“Life, to me, is valleys and peaks.” It’s a simple refrain, but one borne of profound consequence and infinitely relatable. Jeremy Burchard and Jennica Scott (the duo comprising Moonlight Social) have seen their fair share of ups and downs since 2010, when they first began crafting songs in Burchard’s tiny garage apartment in Austin, Texas.
After relocating to Nashville in 2016, the band “incubated,” as they put it, for nearly two years before releasing their 2018 EP Make You Smile— undoubtedly a high moment in their budding career after debuting on the Billboard Charts for the first time and amassing more than one million independent streams of their music (a notable growth from the 30,000 or so that preceded the EP). But it was, as life goes, peppered with the debilitating troughs, both personal and professional, that always seem to pull you back down to earth. Ultimately, it was somewhere there on the ground that Burchard and Scott found perhaps the most important song of their young career.
In this interview spotlight, I chat with Moonlight Social about their latest music, challenges, technology and more.
Full Q&A along with links and music below.
Where are you from and what style of music do you create? (In your own words, not necessarily in marketing terms or by popular genre classifications.)
We’re originally from Austin, Texas — Jennica and I met as members of The University of Texas Longhorn Band, which is the marching band down there. She played trumpet and I played tenors on the drum line. After I saw some videos of her singing karaoke, I knew we needed to see if we could mesh musically. I was doing a lot of solo stuff and production from my little apartment room, but working with her was probably the first time I thought, “Woah, we’ve got something unique going on here.” I know it’s a cop-out to say this, but we really just make music we like. There’s an inevitable twang to it based on how we speak and sing, but it’s this kind of alternative, poppy vibe too. I’m a huge sucker for big hooks and clever lyrics, and naturally having two voices to work with allows us to find some really interesting blends. We’re naturally very sarcastic people (how millennial of us), but there’s a real honesty in sarcasm that we always love to capture.
What led you down this path of music and what motivates you to keep going?
I think we both know we *could* do other things in our lives, but we’d be miserable if we weren’t constantly creating music. It’s just such a huge part of our lives that we’ve always found it the easiest, most honest way for us to communicate. It can be really fucking hard working as an artist and trying to cut through the noise because there is just SO. MUCH. NOISE. Whether it’s “Oh now you need to focus on this social media platform,” or “Oh well you know this is really hot right now” or whatever the hell. But nothing beats that moment of making a song where you just go, “Ah ha! This is it! THIS is what I’m trying to say.” That keeps us going. That and, honestly, knowing people respond to it. Seeing and hearing how much the actual fans resonate with the music.
How is this new release different than previous ones? Were you trying to accomplish anything specific?
“Valleys and Peaks” is a new song from an upcoming album, and honestly I think we’re both trying harder than ever and not trying at all. And I what I mean by that is we really stopped caring about what box somebody might be able to fit us in so they can sell us. Stopped trying to be this completely “understandable” image. But we’re also trying to be as upfront and honest as we’ve ever been. This song was born out of a depressive state, which might sound weird given how positive it feels. But the truth is, if you can’t see life for all of the ups and downs and acknowledge them, the downs will eventually grind you to a halt. This song is a reminder to ourselves as much as anything.
Name one or two challenges you face as an indie musician in this oversaturated, digital music age? How has technology helped you (since we know it does help)?
I mentioned this earlier, but it really does feel like at least at this early stage of our career it’s easy to get lost in the “metrics” of it all. There’s just so much bullshit to get caught up in, whether it’s trying to please the new modern era gatekeeper or the aforementioned genre politics. It’s all about building a connection with actual fans at this point; and of course, gatekeepers do have keys to get you in front of potential fans quickly. But there are ways around roadblocks, too. I think it’s important for us to remember that the music industry (in Nashville, LA, New York, London, or anywhere else) is a bubble. It’s a beautiful thing in its own way but the *real* point of even making music — to move people, in whatever way that manifests — lies outside those bubbles. So technology has really helped create opportunities to circumvent the politics of it all, too. Even if the politics of it all have moved to center more around technology.
What was the last song you listened to?
Knowing Jennica, there’s a good chance it was something by Jennifer Nettles or Rob Thomas, but who knows for her! For me (Jeremy), it was “Superposition” by Young The Giant.
Which do you prefer? Vinyl? CDs? MP3s?
For ease of use, streaming is great. But the nostalgia in me loves flipping through the liner notes of a CD and thinking about all the times I carried that little CD player and CD wallet around with me everywhere we went. Listening to those albums on CD front to back with headphones on in the back of a Toyota Tacoma on the way to my brother’s football games in West Texas. You know, that crap.
How about this one…. Do you prefer Spotify? Apple Music? Bandcamp? Or something else? Why?
Apple Music for how it pays, Spotify for its interface and artist backend, though Apple Music’s artist backend is getting better (and still in beta).
Where is the best place to connect with you online and discover more music?
THE CLASSIC SOCIAL MEDIA PLUG!! @MoonlightSocial everywhere, and Facebook is facebook.com/moonlightsocialmusic — but CHECK THIS OUT. We also do twitch a few times a week : ) That’s the most fun place to connect with us for sure. www.twitch.tv/moonlightsocial
Anything else before we sign off?
Thank you for supporting independent music and fighting the good fight with us!
