get to know moto bandit, 2020's hidden gem
Interview by Amelia Zollner
With only around 300 Instagram followers and four songs released on Spotify, the dream-pop band MOTO BANDIT is a hidden gem. Their seamlessly-produced music is entertaining, yet feels honest and reflective, like their discography is the soundtrack to an indie film. Although many of their listeners would argue that they're critically underappreciated, in our interview, they revealed that fame isn't their goal; MOTO BANDIT, composed of Ben Merlotti and Dennis Pickett, is just here to have fun. A few weeks ago, I had the chance to chat via email with MOTO BANDIT about their origins in Cincinnati, their mysterious movie-themed band name, and their plans for 2020.
Ease Up: Hi guys! First of all, can you introduce yourselves and tell us a little bit about your band for our readers who aren’t familiar with your music?
MOTO BANDIT: We’re Ben and Dennis from Nashville, TN. We started MOTO BANDIT in college out of sheer boredom when we made a song called "Golden Shores" in Dennis’s room 3 or 4 years ago. It’s on YouTube somewhere. It’s almost pointless to try to name specific artists that influence us because we listen to so much different shit, but, at the time we were really into dreamy, guitary rock and pop so we wanted to see if we could make something like that. Then we never made another full song until "KEANU" in 2019.
EU: I read on your Spotify profile that you guys met at school in Cincinnati. How has Cincinnati’s scene inspired you and shaped your sound as a band?
MB: Hmmmm. I would honestly say that Cincinnati’s scene hasn’t influenced our sound in any way. We were in another band while we were in Cincinnati and it was definitely inspiring to play with other bands and gig around. That was super fun, but we started MOTO BANDIT to avoid all the bullshit that came with doing the band thing, like spending time playing gigs you’re not getting paid for and feeling like a passion is becoming work that’s not paying off. So we decided that we would just make music for fun with no worries [about] it going anywhere and that way we could really just enjoy ourselves more.
EU: What’s the story behind your band name?
MB: Lol. Isn’t it better if it’s a bit of a mystery? Dennis came up with the name and mentioned it to me while we were in his room making "Golden Shores." I just really liked the look and sound of it. There is an origin. It’s related to a movie we were both into. But I’m gonna let it remain a mystery.
EU: I love listening to your music when I’m driving around. In what situations do you hope people listen to your music?
MB: I can totally see that. It’s definitely good music to drive to. I guess I would hope people listen to it when they are reflecting on their lives during whatever may be going on for them. Someone on YouTube said “I’m gonna get drunk to this song on my birthday,” so that’s a perfectly acceptable use of the music as well.
EU: Have you played any live shows yet? If not, do you hope to play any soon? What feelings do you hope to create at your concerts?
MB: Only having 3 songs we haven’t. At this point, we’re really not rushing anything because then it feels like work and we already work 9-5s. Speaking of 9-5s, maybe that’s the feeling we could evoke at our concerts. That "talking to Sheryl from accounting about her kids by the water cooler" vibe.
EU: So far, you guys have four singles out on major streaming platforms. Is there anything you’ve learned while creating these songs that you will take into consideration when producing music in the future?
MB: We definitely struggle with finishing tracks. We have countless open projects that we started and then gave up on, but we’ve been keeping track of these and rating which ones we like best. We’ve talked about compiling them into an album, but it’s hard to judge if we think they’re good enough, lol. I think the biggest thing we’ve learned about creating is that it can kind of be a numbers game. Just keep making stuff when you can and eventually you’ll sit down and pound out a song in a day. That’s what happened for the [four] we have out now.
EU: With these four singles, you've already racked up a decent number of streams and listeners. Did you have to work hard to promote your music or did that happen on its own?
MB: We got pretty lucky. It was fun to watch. We were really in a "fuck it" mindset when we made "KEANU." We said whatever we made that day we’d upload to Spotify and one of our friends heard it. He’s a great artist under the name of Bucolic. After he heard it, he told us about a website called SubmitHub and we uploaded it there as well. I spent like $10 to get the premium credits and some of the bloggers seemed to really like it. It was cool to watch our music being listened to all over the world because the bloggers have such a wide audience. After a month, "KEANU" had like 20,000 streams, which was a really cool feeling.
EU: Where do you see MOTO BANDIT as a band in five years?
MB: Who knows? I think it’s pretty tough to try to plan anything in life. Shit always gets in the way. But for now, we’re gonna keep making music as long as we’re having fun doing it and making music that we really enjoy. We both have other passions as well, so we’re always doing other things. Dennis is a great graphic artist too; you can find him @dpiictions on Instagram. Unsure of how he will feel about me plugging his account here.
EU: Finally, are there any upcoming releases or announcements that we can look forward to?
MB: Yes, we are definitely going to make music [and music videos] throughout 2020. And we’re definitely hoping to release more than 2 songs like we did in 2019. If we get the motivation to release an album, we will, but if that’s not the case, I would say you could expect a track in the next couple of months. Shoutout to Yot Club, Teen Blush, and JW Francis, some people we have met via Instagram that showed us love and are out there making really great music.
Just a few weeks ago, MOTO BANDIT released their fourth single, "OBSERVATIONS 1," and listeners can hope to hear some more releases from them soon. For now, stream their current releases below!