Mooon recently appeared unannounced on stage at café Altstadt with Hidden Charms. Shortly after, the three young blues rockers from Aarle-Rixtel played in Eindhoven again, to be precise in the Effenaar at Club 3voor12/Eindhoven. High time to talk to them extensively. We meet in Mooon’s regular rehearsal space with the telling name 'Repetitiecentrum deoefenruimte' in Helmond, where the Melissa Etheridge and Adele covers of the rehearsing neighbours can sometimes be heard clearly. This is where brothers Gijs and Tom de Jong work on their music with their cousin Timo van Lierop almost every Tuesday.
Was there no rehearsal space available in Aarle-Rixtel?
Gijs: "We certainly had that space, we have a great place at home where we played for a while. After some trouble with an angry neighbour, we eventually had to look for a new rehearsal space." Timo adds; “Too bad, because spontaneous rehearsals – after all, we are not only family but also neighbours – are no longer possible.” Tom: “It has ensured that we rehearse with more focus and with more results, that is the only positive aspect of this situation. We have become more serious here in Helmond, because we pay for this space. That gives a different feeling than jamming and hanging out at home. Maybe we will be grateful to our neighbour for that one day. One day.”
Mooon is still a very young band, but your examples are very old by now. How did you come into contact with this music?
Gijs: “During a renovation, we were often forced to be in another room of the house. There was a record player and a pile of old records there. That is how Tom and I started playing this music. We soon wanted to start making music ourselves. Timo – our cousin and neighbour – already listened to this music a lot, so a band was quickly formed.”
When can we expect an album or EP?
Gijs: “We are going to record a whole album at the end of February. We wrote a lot about this last year.” Tom: “We don’t know yet when we’re going to release the album. The plan is to record everything first and then approach labels.
Timo: “That way we can work completely independently. That way no one can interfere. Not that we’re going to do crazy things, the album will stay in the same atmosphere that people know from us. Blues, garage and nice spacey, everything is in there again. Just all the music that we like ourselves. From blues to elevator music. Only dubstep you’ll never hear from us.”
Gijs: “We’re all going to sing on the album, and there are more instruments to be heard. And maybe the Hammond from the jam session in Gemert will return.”
What are your main ambitions for 2016 besides recording, and hopefully releasing the album soon?
All three in unison: “Play!”
Tom: “We mainly want to play a lot. And preferably on our own. We don't come from the rock academy, and we don't know much about 'the world', we just want to be appreciated for our music. So far that's going pretty well; we don't go after performances too much, luckily we get enough cool opportunities and offers."
Timo: "We also want to participate in Popronde this year. Last year we did register, but we didn't make it through the selection. Probably also because we were way too lax. We didn't have any well-recorded music out then and no website. We're never that quick with that kind of thing. Now the EP is on Spotify and we finally have a website, so we have a much better chance."
Translated from: https://www.popei.nl/eng/blog/interview-met-mooon/79
