INTRODUCING: Motive Black
As MOTIVE BLACK release their debut album Auburn, vocalist Elana Justin explains how the band started, and why it was exactly what she needed at that time in her life. After moving to Los Angeles to perform with a different band, she starting working with producer Nick Rowe, and ‘bothered him and bothered him until he would do more songs.’ She says, “I left everything in New York. I just made some really significant, aggressive changes.” Meeting her new band members through playing music on the Sunset Strip truly kicked off this new chapter in Elana’s life, and MOTIVE BLACK was born.
This whole first album is both in honour of, and named after, Elana’s sister. She explains, “I lost her to drug addiction, and having her pass away really made me realise I wasn’t living my life the way I wanted to live it.” After moving to LA, it was clear Elana had to process everything that happened, and Auburn is a rollercoaster of that experience. “This album is about evolving and growing, but it wasn’t always pretty. It was a lot of anger, a lot of frustration, a lot of bouts of mania, but also really exciting things.” Starting the album with Nick, Elana used writing songs to understand what was happening in her life, something she wasn’t necessarily used to. “I was so flooded with very raw emotions that were changing day-to-day. I could write about nothing else because it was really in the forefront of my mind. It was actually pretty cathartic and also kind of therapeutic for me to get these things out while I was still living some of them.”
MOTIVE BLACK forced Elana to rethink everything she knew about writing an album, and where she was used to collaborating with a band over a period of time, this process was fast and intensive, and much more personal. Much of Auburn was recorded in Nick’s home studio, with Elana ‘screaming like five inches from his head.’ She describes a lot of this experience as ‘challenging’ and says, “I had to up my game because Nick is sort of a genius. Instead of just focusing on my part, we were both focused on each other’s.” While it wasn’t always easy, Elana reiterates how much fun they had, and how switching up what she knew was part of the reason Auburn is so different from anything she’d done before.
Another challenge that came with recording the album was finding funding to complete it, and eventually MOTIVE BLACK getting signed meant they were able to keep the process going. Elana explains, “I was kind of depressed and bummed out, because I didn’t know how I was going to fund the rest of this project, or if it was even going anywhere. So, I think having AFM really believe in the band sparked something in me and gave me a purpose.” At first, Elana was definitely sceptical about the idea of being signed, and was uncomfortable with the prospect of a label taking control of her project, which was luckily not the case with AFM. “They’re not really heavy-handed. Some labels really push you to write a certain way, or push you to release what they want you to. Of course, their opinion matters, but they stay out of the creative process, which was really important to me.”
When writing Auburn, Elana had all the inspiration needed, but motivation is less reliable. While she knew she needed to write to get everything off her chest, that pressure is sometimes daunting. She explains, “one of my biggest fears is every time I finish a song, I wonder if that’s the last one that will ever come into my head. What if that’s all I’ve got?” It’s a scary feeling to have, especially when you’re halfway through creating something, but over time Elana has found a way of dealing with the doubt. She says, “I start doing things that inspire me but aren’t music related, like reading, or going to museums, or seeing things that I find fulfilling for my soul. That will push me to start feeling creative, because you can burn out. What keeps it going is to just be in awe of other things. I think being in awe of things is what makes beautiful, creative things come out of you.”
A huge reward for finishing the album was being able to perform it live. Elana says, “making music is performing it live and connecting with people, so I’m super excited to finally do that part of it. I want to just delve into to having fun and feeling my music and watching it resonate with other people.” While MOTIVE BLACK have been able to play a few shows already, the release of the album will bring a lot more chances to play live.
Reflecting on the opportunities that MOTIVE BLACK as a project has brought, Elana explains, “I think working with Ray [Luzier] was a star-struck kind of moment. I’ve always been a huge fan of KORN, so that was really exciting for me, and made me feel like this is real, it’s all coming together. Everyone being so supportive and contributing so much to the project was really exciting.” There seem to be two main components that make MOTIVE BLACK happen: everybody else involved, and everything Elana puts in. She says, “I don’t know if I’ll get that vulnerable again, but I also don’t know what’s going to happen in my life. Hopefully I won’t have to deal with something like that anytime soon, but I think I’m open to all the ways that life can go and how that will affect the music that I make.”
Auburn is out now via AFM Records.
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