I’m happy to be posting the PropertyOfZack interview with Greg of Moving Mountains! Greg let loose a lot of great information on their new album, label info, and touring plans, so definitely check it out and enjoy.
For the record, could you please state your name and role in the band?
My name is Greg, I play guitar and sing in the band, Moving Mountains.
You guys played Skatefest up in Massachusetts yesterday, how was that?
It was awesome. It was a mega surprise for us because we were playing with so many good bands and were worried not many people we’re gonna watch us play. But it was awesome, there were so many people that watched us play and it felt really good. I didn’t even realize that many people knew my band, let alone like my band. It was a crazy experience and I got to see awesome bands play, so it was fun. I was very honored to be a part of it.
And then last Sunday Moving Mountains played Bamboozle. How was playing that festival for the first time?
Yeah, that was the first time I’ve ever been to Bamboozle, let alone play it. That was fun, it was really hot. I ended up missing a lot of the bands I wanted to see. I ended up missing Minus The Bear, I couldn’t see them. I didn’t get to see Say Anything, which I was really bummed about. But it was fun, I got to meet a lot of people. This is the first time we’ve been playing with Steven, this drummer, our guitar players brother. It’s been interesting playing with him at all these shows.
Your drummer recently broke his foot. Was it a scramble to get him to play Bamboozle?
It was two days before Bamboozle and we were all stressed. We hadn’t played a show since December, and then yeah, Nick texted me and said that he got into a car accident. I was just happy he was alive, because he completely destroyed his car and we thought it could have been really bad. He’s fine, he just can’t be playing drums for another couple weeks.
POZ: Is that gonna put you behind on demoing?
Greg: No, we’re like 8 songs in. We have to write like 10 songs for the record. We should be cool. If he had broken it a month ago, then yeah. But we should be okay.
You guys played a new song at Bamboozle and it was shorter than the stuff on Foreward. Should we expect most of the album to be shorter and not have 9-minute songs?
It’s like way different. I’m a little nervous. We sort of built a fan base primarily around a lot of people who are into post-rock bands in bands sort of in that scene. And this record is really not like that. It’s sort of more in the post-hardcore scene that we’re also sort of a part of that we grew up listening to. It’s far more like heavier and more aggressive and more to the point. There’s less like 40-minute ambient reverb delay interludes. It still sounds like us, there are still parts that sound like epic or whatever you want to say, but its definitely like way shorter, way more to the point, and heavier. So far it’s been heavier.
POZ: So the influences on it are more like Thursday?
Greg: Yeah, one record that still to this day is my favorite record has been released is Underoath’s Lost In The Sound Of Separation. When that came out in like 2008 it was like absurd, and I was totally blown away by it and it totally revamped how I thought about writing music. That record had a big influence on me. So of course everything sounds like a million times heavier, but I didn’t want to lose that sort of aesthetic of the ambience and all that stuff so all that stuff is still in it. People who dig Moving Mountains shouldn’t be fearing the worst. We’re not like a screamo scene band or something, I don’t know.
The bands been streaming sessions over ustream during demoing, how did that idea come about?
We’re all big nerds, and like we just sit in front of computers all day and I’m usually on my iPhone constantly. We just really, really love to be able to talk directly to our fans. I think a lot of bands, they sort of like to be like mysterious and sort of like to have a disconnect, but we don’t like doing that. I like sit in front of our myspace all the time, so I was like, let’s just like literally broadcast ourselves. It’s cool, cause then the kids come and they like talk as we’re writing and they even suggest stuff. They’re like, “You should do that in the verse.” Then they critique me on how I place my microphones and stuff. No, it’s just cool. We’re always trying to think, if our favorite band would do something, what would make me really excited. If like the Velvetine or like Saves The Day, which they do, they just did like a live stream of something, I’d just like log in and watch. So I want fans to do that with us.
Is it still just demoing for the 10 songs are have you guys started recording?
No, we’re still demoing because we haven’t found a label home yet. Once we figure that out then we can find who’s cutting us the checks and the money. There’s a lot of label interest and we’re really, really excited and sort of freaked out by it actually. We’re a little daunted by diving into the real music industry.
Do you guys want to produce it yourselves or depending on the label get a producer?
Depending on the label. We certainly have producers lined up that we’re really amped about going to, that cost far more than we’d ever be able to afford. So, if we end up signing to certain labels that we want to then we’ll be able to work with certain producers that we want. If we end up doing it ourselves again I’ll engineer and produce it myself again.
So do you guys definitely want to have it out this year?
We want it out by the fall. We’re like knee-deep in all this label stuff, and negotiating with lawyers, and al this headache stuff. I want to be in the studio by July. I want to come back from the Polar Bear Club in June and just go into the studio in July and August and have it done by the fall. And then just like tour all fall, all the next year of 2011. Go everywhere we haven’t been able to go. Europe, I want to go everywhere.
Is it kind of surreal that you’re in college right now. and since a year ago you guys have toured with Say Anything, Thursday, Straylight?
Yeah, dude, it’s nuts. It’s almost so crazy that it almost doesn’t phase you. It’s crazy, man. We’re almost ready to just leave college. I mean, I hate college, I’ve always hated it. I go for music, and if my professors heard me say this they’d get mad, but I just don’t enjoy it. And it’s hard living a double life. I have a final tomorrow that I’m just straight up not going to study for. Like, I don’t care. It’s like a totally duel life; you’re on the road, you meet all these people, then you come home and go to school. It’s like, what are you doing. We’re ready to leave college.
Like you said, in June you guys are heading out on a short little run with Polar Bear Club. How did that come together?
Dude. I am so excited, we were fans of that bandd for like such a long time Then I had them play Culture Shock, which is like a festival that Purcahse puts on. I got to meet them.
POZ: They were at Bamboozle too.
Greg: Yeah, we got to meet them a couple years ago and we’re just such big fans of the band and they became fans of our band. It was just so cool. We were trying to get that in the works forever. But they were on tour with Thrice, and all these amazing bands. Finally we locked them down to tour with us for like a week.
A few fans were wondering, but you would like to definitenly hit up Europe by the end of this year, start of next year?
Yeah, maybe not this year, but definitely. We just want to go there. It’s hard cause we’re still like a new touring band and we really haven’t toured that much of the west coast at all, but we want to go to Canada. I really want to play Soundwave 2011, real bad. But yeah, I really wanna go to Europe on like a mega post-rock tour. I want to go on tour with like Caspian or something and go all over Europe, which would be amazing. Hopefully Phillip reads that and agrees with me.
So you don’t have anything lined up touring wise after this?
No, we haven’t really been able to lock anything down yet, just cause we don’t know when we’re going into the studio. We’ve had to turn down a few tours that we would’ve loved to have done. But our main objective is to just get all of this label, recording the record stuff out of the way so we can just then start planning tours. So nothings lined up except Polar Club.
Tonight you guys are doing your own show and All The Day Holiday are opening for you. Excited for tonight?
Yes. We don’t get to hang out with those dudes often, but whenever we get to we’re excited. They’re like our best band buds. We’ve known those guys for a while and they’re just awesome. So, I’m excited, even though New York City’s a tough market. It’s still fun.
Cool I think that’s it. Is there anything else you’d like to add?
No, we’re realty excited to be playing new songs, which is probably going to bother everyone that wants to hear “8105” and stuff. Actually, on that June tour we’re doing, we’re gonna try to play as many Pneuma songs as we can. Because it’ll probably be the last tour that we can, because the new record will come in cycle and we’ll have to play those songs. So on this June tour since we’re in between cycles we’re going to try to play “8105”, “Grow On Grow Up Grow Out”. We’re gonna try to play all those songs that we were never able to play, to play on this June tour.
