How Moon Hooch Went From Subways to Ted Talks

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Imagine the most amazing dance party you’ve ever been to, but instead of a DJ keeping the party bouncing, it’s two saxophones and a set of drums. The dance party you’re imagining is a Moon Hooch concert. We talked to band member and saxophonist Mike Wilbur before his show in Dallas.

Q: First, can you tell me about the name Moon Hooch?
A: This band was almost a joke, it was just a way to make money, and we weren’t serious. So when people started asking our name I said “Moon Juice” then we went home and checked out Moon Juice and there were like six Moon Juice bands so we flipped through a thesaurus and found hooch. It was very symmetrical.

How KONGOS Got Their Unique Sound

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We’d be willing to bet that KONGOS have been stuck in your head at some point recently. Their breakthrough hit “Come With Me Now” has been on the radio, ESPN promos, and commercials. The song is known for its gritty vocals, crazy beat, and accordion hooks. It’s impossibly catchy.

The South African group is made up of four brothers: Dylan, Daniel, Jesse, and Johnny Kongos. Now based in Phoenix, the band achieved success in their native country before releasing their second album, Lunatic in 2013.
Their first headlining tour kicked off in Dallas recently and we managed to catch their show and sat down with Daniel Kongos.

Secret Someones Won’t Be A Secret For Long

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Secret Someones is the union of Bess Rogers, Hannah Winkler, and Lelia Broussard with the addition of drummer Zach Jones. They recently released their eponymous album and set out on tour.

They each had their own projects, their own songs, and their own careers. Bess Rogers knew she always wanted to study music. She first picked up guitar when she was in her early teens. Lelia Broussard put out her first album when she was 15 and Hannah Winkler worked as a pre-school teacher while she was releasing music independently. The final piece to the puzzle was Zachary Jones who was a high-demand session musician and the former drummer for A Great Big World. This formation of musicians created the perfect super-group. Bess Rogers, guitarist and vocalist, said they just felt something click when they performed together.

“When we started the band we really realized there was something special and unique when the four of us came together as a group,” says Rogers. “As soon as we started writing our first songs we realized it was the project we wanted to pursue the most and it became our priority.”

How Young Rising Sons Made A Viral Video Into A Career

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Andy Tongren met Dylan Scott, Julian Dimagiba, and Steve Patrick when he was at an open mic in New York. They had all been playing for rival bands around New Jersey when they found him. He said it was “sort of an instant chemistry, best friends right away.” They had viral success with their video for “High” and just released their EP The Kids Will Be Fine. We talked to Andy Tongren, singer and guitarist, about their inspiration and how they follow up a successful single.

“For a long time no one took notice of the music that we were doing. We like to write songs about the turning point in our career when people started to listen and pay attention because that was an exciting time,” says Tongren. “We want to give the listener something they can grasp a hold of because other than that there’s no point to what were doing. It’s so unique and special to me when there is a song that perfectly captures a moment in your life and we try to do that for our listeners.”

How Lights Keeps Her Music Fresh

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Lights was signed when she was 15. She was very young when she recognized the importance of music in her life. She compares music to magic. She said, “You can change the way a person feels about a moment of their lives with an intangible piece of information.”
Lights is now 28 and has had a phenomenal career as a musician. On her latest album Little Machines she stays true to her sound but has still grown with her style.

Vèritè Talks About Her Musical Evolution And New Sentiment EP

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Vèritè’s music has been making the music blogger circuit for a while. Her new EP Sentiment is out now, so we talked to Vèritè to get to the roots of what makes her music so unique.

Vèritè grew up with music, performing live with her father in her hometown. When she was 13 she started a punk cover band. Her music now is classified as pop but she didn’t actually have a genre in mind.

“Time, trial, and error. I think that as a musician and a writer, you’re constantly trying to perfect, shape, and grow. It was a long period of learning and refining,” she said. “When people started calling it pop, I was almost shocked by that. It just so happens that the songs are chorus-heavy, which translates to pop, but I was listening to hip-hop when I wrote “Strange Enough,” for instance, and there are a lot of different influences you can hear on the EP.”