Strange Hotels at Crystal Ballroom—click to see more photos by Sydnie KobzaStrange Hotels put on the type of show that makes you feel like you’re at the coolest party in town; it’s the one you tell your friends about the next day, and it’s yet another reminder of just how good the music coming out of Portland is right now.
The bond between Ben Braden and Nick Sadler seems to only have one explanation, and that is the amount of time the duo has spent with one another. Braden and Sadler have been playing music together for over 10 years, going back to when the two met in ninth grade in Minnesota, where they both grew up. When you see them perform together the bond they share is apparent and undeniable, as is their excitement for the music they are making.
Strange Hotels stemmed out of the duo starting to compose and record songs on their iPads, with no intention of creating a band. The friends quickly found themselves growing fond of the songs and ideas they were developing. The creation process put Braden and Sadler in more of producer roles, spending much of their songwriting time building songs through software, instead of jamming songs out in a rehearsal room with a band. The excitement of the newfound process encouraged Braden and Sadler to take the project more seriously, and they started working out what they would need to do to create a live show that was representative of the productions they were creating.
The result is a captivating live show that is not only engaging from a technical aspect, because the amount of sound the duo is able to produce, but also, a show that is simply fun, leaving attendees no choice but to shake their hips to the groovy R & B vibes and sing along to the ear candy hooks.
