Today we’d like to introduce you to Jessica Thompson and Jade Long.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Jessica and Jade. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
We both grew up in musical families and have been playing instruments since we were really young. Last year we met through a mutual friend and started playing together for fun and writing music in Jessica’s living room. Luckily, our apartment complexes were next to each other so if one of us had a cool idea, we could just run over and work it out. After jamming together for a month or so, we happened to get a slot filling in for a band that cancelled for a show at the Caledonia Lounge in Athens. We scrambled to write enough songs for the show and get a full band together, and somehow everything fell into place at the last minute. Our now good friend Tommy Trautwein happened to be there watching and asked us if we wanted to record a song with him, which had never even crossed our minds. That song was “Astronaut Kids”, and we released it last fall. From there, we’ve kept writing, recording, and playing shows together, and we both agree that it’s been the most fun year of our lives. We’re so lucky to do what we do and do it with each other.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
We are so grateful for the support we have received from everyone around us during the last year. The Athens music community has been so accepting of us and we have met some of our best friends through music. Our first show ever was packed with all of our supportive friends, which inspired us to keep going and record our music. People we had never met reached out to us after we released our first song on Spotify. So in that sense, it’s been a great journey. Of course, there have definitely been some challenges along the way. We are still working to earn more money so we can record the rest of our songs. Our friends have been so supportive in that way, too, by buying our t-shirts and helping us raise money to record. It can also be difficult to juggle our responsibilities as UGA students with our music, but our manager John helps a ton with the administrative side of the band. Of course, the pandemic has been a bump in the road for all musicians, and it has definitely halted our plans and shows for the time being. But, hopefully we’ll be back together recording and performing again very soon. So relatively speaking, it’s been a blast with just the normal bumps in the road.
Can you give our readers some background on your music?
We want our songs to make listeners feel less alone, feel emotionally validated, and feel uplifted. At the end of the day, we make music that feels true to us. As a band we are most proud of the songs that we work on both writing and recording. Often we’ll stay up all night working through a song to make sure it’s perfect or spend a whole day at Tommy’s house, making sure we love a vocal take. Although we record in a house (and occasionally the UGA music school for some piano parts), we still pay as much attention to detail as musicians at a professional studio would. Another thing we’ve loved about music is performing it live. We’ve had some of the most fun and exciting nights on stage together, and we hope people that come to our shows have had a good time, too. We both come from such different musical backgrounds, so adding all of these different sounds we love together makes something cool and unexpected. We want to make music that means something to us and tells our story. So really, that’s all we can do: just be genuine and hope people come along for the ride.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
Honestly, the quality that has been most important to our success so far has been the support from our music community. Athens never feels like a competition with music. Everyone is just being themselves and making music that tells their story. We’re always asking our friends to open for us at shows, and our good friend Elijah Johnston asked us to come on tour with him in May (unfortunately, that’s been cancelled now). People are always stopping by our recording sessions, either to help with a part or just come hang out. Everyone has been so giving and willing to help us out. One of our friends Andrew Huang (Blooms Sounds), recorded and produced a high-quality live session for free for us. Our friend Melanie sells our shirts at shows, makes some of our graphics, and even came to Alabama to help us with some shows. Our friends Emmie and Addie come to shows and take pictures for us. Another friend Jacob Mallow is even starting to make an album with each song featuring a different Athens artist in our friend group. We spend most of our free nights going to our friends’ concerts, and we usually see all of the other Athens musicians there to support, too. We couldn’t be where we are today without all of the incredible people around us.
Contact Info:
- Phone: 404-403-9519
- Email: hotelfiction@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hotelfiction/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hotelfiction
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3k9WgzHiUobiS8ge4dQX9R?si=QykJ-ZRHTvS_jJYFf6FIxg
Image Credit:
Sydonné Blake
Jackson Smith
Emmie Harvard
Suggest a story: VoyageATL is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
