The Bad Penny (beta)

At a time when so many bands are wrangling to gain a foothold after a brutal few years for artists, young rock band the Moss are staying humble and letting their music do the talking. Well, almost.

“We’re stoked to start our tour tonight in Boise,” Moss leader Tyke James recently told the Bad Penny. “There seems to be a lot more support for younger bands than most cities. We’re building support in new places this year.”

The singer/guitarist and his friend Addison Sharp, also on guitar, started playing together in Oahu, Hawaii, as teens. About four years ago, James and Sharp landed in the Salt Lake City area, where they formally started the Moss with drummer Willie Fowler and bassist Caiden Jackson.

Together, they channel a sound resembling West Coast faves like Waaves, Ty Segall, Cayucas and Best Coast. It’s a hearty blend of distorion-laden surf-rock, alt-rock and grunge.

Now based in Provo, Utah, James and Sharp seem to keep their time living in Hawaii front and center, with a chill sensibility and slow-growth approach to building the Moss’ fanbase.

That all could change this year, with the band having recently signed to the Disney-owned S-Curve Records and released an EP, Insomnia, earlier this month.

The title track to the release continues to be the most popular song by the Moss (who are not to be confused with at least three other artists with the same name: a Dutch pop band, a defunct doom-metal ensemble and an electronic-music project).

Check out the animated video for “Insomnia” from the Hawaii-bred, Utah-based band the Moss:

The Moss are already getting an indication that they’re building momentum thanks to tonight’s sold-out show at the Shredder. The band hits Holocene in Portland, Oregon, tomorrow — then plays another sold-out gig at Seattle’s Barboza the night after that.

It’s the kind of start to a tour that most bands would kill for, especially right now.

So, why Boise to start the 14-date jaunt?

“To be completely honest, it’s the most convenient place,” said James, stepping away from fixing the car the band is using for the tour. “We’re not gonna have a Salt Lake show till later in the year, and we had a great time playing Treefort and Shred Fest.”

The Moss’ current expedition will also see them grace venues across the West Coast and into Texas and Colorado, hitting renowned venues like Cafe Du Nord in San Francisco and Antone’s in Austin along the way.

After the current stretch of dates ends in February 11, the Moss will take a short break. But they won’t collect too much … er, dust? … in the ensuing months. The band has one additional show pegged for May 24 at Baby’s All Right in Brooklyn.

“During COVID, we would just get together with each other,” James said. “We weren’t playing shows, but we were playing variations of shows, like live streams or really tiny shows. Also, we had time to really get in the studio and work on new songs.”

Among the new material is “Willie’s Song,” teasingly named after the band’s drummer. The Moss released it as a single in July 2020.

That song broke through a bit and made us enough money to allow us to go into the studio and record more music,” James said.

After unveiling “Willie’s Song,” the Moss followed it up later that same month with another new tune, “Secretariat.” That single, in turn, came with a B-side, “Storm Cloud Baby” — and those two tracks provided the foundation for the Moss’ previous EP, Kentucky Derby.

The Moss recoded that seven-track platter at June Audio Recording Studios in Provo with Scott Wiley and Ryan King. They slipped it out in April 2021 on their Bandcamp page before signing to S-Curve.

All of which is to say that the Moss did not collect any … ahem, dust? … during the pandemic.

“Insomnia” remains the Moss’ most popular tune, but this new jaunt could see “Secretariat,” “Storm Cloud Baby” or another cut take command.

“This tour is to support the Insomnia EP, for the most part, but we really haven’t been up and about,” James said. “We feel like we’re at the size where we can start to branch out and go to new cities and play for new people.”

With two more shows on the trek already sold out and only a few tickets remaining for the others, the Moss are ready to spread like … umm, the Hawaiian tree miconia!

Here’s some more footage of them kicking it on tour:

This entry was posted on 01/25/2023 at 9:01 am and is filed under Interviews with tags The Moss. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.