Sometimes it’s good to get outside. Get out there and do something you’d normally not do with little expectation. Listen to the rhythm of the earth, the messages from the cosmos. In an abstract way, that’s what musicians Dylan Jagger Lee and Anton Khabbaz did when they began making songs and posting them online for fun. Little did they know that their late-night jam sessions would soon develop into the duo’s band, Motel 7.

“We've always loved music,” explains Khabbaz, “Like it was never a goal to start a band, it was just a goal to make good music together.” Soon after posting their songs to SoundCloud, they noticed that their experimentation in the studio proved successful. After their second song blew up, the friends sat down and decided it was time to take things more seriously. “We were like, ‘Oh shit, like, we should probably do this for real,’” recalls Jagger Lee. “It was a very happy accident. Motel 7 is very much an organic and happy accident.”

A happy accident indeed. Their top hit “It’s Alright” has racked up over 7 million streams on Spotify. But the LA-based band doesn’t find itself chasing after the year’s next big hit. For them, what matters most is making music that they’d want to listen to. “There was never this mentality of ‘Yeah, let's make the next top 40 record,’” says Jagger Lee. “It was always just making beats. If it's cool, it's cool.”

Of course, having an audience larger than just the four walls of their school’s recording studio has impacted their work—to an extent. “Once we had a decent amount of people listening to the music, we definitely started thinking a little bit more about what's going into the song,” describes Khabbaz of the writing process. “But we're not overthinking it, you know?” Much like when on the highways that the duo cross to get to the studio and back, you must know when to step on the brakes, to tune out all that clout-chasing and money-grabbing, and just create, breath, listen.

We caught up with the duo following the release of their new EP, Headphones, the duo’s beginnings, working with friends, and more.

LOUIS VUITTON MEN’S jacket and pants, stylist’s own tank, and ALESSANDRO VASINI boots.

Why did you guys choose to start the band? What inspired your start in music?

Anton: We've always loved music, and I feel like it was never a goal to start a band, it was just a goal to make good music together. And we always just vibed very well. And Motel 7 kind of came out of nowhere. It was kind of a surprise for us. It's always just been a fun creative outlet to express our emotions and whatever's going on in our daily lives. To this day, we still don't think we can really sing, but we do our best. We're having fun, and we embrace the little imperfections in our writing and production process, but that's what makes it cool. Yeah, that's my take on it. What about you, Dylan?

Dylan: Anton and I, we met at school. We bonded over not making electronic music. And one night at like 4 AM or 5 AM, super late, we wrote a song, and we were like, "Oh shit, this is pretty cool. We'll put it out on SoundCloud." And it ended up kind of blowing up. Then we put another song on Spotify, and then that one really blew up and we were like, "Oh shit, we should probably do this for real. It was a very happy accident. Motel 7 is very much an organic and happy accident.

How would you describe the friendship dynamic between you guys? Would you say there are different roles?

D: We both come from the same background in production styles. For example, we both were producers first before singers. So it was like, we're always going to be producers, whether it was going to be as a DJ or producing for people. And then we both started singing at the same time. Probably the same day. It was the first time we both ever sang. I mean the way our relationship works in terms of making music is very similar. Production first, then we became singers.

A: I agree. We didn't really think we could sing, and then we tried it and it was cool. Instead of waiting for someone to sing your song, you could just be in your own song. And, it's like 115% yours at that point. So it allowed us to be more creative and write our lyrics and it allowed us to be more inspired to share.

Some people say not to work with family, not to work with friends. How did you guys manage that? Do you keep your friendship separate from your work relationship? Or are you guys just all in one?

D: I think that is the best thing about Motel 7, actually, is that it is just purely based on having a good time. It was never business-related. There was never this pro aspect to it. It was kind of like, ‘Let's just get together and make beats. If it's fire, we'll put it out. If not, then we'll just put it with the rest of the songs.’ There was never this mentality of ‘Let's make the next top 40 record.’ We definitely still keep to that and have always been a fan of that.

A: I feel like we were always music-minded people. So whenever we'd hang out or talk, it would just be a lot of music conversations. That's like how all our friends are. We're just all in this music world. And we were just like, ‘Hey, I just found a cool song. Let's make something like this tomorrow.’

Left to right: Anton wears ONITSUKA TIGER shirt, HERMÈS pants, and AQUATALIA shoes. Dylan wears ONITSUKA TIGER shirt and BLUEMARBLE pants.

How would you say growing up in LA where the music industry is so prevalent impacted your music?

D: It's interesting because everyone is technically ‘an artist’ in LA, right? So it's definitely a different mindset. I don't even know what it would be like from a different perspective. I've always been from the inside, looking out. It feels pretty normal to me, but I think the thing that separates Anton and I from the rest of the ‘Oh, I'm an artist’ people is the fact that we really didn't know this was going to happen.

People will always be like, ‘I didn't know this was going to happen,’ but Anton and I always joked about it. Every single night we made a song we were like, ‘Fuck, if this song is gonna blow up, then we're going to have to like, become a band.’ I don't know if it's affected our music at all, but I think obviously there's the mindset that there are about a billion other people trying to do the same thing. Definitely interesting, but it never forced us to make pop music or make something that people liked or whatever you want to call it.

A: Yeah. I agree. I feel like there's a lot of competitive energy out here. So, you feel like you just have so many people looking down on you, and you have to keep the expectations high. But a lot of the creatives are out here doing really cool stuff, inspiring us to be like, ‘OK cool, that's sick. Let's maybe try something similar for our next one.’ I think growing up here definitely has some influence on music, but not why we make music.

Looking back in time at the evolution of Motel 7, how would you say you have grown and developed?

D: Oh gosh. I mean, from making music and being like, ‘Oh shit, autotune is awesome and like anyone can sing,’ to now actually being able to write songs and sit down and go to the studio. It's definitely become much more of a thing. I don't know how else to describe that. Before it was this random thing that we did, where now it's something that we've set forth to do. It's changed in a way, but our style and why we do it haven’t changed at all.

A: I feel like we grew a lot in terms of how we write and how we produce. We definitely became a lot more conscious of the choices we make, but once we had a decent amount of people listening to the music, we definitely started thinking a little bit more about what was going into the song. But we're not overthinking it, you know? I think it takes a great amount of discipline to know the limit and know the line where you're maybe thinking too much about certain stuff and production. That can definitely hinder what comes out. I think it's been a great journey and we're still learning and growing. We're never going to stop.

You talked about knowing where to stop and knowing the limits of what you want your creativity to look like. Would you say you are being pulled towards music?

A: I feel like I'm always trying to find out what's the new thing. Like what's that new avenue that we could take to break from what everyone else is doing. Sometimes that's the hardest part because I feel like you do something and then you hear someone else doing something. It is a constant search for what's next and what's going to be better. I don't think there really is anything that's going to be better. You just gotta do you. I feel like we've always stayed true to that. We've always just done us. I feel like we're always just open to exploring new ideas and getting a little bit out of our comfort zone, in terms of what we usually do. And I think in this recent EP we've experimented with that a lot, which is great.

D: We're always kinda being pulled towards creating something that's like someone hasn't heard before.