BY: BEN PAPAGEORGE
Moonsville Collective is a Southern California band that writes songs about the terrain of their own stories and lives. During an age of short attention spans and speedy business, the band draws their inspiration from a simple well and holds firm to the truth that good songs can carry people through hard times and can increase the light when life lands you on the sunny side of the street.
The band loves to spend time in the desert with family and friends to draw inspiration for their unique yet classic Americana sound. In 2017, they set their sights on releasing 4 EP’s (20 songs), and fulfilled that commitment with their final EP being released this past December.
This fourth and final release exhibits the band’s return to their acoustic roots. From a percussive driven song that sings about how America’s eyes used to shine to a steady strummed, mandolin laced song about asking a friend how it feels to be gone.
Moonsville Collective has also shared the stage and been featured on line-ups with acts like Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers, The White Buffalo, Charlie Parr and Nitty Gritty Dirt Band among others.
Although Moonsville Collective is deeply rooted in Americana, Canadian influence is strongly felt as some of their main influences have been the likes of Neil Young and The Band. Great music knows no borders and Moonsville Collective’s communal spirit carries a certain warmth that all can enjoy.
Below is our interview with the ramblers out of Los Angeles known as Moonsville Collective:
TC: Recording 4 EP’s in one year is quite an accomplishment. What inspired the idea to release 20 songs in 2017?
MC: We’d been saving them up for awhile and figured that instead of touring and being busy on the road, we’d stick around town for the year and get all the songs recorded and out of our brains. We simultaneously met our buddy Pete, who operates a studio in Long Beach called Sanctus Sound. He was game for idea, so we jumped in.
TC: Who are your musical influences?
MC: Oh boy…. It spans the spectrum but there are definitely some concrete staples; Dylan, The Band, Neil Young to name a few.
TC: How does spending time in the desert, hanging out with friends and family, influence your music?
There’s something about the desolation and dust and the desert moon that’s inspiring to us. The desert has always proven to pair well with acoustic instruments. The lonely tones of the harmonica, banjo, mandolin and dobro just seem to feel at home in the desert. Over the last 4 years or so, Pappy & Harriet’s in Pioneertown, CA has undoubtedly been our favorite place to play and hang out. All of our family and friends usually make it out to the desert for that show and it’s always a guaranteed good time. We try to make it out there 4 or 5 times a year.
TC: Describe your latest EP (Moonsville IV) in 5 words or less.
A tired but sturdy caboose.
TC: What are you most looking forward to in 2018?
MC: Getting out and playing all these new songs, making a few Northern
California runs, and playing Europe next summer.
