The Katies Return Stronger Than Ever With ‘Hotel’

“All we wanted to do was play,” Katies bassist-vocalist Gary Welch tells the Scene, looking back on the initial late-1990s run of the alt-rock trio, Nashvillians via Murfreesboro and Knoxville. “Whether it was with My Friend Steve or Fuel, Lynyrd Skynyrd or Ted Nugent, we’d play.” 

“We did this show with The Verve Pipe in Jacksonville,” recalls singer-guitarist Jason Moore. “They were on the way down. We were kinda trying to find the way up. Me and [singer] Brian Vander Ark drank a bottle of Jack ahead of the set. I was hammered by the time we went on. The microphones kept shocking us. I was furious.” 

Welch, Jason Moore and his brother, drummer Joshua Moore, could probably fill a book with their stories of being stubborn young Southerners navigating the post-Nirvana big-label wilderness without a map. Too poppy for the headbangers, too hard-rockin’ for the indie kids and a couple years too late to the feeding frenzy that drew major-label attention to the Murfreesboro scene in the mid-’90s, The Katies’ self-titled debut — a co-release between Elektra Records and hometown label Spongebath — sank like a stone when it came out in the summer of 1999. 

Should one doubt The Katies’ clear-eyed, full-hearted sound has stood the test of time, good luck jamming its heartstring-tugging centerpiece “Shiseido” and not feeling all the feels. But we’re not here just to wax nostalgic. It took 20 years, but the Katies’ second album, Die Ultra, is done — and it’s kind of incredible. “Hotel,” which the Scene is thrilled to premiere today, is a slow-burning epic about hitting rock bottom, then finding redemption. For Jason Moore, 13 years sober, the track holds special relevance. 

“It took years to find a balance, so I could function as a human,” the frontman says. “ ‘Hotel’ is completely autobiographical. I lived a country song. I came home to all my bags thrown out onto the front lawn. Checked into a hotel. It’s a true story. The whole record is. There’s a theme of endings and beginnings … addictions, relationships. Not resolution, necessarily — because that’s not how it works — but crisis points.”

The band’s trademark massive three-piece sound, outrageous guitar solos and pitch-perfect harmonies are all on full display on “Hotel,” which, along with the previously-released “Blush In Our System,” makes up the emotional core of Die Ultra. In tandem, the two tunes answer the question of what Big Star might’ve sounded like as a ’90s band. 

There is no release date for the album, and the band is fine with that. It’s taken this long to make this record, so why jump the gun putting it out? That said, email thekaties[at]gmail[dot]com if you’ve got ideas. Check out the lyric video below, and follow the band on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook for more.