May 2018.
26. ^ "The Hotelier release trailer for new album 'Goodness', set for May release". Upset Magazine. Retrieved 16 February 2016.
27. ^ Salmon, Ben. "Playing the Away Games". Portland Mercury. Retrieved 25 December 2014.

Sources

* Bird, Ryan, ed. (January 2015). "Top 50 Albums of the Year". Rock Sound (195). London: Freeway Press Inc. ISSN 1465-0185.

## Further reading

[edit]

* Tedder, Michael (May 19, 2016). "Anarchy In Worcester, Mass". Stereogum. Retrieved November 18, 2018.

## External links

[edit]

Media related to The Hotelier at Wikimedia Commons

Authority control databases

International|

* ISNI

Artists|

* MusicBrainz