This series of blogs is called IN PASSING, and in it I'll be interviewing bands/artists I love and trying to shed further light (in the small ways I can) on their music and give anyone who may come across this a reason to listen to them. I want to focus on smaller music that deserves more attention than it gets. All blogs in this series will include an unabridged (yet slightly edited) interview with the artists and a small write-up from me. As always, send music, shows, suggestions for artist interviews, and anything ever that you want to talk about or see covered to [ fosterhildingmusic@gmail.com ] or DM me on Instagram.
In April of 2024, Cheyenne and I got to interview Flagstaff's indie sensation, Moontour for our radio show, The Local Shampoo.
Blake (Guitar and Vocals) = B. Hayes (Drums) = H. Gabe (Bass) = G.
Since Cheyenne and I both asked questions and made a few comments here and there--my lines will be left-justified and hers will be right-justified.
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| photos courtesy of Moontour. |
How has your lineup changed?
B: I was playing with some older folks earlier. It was fun, but it was definitely a different energy. It's cooler having younger people that are your own age on stage like that.
How did Moontour start?
B: I came up with the idea over COVID-19 lockdown. I'd been writing songs for a while, but kind of formed the band over that time--started writing songs, produced our first record in 2022, and started working on the next full record. It was kind of a long EP, our first one. Then we started kind of building a fan base and I was like, "I really need to make more of a face with the entire band," because it was just me at first. I didn't really like that because I was playing with those older guys and stuff like that. Me and my brother (Hayes) have been playing together for a couple years now. He finally has started to really want to start playing shows and stuff 100%. We would always just play together in bedrooms and garages and shit.
What role does atmosphere play in your music?
G: I think that's part of why it's cool to have younger people in the band. Obviously I wasn't there when Blake was playing with those older folks, but it seems like it would be more of a scheduled rehearsal, but right now when we go to practice, you know, we're hanging out. We're having fun, too. That really adds a lot to the atmosphere and kind of induces creativity. Being in that comfortable atmosphere where we're having fun and the purpose of it is not just to practice, but also having fun and creating.
B: I think our music, specifically... I feel like it's hard to narrow down a genre specifically, but I think, especially where everybody in our age is right now, we're trying to just figure out ourselves a little bit--what we want to do with our lives and who we are as people. I think the lyrics and everything that goes into it--sometimes when I first started writing songs, I would have no idea what I was even writing about, just because I felt so lost and I would have other people interpret what they thought my lyrics were about or what the atmosphere was about. Writing new songs with these guys, I think it's kind of the same, just relationships with people and going through everyday life and realizing who you are as a person and dealing with troubles in life and good things and bad things.I think definitely our sound kind of captures that a little bit. So, definitely atmospheric energy.
How did you meet the older people who were first in the project with you?
B: My drummer was my ex-girlfriend's dad. We kind of moved around bass players a couple times, and my guitar player was our dad's best friend, who is a guitar tech for Fender. He designs guitars for Fender and Gretsch. He's a really, really cool guy. But, I think we kind of just parted ways. I think when we started getting busier it became too much on them because they had their own lives.
H: We also moved to Flagstaff.
What are your inspirations, musically and otherwise: maybe aesthetically, thematically?
H: Oh man. My favorite band of all time is Lord Huron. I've been listening to Lord Huron for a long time. They got me into music and I listen to a lot of music now, but I still just love Lord Huron.
B: I think there are a ton of different bands specifically that kind of relic our sound a little bit. But, I'm a big Backseat Lovers fan. Palace just released a record today, big fan of Palace.
G: For me, it's been a lot of different influences. I started playing guitar, and now transitioning to bass has kind of changed what I would consider my influences, just because it changes what I'm paying attention to when I listen to music. I would say Stevie Wonder, Her's--I think he's one of my favorite bass players. I'm also really influenced by classic rock and Journey, one of my favorite bands. I just love how they were produced.
For you guys coming into this halfway through, what do you feel like you're bringing to the table that maybe wasn't there before? How are you changing or affecting the writing process with Moontour going forward?
H: Definitely us being younger helps. [Blake] wrote all the music so we can almost just tag along and help him or we can write music together. He used to say that his old bandmates would kind of not help out.
B: It was more of like a backing band rather than actually a creative process of writing. When these guys came to the table and we sit down and actually write together, it's a different sound but a more intense and futuristic--like we're going somewhere with this.
G: I think it's cool that Blake and Hayes are brothers and just to see that dynamic. I can think of Greta Van Fleet or Kings of Leon, like that kind of dynamic I think is really cool. I think something else we're bringing is a lack of experience, so we're kind of learning as we go. I think that we're just open to so many more different things because we're not as experienced. We also bring that because we're just looking for our sound.
H: There's also no expectation for we're just doing, we're just having fun.
Having no experience, having not as much experience, or being amateur about something opens up a whole world of possibilities when composing music and performing and all of that because you aren't inundated with all of the rules and ideas that get like drilled into your brain by teachers or anyone else in this scene. It's a freeing thing to go into it with a blank canvas.
We've been in a really cool spot for music. I feel like 10-15 years ago the music release process was really controlled by record labels and it's all about getting noticed by a label and doing a record deal and stuff. But, there's so much you can do now and learn on your own just from making connections and relationships with other bands. You kind of can just be your own manager and set stuff up for yourself versus waiting on someone on the business side of things to notice you or give you these opportunities, which I think is really cool.
B: It seems like the DIY vibe of bands now is a lot more collaborative and it feels like it's not as competitive in a way. I really enjoy meeting new musicians and geeking out over their gear. Everybody learns in a different way and everybody comes from different pasts and everybody has different inspirations and just learning that from people is the coolest thing ever. Just as a musician, like all of us, we just love learning from other musicians. There's so much to learn.
What are some bigger bands that you guys have played with?
B: We played at the Dusk Festival... 311 was on the lineup, COIN. There were more DJs on that lineup. We played the Ostrich Festival. That had some some cool big names and then the Mesa Music Fest. That was really cool. We got to play the main stage in that one too. That was so much fun. A lot of the other ones were kind of just local shows and stuff like that. We got Krooked Kings coming up in two weeks.
If there was one band that you would drop everything to play with, what would it be?
B: Oh my god, Lord Huron. They're coming to the Pepsi Amphitheater at the end of the summer. We definitely tried to get on that.
What was the recording process like for the first two main projects you did? What did you learn from both of those experiences? And, how do you want to use what you've learned going forward for what you do next?
B: The first long EP was produced all in my bedroom. I recorded basically everything in there. Then my good friend Chuck down in Phoenix--great engineer, great bass player, great musician all around, he mixed and did some of the mastering on that EP. That was kind of just like playing all the instruments in one room by myself. I mean, it was a really intimate process, but it was definitely a learning curve. I'm glad that I did it that way. The second record, I actually went to his home studio and he produces everything in his living room, which was a pretty cool experience too. I lived on my friend's couch in Tempe for like a month and a half just doing that whole record. I really like that home style recording process and big studios are kind of intimidating, but we're going out to Salt Lake in May to record at Pale Horse Sound to record some songs there. We're gonna try to get some songs out this summer. Going forward, learning how to record and learning exactly what you want in your sound and developing your sound comes over the years and through other projects and stuff. But, I'm glad that it kind of went the way that it did.
What drew you to Pale Horse Sound?
B: Greg Downs is an amazing producer. He's worked with like one of our biggest inspirations. He is the head sound engineer for The Backseat Lovers. He does some work with Peach Pit and some other big inspirations to us. We somehow landed the chance to work with him. We're still so shocked, by the way.
How'd you get that set up?
B: We just reached out and he just really liked the stuff and where we're going. He doesn't work with a ton of bands and he's pretty selective of who he works with. We're so excited to go out and have that experience because he has so much to teach us and obviously he's produced some of our favorite records in the world.
What is the future for Moontour?
H: We're talking about a record just with the couple songs we're cooking up. We're not rushing it but we definitely would want to get a record out sometime next year or something.
B: I think we've been talking about doing a three-piece tour this summer along the West Coast. It's just up in the air but it would be a lot of fun to get on the West Coast because we've had a lot of people trying to get us out there, especially in Seattle and a lot of those Pacific Northwest cities. I think we're definitely just trying to take our time and not play too many shows and just kind of enjoy it--not try to pressure anything.
If you could take three albums on a hike across the continent, what would they be?
G: It's funny that you say a hike because I think the first time I listened to Songs of Her's the full way through I actually was on a hike. Both of their albums are just so easy to listen to and I could just listen to them any time. I never get sick of them, so I think I'd definitely take a Her's album with me.
B: I'd take Long Lost by Lord Huron. That's a good one.
H: I would say Strange Trail by the Lord Huron or Yankee Hotel Foxtrot by Wilco.
B: So Long and Forever by Palace. That's another one.
H: I would also say Lonerism by Tame Impala.
G: I would also take This Old Dog by Mac DeMarco.
B: I'd take Waiting to Spill by The Backseat Lovers. It's pretty diverse.
There is a band like and they always kind of reminded me of The Backseat Lovers and they played in Phoenix. I can't remember their name though. One of them was like Unrequited Love. And another one was...
B: Oh my god, Breakup Shoes. I've been a big fan of them for like many, many years. What about you guys? What are some albums you guys would take?
Mountain Rock by Dear Nora. I just think that's the perfect soundtrack anytime spring rolls around and it starts getting nice outside. I just want to pop that album on. It's just nice little folky tunes and I'm pretty sure most of it is just like acapella or acoustic.
I think the one I listen to every time I hike is Everything So Far by Pinegrove. Easily, because you can just get lost in that and the scenery.
B: I listened to that album on an airplane for the first time. It was so good.
Another one I was thinking about adding to this was The Glow, Pt. 2 by Microphones. I listen to that every time I'm on an airplane for some reason. Lifting off to I Want Wind to Blow and everything.
H: I need to listen to that one more often. I think I've listened to it once.
That was an album I liked the first time I listened to it, but the more I listened to it the more I liked it. It didn't grab me 100% at first but now it's one of my favorites ever.
G: Oh, I have my third album. Only By The Night by Kings of Leon. Another album I could just listen to 100 times.
I was gonna say a Red House Painters album but I think that would just not be a good combo, me on a hike and a Red House Painters album.
It would probably be For Emma, Forever Ago.
The Readymade album. Not On Point and Red but the other one. I think every time I've used psychedelic substances (only a few times in my life) I have to put that album on. I have such a special connection to it just because it feels like something that nobody else really knows. Perfect. The green album by Band of Horses.
Probably Souvlaki by Slowdive.
H: I would say Ants From Up There by Black Country, New Road. Days by Real Estate.
What are some records, projects, or artists that changed the course of your life musically?
B: Definitely Rubber Factory by The Black Keys. Their old stuff influenced a ton of this bluesy style of guitar that I learned how to play when I first started playing, and Dan Auerbach's one of my favorite guitar players in the world. I think that changed my life in a way, like learning guitar in a cool way.
H: I would say Dark Side of the Moon, just because before that I didn't really like older music but that album really opened my eyes to how it still was super creative. Like, ahead of its time and I just music from the 70s now.
B: I think any Radiohead album. OK Computer was a big one that I think we grew up listening to, our dad put us on that at a young age.
What's your favorite Radiohead album?
B: It's hard to say because I'm in an OK Computer vibe right now.
H: I would have always said In Rainbows, but recently it's been The Bends.
G: I've listened to The Bends once because my friend recommended them, but I actually haven't listened to a Radiohead album the whole way through.
You need to go home and spend six hours going through their entire discography right now.
G: There's this one's kind of a funny story. My mom is a real estate agent and I was helping her move someone out of their home. An older guy lived by himself and had way too much stuff. Incredible amount of things in his home. I found a Sony boombox with a CD player and he was like, "You can have it." No money. So, I took it home and it ended up having a CD in it that was America's Greatest Hits. I hadn't really played CDs ever but I just popped it in my car and I'd just just run that over and over again. Before I just listened to the radio or singles or I would make a playlist, but then just listening to that one CD kind of made realize I really like sitting in this one sort of space. It kind of just opened me to listening to more albums.
Do you guys have a hard time finding other local Flagstaff bands to play with that fit into your niche?
B: Yes.
Are there any that you guys have found so far?
B: No. There's a huge punk scene here. Obviously you guys know it. It is hard just trying to find bands that fit our genre a little bit more and it's hard to even build lineups going forward. We've played with German Import a couple times. We just played with Feed. You guys have any recommendations?
I don't know if they're still active, but you should check out Peachblud. They're really cool. I like them.
Have you heard of Tow'rs? The lead singer guy has been coming into my job recently. It definitely is more indie and folky but they just went on tour I think they have a crazy amount of Spotify listeners but they're pretty chill up here. They definitely play shows up here sometimes but I think they have that same issue of finding bands up here that fit that vibe, but you should check them out because I think they would absolutely be down to be on a lineup with you guys.
B: We've been just trying to find any band that's relatively close. Even Keegan Halvorsen's like... because we they played The Battle of the Bands with us and I feel like it's kind of similar.
H: They also have just so many influences.
Happy Medium rules. They're a little harder, heavier but they have a lot of those alternative rock influences. Are there any local Arizona bands you guys really like or want to shout out?
B: Oh my god, Orchadia. Please listen to Orchadia. The lead singer, Carson, is actually playing guitar with us at the Krooked Kings show at the Orpheum. He was originally from Tucson. They play a ton in Tucson, big local indie band. He produces all of his music himself and they're so great. Also, Sydney Sprague, we have a song with her called Home. She's on tour right now with Oso Oso, she toured with Jimmy Eat World two years ago. Big fan of hers, she does some really good stuff. She just opened for Mom Jeans. in LA and then Dashboard Confessional and Jimmy Eat World. Just for us to have a song with her blows my mind.
H: Feed, we love Feed.
B: All The Better. We played with them a couple times and they're great people. They're a high school band and they're just getting after it right now playing big shows. New Misphoria. Two piece from Tucson I believe? Punk rock just two girls, so cool. Veronica Everheart, she's good too.
Do you guys have any other musical projects on your own or is there anything that Moontour allows you to do that maybe you can't do on your own in music?
B: I don't think so, this is like the only thing.
G: Come out to the open mics. Me and Hayes have a band called Phortnight. Quinn is our guitar player. Quinn from Feed.
H: That's kind of another project where we can just do whatever.
B: Hayes, this guy's a good writer when it comes to Fortnite parodies.
B: We used to be in a two-piece band called Girl Next Door. That was the first kind of project that we did when it was just me and [Hayes] starting out. But, we quickly transitioned out of that because we didn't want to restart.
G: I just have a million half-baked ideas. I'll have all these voice memos and stuff but it's hard for me to continue those. Being in Moontour and collaborating has allowed those things to start blossoming. So, if I have a cool guitar riff I come up with, I'll bring it to the guys and be like, "Hey, what vocals do you think you could go over this? What should we add to this?"
How did you come up with the name Moontour?
B: This is a funny story. When I released my first EP, I was going as Moon. Then, it released under somebody else's Spotify named Moon. It just put all of my music under there and I had to take it down. Then, I always thought it'd be so cool if I went on tour, it would be called the Moon Tour because it just goes together. I ended up bringing it up to my mom and she was like, "That actually sounds like a cool name. Just Moon Tour. Just do that." Nobody else had it. Just ended up working out.
How do you see your sound evolving in the future?
H: I think we would stay as we are now.
B: Yeah, just getting better as musicians and getting tighter and slowly getting more and more comfortable playing together--finding our sound. Guitar tones, bass tones, drums, everything just getting tighter and better. I feel like the next record is going to be a little bit more diverse than the last one. I think there's going to be some more blues rock songs, but then also some slower acoustic ones that we've been kind of cooking up. But then, also that kind of indie rock, still flowy and fun driving stuff.
Are there any specific inspirations that you want to drive into this new music?
G: I would say some of our new stuff is heavily influenced by Palace.
B: Palace and Backseat Lovers. Similar vibe but our own twist. We have our own tones going into it, but we definitely have some other stuff that's like some Wilco stuff.
H: I'd say that's my inspo, Wilco.
G: I think we'll also just sort of figure out how to grow into our sound and figure out how to fill the space with just three instruments.
B: Especially in a weird indie rock realm, learning how to play guitar to fill that much space has been like...because it's not always playing, it's with tones and everything that goes from amps to pedals and everything. I think, learning slowly over time has been the craziest learning curve for me. For an indie rock band, usually they're not like a three piece really, because you have to cover so much ground if there's tight and empty space. It's just been really interesting and fun. Throwing another guitar player in was so much fun because we already had been trying to fill that space so adding something on top made it that much better. It was so much fun.
You have quite the pedalboard setup. Do you want to talk about that for a second?
B: I've definitely dove in over the past couple of years. I run a JC-120. Big fan of the JC. But it didn't have the kick for me, so I daisy chained a deluxe through it. I have a lot of my high end go through that JC and I have it on that vibro channel just very low. Just want that a little bit and then reverb. It's just pretty dry signal by itself. Big fan of Walrus Pedals. Use The Lore a lot. TC Electronics. Big fan. For distortion, Big Muff. Big, big, big, Big Muff guy. A tube screamer for main solos and stuff like that. I use Walrus' the ARP '87. It's their digital delay. Big fan of Walrus. Super big fan. And then Fender Strats are my thing. I've been rocking a Gretsch recently. It's kind of strange. I'm trying to hone it down because I feel like I've been so connected to that Strat for years. I've had that thing for so long and playing on stage with something else I was like, "Oh, this is weird." Tone knobs and messing with stuff. It doesn't feel... But, I'm still trying to hone it down. I have one of those hollow bodies, but I got the smaller model. Big fan of that. Just still getting after it and still going to be able to change it up. I'm sure that it'll just keep growing.
Do you ever have problems with feedback from the hollow body?
B: I do have it when I kick on any distortion pedal, it just gets bad. But, it has this crazy mid range that I love so much. We played this show down in Tucson a couple months ago in December at 191 Toole. We played with Orchadia and played a couple like of our blues rock songs. I played mainly the set with that with that guitar and it was super fun but it literally fell apart on stage. It was falling off, all the knobs. The big thing about Gretsch guitars is I feel like a lot of their knobs and stuff are poorly made. I don't know. Everything was just slowly falling apart on stage. I was singing while also adjusting and fixing.
What do you want listeners to take away from your music?
B: I want them to take away whatever story that they can take away from the lyrics and songs and everything. I think our sound has such an open sound almost, I guess it's so wide ranged that everybody can almost listen to it. I want people to just have their own interpretation. I've never wanted to write a song being like, "This is what it's about. Nobody else can tell me it's about anything else." I think everybody can interpret it in any way that they want. Obviously it means something to me in a different way that it would mean something to someone else.
H: I like when you can tell that they put a lot of effort into songs. You can tell that it took a long time to come up with and it's just the perfect song. I would want people to listen to our music and think that, too. It's art.
B: Going back into album changing your life, A/B by Kaleo. We were just talking about it the other day. We think that's like the most perfect album that's ever been written. Just a perfect rock album in that way. It's so good. It's just front to back an easy listen.
G: Similar to what Hayes said about listening to a record and being being able to tell that someone put so much effort into something. I think my answer would be similar. When I'm listening to music and I like a song that I know and then I discover something in it that I didn't know before... That changes the feeling of the song, even if you're not completely aware of it. But, when you become aware of it, it's so exciting. It's like, "Oh my gosh. How did they think of this? How did they think to put this in?" I think I would want listeners to have that same experience.
H: For me, I would just want to be proud of it. It's the same thing as if you were to paint on a canvas for like two weeks and you're just painting all day long and you get sick of it. You are super proud of certain things in it. But, in the end, you look at the painting and you're like, "I did that." That's how I want to feel with an album or something.
B: I think that's definitely with our next record. We're just going to put in everything that we have. Especially having all of us being there to write it, the last ones were kind of just me. I think it was hard to kind of fully develop that sound without having the other inspirations.
What are your guys' favorite Moontour songs?
H: I like Sailboat a lot. Sailboat and River are very good songs. I would give them a listen.
G: I think The Fire is my favorite. I get that one stuck in my head and it's fun on bass.
H: And also For Once, My Love. The end of that one is very good.
B: I think You Don't Know My Name is one of my deepest and favorite songs that I've played. River's cool, too. I really like River.
What's the photo on [1000 Ghosts]?
H: I took that picture. It's in Telluride, Colorado. That was on one of those disposable cameras. Every time I go there I bring one of those just because there's so much to take pictures of. It's beautiful there. I took that picture and it was really late in the day so the picture turned out really dark and cool. It was on a hike and there was a house sitting right next to a waterfall, which is actually the biggest free falling waterfall in Colorado. It's just a house. People used to live there but It's super cool to go up there. That picture was taken maybe two years before the album came out and [Blake] came into my room one time and was like, "Hey, I know you have a lot of film pictures, can I look through them or something?" And I gave them to him and he was looking through them and he's like, "This one's really cool."
B: Just kind of knew.
H: I think there's like a mood in the picture too.
How long have you been producing?
B: Probably five years. Just kind of slowly learning over the years. Before I started doing my own stuff I did a lot of rap stuff. Not me personally, but I would produce a lot of stuff. It was a great side hobby for money. I feel like rap artists are constantly making new music, rather than bands, so it took me like two or three years getting into it before I actually recorded my first band.
Thanks for reading, everyone. Keep going to shows and doing the thing.
-Foster
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