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hobo exile hotel (Rock)
Alternative rock from Nuneaton near Coventry
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Stefano Bellavia main vocals rhythm guitar and main songwriter
Mark Garner drums and backing vocals
Neil Pearson bass
Rob Swire lead guitar and backing vocal
Real alternative rock at its very best
Hailing from Nuneaton in Warwickshire, Hobo exile hotel started out as a covers band by the name of Swarf back in 1996, they had a different lead singer back then but the rest of the band remained with the same line up. Mark Garner drums, Neil Pearson bass and Rob Swire on guitar, half Sicilian Stefano Bellavia was at the time a fan of Swarf the band used to cover music by Radiohead, Nirvana and many others.
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However, as usual disputes between the front man and the rest of the band members occurred and the original front man left.
Then Mark Garner heard Stef singing one day to an Oasis track and thought this guy was great, so he invited him to join the band, Stef reluctantly came to one of their rehearsals, I say reluctantly as Stef was a very shy individual and it took a long time for him to open up with new people, but he auditioned for the band and was immediately taken on as the new front man of Swarf, in the meantime with advice from the other members Stef taught himself to play guitar.
What no-one realised at that time though, was that Stef is a brilliant songwriter, he has some excellent ideas, the song writing is from the heart, real life and written with passion, eventually they decided to work with Stef’s material to see what they could come up with. The band soon had a great set to work with and so 1999 saw the birth of hobo exile hotel.
The name came from a book written by Jack Kerouac, the subject was about a place where people with emotional problems could meet, where they felt safe and at home, a sort of sanctuary, which is pretty much what the hobo’s music is about, it is emotional, deep at times yet powerful in its delivery, music that has been written from the soul of the writer and is very real, there are no gimmicks with hobo exile hotel everything you hear has a meaning and has been written for a reason.
With Stef’s material they started the gigging circuit as an originals band, after some time they began to gain some real respect for their work, they gigged at small venues, then had some lucky breaks when they played London Barfly and High Wycombe University, they started to support larger bands and artists such as My Vitriol, The Rakes, Martin Grech and later Nizlopi. They even had A&R; interest from b-unique, in fact Jonny Simon came to see the band at rehearsal’s 3 times, travelling from London to Coventry and at one point bringing Jay Greenwood with him, he wanted to sign the band to the label, that was 4 years ago, but back then hobo exile hotel didn’t feel confident enough and wanted to develop their sound even further before looking at any deals.
That day is now here and the material is slightly different from their earlier stuff that Mr Simon had listened to, it’s more powerful than before and written to a very high standard. Hobo exile hotel have the real potential to be something special. They have the attitude, the musicianship, the music and the drive to succeed and are ready to make the next step and have become more career minded with their music.
I added hobo exile hotel to my roster in November 2005 after they had had some very bad management experiences. I got to know Stef and over a period of time we built up a good relationship he asked me to manage them and so I decided to take the band on, I have worked this band hard to build on the foundations that they had put down and its paying off, they are much happier, they are working harder and the new material just gets even better. I have now just kept hobo exile hotel on my roster and I am dedicated to seeing this band succeed.
The songwritting is prolific and they tick all the right boxes when performing live and working in the studio.
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Acoustic
