Hotel Books - Run Wild Stay Alive (2016)

Formed in 2011 in Porterville, California, Hotel Books is the project of spoken word poet Cameron Smith. Delivering his intense, cathartic poetry over a musical blend of ambient, post-hardcore, and emo, Smith and his bandmates have toured extensively throughout the U.S., Europe, and Australia. Smith was drawn both to the fringe aspect of spoken word poetry and to the chance to focus on writing lyrics unhindered by melody. A devout Christian, he sees Hotel Books as a way to tell his personal story without excluding non-believers. Employing a rotating cast of bandmembers throughout the years, they recorded a series of four EPs beginning with Call Me Human in late 2011, all released on Smith's own Dead Letters Collective label. After signing with InVogue Records in 2014, the band released their first full-length LP, I'm Almost Happy Here, But I Never Feel at Home, in July of that year. ~ Timothy Monger.