Hotel of the Laughing Tree is an

indie rock Indie rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the music they produc ...

band that was formed in 2009 on Long Island. The band presently consists of AJ Estrada, Brandon Peterson and Jonathon Streker, and now reside in their respective states of New York, Tennessee and Massachusetts, working digitally to create new records.

Biography

After the dissolution of the progressive rock band Rendezvous with the Kidnappers, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter AJ Estrada began to put together a new project with a distinctive Indie/Pop sound. Hotel's members developed into the original lineup of Estrada on guitar and lead vocals, Brandon Peterson on lead guitar and harmony vocals, Anthony Arma on bass, and a combination of Neil Scalesse and Mike Nixdorf on drums and other percussion instruments. They would later be joined by keyboardist Mike Solomon in 2010. Hotel released their debut EP "Old Dominion" in August 2009. Upon its release, it garnered a very positive review from the popular alternative music site AbsolutePunk, receiving praise for its songs' diversity in sound and catchy hooks. While continuing to play shows in and around the Long Island area, Hotel entered the 6th Annual

mtvU MTVU (formerly stylized as MtvU and mtvU) is an American digital cable TV channel owned by the MTV Entertainment Group, a unit of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. The channel was first known as VH1 Uno from 2000 to ...

Woodie Awards in the category "Best Music on Campus". After making it to the top two, they defeated their opponent Oh, The Story! and accepted the award in New York City on November 18, 2009. They were then featured in Alternative Press Magazine as the Unsigned Band of the Week for January 29, 2010. Hotel released their first full-length album, entitled "Terror and Everything After", on February 1, 2011 and the band led a supporting tour of the album shortly after. Arma, Scalesse, and Nixdorf parted ways with the band in June 2011 with former members of the recently dissolved Tiger Riot, Fred and Dan Ardis, taking on drum and bass duties, respectively. In November 2012, Hotel released the EP "Mammoth Skin Pt. 1," for free digital download. This was followed up with "Mammoth Skin Pt. 2" in April 2014. Their second full-length album, "New World Sundown", was released independently on February 1, 2015. The band next released "Hotel Junk Box" in 2017, a collection of B-Sides and rarities.

Members

*AJ Estrada (lead vocals,

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

, arrangements and production) *Brandon Peterson (

harmony vocals Vocal harmony is a style of vocal music in which a consonant note or notes are simultaneously sung as a main melody in a predominantly homophonic texture. Vocal harmonies are used in many subgenres of European art music, including Classical c ...

, guitar, production) *Jonathon Streker (harmony vocals, piano and keys)

Former members

*Fred Ardis ( drums,

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

) *Dan Ardis ( bass) *Neil Scalesse ( drums,

) *Mike Nixdorf (percussion, glockenspiel) *Anthony Arma ( bass) *Mike Solomon ( keys, vocals) *Cory Meyers ( bass, Co-Founder) *Kyle Schnitzer ( pianist, vocalist)

Discography

Awards

mtvU Woodie Awards

The

mtvU Woodie Awards MTVU (formerly stylized as MtvU and mtvU) is an American digital cable TV channel owned by the MTV Entertainment Group, a unit of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. The channel was first known as VH1 Uno from 2000 to ...

is an annual awards show sponsored by

, a division of

MTV Networks Paramount Media Networks (formerly known as Warner Cable Communications, Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment, MTV Networks, Viacom Media Networks, and ViacomCBS Domestic Media Networks) is an American mass media division of Paramount Global tha ...

. Hotel of the Laughing Tree received the 2009 "Best Music on Campus" award. , - , 2009 , , Hotel of the Laughing Tree , , Best Music on Campus Woodie , ,

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hotel Of The Laughing Tree Indie rock musical groups from New York (state) Musical groups from Long Island Musical groups established in 2009