Moon Hooch is back on the road for shows across the U.S. this Winter. The tour brings the Brooklyn-based trio to Omaha, NE at Slowdown on Saturday, February 16.
A highlight of Moon Hooch‘s current live set is music from their latest EP, Light It Up. Known for their raucous dance party-inducing performances, it’s only fitting that they capture that same raw primal energy in the studio. Co-produced by Tonio Sagan (Carl Sagan’s grandson), Light It Up delivers an intense 10-minutes of music. Along with the digital release, each of the EP’s three tracks have been released individually on limited edition 7-inch color vinyl, with the B-side featuring a live recording of the song from the A-side.
In just a few short years, the explosive horn-and-percussion trio Moon Hooch—Mike Wilbur (horns), Wenzl McGowen (horns), and James Muschler (drums)—have taken their exhilarating blend of virtuosic jazz, experimental funk, and pulse-pounding electronic dance music from the New York City subway system to stages around the world, touring with the likes of Beats Antique, Lotus and Galactic among others, as well as earning status as festival favorites and selling out headline shows in major venues. The trio initially turned heads in the music industry with their self-titled 2013 debut, which introduced their charismatic, unconventional sound to the world, but by then they were already well-known to straphangers in New York, who would react with such joy and fervor to their impromptu subway platform sets that the NYPD had to ban them from locations that couldn’t handle the crowds. Since then, they’ve released a series of acclaimed studio recordings that have all reached the Top 10 of the Billboard Heatseekers and Jazz Charts, as well as a 2017 concert recording, Live At The Cathedral, documenting their historic performance at NYC’s Cathedral of St. John the Divine.
Onstage, the band now plays through a “Reverse DJ” setup, in which the live sound from their horns runs through laptops to process recorded effects. In addition, they utilize Moog synthesizers, as well as an EWI (an electronic wind instrument that responds to breath in addition to touch) and other more traditional instruments like clarinets. Wilbur added vocals to his repertoire, and Muschler, meanwhile, immersed himself in tabla studies in India in order to expand his percussion skills. Tahoe Onstage boasts, “Moon Hooch uniquely delivers a creative, energetic, and unyielding assault on your auditory senses.”
The band members all speak reverently of meditation and consciousness and the role it plays in their music, but equally close to their hearts are the environmental causes they champion. Moon Hooch tries to live up to their green ideals while traveling, playing benefit shows, supporting local farmers and co-ops, participating in river cleanups, and filming informative videos for their fans. The band runs a food blog, Cooking In The Cave, in which they highlight the healthy, sustainable, organic recipes they utilize with their mobile kitchen setup on tour and have teamed up with We Are Neutral to officially go carbon-neutral on tour. For the members of Moon Hooch, commitments to consciousness, environmentalism, veganism, philosophy and peace aren’t separate from their commitment to music, but actually integral parts of it. It’s all tied into that same core approach that led to their discovery on the subway platform: try, even if it’s just a little bit every day, to make the world less like it is and more like you wish it could be.
Tickets for the Omaha show is $14 ADV / $17 DOS
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MOON HOOCH
Tour Dates
February 9 – Athens, OH – Ohio University Auditorium
February 13 – Columbus, OH – Woodlands Tavern
February 14 – Indianapolis, IN – The Mousetrap
February 15 – Columbia, MO – Rose Music Hall
February 16 – Omaha, NE – Slowdown
February 19 – Lawrence, KS – Granada Theater
February 20 – Tulsa, OK – The Vanguard
February 21 – Dallas, TX – Gas Monkey
February 22 – Houston, TX – White Oak Music Hall
February 23 – Austin, TX – The Parish
February 28 – Winter Park, CO – Ullrs Tavern
March 1 – Steamboat Springs, CO – Schmiggity’s
March 2 – Salt Lake City, UT – The State Room
March 3 – Bozeman, MT – The Filling Station
March 4 – Missoula, MT – Top Hat Lounge
March 6 – Spokane, WA – Nyne Bar
March 7 – Seattle, WA – The Showbox
March 8 – Bellingham, WA – Wild Buffalo
March 9 – Portland, OR – Wonder Ballroom
March 12 – Eugene, OR – Wow Hall
March 13 – Redding, CA – The Dip
March 14 – San Francisco, CA – August Hall
March 15 – Santa Cruz, CA – The Catalyst
March 16 – Los Angeles, CA – Teragram Ballroom
March 17 – San Diego, CA – Casbah
March 20 – Phoenix, AZ – Last Exit Live
March 22 – Durango, CO – Animas City Theatre
April 13 – Santa Barbara, CA – Lucidity Festival
Apr 27 – Schuylkill Haven, PA – Some Kind Of Jam
July 12 – Morrison, CO – Red Rock Ampitheatre*
*w/ Galactic & The Motet
New EP ‘LIGHT IT UP‘ Out Now
- Watch & Share “Acid Mountain” (Official Video)
- Watch & Share “Growing Up” (Official Live Video)
- Watch/Share “Light It Up” (Official Video)
“I’m telling you these guys are cool. You know they’re cool.” – IGGY POP
“Synthesizing the skronk and creativity of jazz into modern party music is Moon Hooch’s speciality.” – THE LINE OF BEST FIT
“…they sound like music from another planet, one where James Chance battles Ornette Coleman in an epic jam session.” – THE BIG TAKEOVER
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