Between the closing of Walnut Hills, the exodus of the Deal sisters, and the death of Timmy Taylor, the most fruitful and creative period in Dayton music came to an end in the late ’90s. Ephemeral, catchy, fun, and most of all, bare-boned were the hallmarks of that scene, and though it would be unfair to call Motel Beds a throwback to those days, those adjectives suit them just as well. It would also be remiss to tack the obligatory GBV reference on to this introduction. Despite growing up, writing, and playing in the shadow of Uncle Bob, Motel Beds have managed to transcend the comparisons, plying their own brand of Dayton pop since 2004. That’s a decade during which Dayton lay dormant as far as its exports, but these guys, whose pedigree is a who’s who of local favorites, had a release schedule as prolific as their godfather.

A good time in Dayton is synonymous with a Motel Beds show—it has been for years now—so it’s a shame it’s taken so long for the world to start noticing or for the Beds to step out of the shadows. To remedy that, the recently released These Are the Days Gone By (Misra Records) should serve as a proper introduction. For the Dayton bred, it’s a “greatest hits” collection culled from previously issued albums like 2012’s Dumb Gold and 2011’s Sunfried Dreams. The GBV nods are a bum rap. While sure there are pub-worthy sing-alongs involving beer and reveling, that’s about where it stops. And aren’t those inherent qualities of being a band from Dayton anyway? The songs of singer PJ Paslosky carry a saccharine vibe, and tracks like the lilting “Cactus Kiss” and “Valentimes” are reminiscent of the sweeter side of bands like Superdrag and Teenage Fanclub. There are a number of other elements—the inclusion of some harmonica, the gentle alt-country twang, a complete love of the late-50s rock advent—that truly push Motel Beds beyond the boundaries of what the Dayton of today usually delivers. The years of experience, coupled with the lore each one of these guys has seen with his own eyes, should deliver as much. By the time you memorize each line from These Are the Days Gone By, it will probably be time to buy their next record.

I talked with bassist Tod Weidner about the legacy of the Dayton scene and where Motel Beds are headed now that they’ve set the clock back to zero.

I know most, if not all, of you were in bands previously. Can you list them all here?

Tod Weidner: A full listing would fill up your hard drive and crash your computer. I’ll give you some highlights, though. Tommy (Cooper) was most notably in Captain of Industry. He also played with Mitch Mitchell. Ian (Kaplan) was in Lab Partners and Human Reunion and, being a good drummer, various and sundry other Dayton-area outfits. PJ was in Ohio Casket. Derl (Robbins) played in The Dirty Walk, Key Note Speaker, and Montgomery Greene. Me? I’ve done time in a dozen or so projects, but if people know me, it’s most likely because of Shrug, the band I’ve fronted for 20 years now.

So what is the Motel Beds’ origin story? The band has been together since as far back as 2004 in one form or another, right?

TW: Yes, that’s right. It started when PJ and Tommy started writing songs together to amuse and entertain their Roman captors. That way, they were able to avoid the harder physical labor endured by their fellow slaves. They were subsequently given to Ian and Derl as partial payment of a rather sordid debt that has never been discussed in detail. I signed on in late 2010 when they parted ways with their previous bassist.

In that regard you already have a massive discography for people to sift through. Was the idea behind These Are the Days Gone By kind of your “greatest hits” so far?

TW: It’s not necessarily the greatest hits—for something like that we would need hits! We’ve had some local and regional success, but signing to Misra Records has broadened the playing field quite a bit. The basic aim of These Are the Days Gone By is to introduce the world at large to the music we’ve made in the past, giving listeners a little background concerning our evolution up until now, while throwing in a few rare and unreleased treats for the folks who already know us. It’s a pretty good basic, “Hi, nice to meet you,” and we hope it gets people ready for the next album of all new stuff.

Did you have any kind of process when compiling the album?

TW: A few of the song choices were no-brainers, ones we love playing and that go over well live. Aside from that, it was an issue of wanting to draw from every period of the band. There’s a song from the very first release, one from a Dayton-area college radio station comp, and stuff from nearly every album the band’s put out. It was decided to take a lot of the earlier tunes I was not originally on and have me rerecord the bass tracks. It’s just a little something new and different for the diehards.

With five guys in the band, there’s certainly going to be a pretty wide spectrum of influences. Are there any records or artists everyone agrees upon? Did you have an idea when this started what you wanted the band to sound like?

TW: We’re all nuts about the new Ty Segall record, just like the rest of the world is at the moment. That’s the current van listening favorite, along with Temples, White Fence, Brian Jonestown Massacre, The Buffalo Killers—bands like that. Tommy and PJ keep up on a bit more of the newer stuff (as Tommy puts it, “stuff from this century”), while Derl, Ian, and I tend to gravitate to older stuff for inspiration. We all love Cheap Trick, The Beatles, Ramones, The Kinks, The Who (’60s-era in particular), the Everly Brothers, Matthew Sweet, and Swervedriver.

For rock bands from Dayton, there’s a pretty big elephant in the room. Virtually any rock band that comes from here stands at least partially in the shadow of Guided By Voices. The Motel Beds are all fans, friends, and acquaintances of theirs and, as such, GBV gets mentioned pretty frequently when people discuss the Beds. Both bands tend to record quickly and efficiently, release a lot of music, and take pride in their live shows. We also have the good fortune of having a lot of fans in common with them. But I honestly think that’s where the similarities end. Musically, I don’t think we have much at all in common with GBV, and while we may be influenced by their approach, we always try to zig where they would zag.

All of you have roots in the mythologized ’90s Dayton scene. Do you think it’s applicable to romanticize that era?

TW: It’s tricky. The ’90s were a very, very fertile time for music in Dayton, with GBV, the Breeders, Brainiac, Swearing at Motorists, etc. It was certainly a good time to learn how to be in a band and certainly inspirational to see people you actually knew showing up on national television and in famous English magazines. At the same time, nowadays, there seems to be a lot of living in the past going on here and, in my opinion, it starts to smack of a bunch of dudes reminiscing about their high school football days. I don’t want to be misunderstood here: it’s good to be proud of and influenced by the past, but it’s also very important that you take that heritage and try to build on it. Popular culture seems to be encouraging nostalgia more and more all the time, and it’s dangerous. If we’re not careful, pretty soon we’ll be reminiscing about reminiscing about things.

What is the biggest difference between Dayton then and now?

TW: The same difference there is with any other city with a healthy music scene. No fairy godmother major label is going to come swooping into town and snatch up your band and your friends’ bands and throw you into the spotlight. That ship has long since sailed, and I think it’s a good thing. These days, if you want to be heard above the din, you have to work really hard and deliver the goods.

What are some current Dayton bands that should be on people’s radars?

TW: It’s a pretty great little community we’ve got going here these days. I would suggest people check out Tim Pritchard and The Boxcar Suite, Human Cannonball, Manray, Swim Diver, Speaking Suns, Repeating Arms, Good English… there are so many good bands in town. I’m sure I’m overlooking a bunch.

Obviously, the Motel Beds are prolific, so what’s on the horizon?

TW: We’re traveling as much as possible, and working on our next record, our first “proper” release on Misra. We’re not necessarily reinventing the wheel, but we’re taking advantage of a slightly more relaxed pace than we’re accustomed to now that we’re working with a label with a release schedule. It’s giving us a little more time to experiment with sounds and recording techniques and multiple versions of songs. We don’t have an album title yet, but rest assured, with album names like Feelings, Tango Boys, and Dumb Gold in our catalog, this one will probably be stupid too.