What are your names?
Matt Wayne, JuJu and Brandon “Funknasty” Cooke
What is the band’s name?
The Blood Moon Howlers
How did you come up with the band’s name?
It actually came about from a quite literal experience. In 2015, there was a blood moon and we had some people over. We were having some drinks and partying when in an inebriated lightning bolt surge of inspiration, we decided to go outside, climb up on our roof and howl at the moon!
What is your genre of music?
Psychedelic, Blues Rock with some Funk in the trunk
Give us a little bio about you as a band.
We’re a three-piece psychedelic, swampy blues/rock band featuring both male and female lead vocals. We formed the band in Los Angeles, California. Our core members include guitarist/vocalist Matt Wayne, bassist/vocalist/keyboardist JuJu and drummer/percussionist Brandon “Funknasty” Cooke. We’ve released 3 EP’s, (including an original song featured on the short film “Sugar Babe”), multiple singles and played venues and festivals all over California, Arizona, New Mexico and Nevada.
We released a new single, “Moonlighters” on April 3, 2020 and have a brand new single out now called, “Tilted Patrons”
What made you go into music?
Matt Wayne- “We had my grandmother’s old acoustic Kay guitar from the 50’s laying around the house and I used to pick it up and hold it and hit the strings which later lead to me being taken away by the mystique of the guitar and world of music.”
JuJu- “My grandma was a nightclub singer in the 40’s and 50’s in San Francisco, CA and she got me into music and started teaching me how to sing when I was 2 years old.”
Brandon “Funknasty” Cooke- When I was 11 I saw the music video for the Gorillaz song Clint Eastwood and immediately knew that drums were all I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I talked my folks into getting me a couple drum lessons and I made a make-shift drum kit out of pots, pans and car accelerator pedal for a video game, and that obsession slowly turned into a career over the last 16 years.”
Are you a signed?
Nope, we’re completely independent as of now.
You have released your new single ‘Tilted Patrons’, tell us more about the single.
Tilted Patrons is drenched in heavy blues riffs and tasty, slinky leads, fused with a drum beat that’ll make your hips shake with the smells and sounds of the French Quarter and raunchy organ echoing smokey Bourbon soaked vocals. We like to describe this song as “three chords and the truth” type tune, who’s truth?…that’s up to you to decide.
This song was inspired from someone calling the sound of our music “whiskey drenched blues” after a show one night. The original title of this song used to be “whiskey drenched blues” but the name didn’t end up sticking.
What is the meaning behind the single?
Tilted Patrons dives into different perspectives of day to day issues and lifelong vices leading to good and/or not so good choices and the use of substances to medicate, escape or numb yourself.
Describe the track in two words.
“Alligator summoner”
Who did you work with on the single?
We wrote the song as a band, and produced/recorded it ourselves in our own studios, Ironwood Recorders and Black Pearl Studio. We had Evan Hatfield throw some bari sax on it. Brandon “Funknasty” Cooke mixed it and it was mastered by grammy-award winning master engineer, Hans DeKline (U2, Pixies, Snoop Dogg, Touche Amore, Lisa Loeb, mewithoutYou, Morcheeba, Veruca Salt, Diplo, Jack Irons, James Fearnley, Candiria, Ritchie Ramone, Twista, Jesca Hoop, DJ AM, Papa M, Skating Polly, Gary Jules, Ninja Sex Party, Tim Finn, Ben Lee, JMSN, The Growlers, The Paranoyds, The Von Bondies, Partyshank, Jon Lajoie, The Romantics).
Will we see a music video for the tracks?
We definitely have plans in store for this one but with Covid-19 it will be a little delayed unfortunately. We will be putting out other videos in the meantime though, including acoustic versions, livestreams and a lyric video and we also have a short film in the works to go along with the song.
Will we see an EP or Album and if so what can we expect?
You will! We are working on releasing an album this fall.
Do you have any online shows coming up?
We do, we have a livestream premiering Saturday, June 6th. After that, we will be doing more livestreams and online events so stay tuned and follow us to stay updated.
What else can we expect in 2020?
Hard to tell with live shows and touring but definitely lots of livestreams and videos, new music, new merch, more “Beard Talk With The Blood Moon Howlers” episodes and if anything else lightning bolts its way into our brain we’ll keep ya posted!
Do you have any collaborations coming up with any up coming artists?
Not as of now
Would you be up for collaborations if other musicians wanted one with you? and who would they have to contact?
Yes definitely, if it felt right. They can contact us on our social media or email: TheBloodMoonHowlers@gmail.com
Do you play any instruments?
Matt Wayne-Guitar/Vocals
JuJu-Bass/Keys/Voice
Brandon “Funknasty” Cooke-Drums/Percussion
Who are your influences?
ooooh this could go on for awhile, how much time you got?! We’ll try to keep it reasonable: Tom Waits, Dr. John, Nile Rogers, Buddy Guy, Howling Wolf, The Meters, The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Parliament, Funkadelic, Wu-Tang Clan, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Morphine, Rage Against The Machine, Slim Harpo, The Beatles, Neil Young, Santana, John Lee Hooker, Booker T. & The MG’s, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Etta James, Muddy Waters, Lightnin’ Hopkins, The Lounge Lizards, Bob Dylan, J.J. Cale, The Rolling Stones, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, James Brown, Queen, Black Sabbath
How do you get inspiration to write songs?
There’s all different ways of course, we definitely try and write a little bit everyday either one musical idea or lyrics and sometimes we don’t come up with much and sometimes we write an entire song in 15 minutes. We get inspiration from listening to music, listening to sounds in the world and all sorts of life experiences. We’ve also been given scripts for film and asked to write a song based off the script or content of the film which is always a challenging and interesting experience that helps us step outside of our own perspectives.
Where do you see yourself now in 5 Years?
Hopefully all the same stuff, just travelling more, playing more, writing more, recording more, just more of everything, and we’d be psyched!
When you’re not doing music, what do you do?
Haha, music basically takes up all of our time but we love to get out and enjoy the finite side of things in nature and seeing the ocean, hiking, kayaking, playing games, enjoying a drink with some friends, museums, going out to comedy and music shows/concerts etc.
What was the song you listened to most that influenced you to go more into the music scene?
It feels really hard to narrow it down to just one but here’s a rough estimate Matt Wayne- “Battery” by Metallica and “Hallowed Be Thy Name” Iron Maiden
Brandon “Funknasy”- “Clint Eastwood” by the Gorillaz
JuJu- “Summertime” by Janis Joplin
What’s the best advice you have ever been given?
“Songs are really just very interesting things to be doing with the air” -Tom Waits
“Knock on 1000 doors and eventually one will open” -Michael Uslan
“Judge your success off how much you love the music”-Tom Morello
What advice would you give to aspiring musicians not about the industry and just as an artist?
Take the time to truly figure yourself out, and make sure to execute your art with conviction and integrity. When all you care about is the art, you have the strength to handle any bullshit that comes your way.
What quote or saying do you always stick by?
“Buy the ticket, take the ride” – Hunter S. Thompson
“When you become free, truly free, pain and gain, fame and shame, become the same. It’s all just happening. It’s all happening to get you here, now” – Ram Das
“The Piano has been drinking, not me” – Tom Waits
“Cash Rules Everything Around Me C.R.E.A.M Get the money dolla dolla bills y’all!” – Wu-Tang Clan
“Fuck it” – The Blood Moon Howlers
“Great things never come from comfort zones” – Roy T. Bennett
“I’d rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy” – Tom Waits
“Born to lose, Live to win” -Lemmy (God)
“So how about that drink?” – John Wayne
“When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro” – Hunter S. Thompson
Where in your hometown is a must go to visit?
Los Angeles has so many awesome places to visit but some of our favorites are La Cuevita, Donut Friend, Griffith Park is beautiful, there’s some waterfalls in the San Gabriel Mountains that no one really knows about, the Joshua Tree Nature Conservancy.
Your coming off tour;
1/ Where do you go first? To bed
2/ Who do you see first? our dogs and cats
3/What do you eat first? We usually try to go back to eating healthy because we live on beer, whiskey, pizza and burritos on tour.
When you are at a gig, what are 5 things you cannot forget?
Whiskey, pre-show hug, mambe, post-show fireworks and Matt’s beanie.
Do you have social media accounts so your fans can follow you?
The Blood Moon Howler’s Instagram
The Blood Moon Howler’s Website
The Blood Moon Howler’s Facebook
The Blood Moon Howler’s Twitter
The Blood Moon Howler’s YouTube
Lori
July 1, 2020 at 4:55 am
I love the Blood Moon Howlers especially the drummer!
Jeff
July 3, 2020 at 12:09 am
The Blood Moon Howlers have a unique, captivating sound, that draws you into their world of music.