The Day Martha Davis’ The Motels Became 'Too Polished'

Martha Davis and The Motels were broadcasting soulfully quivering and melancholy synth-pop decades before Lana Del Rey, with such hits as Only The Lonely, Take The L and Suddenly Last Summer. But the band initially broke in Australia with the rawer, rhythmic Total Control. Now Davis is touring with another reconstituted line-up for the first time since 2007's retrotastic Countdown Spectacular, the dates rescheduled from October. Fans can expect to hear “tried and true” tunes, says Davis, who's been perusing the promoter's press releases. However, The Motels will also perform "some brand new stuff." "We're in the process of making a new album right now," Davis reveals. More on that later.

Today the Berkeley, California native lives on a farm outside Portland, Oregon. Davis has a one-eyed pug she calls Biggie Smalls. "She is just hilarious – she's old and decrepit, but crazy. The Notorious PUG living the pug life…"

Davis may have never become an '80s pop star. She left school early and was already a wife and mother in her mid-teens, nesting on a Florida Air Force base. The marriage was unhappy and, when her husband headed to Vietnam, Davis returned to Cali. Davis, playing guitar from eight, ended up fronting The Motels in Los Angeles – and embraced the nascent punk. The band, then without management, eventually signed to Capitol Records. In 1979 they'd release the new wave classic Total Control – like the eponymous debut that spawned it, successful in Australia but not Stateside. "The first album is still my favourite," Davis admits.

The Motels wouldn't crack the US until their third LP, All Four One, on the back of its sublime single Only The Lonely – Australian director Russell Mulcahy's cinematic video, modelled on Casablanca, was among those that defined the MTV era. (In 2014 Mulcahy executive-produces MTV's supernatural series Teen Wolf.) Ironically, Capitol rejected the original incarnation of All…, then entitled Apocalypso, compelling The Motels to re-record the material. In 2011 they finally issued Apocalypso on the boutique Omnivore Recordings, complete with "flaming orange vinyl".

"It was really great because I love that album – I loved it at the time, when Capitol said that it was too dark and too weird to be released," Davis says. "That's the kinda stuff I love. For me, The Motels actually after that album sort of became too MOR and too polished."

Apocalypso has striking '80s artwork with Davis surrounded by fire. "That was before Photoshop, so those are real flames," she points out. Davis had been enamoured of the glamazons gracing Roxy Music's albums – but subverted the imagery as only she could. "For the most part, I wouldn't let my picture be on the first couple of albums, 'cause I didn't want people to buy it just 'cause there's some sexy girl on it or something. I would say, 'No, they're gonna buy it because of the music, damn it!'" On the shoot Davis duct-taped her breasts to create cleavage – and it melted.

The Motels had one more mega-hit in 1983's Suddenly Last Summer before Davis went solo with the Policy LP. She'd blame a breast cancer scare on stress relating to band politics. Still, such was Davis' profile that disco godfather Giorgio Moroder hired her to sing Take My Breath Away, the omnipotent 'love theme' from Top Gun.

"I knew Giorgio simply because I was using his studio and I'd see him at the studio." Nevertheless, the version that came out (and won an Oscar) featured Berlin's Terri Nunn, a pal. Davis isn't fussed. As a songwriter, she might "feel weird" if her signature tune were composed by someone else.

Davis has been busy. In 2008 she presented two albums – The Motels' This and her solo Beautiful Life (a rumination on her mother's suicide in the '70s). In 2014 The Motels, under new management, are gigging solidly in the US, recently selling out Hollywood's iconic Whisky A Go Go. Suddenly… was heard in Breaking Bad. Davis hopes that another Motels album surfaces this year.

She's likewise planning a long-anticipated jazz LP, I Have My Standards. "It's actually been done – and it's been done now for two years in terms of the initial recording," Davis discloses. She worked on the latter with Marty Jourard, The Motels' seminal keyboardist/saxophonist. The main hold-up? Davis wants to add string arrangements. There's no rush, she says, because the project is timeless. "That's the thing with these songs – they sounded like they were written years and years ago." Davis previewed it with the noirish, piano-led Mr Grey, which she penned at 19.

Davis doesn't listen to contemporary pop (though she obviously knows '90s gangsta rapper The Notorious BIG). "I'm bad." Strangely for a rock chick, she enjoys classical music. The singer is unfamiliar with Del Rey but chuffed that Amanda Palmer has grungily covered Total Control live. Generally, Davis is unaware of her influence.

"I'll hear new bands and I'm like, Oh my gosh, that sounds just like Blondie! It's funny 'cause people will tell me, 'Oh, she sounds just like you', or, 'She's ripping you off…' I never hear it. People used to say that about what's-her-name in No Doubt – Gwen [Stefani]. I'm like, I don't hear it."