Band leader Kristi Magdalene formed Pink Motel in 2020 amidst the global Covid pandemic.
For almost her entire life, she never believed she would pursue music professionally at all. In 2009, while studying cinema at USC, Kristi suffered a catastrophic brain injury while riding her bicycle, which nearly killed her.
Prior to the accident, Kristi also had no real substantial goals or plans to become a musician. It was once she realized she had a second chance at life that she understood she had always had a deep inner yearning to pursue music, and now was the time.
An unfathomable amount of tragedy followed Kristi after the accident. But ultimately a new girl has been reborn out of the darkness and into the light.
Through facilitating many different genres of music, predominantly based in rock, Kristi hopes to spread awareness on the various different life traumas she has endured. By having a voice in this particular artistic medium, she eagerly and excitedly speaks up about what it is like to live with a catastrophic brain injury and to be a mental health warrior. More recently, she has felt it is a societal duty to use music as an engine to fearlessly discuss the failures of our political systems that are tearing this world apart.
As an up and coming musician, Kristi has already been repeatedly praised for the dynamism of her performances. When she takes the stage, literally anything could happen. There is a spontaneity and fierce energy to her shows which sets them apart from others. She doesn’t allow the stage itself to be a singular place for performance, and instead often includes herself at the most unexpected points of interest in the audience. Thus, a Pink Motel show is an inclusive experience, as the crowd is a huge part of the art at the heart of it. The best way to describe the sound itself is “Taylor Swift meets System Of A Down.”
At the end of the day, writing and performing music is the greatest source of spiritual healing for Kristi. Being able to help bring awareness to social justice alongside that is the ultimate dream come true.
“The most important thing about music that I’ve learned after all this time is that to me, it’s a way of reaching the truth.”
- Serj Tankian