Moon Taxi (Special)
--
, a Nashville-based rock band with Birmingham roots, and San Fransisco-based jam band
will haunt the Bama Theatre for a co-headlining show on Halloween night.
Moon Taxi, formed at Belmont University in 2006, released its second album "Cabaret" in February and has since played with bands including Matisyahu and Galactic and at festivals like Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza.
Tea Leaf Green, a hard-touring quintet that formed in the late '90s in San Francisco, released its seventh album "Radio Tragedy in 2011 and is getting set to record again as fans have pledged more than 100 percent of the band's
.
The show on Wednesday will feature a costume contest judged by the bands, and the winner will receive a cash prize and merchandise from both bands.
Moon Taxi guitarist and vocalist
Trevor Terndrup
, a Vestavia Hills native, talked to us about Moon Taxi's evolving sound, some elevated attention for the group's music and their plans for their Halloween set.
Chris Pow: Cabaret represents a bit of a change of pace for Moon Taxi. What was the band's approach to the album, and what are your thoughts on the results?
Trevor Terndrup:
We wanted to write songs more suited for the studio as opposed to playing live. Before Cabaret, we wrote songs to really just rock out as hard as possible live. But you can't do that all of the time with every track, so we really just focused on tightening up these songs and making sure that they sounded good in the studio first. Now we've learned they rock live too. It was just a more focused approach on the front end.
CP: Moon Taxi was on NPR's World Cafe, a radio show that features a weekly artist on the rise, earlier this month. Are you starting to see some more attention like that for your music?
TT:
We are, and it feels good because we've put in a lot of hard work. The years on the road have been good just meeting people face-to-face and shaking hands, getting to know folks on the road. That's one element of it, but to make a cohesive studio record and songs that are getting more national attention, that's an approach as well. We try to divide up our approach between grassroots and more of a diverse, commercial appeal. That was a great cut we had on NPR and we're very thankful that it happened.
CP: Moon Taxi covers a lot of ground in terms of style. How do you keep yourselves open to those diverse influences while putting forward your own voice, sound and themes?
TT:
I think it's important to remain open to anything and everything. We never thought we would have a banjo and synthesizers on the same track, but you know, when you put them together, they sound good. We've always got the mindset that we'll try anything to see how it sounds. I think it's important to take those risks artistically. Most of the time you'll fail and you'll learn from those mistakes. Sometimes you'll stumble upon a really cool combination of sounds, lyrics or whatever.
CP: A lot of bands put together a set of special covers or do something a little extra on Halloween. Are you guys planning anything in particular that you can share?
TT:
We do have some surprises up our sleeves. We're definitely be dressed to kill and we'll be doing some fun holiday covers. Because it is a holiday -- some people don't think of Halloween as a holiday. We'll be doing some holiday covers, that's for sure. As for the overall mood, I think we'll create a kind of otherworldy or creepy vibe. It's fun to put on that mask for one night. The set list will be more catered to that holiday.
Tea Leaf Green (Jason Thrasher)
CP: Tea Leaf Green is joining you for some co-headlining dates in the Southeast. What can people who might not know much about their music expect out of them?
TT: Tea Leaf Green is a very song-centered band, and I would say the same about Moon Taxi. We're very song-centric. So this is going to be a good show for people who like songs with stories. At the same time, with the format of the music and the way that the stories are spelled out there, it's going to be fun more than anything else. It's two very fun, very talented bands. I would definitely go see the show.
CP: In the past year you've done shows with established acts like Galactic and Matisyahu, not to mention all of the acts you've shared bills with on the festival circuit. What have you been able to take away from sharing the stage with them?
TT:
So much. We're just trying to be as professional as possible. I think that's something that I've learned. How to act, how to be a professional performer is something that takes a lot of time and grooming. I've definitely taken notes at Matisyahu shows and Galactic shows, just seeing how they cut loose but in a very controlled way -- controlled chaos. That's one thing we take away from these bigger national acts. But I like to see how they do it for a living, how they make a profession out of it. They're also really nice people. I've learned that it's a very people-centric business. That's what we've taken away from playing with diverse acts like the reggae bands, or funk bands or the rock bands -- it is a people business. We try to be as professional as possible in any setting.
Tickets for the 9 p.m. show are $14-$26 and can be purchased online via the Bama Theatre website.