Welcome to
Orlando Weekly's "
Band of the Week." Every week, we highlight one of our favorite local bands. This week, we're pleased to bring you
Moondragon.
Moondragon is playing Will's Pub on Sunday, Feb. 5 with Gost and Autarx.
Just the facts:
Who's in the band?
Just one member!
Troy Simpson – Keyboards/Programming
Guitars and additional performances are usually collaborations with similar artists who play much better than me!
When did the band form?
Roughly around January of 2015. I had dabbled around with some ideas before that, but decided to finally make the plunge around that time and make a full record to debut the project with.
Currently available releases:
Miramar
Man and Machine
A few more singles, and a new full-length album should be finished within the next few weeks.
Websites:
Bandcamp
Spotify
Describe your sound in five words:
1980’s Action Film Synth Soundtrack
Five questions:
What has been your most memorable show so far?
They’ve all been a bit different, but I think your biggest is always kind of your most memorable. I played a show last year opening for the singer Jonny Craig and a few other touring acts, with about 200 people there. My music was definitely a lot different than the rest of the lineup, but I got a ton of great feedback from the crowd and they really enjoyed the random film visuals projected behind me. Kind of solidified the project for me as something people could identify with, even if they hadn’t really followed this genre of music.
Which local band is your favorite one to play a show with?
Locally there is a young music producer here named “DJ Mcchicken” who is really talented and was kind enough to add me to one of his local mini-festivals last year. He really is all about getting artists together and was a ton of fun to play with at the Geek Easy in Winter Park. I’m all about growing the Orlando music scene, but I’m not nearly proactive enough, so I enjoy artists like him putting in the work and letting me tag along. =)
What description gets used for your band that you would most
like to correct people on? Why?
Haven’t really had too many incorrect descriptions to draw from, but if I had to pick it would be the rare occasion that people think all of my music are covers of 1980s original tracks. Sometimes I ride the line of “homage” to closely I guess, and people think these are remixes of old soundtracks. I’ve always liked to explain the genre of “synthwave” or “retrowave” as a soundtrack to movies that never existed.
What’s your favorite thing about being an Orlando band? What's your least favorite? Why?
I’d say the biggest thing I enjoy is the chance to be part of the change the next few years will bring. I think Orlando turns into a large artist hub on par with Austin, TX and similar cities pushing cultural change in places outside of LA/NY. I really think with all the college campuses, and different areas of nightlife in the city, it’s just a matter of time. My least favorite would probably be the fact that a lot of the bigger venues downtown rarely try to book local talent for touring acts, which makes it tougher to get in front of larger crowds on a consistent basis, no matter how big your local following may be.
Any big news to share?
New album I’ve been working on for over six months should release in the next few weeks. I’ve had really solid feedback from the first single I released titled Apex Predator. The whole album is a themed around 1980’s Formula 1 racing, with pulsing beats and arpeggiated synths that will make you want to break out some driving gloves and rev up in your driveway.
You can download the first single for free here.
