MOONRIIVR

MOONRiiVR – Five Questions With

MOONRIIVR

Gavin Gardiner and James Robertson team up as MOONRiiVR and share “Blonde Hair Now”

MOONRiiVR is a brand new band from Toronto, by familiar musicians Gavin Gardiner (frontperson of JUNO-nominated indie-folk band The Wooden Sky) and “Champagne” James Robertson (guitarist for Lindi Ortega and Dwayne Gretzky). 

Listening to their debut album, aptly titled Vol. 1, is like entering an unfamiliar room down a long hallway, closing the door quietly behind you, and finding oneself lost in a different world, one where you’re not sure whether you’re looking forward, backward, or perhaps even into a mirror.

Their first single, “Blonde Hair Now” is a celebration of the small moments in our days that make up our lives – a beautiful homage to the gravity of the simple everyday decisions that shape our world. It invites listeners to imagine a world where you’re dancing in the RCA studios with the ghost of a young Elvis Presley or fast asleep between Richie Valens and Buddy Holly in the backseat of that ill-fated flight.

Watch the video for “Blonde Hair Now” below and learn more about MOONRiiVR via our Five Questions With segment.

Care to introduce yourself to our readers?

We are MOONRIIVR a new band/production team currently based out of Toronto ON.  We finished our first record last year, which started kinda as an experiment or an excuse to make a couple of songs together.  After James and I realized that there was something here that we were both excited about we took a fairly disciplined approach to making the music in terms of keeping a weekly deadline of finishing a song.  We made each other playlists of songs we loved and went from there.  The love for Les Paul, Chet Atkins, Henry Mancini & Les Baxter started us down the path and we took some fun twists and turns along the way.

Tell us a bit about your most recent release.

Our first record, Volume 1, is a collection of songs that came out of that disciplined regiment of finishing one song a week.  I would bring a song into the studio in the morning, some more finished than others.  Then we would pull it apart and see what stuck.  Lyrically it’s set against a world shut down by a pandemic while trying to keep a macro focus on the beauty of everyday life.  I have always gravitated towards the work of authors like Raymond Carver who find beauty in sadness in what some might see as the mundane.  I also love the songwriting of artists like John Fogerty, I want the songs to feel timeless as if they were plucked from the air.  James was joking that we sound like “Buddy Holly meets kraut-rock” and to be honest I love that idea.

Where do you tend to pull inspiration from when writing?

I pull inspiration from everywhere, as a songwriter I think the most important thing is to be open to it.  Also recognizing when inspiration is about to strike and setting aside whatever else you’re doing to go to that place where creation lives.  That’s sometimes easier said than done.  I love that Mitch Hedberg bit about a joke coming to him in his sleep and either he has to get up and find a pen….or convince himself that what he wrote ain’t’ funny!

Do you have any upcoming shows you’d like to tell us about?

We are playing at Tibet Street Records on June 9th with Kelly Sloan and Wood Andrews and are taking part in a Victory Pool party on June 15th at Paradise Grapevine for NXNE.

What’s your goal for 2023?

I think if we can make another record that we are as excited about as this one that would be a great start.  James and I are also working with other artists as producers.  That’s something we both love and excel at so I’m excited to see that side of it grow in Tandem.

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