Tennessee alternative band Moon Taxi brings together the power of recent movements into its most recent record.
The five current members of Moon Taxi — Trevor Turndrup (vocals, guitar), Tommy Putnam (bass), Spencer Thomson (guitar, programming), Tyler Ritter (drums) and Wes Bailey (keys) — have been together creating music since 2006. In the past 12 years since the band’s formation, they have released five studio albums and a couple of live albums. The most recent album, “Let the Record Play,” was released this year.
The band met and formed at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, when they were students. Terndrup and Putnam attended the same high school in Alabama, playing on the same blues rock band. At Belmont, they met the other members, Thomson and Swan, and all came together as a band. After college, final members Ritter and Bailey joined, and the rest is history.
The band falls under the indie and alternative rock genre and hails from Nashville; however, one of its members, the keyboardist Wes Bailey, is actually from Knoxville.
“We love playing Knoxville. That’s my hometown!” Bailey said.
“Let the Record Play” came with a number of songs first released as singles. One of the more recognizable songs from this album is the single “Two High,” which stands for a peace sign thrown up in the air.
“The impetus for our song ‘Two High’ was an auto-correct fail on my phone that triggered the misspelling of “too high.” The phrase looked interesting to me, and I showed it to Trevor before a gig at the Orange Peel in Asheville, North Carolina. He said it instantly made him think of a peace sign,” Bailey said.
Inspiration varies from auto-correct mistakes to movements across the United States for the band.
“The next day before our soundcheck in South Bend, Indiana, the Women’s March was happening in cities across the country. The lyrics poured out of Trevor, Spencer and myself while watching the images of division and unrest on our bus’s TV screen,” Bailey said. We felt our country needed a song of hope for those who may be living in fear. It’s been truly amazing to see the response so far.”
“The past year has seen a number of movements across the country, including the first annual Women’s March. With the second anniversary of the march, it seems this song has come onto the music scene at a very important time.”
Turndrup shared similar feelings on the song in a recent interview with American Songwriter.
“There was a lot of hope in the Women’s March, and that ultimately inspired the song because the song is about hope,” Turndrup said. “It’s about coming together. I see it as a bright light at the end of a dark tunnel. People felt like they were going down into a dark place. That’s why they went out and marched — to feel better and not feel alone.”
“We can come together / We won’t give up on the fight,” Turndrup sings in the song.
How the songs would be received by people in the context of recent movements was not the only consideration the band had when writing this album.
“We pictured how the songs would sound at the shows, especially on a festival stage,” Bailey said. “It’s a very live-feeling record to me.”
Moon Taxi has been on the bill for a number of festivals, including Coachella. They are currently on their “Let the Record Play” tour that will take them across the United States and to the Dominican Republic.
Moon Taxi will be performing here in Knoxville at the Mill and Mine on Feb. 2 and 3.
“Hopefully (Knoxville) will like (the album) enough to share with friends,” Bailey said. “It has a really positive message.”
