The Hotels Embrace Katy Perry As Pseudo-Spiritual Leader

By Alex Granados,

Published August 30, 2013 at 11:06 AM EDT

Chandler Kelley of the band The Hotels describes their music as, “a trashy, drunk version of big radio pop.” He also claims that Katy Perry is “sort of like a spiritual leader for the band.” Somehow, from there, the band ended up sounding like Weezer and Superchunk, he says, but don’t take his word for it. The Hotels will be playing at The Cave in Chapel Hill tonight at 10 p.m. First, host Frank Stasio talks with The Hotels – James Watson, Rush Myers and Chandler Kelley – and they play live in the studio.

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Alex Granados

Alex Granados joined The State of Things in July 2010. He got his start in radio as an intern for the show in 2005 and loved it so much that after trying his hand as a government reporter, reader liaison, features, copy and editorial page editor at a small newspaper in Manassas, Virginia, he returned to WUNC. Born in Baltimore but raised in Morgantown, West Virginia, Alex moved to Raleigh in time to do third grade twice and adjust to public school after having spent years in the sheltered confines of a Christian elementary education. Alex received a degree in journalism from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He also has a minor in philosophy, which basically means that he used to think he was really smart but realized he wasn’t in time to switch majors. Fishing, reading science fiction, watching crazy movies, writing bad short stories, and shooting pool are some of his favorite things to do. Alex still doesn’t know what he wants to be when he grows up, but he is holding out for astronaut.

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Frank Stasio

Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.

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