(Hotel Mira / Facebook)
The next floor of our music tour belongs to Hotel Mira. An indie, alt rock and post-punk revival group from Vancouver, BC. Hotel Mira is a big band these days around Vancouver. Playing at venues we know and love like the Fox Cabaret, Vogue Theatre, Commodore Ballroom and the Biltmore. They have even performed at the Khatsahlano Street Party, a free summer time event with kiosks, music, food trucks, artisan products, and so much more! A staple for everything “Vancouver” and this year taking place on July 5th, 2025.
For those who have yet to hear Hotel Mira, picture some glam rock swagger. Energetic guitars, catchy hooks, and lyrics that go deep. Almost a trickery of a good time but catching us with the narrative identities of mental health, love, and self-destruction. This band originally emerged under the name of JPNSGRLS (pronounced “Japanese Girls) – formed by vocalist Charlie Kerr and guitarist Oliver Mann. It went under several lineup changes before settling into Hotel Mira in 2018. The official band today is made up of Charlie Kerr on lead vocals, Mike Noble on bass, Clark Grieve on guitar and keyboard, and Cole George on drums. If you don’t recognize JPNSGRLS then maybe you will remember the original original name this band started as “The Beauties”. This is actually where my personal story comes in to play, as this was the first band I knew that Charlie had started.
(Hotel Mira / Facebook)
Charlie and I in fact went to high school together. He a mere year older than me. But his older brother and my older sister were close friends for many years. Before Charlie and I ended up at the same high school together, I remember my sister introducing me to her friend’s little brother as some kind of ease for me into a new school environment. Charlie and I would continue our high school The paths separate from the very beginning. But I was privy to see the transformation of young kid, to high school rocker, to where he is now.
Charlie and I are from a high school in Vancouver that is slowly growing some noterity. Point Grey Secondary School. It was also home to Seth Rogen (who in fact was in the same year as ANOTHER one of my sisters), and now to the likes of Charlie Kerr – paving his way through the music world through a sound he’s been growing and cultivating since I’ve known him.
My first interpretation of Charlie was that he was shy, gentle, authentic, and kind. In fact as he started to grow up, dawning a leather jacket here, performing in theatre, and starting to make music – the nerd in me resented that he was becoming cool. “He’s losing that genuine edge and just becoming another cool kid!” I remember thinking. And he was! I just had a deep distaste of anything considered “cool” and “everyone liked.” I liked the cool that NOBODY liked. I thought it was cool BECAUSE nobody liked it.
Then as high school ended and everyone started to build their actual lives, I watched as his band turned from The Beauties, to JPNSGRLS, and now to Hotel Mira. Our paths only crossed once in the time since high school past – and this was at the first ever Cancel Canada Day celebration at the Vancouver Art Gallery. This was back in 2020, just as COVID hit, only a couple months after George Floyd was murdered in Minneapolis by the racially unjust police department. Systemic racism was at the forefront of all our minds, sitting isolated during COVID and watching the misery that has been constant for … eternity… had boiled over to the point that we couldn’t just sit quarantining and watch. I hit the road with my camera for Vancouver’s BLM protest. I was passionate about something I was seeing infront of me that I felt powerless to fix… the only thing I had in my power at the time was my photography and storytelling. So that is what I’d use.
(Fog Fotág / Imgur)
The first rendition of Cancel Canada Day was happening. It seemed laughable that I hadn’t been aware of the Indigenous population’s feelings towards Canada Day. I had felt so naive. Canada Day is the celebration of Canada’s independence, the day we became our own sovereign country. A day where there was red and white everywhere, pancakes and bacon, maple syrup, celebrations in every sunny spot around the city – it was meant to represent collective joy. But what I had been so naive to was that this was a celebration of Canada’s release from the British Crown. This was a colonial celebration of colonizers releasing from the ultimate colonizer. This didn’t represent “everyone in Canada”, this represented those select WHITE few that identified with the power of the Crown. This didn’t represent the numerous immigrants who’d come to Canada and made it their home. And this DIDN’T represent the Indigenous population who had been there before us.
Cancel Canada Day was a protest to bring this point to light. Not to take a day of joy and turn it into a day of hate. But instead spark the conversation of how to make Canada Day something every person in so-called Canada could find themselves in. Through the speeches we educated ourselves on first-hand stories of systemic racism, voices that haven’t been given the clout they deserve, and a reintegration of what we should call this day. “Multicultural Day” was the goal. After the gathering around the Vancouver Art Gallery and awareness march through the streets, there would be a new event held at Trout Lake Park that encompassed ALL the people who live on this land. All cultures, all traditions, all walks of life. Not just the Crown.
I was one of the first gatherers at the Vancouver Art Gallery this July 1st, 2020. Low and behold, there was a pair of eyes and particular stance I recognized under the mask. “Is that you Charlie??” I had to give the formal “It’s me! Volante!” As I was also unrecognizable under my mask.
It made me proud to see that two people who had known each other as something so different in years past found ourselves at the same place, same time, with the same values.
It was a mix of all these things that led me to write an article about Charlie and his band Hotel Mira today. Researching how the band came to be, how the sound developed and found its hook, and most particularly the messages behind the songs. It all rung true to the same values I hold today. Hotel Mira is a strong advocate of many social causes. LGBTQ+ rights, women’s rights, and mental health awareness. Charlie has used this platform he’s created to shine the values he holds true to the rest of the world – and see what it does to change the world. I admire musicians who not only explore their innermost creative, but who use their craft and their passion to make the change they want seen in the world.
I applaud you Charlie and Hotel Mira. I think you will continue to grow and spread your message, and with all the hard work you’ve done to create it – I think its exactly what you do.
Grow on.
For more about Charlie Kerr and Hotel Mira click the links below:
You can also find their music on Spotify and Bandcamp.
Written by Volante Matheson, Radio Arts & Entertainment at BCIT
Contact: vmatheson1@my.bcit.ca