1. Growing Up
My pa was a musician and was always off with various bands getting up to no good.
He was super chilled, though, and I wasn’t really into all his guitars until I was 16, 17. Then I went mental for them and got obsessed. Bob Dylan, Neil Young and Lou Reed were on constant repeat and definitely hit me hard when I started liking girls and feeling feelings. Life was pretty good, growing up in a privileged country like Oz.
2. Inspirations
I really dig all the old-timey stuff. Something about the songwriting and lo-fi production just really gets me going. Again, Bob Dylan hit me hard back in the day – I remember that clear as a bell and I still find new songs of his that blow my mind. Also Jimi Hendrix and The Doors. Pretty much anything from that era I’m a sucker for. I still really dig the new shit, though, and can get down to pretty much anything if it’s got the vibe (Todd Terje, Caribou, et cetera).
3. Your Band
Moses Gunn Collective is me on vox and guitar, Alex on bass, Bella on keys, Staggy on drums and Lois on lead gat. We’re all friends that have been hangin’ around for ages and just thought it’d be sweet starting a band. We’re all into different stuff but there’s also a lot of overlap. This makes for our weird multi-genre style, which is probably for the best.
4. The Music You Make
Psychotropic-psych-soul, tropicana, rock’n’roll – we blend them all, but at the core is a real weird Australiana sound that creeps in somehow. I think we’re just starting to really lock in now. We’ve also worked with producers Magoo and Konstantin Kersting heaps over the years, and they’ve helped us find our sound.
5. Music, Right Here, Right Now
The music scene is a little quiet in Brisbane but it’s also a damn good incubator – you can get good and develop your style without an overload of influence from an overloaded local scene. Moses is part of a small group of Brisbane musicians that play in bands such as The Belligerents, The Jungle Giants, The Furrs, Family Jordan… it’s really quite a nice little family. Money is always hard to come by, but I guess we just gotta sell some more records!
Moses Gunn Collective’s Mercy Mountain is out now through Create/Control and they play Goodgod Small Club on Saturday August 22.
