Date: February 2008

The Motive - Biography

Add Jones-Lead Vox/ Rhythm Guitar

Paul Bradley- Bass/ Backing Vox

Rob Bamber- Lead Guitar

Chris Green- Drums

Once upon a time in the West (Midlands, that is), a snotty kid with attitude found himself kicked out of his own band for his refusal to compromise and accept second best. Add Jones was never very good at doing what he was told – a trait he still displays today, only now he has the band to match his punk rock attitude in The Motive.

The Motive began to emerge in 2004 when Add’s search for the 21st century punk rock sound meant leaving another local band who could not contain his ambition and passion.

‘The rest of ‘em just wanted a quiet life in Dudley – I guess I’m not made that way!’ remembers Add, when reminded of the roots of The Motive.

Add quickly found a like minded ally in Paul ‘Biff’ Bradley a Birmingham bassist with a deep love of classic punk rock and a legendary refusal to know when to quit.

Paul takes up the story; ‘I knew Add, we’d run into each other a few times and I’d always thought it would be good if we could work together. So when he told me his old band was falling apart we both knew that we’d put something together.’

That something started to become The Motive when guitarist Rob Bamber was recruited by a strange twist of fate. Paul; ‘Rob just turned up in the office I was working in as a temp, just at the time we needed a guitarist – no need to advertise or audition. The agency just sent him!’

To outsiders Rob is seen as the quiet man of The Motive, but with a classical music background, it’s just a case of give that man a guitar and he will say everything you need to know.

With the line up almost complete The Motive again ignored convention, as Add explains; ‘I knew a drummer from a previous band, he’s a cool guy with a unique style so he was the obvious choice’

That man was Chris Green and The Motive were born.

Since 2004 the band has developed a set of viciously catchy short, sharp indie punk songs that always rely on precision timing and passionate delivery. It’s won them a host of complimentary comparisons – names like The Rakes and The Hives cropping up most often, along with everyone from the Stooges to The Buzzcocks to Hard Fi – and a steadily growing nationwide fanbase thanks to a very active myspace presence and their growing live reputation.

Having established their live reputation with gigs including JB’s in Dudley, Birmingham’s Artsfest and the Varsity, Wolverhampton, 2006 saw the band play Birmingham’s Bar Academy, The Barfly, The Medicine Bar, The Robin 2 in Bilston (supporting Rick Buckler’s The Gift), The Corporation in Sheffield, The Sunflower Lounge back home in Brum and make their London debut at the O2 Wireless Festival in Hyde Park (headlined by Depeche Mode and also featured Goldfrapp and The Gang of Four).

As a result The Motive now have a finely honed set of addictive original material that’s all killer & no filler.

Offstage the band have been equally busy, their two demos ‘Fast, Clean, Efficient’ and ‘Pay Attention’ have gained coverage on Kerrang 105.2, Beacon FM and Xfm as well as BBC TV’s interactive news service, while maintaining a growing online following via their myspace site.

2006 also saw The Motive selected as one of the best 10 unsigned acts in Birmingham through Birminghamusic.com and picked out as one of Xfm Music Response’s top 100 unsigned acts in the UK and the band continue to be played on podcasts ranging from to being the house band on the Al Smith podcast at

2007 saw the band demo’ing new material at their Arcadeia studio and supporting The Others and Sultans Of Ping as well as being filmed at a special showcase gig at London’s Hoxton Hall.

The band kicked off 2008 with a headline show at Birmingham’s Barfly and with plans already underway for more gigs in the west Midlands and beyond, 2008 will be a busy year for The Motive, as Add confirms:

‘I don’t like standing still and in this band I’ve finally got what I wanted – we don’t know what we can achieve yet, but we know there’s loads more to come. As long as we keep pushing and progressing then The Motive is doing its job. And we’re getting bloody good at doing our job too!’

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Management:

Brian McKinstrie

07837 38 47 13