UNTAMED & UNLEASHED!!!
Suzi Moon is on a mission from …the rock n roll gods of punk to carry on the destruction and mayhem that was begun in the late seventies by the classic bands who carved a path of fury in music history!
Suzi Moon and her amazing band deliver high energy punk with a powerful punch of pop mixed with plenty of snarky sass that comes straight from the heart and soul from one of the music world’s greatest sensations — Suzi Moon. With influences of 77 punk rock and bands such as Social Distortion, Green Day, Rancid and Sugar Cult, Moon began her musical journey on the West Coast in Los Angeles with her sister’s all female band Civet at age 15.
Her mission is delivering an in-your-face power pop punk rock experience drawing on the spirit of 77 punk and to do it in the name of those who inspired her and feels her rock n roll idols are looking over her. “You know it is like magical. It is like I have these guys watching over me, you know? Like Stiv and Joe Strummer like Joey Ramone, I can just feel it. This really is for them. We are just trying to uphold what they started and keep it in line with what punk rock really is. It is really important to me. I pray every night before I go on stage and this is a job that was given to me like something bigger, I don’t know that I ever had a choice in the matter. It came to me when I was really young and this whole path and journey that I have been on since I was really fucking young, I feel really divinely guided. I hope I am doing it justice and making those guys proud because they set the tone for all of this and I need to be on that level, you know, as much as I can to just do them right, do them justice by what they started.”
Her band includes Drew Champion on guitar, Patti Bo on bass and Sean Peterson on drums. They are awesome musicians who don’t just play their instruments but attack the music and create energy that fuels the fire that Suzi Moon generates like a blow torch with blistering heat! Just when you think you might get burned, she showers you with a splash of catchy pop that mesmerizes your senses and sends you into another world!
Getting her new band was also something powered by destiny. She met her band mates back in 2019 at Punk Rock Bowling where her previous band The Turbulent Hearts shared a stage with Drew’s band the Split Seconds. ““Actually our guitar player Drew and the drummer who he had been playing with Sean, I met them both at Punk Rock Bowing back in 2019, when my band Turbulent Hearts played, and there band the Split Seconds played so, both of our bands were on that smaller side stage, that were more for the upcoming bands and I was checking out some of the bands that were on the same stage and when I saw the Split Seconds I said it is classic 77 punk rock, this is exactly the kind of music I like so it was already I like these guys I want to be friends with them. We met at Punk Rock Bowling and well three and a half years later Drew and I are engaged! So that is fabulous. Drew had moved out to California for a little while and then the pandemic hit and I said I don’t really want to be here anymore and I felt like this is our opportunity to go and I am ready for a change so we came out here and his drummer Sean said well I am down to play and I had already started recording these songs back in LA so I didn’t have a band so much so right away I had Drew and Sean and that was a really good start and we started playing together and jamming and then our bass player Patti Bo he lives up in New Jersey, and I met Patti Bo on my first tour ever when I was 16 in my first band Civet, and toured with his band the River City Rebels, and was a really big fan of his band. Patti had said if you ever need someone to play guitar in your band let me know and I said I really don’t need a guitar player, I need a bass player…and he was like, I’ll play bass! I go Okay, cool! He picked up a bass guitar and we all started jamming and it all clicked, and Bill, as of today and it hasn’t been even a year since we played our first show, Our first show was September of 2021, so how far we have come in such a short amount of time is fucking incredible and I just think the lineup is destiny and when you can find the right people who can bring a project to life and it just clicks like that you know it was very much meant to be. “They are all rock stars in their own right and bring something to the table like Drew the way he plays guitar, I mean, he is that kind of guitar player and I need that really solid lead player on my team to give another texture level to the songs and having him right away he did it up right away and you know Sean is a fantastic drummer and Patti is an amazing bass player and everybody just brings something to the table. It is really cool to get to work with these guys.”
Moving to the East Coast (Washington DC) has been the next phase in Moon’s rock n roll journey as meeting her band mates lead her there and to a whole new way of life as she reflects on what has been the biggest changes for her. “My quality of life! (laughs) It is just so much chill over here. You don’t have to fight for parking spots at the grocery store, and I have zero social life which is the best! It is just that LA is nonstop. It is really hard to turn down invites to go out to things. It is just every night of the week. I really needed to leave that scene and focus on the project. I have been able to do that by extracting myself from the hub of it all and the East Coast drive was a chore but you can handle it a lot better because you have Washington, Philly and New York and Boston and to go out to Ohio and it only takes a couple of days to do that so I feel it was the right move for me and can really play to new people.”
Suzi Moon has been not only rocking the stages full throttle in 2022 but living full throttle as well with two EP releases with Call the Shots and Animal, now has a new ten song full length record “Dumb and in Luv” on Pirates Press Records set for release September 23rd. She has been on tour across the United States and then on tour in Europe and back to the United States for shows with The Damned before getting ready for another major U.S. tour –the Reanimated Tour with 28 dates kicking off October 5th in Austin, Texas at the Empire Control Room with the Dead Boys and the Briefs.
You can expect plenty of nonstop energy when it comes to Moon and her band. Moon and her band are always working DIY and truly committed and devoted to continuing creating their music and all of the business that goes with it from designing shirts to producing their own amazing videos and flyers. (She was actually working on her merch with her band as we talked for the interview)
And inside her is a lot of untamed energy that she said, (Laughs)…”It comes from being cooped up in the van! I mean we all take this really seriously too and this is our career, this is our job, and the fans deserve to see an exciting show. That adrenalin, that energy it just shows up. We are all healthy, we don’t drink, we work out, we take good care of ourselves, and when we get on stage and from the time, we are in the van till we get on the stage we are working, this is our job, you know? There’s no slouches, everybody shows up ready to kill and for me I have always been an energetic performer. That is how I like to play because the music is exciting. It just matches the energy of the song too, so I am really lucky that I have these guys who bring it as well. We feed off of each other on stage and I will look over at all of them and we will smile and you know we are having a good time and I find it impossible to have a good time while you are playing cool music, I mean, there have been times where I have been a little bit nervous, I mean at a bigger show, you know, or something and I just try to remember that feeling of being in the rehearsal room and with my band and that is when it is all like you are just having a good time with your friends, and really that is what every band is, and it starts like that, it is being in your room with your buddies and you are rocking out! Yeah, you know….just do what comes naturally.”
Suzi Moon will be on tour in September with the Dead Boys lead by Cheetah Chrome on lead guitar, another of Moon’s inspirations in music. “I am so excited; I have been on the phone a lot with Cheetah Chrome and he is such an absolute joy he is just sweetheart. We have a kind of big group email thing going on and with the different bands and everyone if just excited for the tour and on the same page and to bring a really hot show every night and make it a tour that people talk about that people will remember, you know, and that is another huge bucket list item on my bucket list I mean I get to play with Cheetah, you know, I love that. I get to hear the Dead Boys every single night and how cool is that? It is the Dead Boys and those are some of my favorite songs in punk rock ever! Stiv Bators as far as a front man goes, he is up there, I mean he is like in the top five for me, and he is an Animal, oh yeah, and their songs are so fucking good and it is like, I don’t know, what happened to punk rock? It used to be sexy and dangerous. That is just what we are trying to do. We are trying to maintain the integrity of punk rock of punk rock that came before us, and laid the foundation, like, it is Okay to be sexy on stage. There is nothing wrong with that. You are supposed to feel things when you are with your band, whether it is disgust because someone has bologna on their face with snot in it, you know, shock, awe, and horror, like watching Alice Cooper, you know, right? It is supposed to excite you. I feel like it has just been really safe, and I know that works for some people, but is doesn’t work for us, like, so were trying to get people to get into the show! “
You can rest assured to get something new every night at a Suzi Moon show. “Yes, definitely or see where the moment takes us. I mean, obviously we rehearse so we sound like a good band, but I am not reading a script on stage every night and there is room for error, I mean human error that everybody experiences you know, a little room for spontaneity, so the shows are just as important to me as they are for the fans. you know, like I need that stuff. I need that excitement too.”
The upcoming tour will be in support of her debut LP Dumb and In Luv produced by Dave Warshop. “It will be out on September 23rd on Pirates Press Records and it is a ten-song full length LP and I am so excited. I have been working on the record for a long time. The songs work really well as a collection you know, and it has everything a musician wants to do. It is complete and it feels like each song belongs next to the other one (next to it) and it really is the complete work. I am really proud of it and it is just classic punk rock n roll all the way through and it gives people a better idea and is a good representation of the songwriter that I am. You know it really varies in the styles and everything is super cohesive. I recorded most of that stuff back in Long Beach before I left and moved to the East Coast. So, it is sweet for me to have this record that has completed the first chapter of my life which is out in LA.”
As for her new LP expect raw vintage Suzi Moon as she is rocking hard pure and simple with plenty of vibe and energy. “It is funny when people ask that, you know, like, how does it differ? I mean, I hope it doesn’t differ too much. I am already very happy with how I write. I think it perfectly fits in with the Suzi Moon universe. It is cohesive and it is very clearly me. It is really such a solid representation of who I am as an artist and a song writer. The third single is coming out very soon, it is called “California”, which is I guess you could say is a little bit softer, but it is a softer in a Social Distortion kind of sense. It is a love song to California and that dream of going out to you know, this beautiful state and making their dreams come true. It’s a tale of older times, you know, I have put my spit on it, you know, and it was written when I was still in L.A. and taking my daily jog around the Rose Bowl and you can just hear the palm trees.”
Family Memories is the second single holding special meaning for Suzi. “Yeah, that one is also on the record and that one dropped as the second single, and that song is really important to me, because, it is for my family, and I teared up quite a big when I first played that song for my mom, you know, because it really tells this nice story about my family and the things we have gone through together, which actually just made us stronger and I think all families have a little bit of shared trauma, and so it is just putting that down and tried to make the scary bad stuff go away, these things we have been through, they weren’t all that bad because we had each other, and that is what is really important.”
Dumb and in Love was the first single released off the new LP. “Dumb and In Love” which is the first single off the record, you know, I wrote that song quite a while ago, maybe about 2017, and once I came up with that title it was that has got to be the name of the album, I would end up doing. I loved it so much! It is kind of snarky and classic punk and it kind of tells the whole story of the record which it talks about love and love and all its forms, whether that is a relationship gone bad or the relationships that led you to the next good one, or family relationships, that love is like this roller coaster and all these emotions that come along with it”.
California is the third single set for release and goes out on a different edge that Moon says is putting her outside into a more unique territory for her. “We are very blessed. Good things have happened I don’t know why, I am not going to analyze that, I am just going to let it happen and I am just really thankful that people are connecting to the music, because when I first launched this it was I don’t know, you really have your own kind of fears about your work, I think all artists feel that, like my song is it a good song are people for example this new song California, are people going to like it, I mean, I was scared shitless to put this song out, because it is too, it is too soft, you know, but it still rocks but it’s too soft like because people expect hard, fast punk all the time because it is what gets people moving and when I started playing songs from the record to various people around to get their opinion on it everybody came back with “California” is like a fucking hit, I love that song, and I was like, no, no way! Like, really? You know? I can’t judge myself like that, you know. It is clearly I am too close to it. I knew it felt good while we were recording it, and I am happy with it and I like it, it is will anybody else like it? That is very scary to put yourself out there like that and every time I put myself out there it is as Suzi Moon and no one is going to get mad at Drew or Patty, or Sean, it’s Suzi Moon, it is my face…so it is a little bit intimidating, but I really bared it all and put it out there and just who I am. If people like it, they like it and if they don’t, I am sorry that is just me anyway, so I am not going to change! (laughs)
“Music finds its audience. It just does. That is for any band, big or small. If you are out there and doing stuff in your garage and doing stuff with your friends and just having fun or maybe you don’t have as big of a reach you are going to find people who like what you do, there are so many people out there with varied tastes, I mean, so I just had to let it go out to the world and go and release my attachment into the outcome and see where it takes us and so far the response has been really positive and people are enjoying the live show a lot as well.”
When it comes to putting on a live show, there is nothing as good as a Suzi Moon show. The way she delivers on stage is amazing and is a show you will never forget. Her performance and the way her band matches her intensity is mind blowing! “I think that it has to do with the fact that we are an outfits band. We don’t show up in shrubby clothes. We show up dressed to kill because that is what we are trying to do, and I think early punk rock was so on point with the vision and the fashion side of that because it is such an extension of the music. You are giving people a visual feast, you know, and it ties into the songs. when you step into a venue and go to see a band and we will use the Cramps for an example, all of a sudden you are transported to the Cramp’s universe. You know, you are in it whether you like it or not, you know, you create these worlds where your band exists, and anything can fucking go. You have all of these opportunities to just expand it and play with it, so we take great pride in looking sharp when we get on stage because this is the world we live in. If anyone wants to go along for the ride, they are more than welcome.”
Be sure to step into Suzi Moon’s universe and take in the Moon experience up front. Yes, you need to see her live and feel the power of a live show as there are not many who can perform on stage like Suzi. She is an animal and a bad ass and delivers like no other. Suzi will knock you out of your socks while she performs on stage (and you will love it) but also hang out with you after the show! How cool is that? Once you step in her world you won’t want to leave! You need to listen to Suzi Moon. Get her music, watch her videos. You need to see her live and if she comes to your town or near by DO NOT MISS HER show! You will be in for a great ride as her music transports you to a whole new level of incredible satisfaction like no other!
