(Mike and Chris Fiscella) Hotel Ugly. Courtesy @alexseyreyes.

NHMO: Hello guys, great to talk with you today. Well, first things first, “Who is Hotel Ugly”, in your own words?

Hotel Ugly: I’d say Hotel Ugly is the culmination of a musical passion product created by the two of us. From music to creating any and everything for the band, it’s a piece of us and we try to make it as authentic to who we really are as much as we possibly can. It’s us personified through music.

NHMO: The band’s name stands out a lot. How did you get the name?

NHMO: What were your favorite pastimes as children? Favorite Christmas and why? I know, Christmas is a ways off.

Hotel Ugly: Since we were young, music, sports and video games we’re our past times. We eventually got to an age where we realized music was not only a thing to pass time but our dream lifestyle. Shout out to our dad though for trying to make us pro soccer players like he was. We still got some time maybe we can still make it happen if the Dynamo wanna sign us.

NHMO: What would you say influences your musical palette?

Hotel Ugly: We have so many artistic influences not only musically but in terms of overall creation. Musically there are so many, From Tame Impala to Guns and Roses. We try to pull inspiration from anywhere we gravitate to. In terms of image and creating, we absolutely love Tyler the Creator and Blink 182. They both have images and art that’s so unapologetically “them”. We hope we’re able to portray that in our own ugly way.

NHMO: Who are your favorite bands of all time?

Chris: Blink 182, easily have listened to them almost every day since I was in the 6th grade.

NHMO: How has the global pandemic affected your music?

Chris: At the time the pandemic hit, me and mike were living together so in a way it almost made us closer and forced us to pump out tunes. Having to essentially be isolated together meant we could spend a lot of time working on music together. It was definitely a tough time for all of us but looking back at it, we managed to make the best out of it and create some killer records.

NHMO: Between the both of you, do you have any passions or obsessive interests outside of making music?

Hotel Ugly: We definitely to have passions outside of music. We’re both creators at the end of the day. We’ve talked about potentially creating clothing lines, making films, directing a movie, and a whole load of other things that revolve around us being able to use every creative medium we can to express ourselves. As far as hobbies, we both still enjoy playing soccer, playing video games, League of Legends, FIFA and Call of Duty are a few of our favorites.

NHMO: What does a typical day in the studio look like for you guys?

Hotel Ugly: A typical day in the studio isn’t even a day at all. Most of our best, creative sessions take place late at night. It’s a whole different vibe then. We’ll spend anywhere from 1 to 12 hours making a song, composing the instruments and writing lyrics. Some days are more creative than others but if the vibe is there well spend all night locking in to finish a song.

NHMO: What has been your craziest inspiration for a song?

Hotel Ugly: Craziest inspiration for a song would probably be one we’ve never released. It was heavily inspired by western folk tale imagery with a super psychedelic touch. It was also one of the most fun to write due to the headspace we put ourselves in to inspire the lyrics. For stuff like that you really have to use your imagination and write from a fictional place in your head. We also may or may not have a song coming soon about a mannequin. But that’s all we can say on that (laughs). 

NHMO: You have a song titled “Shut Up My Mom Is Calling” How do your parents feel about your musical aspirations?

Hotel Ugly: Our parents are super supportive about our musical journey; they’ve always been supportive of us and are our number one fans. Our dad even went on tour with us for our first 4 sold out shows. It’s super cool having them be apart of this chapter in our lives. 

NHMO: Can you talk about the time your dad first heard your music?

Hotel Ugly: The first time our dad heard our music was great. His reaction to hearing his boys make music, and it actually being good, is a memory we’re both probably never gonna forget. He was over the moon and has been supporting us nonstop ever since.

NHMO: People are getting turned on to your music via streaming services like Spotify. What do you feel is resonating with new listeners?

Hotel Ugly: Our only explanation for how we’ve gained so many new listeners is that the music must be pretty good (laughs). It’s good to know we’re doing something right, musically. In addition, once the algorithm began to pick up a few of our songs, it really gave us the exposure to keep gaining listeners and fans organically which is something we’re super proud of because at the time we barely had a budget to promote on Instagram let alone a huge platform like Spotify. It’s a blessing and it all came naturally.

NHMO: What projects are you working on today?

Hotel Ugly: Today we have a bunch of songs in our vault waiting to be released. We’re not quite sure how big of a project we wanna put out yet but as of now we’re pretty happy with releasing singles until we finally make up our minds.

NHMO: A lot of the tracks we hear from you guys sound very much like soundtracks. Will there be more visuals or short films in the near future?

Hotel Ugly: We would absolutely love to make more visuals surrounding our songs, we have so many ideas we’re sitting on. Once we’re able to expand this vision further we’d want nothing more than to have a movie’s worth of visual content to go hand -in-hand with our music. It’s one of the many directions we hope to take Hotel Ugly in the future. We also have a killer videography and creative team waiting for the moment. Shout out Adrian, Sammy, and Purp! 

NHMO: Let’s talk about your upcoming performance in Houston. But first, how would both of you describe your relationship with the city?

Hotel Ugly: The Houston area is our home, it’s where we spent most of our childhood growing up. Unfortunately, the music scene for our genre isn’t that popping in Houston but we hope to help pave the way and inspire other Houston musicians along the way. We love just about everything this city has to offer and want nothing more than to put it on the map when it comes to indie music.

NHMO: How would you describe your Houston shows/ fans?

Hotel Ugly: The Houston show was a dream come true, selling out Warehouse Live in our hometown was something we never could have dreamed of. The fans in Houston are amazing, some of the best crowd energy there is. We’re so blessed we’re able to preform and be loved by the people of Houston and it’s something we’re both gonna be for ever grateful for. Our Houston peeps aren’t fans they’re family to us. 

NHMO: Closing remarks or comments?

Hotel Ugly: Big shoutout to our live drummer Raymon a.k.a Ray Ray a.k.a. Big Sexy. Also, a huge shoutout to the rest of our studio family. We couldn’t do it without the support of those guys, nothing but love! Thank you so much to everyone who listens to our music. You make this possible, we love each and every one of y’all more than you know and y’all allow us to live our dream! We love you!