"Maria" from the Wilcox Hotel album "No Redemption Value"
www.discogs.com/Wilcox-Hotel-No-Redemption-Value/release/2802833

ABOUT THE RECORDING
The State College–based band rented a cabin in Lock Haven to record its sophomore album, “No Redemption Value.”

A “Gone Hunting” sign hung from the door of the cabin, which was nestled in a snowy forest atop a mountain. Inside, a deer-leg lamp illuminated a floor covered with lengths of cable, all trailing upstairs, where a bedroom served as a makeshift production area. The band chose to record in the cabin for practical and artistic reasons.

“Of course, we wanted to save money,” said vocalist and guitarist Jason De Leon. “But we also wanted to have more control over the record.” The back-to-basics approach allowed the band to avoid the over-production they felt they got on their previous record, De Leon said. With limited time and resources, the band wouldn’t be able to correct every error, resulting in a more organic record.

"Wilcox Hotel goes back to basics with second album" (excerpt)
voicesweb.org/archive/08apr/08apr-arts-entertainment.pdf
by Katie Jacobs



THE WILCOX HOTEL
The Wilcox Hotel takes its name from a song by the seminal LA punk band Fear. On the surface it is difficult to understand why a State College, Pennsylvania based band whose sound has more to do with Mid 1970’s Neil Young, The Drive-By Truckers, and Nebraska–era Bruce Springsteen, would choose a name from one of the most notorious and irreverent bands to ever come out of Los Angeles. The reasons are simple. From 1994 until 2002, band members Jason De Leon and Geoffrey Vasile made up ½ of the Los Angeles based hardcore punk/reggae band Youth In Asia.

Youth In Asia blended elements of early LA and D.C. hardcore with reggae in attempts to emulate their heroes Bad Brains, The Clash, and Fishbone. In the eight years of the bands existence, Youth In Asia recorded two full length albums (“Absolutely Nothing to Fall Back On”-Dental Record 1996 and “This Side of Janky”-This Guy Records 1999), were featured on a series of punk rock compilations, and completed two U.S. tours. Youth In Asia broke up in 2002 when De Leon started graduate school in anthropology at Penn State… .. Vasile moved to State College in 2003 and together with De Leon started The Wilcox Hotel in 2005. Band Members Kirk Straight (guitar and mandolin) and Ryan Peterson (drums) joined the band in the Fall of 2005.

The punk rock spirit and ethos that characterized Youth In Asia, were carried over to The Wilcox Hotel. However, this time The Wilcox Hotel is attempting to blend elements of country, folk, rock, and punk with lyrics that reflect the most visceral (and often miserable) parts of the human experience. Given that De Leon works and has lived in Mexico and on the Southern U.S. border for years, many of the songs describe experiences of the downtrodden souls who cross the border, those that pray on the weak and disenfranchised, and generally the darker side of life. .. ..In addition to the aforementioned influences, The Wilcox Hotel also draws strongly from bands such as Uncle Tupelo, The Carter Family, Los Tigre del Norte, Johnny Cash, and Townes Van Zandt. All of these country influences are filtered through a series of distortion pedals and over-driven amps and regurgitated as the bastard step-child from some country-rock nightmare.

"Wilcox Hotel background"
jasonpatrickdeleon.com?page_id=55