Neither hurricane nor pandemic can stop Scottish band THE MOON KIDS—dubbed “Scotland’s next big thing!’’ by the Sunday Mail newspaper–from releasing new music.
While their forthcoming second EP will be released early 2021, the band—David Barr (vocals), Craig Reid (bass), Connor Whyte (guitar), Michael Adamson (drums) who are based in Granton, Edinburgh (setting of the ‘90’s cult classic “Trainspotting”)—just released their latest single, “Touch Of Venice.”
“Touch of Venice” is inspired by the band’s first time playing in Los Angeles, and seeing Venice Beach for the first time through “stormy eyes.” The song is also titled after the iconic graffiti mural in Venice Beach.
Working for the second time with film company Tongue Twister Films, the video for “Touch of Venice” picks up where the previous video for the EP’s first single, “Enemy,” left off as we see the band pull away from Granton projects in a (borrowed) $500,000 Aston Martin. They then pull up at Paradise Palms in the U.K. to perform the song. Speaking of the video, Barr states, “I really wanted to have a crazy contrast between the two backdrops, palm trees and an Aston Martin in a harsh concrete environment. That’s why we performed at Paradise Palms. It’s almost like we’re leaving a bleak setting to flourish on a bigger stage where we feel we belong. It’s kind of just saying regardless of where you are at, if your soul and strength of will is big enough, then you can be wherever you think you should be.”
A global pandemic couldn’t stop the will of lead singer/songwriter David Barr to follow his dreams of traveling to California to continue work on the new EP. Due to border restrictions on U.K. citizens, the only way into America was to spend 14 days in Mexico. The second line of the song is, “We used to ride with the hurricanes.” Little did Barr know when he wrote this pre-quarantine that he would manifest this line into a reality.
Earlier in October while still in Mexico, Barr was directly in the eye of the storm as Hurricane Delta barreled straight for his hotel. He was forced to spend 48 hours in a hurricane shelter sleeping on pool deck chairs with 1200 other stranded travelers. With no working phone and no luggage, he left the hotel with the clothes on his back, a pillow and of course, a mask. Once through the hurricane, and the mandatory 14 days in Mexico, David arrived in California ready to further the dreams of his band who continued to rehearse back in Edinburgh, Scotland.
When their 2014 debut self-titled EP came out, THE MOON KIDS got the thumbs up from London Grammar, Run DMC and Tom Waits when their song “Luna Park” reached the final of the International Songwriting Competition in Nashville. Frequently played on BBC Radio in the U.K., stateside, THE MOON KIDS have grabbed the attention of Rodney Bingenheimer who regularly plays the group’s music on his SiriusXM Satellite Radio show, and they opened for legendary Blondie drummer Clem Burke in Glasgow in 2017. In 2019, the band caught the eye of renowned talent agent John Ferriter who was mentoring the band before his sudden death later that year.
The Sunday Mail also describes their music being, “…full of melodies you can easily picture filling big festival stages… Suggesting big stages aren’t far away.”
In other news, “Enemy” has been licensed for a Wonderland Entertainment Group documentary film, GUNS, BOMBS & WAR: A LOVE STORY, which will be released in April 2021 by Vision Films.
Stay tuned for news about THE MOON KIDS’ the highly anticipated second EP, which will be released in 2021.
