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Welcome to Hotel Hugo: Finding Peace in Rock & Roll
Published: November 8, 2024

Hotel Hugo at Charleston Pour House, Extra Chill Fest 2024. Photo by Clif Rhodes (@clif.rhodes.photo).

Next Friday, November 15th, Charleston indie rock band Hotel Hugo will release their second EP, Welcome to Hotel Hugo. That same night, they will perform on the deck at the Charleston Pour House, with support from Grayson Little and Lighthearted.

Welcome to Hotel Hugo was recorded at The Space in downtown Charleston with producer and engineer Wolfgang Zimmerman. I caught up with Charleson native, Garrett Williams, frontman and songwriter behind Extra Chill Fest 2024 alumni, Hotel Hugo, to discuss the new EP and the origin story of the band.

Getting Into Music: Lowcountry Upbringings

Garrett grew up in Charleston, and like many local musicians, cut his teeth playing in various churches around the Lowcountry, and soon moved on to bars and restaurants.

“I’ve been playing since I was probably 11 or 12,” Garrett recalls. “Church was a big part of learning how to be a musician for me.”

He explains how the church circuit taught him how to play with other musicians, the importance of discipline, practice, and personal dynamics. In high school, he started to write his own songs, and trying to gig around town.

“Started trying to gig as a high schooler, which is really difficult,” Garrett laughs. “Nobody wants a high schooler to play at their bar.”

Garrett says that the songs he wrote back then were mostly inspired by Mumford & Sons. As he got older, his tastes expanded, and soon he left Charleston, bound for Clemson University.

Hotel Hugo at Charleston Pour House, Extra Chill Fest 2024. Photo by Clif Rhodes (@clif.rhodes.photo).

Clemson Bound: Monsoon Room

At Clemson, Garrett started his first original band, Monsoon Room, which Garrett reminded me that Extra Chill covered back in 2019.

“I remember reaching out to you, and I was like, ‘If I could just get a publication, like, this is gonna be it. Like, we’re gonna get attention,’ and it was super kind of you, because we really didn’t have much going on,” Garrett says. “That band dissolved when we graduated.”

Starting Fresh in Charleston

Garrett moved back to Charleston after graduation, and was excited to be back. He expected to find some of his old buddies still in town, but upon returning, he didn’t know a soul.

“I just started from scratch. Like, didn’t even have any friends to go to shows with, and then COVID happened,” Garrett recalls.

In 2019, just before the onset of the pandemic, the Charleston music scene was popping off, with lots of great local bands playing well-attended shows on a regular basis.

“I had major FOMO, because I didn’t even really have music written,” Garrett explains. “I was just trying to make friends, and everyone kind of had their established group. So it took me time to make some meaningful friendships.”

COVID-19 Shutdown: Hotel Hugo is Born

Garrett had just started to get his footing when COVID shut the world down. Like many of us, he ended up furloughed from work, with nothing but free time at his disposal.

“I just made music my full-time job,” Garrett says. “Just going in my spare bedroom and writing for like six hours a day. I’m really thankful for that time now, because, I wrote probably the first eight songs. That helped me get the project kick started.”

Through mutual friend Preston Dunavant, he was introduced to a crew of local musicians who became the first Hotel Hugo lineup, including Dan Fetterolf, Drew Lewis, and Tommy Merritt. They worked with Garrett at The Space on the 2023 debut EP, but are no longer in the band.

Hotel Hugo at Charleston Pour House, Extra Chill Fest 2024. Photo by Clif Rhodes (@clif.rhodes.photo).

About the Band Name

Garrett explains that the band name, Hotel Hugo, was named after his wife & his dog, Hugo. Before having their first kid, the house felt very much like it belonged to the dog.

“We now have a kid so it doesn’t feel this way anymore,” Garrett explains. “But at the time the dog was really ruling our life. When we came home, we would say ‘We got to get back to Hotel Hugo,’ like, it’s his house, we just live in it.”

When the band first arrived in the studio, Hotel Hugo is the name that stuck.

Hotel Hugo with special guest Brett Nash at Charleston Pour House, Extra Chill Fest 2024. Photo by Clif Rhodes (@clif.rhodes.photo).

Creating the second EP, Welcome to Hotel Hugo

Hotel Hugo’s current lineup is Garrett Williams alongside Cameron Spell (guitar), Grady Rodgers (bass), and Jake Wastler (drums). The new EP features six tracks, all with a different feel and vibe that is overall very cozy and laid-back rock & roll music.

“I personally like that there’s a variety to it,” Garrett says. “I was torn for a little bit about it, like, some of these songs may not all be exactly for the same album. Letting go of that and just embracing the uniqueness of them all.”

While the songs all do have unique elements and themes, running through the EP is a thread of acceptance, contentment, and the inevitability of death. Such as on “Azaleas,” a song about passing time and changing seasons with a loved one, where Garrett closes with the lyric: “We fixate on terminal motion, like when we die we’ll finally get it right.”

“My wife and I really just like talking about death and what that looks like,” Garrett explains. “I’m a Christian, so I believe in life after death. We were talking about how scary that is. It ties into the song and was a part of our relationship. Talking through and feeling peace, overall. That was a big thing for me to come to terms with. I’m really at peace with my life. There are things that I want to be better, but overall, I’m not scared of dying.”

Welcome to Hotel Hugo (2024)