A genre-defying alternative metal outfit founded in Santa Barbara, CA, Motograter was formed in 1995 and take their name from a homemade springed/percussion instrument that’s made of heavy cable, cranks, and gears. With the release of new single “Dorian“, the band is ready to build on its legacy and climb back to the top of the Hard Rock and Metal world. The song is off to the fastest start @ Active Rock Radio in the band’s career, with more than 30 stations already playing the song. (lakeforestgc.com) It is charting Top 30 on both the Billboard Rock Indicator chart and the Under The Radar Active Rock chart.
The band recently shot a music video for “Dorian” that will premiere in August. The location for the video shoot was the famous Ohio State Reformatory where the Oscar nominated movie “Shawshank Redemption” was filmed, as well as music videos from Godsmack and Lil’ Wayne. Directing and producing the video is Christopher Davis (Human Twelve).
EMP Label Group will release ‘Desolation’ on 8/11/17, Motograter’s 2nd full length album. The LP was produced by Ahrue Luster (Ill Nino/Ex-Machine Head) and mixed by Joshua Wickman (Within the Ruins, KING 810). The album was engineered by Luster, Wickman, and Jon Berrier, and recorded at Illustrious Productions, Dreadcore Productions, and BlackPlate Productions. Art for “Desolation” was created by Mister-Sam Shearon, who has created covers for comic books and graphic novels including Clive Barker’s “Hellraiser”, Judge Dredd, The X-Files, Mars Attacks, KISS, and Clive Barker’s “Books of Blood” as well as artwork for some of the biggest names in rock music including Godhead, Ministry, Rob Zombie, Iron Maiden, Powerman 5000, Biohazard, American Head Charge, Rammstein, Fear Factory and Kill Devil Hill.
The band is widely known for their image, notorious for covering themselves in tribal style body paint. The early stage of the group’s career consisted of heavy experimentation with industrial sounds, samples, and tribal drums.
The band released two EP’s ‘Hugh Chardon’ and ‘Indy’ and were signed to Sever Records, founded by Dez Fafara of Coal Chamber.
The band’s sound continued to evolve, eventually incorporating a dark, groove-oriented guitar styling, that would help broaden the band’s appeal and reach a wider audience. In 2003, the band inked a deal with No Name/Elektra Records and released the highly acclaimed. self-titled album, ‘Motograter’, featuring Ivan Moody (Five Finger Death Punch/Ghost Machine) on vocals. The song “Suffocate” was featured on the soundtrack to the film “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre”. The song “Down” is featured on the EA Sports video game Nascar Thunder 2004. The band went through various periods of dormancy over the years as members worked on their own side projects.
Motograter reformed with its current lineup in 2014. The band has been active since then and has performed at Knotfest multiple times. They have toured with Ozzy Osbourne and Ozzfest, 5 Finger Death Punch, Korn, Marilyn Manson, Chevelle, Disturbed, Ministry, Nothingface, Anthrax, Mushroomhead, Killswitch Engage, Chimaira, Shadows Fall, Voivod, and many more. The “Desolation” tour starts in Septermber.
Noah “Shark” Robertson took the time to sit down and discuss the making of Desolation and what is feels like to have new Motograter material
iTunes Pre-order link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/desolation/id1259272045?app=itunes&ign-mpt=uo%3D4
See Motograter live one tour starting in September
Motograter – Desolation Tour
9/19 – Titanfest (Headling Act) – Fife, WA
9/27 – Brick By Brick – San Diego, CA
9/28 – Club Red – Mesa, AZ
9/29 – Top Deck – Farmington, NM
10/3 – Rail Club – Fort Worth, TX
10/4 – Come And Take It Live – Austin, TX
10/6 – Come And Take It Live – Austin, TX
10/8 – Southport Music Hall – New Orleans, LA
10/10 – The Dungeon Tavern – Panama City, FL
10/12 – O’Malley’s – Margate, FL
10/13 – The Haven – Winter Park, FL
10/15 – The Drunk Horse Pub – Fayetteville, NC
10/19 – Canal Club – Richmond, VA
10/20 – Fish Head Cantina – Halethorpe, MD
10/21 – Dingbatz – Clifton, NJ
10/22 – The Lost Horizon – Syracuse, NY
10/23 – Amityville Music Hall – Amityville, NY
10/25 – Reverb – Reading, PA
10/28 – Stage On Herr – Harrisburg, PA
10/30 – Trixie’s Entertainment Complex – Louisville, KY
11/1 – The Token Lounge – Westland, MI
11/3 – Route 20 – Strurtevant, WI
11/4 – Top Fuel Saloon – Braidwood, IL
11/5 – The Firebird – St. Louis, MO
11/10 – Dr. Jack’s Drinkery – Omaha, NEB
11/12 – Herman’s Hideaway – Denver, CO
11/18 – Malone’s Bar – Santa Ana, CA
Motograter are:
James Legion – Vocals
Matthew “Nuke” Nunes – Guitar
Jesse Stamper – Guitar
Mylon Guy – Bass
Noah “Shark” Robertson – Drums
Dustin “Skunk” Anderson – Motograter