Oklahoma City looked like a sort of mecca for guitarist and singer Blaise Thompson of local psychedelic-rock outfit Moon when he was making his way from New Orleans to attend ACM@ UCO to pursue a music career. For someone who considers The Flaming Lips’ “Clouds Taste Metallic” and “Transmissions from the Satellite Heart” to be “sacred books, almost,” no place felt like a better launching pad.
However, he encountered turbulence shortly after takeoff.
“This band’s been thrown into heavy-stress situations from the beginning,” he said, explaining the pressure of Moon’s 2010 debut show at Norman Music Festival after just two weeks of practice. “Right off the get-go, we were playing gigs we didn’t feel we deserved to be playing. It’s pushed us and made us have to grow. If we’re in a standstill, then we might as well not exist.”
This summer saw Moon get rocketed with a new set of anxieties: After many hours and dollars, a completed album got erased by a hard-drive crash. A bit of mourning later, the band regrouped and now is recording what will be its debut, “Joo Joo Wail,” in a small apartment, hopefully to be completed by winter.
“A lot of neighbors are coming up and knocking on the door,” Thompson said. “We’ve been loud ever since we started, and when it comes time to record, we aren’t going to turn it down. Luckily, they’ve started to understand where we are coming from.”
If we’re in a standstill, then we might as well not exist.
—Blaise Thompson
In the interim, the group has focused on sharpening its live set, which is certainly becoming reminiscent of Thompson’s aforementioned musical heroes, what with lasers, lights, shadows, partial nudity and serious warnings: “We have to legally tell people to wear sunglasses,” he said. “We will damage your retinas.”
“We want this total immersion of people being inside the band,” Thompson said. “Basically, we are going to douse as many people as we can with fake blood, real blood, and replenish the supply of glitter and this world. We want people to forget their thoughts. Thoughts are distractions and are the things that limit people from being who they are.”
Moon is prepping for a short regional trek of shows after Thursday’s gig at Blue Note Lounge, as well as a release of rough demos salvaged from the lost album, all in hopes of leaving a mark, whether musical, spiritual or physical.
“We spill glitter every time we open our trailer door,” Thompson said. “It’s funny, because that’s what we want to do as a band: Leave our trace in the world. And spray-painting some shit.”
Find out more about Moon at their ReverbNation page.
This article appears in Oct 12-18, 2011.