RealSoundsOK: Mothlight Q&A

Your name:

Matt. I do guitar and vocals.

Where are you from?

Los Angeles.

Name of band:

Mothlight.

Who else is in your band?

Grant sings and plays keyboard and Andrew plays drums and other percussion.

How would you describe yourselves and your music?

I'd describe our music as a mix of indie rock and a 70s psychedelic film soundtrack. We try to make songs that are catchy and cinematic, so we use a lot of sounds that are warm and enveloping.

Who are your main influences musically?

I listen to a lot of both contemporary and old music. I'm constantly listening to a lot of older krautrock like Neu! and Can. For more modern stuff I dig Animal Collective, Broadcast, and Stereolab. I'm also super inspired by John Carpenter and David Lynch films. Basically anything that makes me feel like I'm in another world I can get super behind.

What do you hope to achieve in music?

It would be sweet to just make art and be able to get by. Mothlight is my passion and always will be regardless of my employment status, but if I could focus entirely on making songs and really making any kind of art without having to worry about holding a 9 to 5 job, that would be the dream. I guess that's every musician's dream. I'm also really interested in sound design and I studied film so I would love to work on some experimental film soundscapes some day.

What has been the highlight of your career so far, and why?

Releasing our first full length Calico is my favorite moment. We worked really hard for a long time on it and are super proud of it. We also learned what works in Mothlight and what doesn't work, especially in the recording process. It's allowed us to be better at writing together creating a more collaborative and thus stronger band dynamic. Everything really exciting is yet to come though.

And what’s the moment you want to forget?

I have played shows with a few too many chemical influences in my system, but I've found those instances to just be lessons in what my body and mind are capable (and more importantly not capable) of.

If you had to pick just one of your songs to represent your music, what would it be and why?

My favorite song that Mothlight has released thus far is Swim from Calico, but I'm far more excited for the new songs we are currently working on.

Where can we listen to it?

Swim is available to stream on Soundcloud at https://soundcloud.com/mothlight/swim