Video: Saint Motel, ‘Preach’

Kevin Bronson on August 19th, 2020

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L.A. quartet Saint Motel announced the Sept. 18 release of their new EP in typically theatrical fashion — a slammin’, slickly choreographed video for the new single “Preach” that sees dashing frontman A/J Jackson dancing in an empty warehouse while surrounded by a quintet of face shield-wearing LA Roller Girls and, eventually, his bandmates.

“Preach” offers an equally slickly produced earworm that throws back to the disco era, in keeping with the quartet’s “retro-modern” approach to pop. They party heartiest where horns are involved.

The EP is “The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack: Part 2,” the second installment of a three-part album that Saint Motel introduced last fall with the five-track Part 1. That spawned the single “Van Horn,” along with its Jackson-directed video.

Back in March, just before COVID-19 shackled everything, Saint Motel released “Part 2’s” first single, “A Good Song Never Dies.” The quartet — Jackson and mates Aaron Sharp, Dak Lerdamornpong and Greg Erwin — obviously had time to roll with the punches in time for “Preach’s” release. The video, directed by Jackson and longtime collaborator Mario Contini, shows off some pretty nifty effects, not to mention the Roller Girls’ incredibly vogue personal protective equipment.

Beyond the new release, Saint Motel have also created “New World,” an online virtual space where fans can while away the pandemic hours. It’s a 3D VR chatroom where audiences can get virtual meet-and-greets, live performances and access exclusive video content. It’s the next step for a band that in 2016 released “Saintmotelevision” as the first-ever VR and “augmented reality” album, accompanied by their Saintmotelevision app.

||| Watch: The video for “Preach”