Labretta Suede and The Motel 6

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Labretta Suede and The Motel 6 are celebrating their 20th Anniversary with a brand new album – Home for the Incurable – thirteen tracks of jungle groovin’, ass whippin’, low down and dirty rockin’-and-a-reelin’ rock n roll.

Over the 20 years Labretta and her band of merry miscreants have built a revered global reputation as a hot ticket on their extensive touring circuit. Their reckless, crazed live shows, reminiscent of a Roger Corman/David Lynch wet fever dream, leave audiences asking ,“What did I just witness, and when can I see it again?!”

Labretta formed the band when she had returned to New Zealand from one of her jaunts to the USA in 2005. It took on many shapes with a few members trying out until it settled into a cohesive line-up with the final piece to the puzzle being Johnny Moondog, an unhinged and unorthodox guitar player renowned in the New Zealand music scene as a wild man.

Labretta and Johnny became an unstoppable force from the first meet – art, music, B-grade culture, cars, vintage.

Once Moondog joined, he and Labretta were on the same page with songwriting and the rough direction of the band. Fast forward 20 years later and their love for music and wild rock n roll shows has become a thrilling live act people flock to see. Their cult underground appeal only continues to grow and for two extremely hard working and self-funded Kiwis they have become icons and ground breakers in an unusual subculture they have been at the forefront of. They truly are their own thing…

In 2008, these Kiwi weirdos left the NZ shores and took in the USA and Europe and haven’t stopped since. Though they swing wildly on the vines back and forth from the USA to NZ they are currently based in New York. With players lurking in all corners of the globe from NZ to Texas to NYC, just like The Motel 6, they always leave the light on for people to come and go, and join and rejoin them along the way. Labretta and Johnny are hell bent on community and love the glue that is music and escapism, which in trying times like these, are oh-so essential…like a heartbeat.

Home for the Incurable is the band’s third full-length album beckoning their fans to their infectious community for salvation. The record features long time original USA members Gerry White on drums & Max Frechette on bass, with performances by Joe Berson & Johnny Moondog on bass too. Special guest Roxy Verta-Ray appears on keys for “Hurt No More” and they even got their engineer and long-time friend Matt Verta-Ray on backing vocals for Roky Ericksons’ “I Walked With a Zombie”.

However, this album wouldn’t have been possible without all of the bands’ players including its dedicated tour warriors – from New Zealand Stuart Kett (drum) & Sylvester Porizakova (bass) & via Texas, bass player Marco Villalobos, who sadly never made it onto the album. And for their current New Zealand tour, please welcome Steve Rooney on drums and Paddy Fox on the bass!

We always leave the light on…

Home for the Incurable is available for preorder now from Kansas City record label cooperative Black Site.


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Home for the Incurable

Labretta Suede and The Motel 6

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Celebrating the band’s 20th anniversary, the third LP from these crazed Kiwis is a jungle groovin’, ass whippin’, low down and dirty rockin’-and-a-reelin full-frontal good time, reminiscent of a Roger Corman/David Lynch wet fever dream.

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