Speaking
to Bradley Wiggins shortly after his history-making wins at the 2012 Tour de
France and the London Olympics, we asked the cycling champion whether there had
been a soundtrack behind his incredible summer of successes. A preview of The
Moons second album Fables of History had been brought along to the Tour by Team
Sky photographer Scott Mitchell, who had recently worked with the band. Bradley
recalls travelling back to the team hotel and listening the album, saying:
"songs like English Summer and Jennifer became a bit of a soundtrack for
the third week of the Tour for us, as well as the Olympics". We caught up
with Andy Crofts, vocalist and guitarist with The Moons to talk music,
influences and what's up next for the band
How did The Moons get together as a
group?
The
Moons originally started as a solo project. I'd worked on many demos, so I
decided to go into a studio and record a collection of the best songs I had at
the time. I soon got lots of good feedback and decided to get a band together
from there. The spirit of The Moons as a band is very free: we have musicians
and friends who have been involved over different periods of time and we like
that way of doing things. I write all of the songs, so I keep a lunar thread
through it all.
Who are your key influences?
Throughout
my life I have collected many influences that have had a vital impact on me
both musically and mentally. For instance, I love record producer Joe Meek and
all of his ground breaking techniques in recording and the mighty sound of
Motown. In fact, it was my obsession with Meek and space sounds that started
The Moons. Some of the artists that I rate are David Bowie, The Zombies, The
Buzzcocks, the Clash, Air, Hooded Fang, The Specials, The Beach boys, The
Kinks, Bob Marley, The Bees and Tame Impala. Ekseption, Beatles, Count five;
you get the vibe. The list goes on...
What’s been your most memorable show
to date?
One show
that always springs to mind for me was at the Indra Club in Hamburg, Germany,
last April. It was our bass player Ben's birthday so we were all in good
spirits. It was just a great show with a great crowd - for some reason it's
stuck in my head as a favourite. Let's not forget that Indra was also the first
place in Hamburg that The Beatles played!
Bradley Wiggins mentioned you as one
of the main groups he listened to during his 2012 Tour de France race – how
does that feel?
To be
honest it's an honour. To know that I write these songs at home on my bed or
couch and then they go on to inspire and influence people is the greatest
feeling. It makes me realise how important it is to keep writing. It really
made my day when Bradley won the Tour de France and then I found out our album
was one of his main records he listened to at the time. He's an English
sporting hero, a fan of The Moons and my mate - I'm happy!
What do you think of Bradley's
collection for Fred Perry?
Everything
I've seen looks great. My favourite piece is the black champion tipped cycling
shirt. That's the one I have - his cycling shirts are his main thing so it's
nice to have one if the classic tops.
What’s up next for The Moons?
We've
just finished recording third album Mindwaves which is sounding amazing. It's
probably my favourite album we've done. I'm happy with all of the songs and
there's a lot of colours in the music. A release date is coming soon, but it
should be summer time. We've also just announced a bunch of live dates for
March and April which are now on sale at The Moons official website, with more
dates coming soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment