Saint Motel is pushing boundaries and having fun while doing it.

Critics have called the music made by Los Angeles-based band Saint Motel many things, including garage glam, indie pop and funk rock. But if you ask lead singer A/J Jackson, he’ll sum it up as “a good time.” And that may just be the most accurate description for everything this band does. With catchy songs, elaborate album concepts and enthusiastic stage performances, Saint Motel just wants to have fun.

The band, which also includes Aaron Sharp on guitar, Dak Lerdamornpong on bass and Greg Erwin on drums, got its start in Southern California when Sharp and Jackson were both in film school. The group released its first EP ForPlay in 2009. After a well-received debut album, the group gained wide recognition for “My Type,” a song that features horns, saxophone and a catchy chorus shouted by all the band members.

Saint Motel’s latest tour is in support of its newest album, The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, which is being released as a series of EPs, and will bring the band to The Plaza Live on Feb. 4. According to Jackson, the show promises to be an “immersive cinematic experience,” something that sounds certainly doable for a band that also created saintmotelevision, the first ever album to also be a complete virtual reality experience.

Before setting out on tour, Jackson spoke with Orlando Family Magazine about holing up in a cabin to write the band’s latest album, pushing creative boundaries and how he comes alive on stage.

Your latest EP is called the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack: Pt. 1 and this release is just the first part of what will be your newest album. With a title like that, can we expect Saint Motel to bring us a cinematic universe?
You can. Yep. So the first thing we did was we put out a trailer like a movie trailer for it and it’s a classic movies kind of way and we released it with film score transitions. …So there’s a complete cinematic film score component to this album and we [are releasing] it in three parts, like a three-act movie structure. So each one has its own little arc, but it is being released kind of in the same way a movie structure would be done.

It’s interesting to me that your last album was called saintmotelevision and this new one goes to cinema. Was it a conscious decision to go from the small screen to the big screen?
It was. … It’s the next logical progression. And it also kind of ties into our film school origins and all that kind of stuff. … It’s its own thing that is the next logical progression without being too tied into what came before. It’s its own next step.

When can we expect part two of the album to drop?
We are trying to figure that out exactly right now. I’m guessing right when the tour starts.

What is the song writing process like for Saint Motel?
For this particular album, I rented a cabin in the mountains and set up a studio there and it was peaceful and quiet and there would just be deer and bears. … It was, you know, after we finished about four years of solid touring, and so I wanted to put some kind of routine and order to it this time. So I would get there in the morning, start writing, whatever kind of just popped in, you know, then go to lunch and then write some more and then go for a hike and then come back. There was a very routine schedule to it to see how that would affect the writing process. And I think it was a good exercise for my mind. Most of the album was written up in those mountains. Then part two, or phase two, was we took over a studio space and started dissecting songs and jamming on them a little bit with the full band.

You guys are about to embark on a tour. Are you excited to get back out on the road?
Yeah, absolutely. There’s things I think that I very much do look forward to and things that I’m not as psyched about. I think for me it all comes down to the show. And our last tour was called the Late Night tour and that was, I think, the best tour we’ve ever done. And it was so much fun to do every night. And I think putting on something that is new and challenging is what keeps it exciting. I think initially when you’re a band first starting out, even playing 50 minutes away from where you live is a crazy novel experience. But at this point, we’ve been a band for a bit of time where we’re going back to these places. And to capture that feeling of new, for me, it’s trying to figure out a way to do what we’ve done for so much of our lives in a way that is new for us and new for the audience and pushes the creative boundaries.

I read that you put on enthusiastic stage performances. Would you describe your stage performances that way?
Yeah, I mean, I guess; I don’t know. I kind of black out on stage and the primal A/J comes out and he’s just excited that people showed up and is so overwhelmed with joy and adrenaline. It’s very much like Clark Kent and Superman and it’s a different person than offstage. And I guess I would say enthusiasm. Sure. Yeah. I get filled with some sort of incredible excitement when I play live.

What can fans expect from The Motion Picture Show tour, which kicks off in January?
We’re going to be playing a mix of songs from every- where, from part two of this new album all the way back to ForPlay. I think it’s going to be a good mix of all eras of Saint Motel. And I would describe the show as an immersive cinematic experience where you will be part of the movie, if that makes sense. I can’t give too much away, but it’s going to be unique.

Have you guys played in Orlando before?
Only once actually. We opened for Panic! At The Disco in Orlando. Florida has always been really fun for us to play in, but we’ve never done a headline tour there and we’ve always wanted to. …When we played in Orlando last time, my family—my parents live in Florida now—they came up and they met us and some other family friends. And after the show we went to eat nearby the arena. It was so cool. We had a great time there. … But there’s a lot of Orlando left to explore and Florida in general and we’re very excited to finally be doing a headline tour down there.

This article originally appeared in Orlando Family Magazine’s January 2020 issue.