Moon Hooch at FIJM: From the subway underground to the main stages of the world

Since their debut in 2010, Moon Hooch has become an international phenomenon with their high-energy jazz dance music, primarliy with two saxophones and an impressive percussion backdrop. The band has grown in notoriety since their New York subway busking shows and have just released their seventh album, My Head & My Heart. We chatted quickly with them ahead of their FIJM performance.

PAN M 360: Do you guys still “borrow” traffic ones off the street? Montreal is full of them, so you’ll never be in short supply. 

Moon Hooch: Haha. We do indeed borrow them!

PAN M 360: When did that cone thing start? With the subway shows?

Moon Hooch: Wenzl started by using a cardboard tube to make the pitch lower. In Iowa, we lost the tube and he decided to try out a traffic cone, courtesy of Iowa City.

PAN M 360: You must have been hustling playing those subway shows, hours and hours a day?

Moon Hooch: We hustled all day and night. We’d come home at night to count the money and blow black gunk out of our nose from being underground for so long.

PAN M 360: Back then, did you think you’d ever become a touring band?

Moon Hooch: We had no intention other than to hustle and make bread. It turned into a beast of its own!

PAN M 360: Can you talk about the energy at a Moon Hooch show?

Moon Hooch: The energy at our show is backed by the strength of all the great ones who came before us. We call upon the spirit world to fuel us and lift the audience out of their corporeal forms into the never-ending river of love and inspiration we all subconsciously share. 

PAN M 360: Is there room to improv off the songs live? 

Moon Hooch: Our show has a lot of improv. We have structure, but just enough to support spontaneity. 

PAN M 360: Can you talk about playing your music live and the sort of heightened consciousness you experience with mainly instrumental dance music, as someone in the audience?

Moon Hooch: Instrumental music has a magical effect on the listener if done correctly. Because sound is a shared language, and everything is ultimately vibration, I believe we are all part of a cosmic piece of music called life. Instrumental music has the power to remind us of this.

PAN M 360: On top of your own music, you also make these saxophone rendition covers, the latest being “Barbie Girl”. It really feels like you’ll never run out of material. 

Moon Hooch: Haha! We like to have fun and mess around. It’s important not to take everything too serious! 

PAN M 360: The chemistry you guys have on stage is pretty infectious, can you talk about how it’s grown since day one?

Moon Hooch: We’ve been playing for almost 14 years together. The more we play, it’s like there’s a field of energy building around us, that supports us on our journey and in our music. 

PAN M 360: There are many instruments on the stage, saxophones, synths, clarinets, and electronic wind instruments, how do you manage it all?

Moon Hooch: We’ve been doing this a long time! It’s like riding a bike…you get used to it.

PAN M 360: Someone once told me that you guys were their gateway into jazz music. Even though I wouldn’t consider what you guys do to be completely jazz, what do you think of that?

Moon Hooch: I think that’s beautiful. Jazz is incredibly deep and powerful and without it, we wouldn’t be musicians.