Not long ago, the members of Motive were shredding through jazz lead sheets and getting carted across the U.S. and Europe to showcase their young talent. Nowadays, Motive populates a different scene. These Seattle transplants, turned Brooklynites, emerged from a Clinton Hill, Brooklyn practice space onto stages around the city and are rapidly taking NYC – and the internet – by storm. Known for their grunge influenced indie rock sound, Motive’s catchy, hook laced songwriting shines through on the latest single, “What’s So Bad?”, which was Produced & Mixed by Chuck Brody (Phantogram, Bear Hands, Ra Ra Riot). The videos for “What’s So Bad?” and “It’s Illicit” recently caught the attention of MTV and both premiered on MTV2’s 120 Minutes with Matt Pinfield. The videos quickly skyrocketed to #2 and #12 on MTV.com’s Most Popular video chart, topping artists such as Nicki Minaj, Justin Bieber, and Imagine Dragons- a rare feat for an unsigned band.
Motive is currently preparing to release a new EP and a series of high concept music videos to accompany the release, and recently had their cover of Talking Heads “Psycho Killer” featured in a Jean Paul Gaultier video released by the popular fashion/music/and culture publication, TWELV Magazine.
Motive has shared the stage with: Walk The Moon, The Vaccines, Bear Hands, Free Energy, Oberhofer, etc.
Let’s call these guys The Strokes 2.0. Dressed in slick skinny-tie suits, these Seattle transplants peddle pure melodic rock, with catchy hooks that recall the best moments of The Killers and the fuzzy vocals that remind us of a more cheerful Julian Casablancas. With their videos getting top-ratings on MTV.com, soon everyone will have some Motive of their own.
