Formula Indie Sessions Interview with Moon Honey
What is your earliest memory connected to music?
Dave – I grew up listening to my mom play piano and my dad play guitar. My whole family is musical so I have a lot of memories with family and music.
Rachel – My parents attended a Baptist church in Indiana when I was little. I remember singing with the choir at about 3 years old because I guess my mom sang with them and I got to tag along for practice. The choir director would sometimes point to me to sing out a note so the sopranos could hear their part.
How did your passion for creating music begin?
Dave – When I first started learning how to play guitar and write songs, I fell in love with it. I started to impress girls but ended up loving the music more than the dates I got.
Rachel – I had a friend in college who ended up becoming an incredibly successful songwriter. She asked me to co-write with her and she was getting crazy opportunities so I learned a lot quickly.
What’s the story behind your current music project?
Dave – We’ve been making music together for over a decade. We wanted to start a project that could handle multiple genres and that didn’t feel limited. I love Rachel’s writing so we just started recording what she was coming up with and have had a blast playing those songs live.
Rachel – It’s taken some time for us to figure out all that we can create together. We started Moon Honey with a country bend but where we are headed is crazy. Songs that feel retro, folk, cinematic and like a great combination of Dave’s guitar skills and my writing skills. The next years of music releases will be a surprise for people and I think a good one.
How would you describe your sound to someone who has never heard your music before?
It’s a bit folk, country, blues, pop, rock and sometimes has a nostalgic vibe
What is one thing you’ve learned that completely changed the way you make music?
Dave – How differently music translates on stage than in the studio and how to make that transition.
Rachel – Performance vibe in a recording or live performance often outweighs perfection. People want to feel it and if you’re feeling it, it translates.
What tools, instruments, or software are essential in your creative process?
GUITARS! We use Logic, lots of plugins, basses, keyboards, everything we can. And lots of coffee.
Which indie artist or song are you loving right now?
These do not qualify as Indie artists but we love them right now…
Stephen Wilson Jr., Hans Zimmer
We love our dear friends Kendall James with Neon the Bishop and Megan Burtt.
How have your personal experiences influenced your music and artistic vision?
Rachel – Everything, every single thing. Every emotion, moment in nature, silly task, time with people, everything affects and adds to my writing.
What emotions or messages do you hope listeners take from your work?
Dave – Hope, deeper sense of self and a deeper sense of love. I hope to encourage vulnerability. I hope our songs help people think differently and take a new view on a particular issue or idea.
Rachel – I hope they know they are not alone, that they can relate and they feel more hope and joy in the process of commiseration or celebration in the songs. I hope these songs express something that needs to be expressed in people.
What’s the most important lesson music has taught you so far?
Dave – The majority of the world is not physical and we are so connected.
Rachel – Something greater than ourselves definitely exists and it has a frequency and a message.
What is a dream venue or festival you would love to perform at?
Dave – Glastonbury Festival
Rachel – I’ll go with Dave’s answer here.
If you could collaborate with any artist, past or present, who would it be and why?
Dave – King David. Whatever was going on with the healing of his music, it was clearly powerful and his songs have spanned thousands of years and thousands of songs.
Rachel – Love Dave’s answer here. I think it would be amazing to work with one of the great classical composers. I’d love to see their process, how they came up with their movements and what inspired them, Beethoven and Chopin specifically.
Where can our listeners follow and support your music?
We may be releasing our music through less mainstream channels soon so follow us at moonhoneymusic on instagram and ilovemoonhoney.com
Looking toward the future, what’s your dream for the next chapter of your musical journey?
Rachel – I’d love to get a lot more sync placements and am working towards that goal heavily this year. I’d love to produce for more artists this year as well.
Dave – I’d love to have our songs played around world and more people be touched by our songs.
What do you hope listeners will discover about you along the way?
-We are versatile and incredibly creative and may make music outside the boundaries that normal artists tend to stay within. We hope that’s enjoyed, and we know not everyone will like every song, but we hope they will enjoy the surprises.
