Biography
Hotel Lights came together in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, in 2000 as the main creative outlet for Ben Folds Five drummer Darren Jessee once that band had gone on hiatus. Jessee moved from the drum kit to guitar, piano, and vocals, enlisting guitarist/producer Alan Weatherhead, guitarist/keyboardist Chris Badger, bassist Roger Gupton, and drummer Mark Price to record the group’s self-titled debut, issued by Bar/None Records in 2006. By 2007 Gupton and Price had departed, giving way to drummer Zeke Hutchins and bassist Jay Brown, both longtime sidemen with Tift Merritt, and the lineup began tracking fresh material at Butch Vig’s Smart Studios in Madison, Wisconsin. Upon completion of those sessions Jessee moved to New York City. The resulting sophomore album, Firecracker People, appeared on Bar/None in August 2008. Girl Graffiti followed in 2011 and featured the single “Falling Down.” That same year Ben Folds Five unexpectedly reunited, releasing The Sound of the Life of the Mind in 2012 along with a world tour and live album. Jessee joined Sharon Van Etten’s touring band in 2014 and contributed drums to portions of her 2015 EP I Don’t Want to Let You Down. While maintaining Hotel Lights, he assembled songs during gaps in those other projects; the resulting Get Your Hand in My Hand arrived in March 2016. Weatherhead and Brown returned for the sessions, with Jessee handling drums, and the record included a rearranged, more rustic reading of the ballad “Sky High,” originally from The Sound of the Life of the Mind and written by Jessee.
Albums
