A Chat With: morgxn

I first came to know and love morgxn’s music after I heard his hit “home”— and with over 28 million streams on Spotify, it’s clear I’m not alone in my admiration for the song. In fact, Billie Eilish has even cited the track as an inspiration behind her own hit “Bad Guy.”

Photo by Emma Mead

The project of Nashville-born and based musician Morgan Isaac Karr, morgxn has experienced a whirlwind of ups and downs across the past two years. While the pandemic hit morgxn hard as a touring musician and left him unsure about his future in music, that uncertainty also fueled the vulnerability behind his viral song “WONDER.” Along with success on Tik Tok, “WONDER” has been reimagined with new versions and collaborations—including one with Sara Bareilles.

To round out the year of ups and downs, morgxn is now back on the road and about to release the MERIDIAN: vol 2 EP, which follows the first part of the Meridian project that came out in April 2021. Ahead of the new music, ANCHR caught up with morgxn to discuss his bucket list collaborations, his Tik Tok page, his creative process and more. Tune in below for the full chat.

---

ANCHR Magazine: Who and what would you consider to be some of your earliest influences and inspiration when it came to creating music?

morgxn: Oh wow. So I’m sitting here now in Nashville, Tennessee which is where I’m from and it’s interesting because I grew up not having a family in the music industry. I was very outside of it, and of course Nashville is like this famous music town, but to me it was just where I grew up. When I was 9, I started taking voice lessons with this guy in town who all the kids went to. Fun fact, in a totally random turn of events, Chris Young, who’s a famous country singer, he had the voice lesson time before mine. So I would go in and watch him sing, but I feel like it was a perfect example of all these kids in Nashville wanting to sing and this voice teacher, he wasn’t teaching me country or genre, he was just exposing me to all sorts of music. Not to put myself in an exact era but it was like a combination of No Doubt and Green Day, they were really popular then. I mean actually that’s popular now, but that puts me in a specific time period that I don’t want to say. But that was what culture was listening to, and this voice teacher started opening my mind to Stevie Wonder and Luther Vandros and opera music... and all sorts of different stuff. Back then we weren’t being served music on a streaming platform, it was just kind of what you came into contact with. So I feel really fortunate even though Nashville’s known as the country music capital of the world, I had a really diverse musical upbringing. It all happened out of the house though. My parents weren’t big music people, not only not in music but they didn’t listen to music, so music for me was kind of like my discovery zone.

Well I’m glad you discovered it cause you’ve made some great music so far!  Speaking of great songs, Your song “Wonder” has literally been a sensation. You have the duet version with Sara Bareilles, then the whole EP with reimagined versions with Smallpools and PVRIS and more. What has that whole experience been like for you from the time you wrote the song to everywhere it has taken you since?

Wow I got chills hearing you say it back to me. I believed really deeply— Kind of connecting it to “The Way It Was,” the lyric in the song is “I believed it so deep it would happen” and kind of jumping ahead, I feel like if you are not a little sad after this last year, I’m not even sure that you’re alive or present, because it was just tough. A song like “Wonder” saying “I wonder if anyone will hear this” because I got dropped by my label, we entered lock down, and it was just a scary, scary time. There was so much unknown. I put out “Wonder” and when I say it out loud, “Wonder” is a song that came out a year ago in the middle of a global pandemic, without a label, without a team, and has 85 Million global streams, charted on iTunes, and I’ve played it on television with Grammy-award winning Sara Bareilles. It feels just as powerful and crazy to say out loud, and it’s truly a dream. 

Yeah and I think people really connect with that honesty. Like you were saying you wonder if anyone will hear this, and that vulnerability, especially in such a difficult time, I feel like so many people can relate to that, no matter what they’re doing or creating.

Yeah, it was something that I feel like also people have to see that to keep going is a choice and a choice that I believe was worth making. It can get so hard and it can get so lonely and loud, but then the choice to keep going, that’s what this entire bed of music is about.

Yeah totally. Well on a more lighthearted note, since “Wonder” was so huge on Tik Tok, what’s been on your For You Page lately or what are some of your favorite Tik Tok trends?

Oh my god, let me just pull it up and be scared about what happens. Here’s a guy playing a hand drum, that sounds nice. Here’s a plus-sized guy talking about body positivity, which I am obsessed with. Growing up, I was different but there were no ways to connect with corners of the internet that made you feel less alone and terrified. So my For You Page is like hand drums, body positivity and here’s a person and his grandmother eating hot chicken sandwiches. How great.

How Wholesome!

It’s so wholesome! And hopeful! 

And yeah like you said, it’s awesome that Tik Tok can connect so many people to your music, or body positivity, or other positive messages out there. 

It’s also a place where I had a post go viral last week…it’s a clip of the song “The Way It Was” and for as much love as I received, I also received a ton of hate. Which is the truth about the internet. There are people out there sitting behind a screen who just want to tear you down and the song is talking about the way it was, every dream we have, we could have it, and these people took that and they were like “Well the way it was when people like you would walk down the street and we could beat you.” The thing is, I could turn around and be like you’re going to say that, and what I’m going to do is make really cute merch out of it and I’m going to raise money from the merch sales for the Trevor Project because there are kids out there who don’t have an audience to turn it around to, and get the loud support. They just see that hate without any place to turn it around to, and The Trevor Project is just an incredible place that lets people know that they’re not alone. Especially young, queer people who are just bullied by the internet. And some of these trolls, they’re not even real people behind the account. It’s sometimes bots, but that hate still gets thrown around and I just feel like I want to keep speaking up loudly for those youth who are basically me when I was a kid. It feels really important to me.

Yeah it’s terrible that people can come in and try to ruin such a positive message, but it’s great that you’re using that to fuel that towards some sort of positive outcome. Whether that be donating to the Trevor Project or just speaking up and using your platform for a positive influence. I did want to ask you more about “The Way It Was.” I was listening to it this morning, and I really liked some of the subtle nods to New Wave/80’s music with some of the synths and drum beats, and that sense of nostalgia was something I pulled out of it. Can you talk a little bit about creating the song and your mindset with that creative process?

It’s really special because this is the last song that I added to the entire Meridian project, both volume 1 and 2. It was the last song that I added, and I added it in the middle of “quarantimes.” My band and I were booked to play MTV’s Instagram Live show and we had all tested to be able to be together. We hadn't been together for a long time, we hadn’t played in a long time...That energy of just being together was emotional, and my touring keyboard player is actually the producer of the song, and my touring drummer played drums on it. We were already set up in the studio, so he added drums to it. And my touring engineer engineered that session. So it was not only am I talking about the way it was when I felt every dream was possible and I wasn’t so burdened by the weight of this year—not to quote another song from the EP, there’s a song called “Burden''— but I’m also talking about getting to play music that I love in space with people who I love. It’s not a return to normal, it’s a return to the way it was, where we get to be together.

I also want to acknowledge that returning to the way it was where every dream we could have it and that being together with loved ones is possible, but when you get comments on the internet saying like “the way it was when people like you could walk down the street, you would get beaten”… I want to acknowledge that the way it was didn’t include people like me, people of color, women—there are so many people that aren’t included in the narrative like the way it was because that’s what hate is built on. But for me, if I’m going to go back to the way it was, I’m thinking about how I’m bringing everyone along with me. 

Yeah that’s great, that’s a really powerful message. Talking a little bit more about the “Meridian” project in general, the new EP for vol 2 is coming out soon. Is there anything else you can share about your creative process behind the rest of the songs on the EP or any particular songs you’re excited about?

I’m really excited for the rest of volume 2. There’s a song called “Burden” that I just mentioned and the line is “sometimes the burden is not yours to take,” and I just feel like with the weight of this whole year and the intensity and isolation, there were just moments where...It’s interesting because if you listen to old songs of mine like “Carry The Weight,” it’s saying you can carry the weight. I do believe it and I know exactly where I was when I wrote that song, but “Burden” almost feels like a response to the person, who is me, who wrote “Carry The Weight” being like sometimes, it’s not yours to carry. Sometimes, you have to shut it down and you have to pause. This year was a moment, for me, where everything shut down and everything was put on pause and everything broke. But in that, some of the most beautiful encounters came out of it. I don’t wish that so many people died, I don’t wish that we had this virus at all, it’s just that in the slow down of this year, there was a ton of beauty between me and my loved ones, in really small ways.

Yeah, just finding that subtle lightness in the dark times that we’ve often taken for granted.

Yeah, I love that. “Burden” was also the song I wrote in the wee hours between 2019 and 2020, and I was really hopeful for 2020. I was like “This is special. This is 2020 vision and Kumbaya.” In hindsight, 2020 really was special, but in low sight, 2020 was so hard and difficult and nothing like I wanted it to be. But “Burden” was birthed in those wee hours and sometimes I feel like maybe the songs just knew. There’s a song called “Citadel” that’s like “If the walls fall down in the Citadel, will I face my fears? Will I face myself?” Maybe the songs were telling me that this was going to be a monumental year.

You manifested it! Not the pandemic but the good parts!

Going back to the reimagined Wonder EP, you worked with a lot of great artists reimagining that song, is there anyone else you’d love to work with in the future?

I love collaboration. I’m built on collaboration. I love BTS, I’m just going to say that out loud. They’re so good. And Kelly Clarkson.

That would be awesome, I’d love to hear either one of those. We’re manifesting this. 

And Brandi Carlile. Since we’re manifesting, I’m going there!

Would you ever try to do a full collaboration EP with different songs all collaborating with different people?

I like that idea! I’m not going to say who yet, but someone and I are talking about doing an entire EP of collabs, and I love that idea.

Hopefully we get to see that soon! Wrapping up, there’s an upcoming tour with Smallpools. Can you tease your set in a few words?

Nostalgic, soulful, and hopeful.
I love that! Anything else you want to add that you have coming up?

I’m so excited to be together on tour. Besides the Smallpools tour, I’m announcing a small run with Sofar Sounds. I’m just excited to be together!

---

Make sure you grab tickets to see morgxn in Chicago at Bottom Lounge this Saturday, November 13th, and pre-save MERIDIAN : vol 2 here.

A Chat With: Gang of Youths

Australian rock group Gang of Youths are back in The States this month, touring in support of their upcoming album. After releasing their successful debut album The Positions in 2015 and following up with an EP in 2016, the band are set to release their second full length album Go Farther In Lightness on August 18th. As a teaser, the band released the new single "Let Me Down Easy" on May 26th, a rhythmic narrative that's perfect for a summertime drive. Before their North American tour hits Schubas Tavern in Chicago, the band took some time for quick Q&A about the new music, their tour, and their favorite new music. Check it out and go see Gang Of Youths in a city near you!

---

Photo Courtesy of Gang Of Youths

ANCHR Magazine: What first inspired you to start making music, and how did you eventually all meet and form a band?

Gang of Youths: We met in a large evangelical church as children, and played music together throughout adolescence. Our first record The Positions came about as a result of a pretty traumatic relationship I was in with a woman who had terminal cancer.

AM: You’ve cited U2 and Sonic Youth as some of your influences, but what are some of your other musical and nonmusical (i.e film or other art forms) influences?

GoY: Possibly too many to name, to be honest. I’ve always felt that Kierkegaard, Nietzsche and Hegel and Heidegger had a profound influence on my work in a philosophical sense -- I like Lacan, Deleuze too. I’ve tried to contort and mangle our music in a way that it could sort of appeal to the ear the same way a Chagall or a Degas looks to the eye. Possibly a nonsensical idea, I know.

AM: What have been some highlights for you guys as a band since you released your debut album just a little over two years ago?

GoY: We managed to stay together, and grew together. That’s the most extraordinary one for me personally.

AM: The new animated video for your single “What Can I Do If The Fire Goes Out?” is great! What was the inspiration behind going the animated route for this video, instead of sticking with live action?

GoY: We have this friend of ours named Thomas Rawle who’s a pretty gifted animator. We wanted to create a sense of kinetic chaos combined with a surreal kind of storytelling that wouldn’t have been possible with a live action clip.

AM: Speaking of your new music, what can fans expect from the new album?

GoY:  It’s 78 minutes spread over 16 tracks.

AM: What teasers can you give about the set this tour, and are you planning on testing out any new material on the road?

GoY: The only teaser I can give you is that we are certainly road testing new material.

AM: Are there any cities on the U.S tour that you’re looking forward to playing the most?

GoY: Chicago! It’s our guitarist/keyboardist Jung’s home town. He hasn’t been back for 11 years!

AM: What’s one of the biggest differences that you guys notice between playing shows back home in Australia and playing in Europe and America?

GoY: The size of the shows is significantly different. Which is a good thing. I prefer small rooms.

AM: What are some of your favorite new bands at the moment?

GoY: Whitney, Camp Cope, Luca Brasi and Trophy Eyes.

---

Chicago, do not miss Jung's hometown return! You can grab tickets to Gang of Youths show tonight here, starting at $10. We'll also be covering their show in Minneapolis tomorrow night- stay tuned for a full photo gallery, and get pumped for the shows by listening to Gang of Youths' first album.

---

A Chat With: Happyness

The London-rockers of Happyness are currently in the middle of their U.S. tour in support of their sophomore album Write In. This album builds off of the momentum of their debut Weird Little Birthday and adds complexity while staying true to the softer rock that this band is known for. Jon-EE Allan, Benji Compston and Ash Cooper collaborate to the highest degree while recording. This combined creativity and drive makes for compelling lyrics and eccentric melodies. They’ll be at the 7th St Entry this Saturday with openers Fury Things and Wetter, read our interview with Jon-EE and Benj below.

Photo Courtesy of Happyness

---

ANCHR Magazine: In what ways does your new album Write In differ from your debut Weird Little Birthday?

JON-EE ALLAN: We wanted to make a more open album this time, and open-ended. I think it answers less of its own questions, if that makes sense. The setting for recording this album was actually pretty similar to Weird Little Birthday, we self produced it in our studio, but we were in a very different place mentally. Benji got very ill about halfway through making it so our flow got disrupted pretty heavily. I guess that's why there's a little less segue-ing and interlude type stuff. I think it's more hopeful though - it's kind of a collection of snapshots of hope through the crap.

And there are 3 less tracks...

AM: Do you guys play off of each other creatively when writing songs/recording? What was the main approach to the new album?

JON-EE ALLAN: Yeah definitely - we've worked in every possible combination of the three of us. Usually depending on who has the most concentration or drive at any given time, or who's had the most for lunch.

This is the first time we've had to make an album under time pressure and knowing that people were waiting for it. Working like that takes a bit of getting used to. We just wanted to make sure we weren't forcing it. We blocked out pretty much a year of our lives to make this record. It's a weird feeling cutting yourself off like that. It's hard to keep track of time or have enough perspective on things, so we'd leave songs for months before coming back to them - they get pretty scary to face when you've left them for that long. I don't think we'll make a record like this again, it's not a sustainable way to live... But I like what it produced!

AM: How has growing up/living in London influenced your music?

BENJI COMPSTON: London's such an enormous, sprawling place that we've actually found it really hard to identify a kind of 'scene' as such. At least for what we want to do. The city's definitely influenced us as far as it's the place we live in - but I don't think we can really claim a kind of Clash-esque London thing. It's something I really like about touring is getting to see other cities music scenes and the way they work/the people that make them work. It's inspiring.

AM: I absolutely loved your NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert. What was it like doing that/gaining more recognition in general?

BENJI COMPSTON: It's was kind of surreal...and nerve wracking. Bob Boilen gave us an enormous bag of protein bars to keep us alive on the road. It was cool to check out the NPR offices. They have nice water fountains.

AM: Your music has been described as slacker-rock, what do you guys think of that classification?

JON-EE ALLAN: I don't mind too much either way. People need a way of categorizing things. It always frustrates me when people take that label to assume a lack of effort or thought though - that's my one misgiving.

AM: I can’t wait to see you guys live in Minnesota. What’s it like touring in the U.S. and was this always a goal for you?

JON-EE ALLAN: Long. Drives. I love touring the US. There's something a little more wild and almost primeval about certain parts of the US. Like anything could happen. There's no end to the amount of weird situations you can end up in as 3 effete British guys and 1 French one, left at the mercy of the United States of America. Our taxi driver was a neo-nazi once. That was uncomfortable. We met a guy in Missoula who made a living by purposely getting himself hit by cars. He showed us all his scars - he lived off the payouts. He'd been hit 4 times.

AM: How does your live set differ from your studio work? Do you think it’s important for people to experience your music in a live setting?

JON-EE ALLAN: It took a bit of getting used to how much less controlled it is for us. But we enjoy that side of it a lot now. If we had more money for equipment and rehearsals maybe it would be more similar to the record... We have a bunch of ideas for expensive stage props, but no financial way of realizing them yet. I don't know how many people would get behind a Kickstarter campaign for an indoor beach.

AM: I love how much of a presence simple and beautiful guitar melodies have in many of your songs, especially where lyrics don’t come in until later in the song. Where does that come from? Do you think that allows for more attention to lyrics (specifically in a song like “Weird Little Birthday Girl”)?

JON-EE ALLAN: We just had no appreciation of any of the rules when we wrote those songs. Like getting a song accepted for radio, or what constituted a viable single. It's probably kind of a sociopathic musical streak - we find it impossible to tell what people's' reaction will be to anything we do - so we try to just doing what we want and hope it aligns with other people on some level.

AM: What’s next for Happyness?

JON-EE ALLAN:  Niagara Falls this afternoon and then a show in Cleveland tonight. We've got a few festivals this summer - and we want to record some more music - it's the nicest thing recording music when you've just released an album - the "next-release" pressure is so far in the future, there's something very clear and blissful and uplifting about recording music right in the rain-shadow of an album.

---

You can see all of Happyness's US tour dates here, and listen to Write In below.

A Chat With: Meg Mac

Australian singer-songwriter Meg Mac combines her soulful vocals with pop melodies to craft irresistible tunes, like the viral "Roll Up Your Sleeves," which has racked up over 9 million Spotify streams. Prior to the July 14th release of her debut album, Meg will tour North America playing some of the new songs, returning for the first time since she supported D'Angelo on a 2015 tour. In advance of the tour next month, we had a chat with Meg to get the scoop on the upcoming album, her influences, her advice on dealing with jet lag, and more! 

Photo Credit: Metaxia Coustas

ANCHR Magazine: Congratulations on your debut album coming out later this year! Can you tell us a little bit about the songwriting and recording process of the album?

Meg Mac: Thank you! I really wanted to make my first album simple.  I write all my songs at the piano and I played on most of the album. I wanted it to feel and sound like you were in the studio with me when you listen to the album. Just me and my songs without anything getting in the way.

AM: You’ve cited Edith Piaf and Carole King as influences for the album. Did you pull inspiration from any other art mediums or nonmusical influences when writing the songs?

MM: Edith Piaf said she wanted to make people cry even when they don’t understand her words. I love the idea of that. When I am writing I’m always inspired by something personal, something I am experiencing. I have to feel strongly enough about something to sing about it. 

AM: Which of the new songs are you most looking forward to playing live, and what can we expect from the live show?

MM: There’s a song on my album called "Ride It." Recording this song is what inspired me to get my first electric guitar from New York and learn how to play. Obviously it features guitar, but it also has an energy on it that I haven’t had before, and I can play around with that on stage.

AM: Which cities are you most looking forward to on the upcoming tour?

MM: I’m excited to come back to a lot of the places I’ve been before. My last tour in the states was with D’Angelo and I fell in love with a few places. But I’m pretty happy about playing my first show in San Francisco.

AM: Since you’re coming to tour The States all the way from Australia, what are your best tips for staying entertained on long flights and dealing with jetlag?

MM: Don’t take daytime naps.

AM: I saw you tweeted about Firefly Festival and being in disbelief you’re on the same poster as Bob Dylan. Who else on the Firefly lineup are you hoping to see while you’re there?

MM: I’d love to see Banks - she’s playing the same day as me.

AM: I also saw on your social media that your sister is in your band and plays on some songs on your album. Is your whole family pretty much musical, and when did you first get into making your own music? 

MM: Yeah my little sister sings in my band and every now and then she comes in to the studio. Singing is just what we did in our house growing up - it was normal.

AM: What other bands are you listening to at the moment? 

MM: I have been getting into Father John Misty and also going back and loving Tracey Chapman.

---

You can pre-order Low Blows here, and grab your tickets to see Meg Mac at Schubas Tavern on 6/20 here. Get ready for the show and the album by listening to Meg's debut EP below. 

A Chat With: A R I Z O N A

A R I Z O N A is definitely not your conventional band. The Jersey natives combine their love of eclectic sounds and raw lyrics to deliver songs such as "I Was Wrong," "Oceans Away," and "People Crying Every Night." We recently caught up with Nathan Esquite from A R I Z O N A (the band, not the state) to talk about dad jokes, road trips, and their upcoming debut album Gallery, which comes out May 19th.

A R I Z O N A is Zachary Hannah, David Labuguen, and Nathan Esquite

Photo Credit: Jimmy Fontaine

---

ANCHR Magazine: What are some of your musical and non-musical influences?

Nathan Esquite: Hm. I like the addition of non-musical because there’s a lot of influence you can get from non-musical. For me, personally speaking, a big musical influence would be Jeff Buckley. He’s a huge one for me. Saint Vincent, Ben Howard and punk rock. For non-musical, I love cinema. A lot of the stuff that we’ve done is inspired by movies and video games.

AM: What are some of your favorite movies?

NE: My all-time favorite movie is definitely Pan’s Labyrinth.

AM: I’ve heard that dad jokes are a thing amongst the band. What’s the best/worst one so far?

NE: Full disclosure, Zach talks a lot about dad jokes, but he actually gets them all from me. For example, he tells this story like it’s his all the time. While we were on tour, we do a lot of driving, especially through farm country. So we're driving through cornfields and I look to my right and see this huge flock of cows. I look at Zach and I’m like, “Dude check it out there’s a huge flock of cows over there.” And he goes, “Flock of cows? Bro don’t you mean herd of cows?” and I go, “Of course I’ve heard of cows there’s a whole flock of them over there!”

AM: Stop! Was this planned or did that just come out?

NE: Nah that’s the way he told the joke. Pretty good right?

AM: That’s incredible. So at your homecoming show in Brooklyn with Kevin Garrett, Zach talked about all of the negative things going on in the world, and how we should be better humans. Do you think it’s an artist’s responsibility to spread positivity?

NE: I believe that it is everyone’s responsibility to spread positivity, not just an artist. I believe as an artist, you know you feel another calling to it where things that are happening around the world influence the way you do things. Being an artist, you want to share what inspires you and the way you see the world with other people. I believe artists tend to do it more out of that feeling inside of us to share what we see in the world, but I think it's everyone's responsibility to share what they see and what they feel and spread positivity.

AM: Awesome! So, you guys are definitely fighting against the odds. You’ve only been a band for almost two years and you’ve already gone on tour with Kevin Garrett, and are due to play big festivals like FireFly and Governors Ball this summer. How incredible is that?

NE: It’s pretty unreal. If you asked any of us when we started “Hey where do you see the band in two years?” The last thing any of us would have said was “Oh just finishing our first tour and playing all these festivals.” We just want to make music and have fun doing it. To have all these opportunities in front of us, especially me being someone who grew up going to festivals, it’s like a dream come true. It’s a lot of fun.

AM: Yeah that’s my favorite thing about seeing artists grow. Just seeing an artist progress and getting bigger and better is amazing and it makes me so happy. So why call yourselves A R I Z O N A (the band not the state of course)?

NE: We thought it’d be funny.

AM: You guys do a great job writing about love and loss while maintaining an eclectic sound. What can we expect from the debut album?

NE: Well the debut album is called Gallery. A lot of that goes into for all intended purposes is like a collection of our past experiences over the past 10 years in a lot of ways. Just like journeys we’ve gone through and knowing each other and trying to make it in music, trying to make it anywhere in life really. You see a lot of that throughout the album what this journey has been like for us from point a to point b, and you can also hear that in the music. There’s songs like “I Was Wrong” that we wrote two years ago, but then we have songs we wrote a couple of months ago. You hear this huge growth, not just in our writing but our music and how were trying to push our sound.

AM: What inspired you guys to travel around the U.S in Zach’s mom’s Toyota Corolla?

NE: It was a mix of a lot of things. It was a mix of us not having anywhere to work, Zach at the time was living in his aunt’s spare room, I was living with my mom and my five brothers and sisters, Dave was living with his super strict parents so we decided it would work. We took Zach’s mom’s car and we would just sit there and make music all day. We felt like we had this sort of freedom to go wherever we wanted. Why are going to sit in a basement and make a record when we’re in a car? We could go to the beach if we wanted to. And we just kept pushing it further like, ok why are we just going to the beach why don’t we go to like Nashville?

AM: Did that influence your sound in terms of your music? Are you using any of the songs that you made on the album?

NE: Well “People Crying Every Night” was one of the songs we started in the car. But more than anything, I feel the journeys we took in the car, it kind of put us in a position where we were like “Hey, let’s take this seriously and try to do something for real for a second.” When we did the first major road trip we started in Jersey, made our way down to New Orleans and the day we came back from New Orleans, we were like “You guys wanna try this for real now?”

AM: So was that your defining moment?

NE: In a lot of ways, yeah. This was always something. When we started, we would always laugh about it because this was just never about being famous or about making money. It was just like “Hey we have nothing else to do let’s give this one last shot and have fun doing it.”

AM: Last question, what’s next for A R I Z O N A?

NE: The album comes out May 19th and we’ll be on tour all summer!

---

As mentioned, A R I Z O N A will be at festivals like Firefly, Governors Ball, and Lollapalooza this summer. Check out the details on those festival appearances and all upcoming tour dates here. Get ready for their tour by preordering the upcoming album Gallery and listening to their latest single "Electric Touch" below:

A Chat With: Moon Duo

Ripley Johnson and Sanae Yamada (AKA Moon Duo) released Volume 1 of their fourth studio album Occult Architecture earlier this year, and they're on the brink of releasing the second, lighter part of the album, Occult Architecture Vol. 2. After the release of the first part, the Portland-hailing pair toured around Europe playing the new songs live, and they're gearing up to do the same in America. Kicking off at the Chicago at The Empty Bottle this Friday, April 21st, Johnson says their set will feature more new songs than any of their past tours. Read on to find out more about the recording process, the purpose behind the two part album, their live show, and the Portland music scene in our chat with Moon Duo!

Photo Credit: Eleonora Collini

ANCHR Magazine: So I wanted to start off by talking about Occult Architecture Vo1. 1, which you just released in February. Can you talk a little bit about why you decided to split up the songs into two volumes, and what is it about the songs that keeps them connected, yet separated?

Ripley Johnson: Basically, when we started out recording we had a lot of material. Usually we just end up pulling stuff that doesn’t work out or stuff that doesn’t fit right. Either we don’t use it or it ends up as a single...but when we were doing this record, a lot of the material just naturally started bunching up in two different parts. Some of it was lighter and some of it was darker, so that’s where we came up with the idea of separating them thematically, based on tone. We came up with the idea of releasing one in the winter and one in the spring or summer. That came about really early on in the process, so once we realized we were going to do that, we just started naturally pushing the songs in those directions when we were recording.

AM: Very cool. And you recording in Berlin and in Portland for the two parts?

RJ:  We recorded everything in Portland, but we mixed one in Berlin and one in Portland.

AM: Cool. So do you think that mixing one in a completely different location like Berlin kind of trickled into the vibe and sonically affected the album?

RJ: Yeah. We’ve mixed all of our records in Berlin before this...although we have done some mixing in California, but then ended up remixing it in Berlin. So we knew what the vibe was like there. Part of it was just to separate the sessions, so we mixed one of them in spring and then we mixed the lighter one in the summer in Portland, where we knew it was going to be really sunny and hot. We used the same engineer. The setting was important, but primarily it was just separating the sessions, so that they could have their own identity. But we’ve worked in Berlin before and Berlin has a pretty heavy vibe. It’s a fun city, but there’s a darkness to it. It’s a night time city. It could be cold there, it can be sort of uncomfortable sometimes. It’s very urban...everyone smokes all the time there. So we knew what that was like and the engineer we like to use lives in Berlin. We’d never mixed with him outside of Berlin so it ended up sort of an experiment, but it worked really well.

AM: Cool! How did you end up working with that engineer?

RJ: It started with our record Mazes, where we mixed it and then wanted to start over again. We record a lot of our stuff at home, and we don’t really know what we’re doing. A lot of it needs to be fixed and massaged in the studio. We’ve gotten better as we’ve gone along, but we met this guy through a friend of ours in Berlin who also does all of our tour managing in Europe. We just started back then working with him and we have a really good working relationship so we just keep going back to him. He does a lot of pop, and there’s a real sort of electronic bend to everything in Europe. So he has more of that perspective, whereas our natural inclination is more rock’n’roll...American rock...garage. We don’t have a lot of experience with electronic music, but we like to experiment with it. He can just enhance things in a way because he’s worked on a lot of polished electro-pop kind of stuff. So it’s a good balance because he pushes it in one direction and we just pull him back. It creates a unique working relationship.

AM: So then did you pull influence or inspiration from any other bands for this record, or was it mostly personal experience that influenced the new songs?

R: I think thematically, part of the reason we called it Occult Architecture is that I was reading this biography of Aleister Crowley when I was writing the songs. And it was winter in Portland and I started reading all this occult stuff after that, and that just started feeding into the themes of the songs. Again, the dark and the light, once that became a thing we were working with...just the seasons in Portland are so strong. I’m sure it’s the same in Chicago. So you feel it. You feel nature, even in a city. It pulls you down in the winter. So we were exploring the whole idea of darkness and light.

AM: So then talking about playing these songs in the live setting, are there any particularly you’re looking forward to playing when you start tour?

RJ: We just came back from a month in Europe and we’ve been playing a lot of the stuff. Whenever we release a record, we always think let’s play all of the songs, cause we’re excited to play new material. Then you realize that some of it works and some of it doesn’t, in the live setting or just as far as the flow of the set. But for this tour, we’re actually playing more new songs than we ever have. From volume 1, we’re playing every song except for two, and that’s mostly because we want to play a few old songs for people who want to hear something older. I feel like there’s a tone to the set that works really well.

AM: Nice! Are there any cities that you’re particularly excited to play in?

RJ: All of them...we always look forward to going to Chicago, because Chicago is always great to us and we have some family there. Detroit is amazing, always. New York. All of it’s really great. We’re looking forward to doing the tour with Jackie Lynn. She’s from Chicago and her band is from Chicago, and we don’t often get to do a tour with another band and we’re huge fans, so we’re really looking forward to that.

AM: So talking more about where you’re from, you mentioned the seasons in Portland, but can you talk about the local scene in Portland? Are there any other bands that you’re really into or venues that you’d recommend?

RJ: We really like a place called The Know. It just closed and reopened in a new neighborhood, so we’re looking forward to that. Unfortunately we’re on the road so much that we don’t get to see that many shows here, but there’s a great music scene. It’s such a small city, but we get so many touring bands that come through. We’re kind of spoiled. People here get to see so much music for such a tiny city, it’s kind of unusual.

AM: Any other bands that you’re really into at the moment or albums that you’re listening to a lot?

RJ: The new Jackie Lynn record. There’s a band called Nest Egg that we’re really into. Kikagaku Moyo are friends of ours from Tokyo.

AM: Very cool. So circling back to when you first got into music, do you have a first musical memory of when you first picked up an instrument or first wrote your first song?

RJ: The first instrument I picked up was my mom’s classical guitar, which was probably the worst thing to learn on. When I was a kid me and my friends would pretend we were playing. We had these pretend guitars that someone’s dad made out of plywood and we painted them. We would just pretend to play, so my sort of musical aspirations started before I even knew what a guitar was. We just wanted to get up on stage and dance around, which is really weird to me.

AM: Nice! I always like to hear how people first got into music. So anything else for you guys this year besides Volume 2 and more touring?

RJ: That’s pretty much it. Lots of touring. New record, that’s about it.

---

You can grab tickets to Moon Duo's show with Jackie Lynn in Chicago tomorrow, April 21st, here. Get ready for the show by listening to Vol. 1 of Occult Architecture here: