October 9th, 2012 provided us with the second phone interview conducted by Label Music this year, with none other than Walk the Moon! Best known for their biggest song ‘Anna Sun’, Walk the Moon are in the middle of their European tour, supporting the American indie pop band FUN, and Label Music Editor Ella Stanbrook managed to catch guitarist Eli Maiman on the phone for a quick interview:
Considering they were in the middle of touring, I took the opportunity to ask them about their experiences with live performances. They have been in Europe touring with FUN for three weeks now, Eli noted that the band are thoroughly enjoying performing, saying that touring with FUN has been “not only a fantastic experience but also an amazing opportunity to tour with another band and learn from them.”
In terms of preferred locations for performing, the band love playing in their hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio since it gives friends and family the opportunity to watch the band and party with them. At the same time, touring abroad has surprised them, with a wild, sell-out crowd in Helsinki. Walk the Moon make particular effort with their live performances; they often take face paint to give to the crowd before the show starts and paint the faces of the crowd to match their own. Eli said the band feel that “with live performances there is a separation between bands and the audience, as if the band is ‘playing in a bubble’”. They, therefore, aim to make it a communal live experience for the audience. He said it was a “great way to meet fans before and a great way to get them warmed up for the show.” Apparently if they don’t bring face paint to a show the audience ask after it!
Musical interests and heroes for Walk the Moon come in the form of the Electric Light Orchestra, David Bowie, Little Dragon and Talking Heads. These artists have played a major role in their music development, in terms of what they write and where they come from as a band.
Their biggest song, ‘Anna Sun’ was written almost three years ago, but was only officially released last year on their first album. Eli noted how rewarding it was to watch the song grow and mature, and that it was a blue print for how they envisioned their first album to be and the video was a blue print for what they wanted to be as a band. The modesty of the band shone through as Eli described the making of the music video; shot with little to no budget, the extras were friends that the band had pulled in to help out and were told to “look weird.”
Their self-titled major label debut album Walk the Moon released in June 2012 was influenced heavily by producer Ben Allen. He helped them achieve their aim of capturing the energy of their live performances in an album. Walk the Moon will be touring for the most part of the upcoming year both in Europe and the US, so look out for any local shows!
