Photo Credit: Eric Michael Lichter
By: Christopher Aloysius Mariotti
Connor: it’s a great pleasure to chat with you this evening! Before we jump into things, such as your video project and some pretty rad upcoming shows, let’s start with trying to define what Wise Old Moon is to you. Was there any sort of impetus to this band other than just wanting to play music?
I started performing original material in late 2013, once I found some other musicians to collaborate with, we became more serious about forming a band and chose our name from a lyric in one of those tunes. Wise Old Moon began in my Hartford apartment in early 2014 and has evolved very quickly over the last year into a 4-piece folk rock/Americana band.
Right on. So with that bit of background, tell us about your first album, The Patterns.
The Patterns is the first studio album we released and it features 8 of our songs. We recorded it last winter at Dirt Floor Studios in Chester, CT. The Patterns is stripped down and raw. The songs on that album have a lot of meaning to me, they’re about where I come from and some of the things I’ve gone through growing up.
You can absolutely hear how personal the songs are. And I think the general intimacy helps reflect that sort of mental and emotional mood. That being said, let’s talk about this current project of Wise Old Moon, where you are releasing live videos of your band performing a handful of songs from The Patterns.
While watching your set at the Glastonbury Apple Harvest Festival, I felt it was incredibly alive and amplified compared to the album. Was that a spark for you?
Eric Lichter, who produced The Patterns, did such a good job of capturing the essence of the original Wise Old Moon last winter while snowed in at Dirt Floor. We were all set up in a living room with the fire going, and it was very intimate, which comes through on that record. Since that recording, the line-up of the band has changed, we have a fuller sound due to the new members: Dan Liparini on lap steel and electric guitar, Greg Perault on bass, and drummer Alex Heaton bring the energy, and it feels right for the delivery of the songs.
Why did you decide to perform these songs live with the new band, as opposed to going and recording new material with them, and moving forward? Is it a matter of introducing the band to your audience? Or do you feel as though these four particular songs need a small kick in the throat?
I want people to hear what we’re doing live right now. I’m proud of the record and it is still part of the band, but I wanted to bridge the gap between that album and what the live experience is like.
Speaking of live, you have a nice group of amazing shows coming up. Along with a little out-of-state mini-tour, starting tomorrow in NYC, we found out today you will be playing at this year’s Meriden Daffodil Festival!
Yeah! Over the last couple of months we have been starting to get really busy, and everyone in the group has been contributing to booking gigs which is huge. This weekend we visit Rockwood Music Hall in NYC; The News Cafe in Providence, RI; and New City Galerie in Burlington, VT. Robbie DeRosa at WESU has been a big supporter and got us in at the Daffodil Festival, so it’s nice to have a home town date for when the weather is starting to warm up in April. We also have a special private show at Dirt Floor Studios in Chester, CT with our friend Jonah Sky (formerly Jonah Tolchin). That is this month as well. It’s great to be so busy in the dead of winter, we are really lucky.
What do you have in mind for the warmer parts of 2015? Will you be recording?
We’re recording now. We ideally want to release another full length album towards the end of the summer. We have recording dates in March and April at a few different locations. We’re really taking our time with this one. Aside from that we have plans for touring further down south in May.
Are you recording this one at Dirt Floor as well?
We are working with Dirt Floor for some of this album, but we’ll also be working with the guys at Telefunken in South Windsor. They have a great studio set up there and have been a huge support for us along the way. We have a couple other dates confirmed at a studio in MA, so we are taking all these songs recorded over the next few months and putting them into one cohesive album as soon as it feels ready.
Fantastic. Cannot wait to hear the new material! Now, going back to The Patterns: we’ve included the second of the four “live” songs you’re releasing at the bottom of this interview. Tell us about “Night Crew Nocturnal.”
For this video session we had some help from our friends Rachael Guzick and Mike DiPanfilo with the filming and Sean Rubin, who handled audio. As our drummer Alex puts it, “it’s a groovin’ high energy tune that feels good.” I think it’s punctuated by the upright bass intro by Mr. Greg Perault.
Greg’s a pretty seasoned bassist, always dug his work, particularly with Elison Jackson. He also played with you at last summer’s Vision & Grit Festival, prior to the other fellas coming on board. Will the current band be contributing to the songwriting on the new album too, now that you have more band stability?
We’re really starting to get comfortable on and off stage together. Greg is an integral part of the group and everyone is contributing to the new material. One tune in particular that I’m really excited about is “Sky Scrapers,” which is definitely a collaborative song. The new work is feeling so great because of the combination of personalities in this group and we are continuing to find new ideas together.
As a fan of Wise Old Moon, I’m very excited for the new version of the band (I believe you had The Meadows Brothers sitting in with you at the Glastonbury Apple Harvest show).
Connor, thank you for taking the time tonight to give a little insight into the band: past, current, and future. Wishing you great success with the shows on the horizon, and especially that new album!
Thank you for listening to the music, and thanks very much to you and Chip at Lonesome Noise for promoting local artists!
Lonesome Noise 