Moonraker has been working the DIY grind for quite a few years now, releasing albums on small labels and playing at festivals and in basements. It's about doing what you love. But sometimes art is a lot uglier than that too, as their last record, The Forest, highlighted.
Scene Point Blank caught up with the band to chat about their 2022 album that discussed mental health challenges, how that contributed to their music, and how they plan to move forward without having to relive their own difficult past at the same time.
Scene Point Blank: We've talked a little in person and I gave The Forest a very positive review. I think the mix of SoCal skatepunk and highly personal lyrics is a unique approach to a well-established style. Was this something you did on purpose to mix it up from the '90s classics, or is your approach more a case of just being yourself and seeing what happens?
David Green: Thanks! Yeah, I think it was more of us just being ourselves. Like, it was definitely probably what we wanted to happen, there was just never a discussion about it. We all grew up on ‘90s skatepunk and still love it a lot so it kind of influences the way we think about things, but yeah, lyrics have always been super important to me and I really wanted the record to reflect the serious subject matter. I wanted it to be the kind of record I would've wanted to listen to when I was 18, but also the kind of record I would want to listen to now.
Scene Point Blank: Since I'm bringing up "critical response," how did you feel about the response to The Forest? Do you think people took away the same message or feeling you were going for?
David Green: I'm not gonna lie to you, it was really cool and validating to see how much the record seemed to connect with people, critically and personally. From seeing what people said about it in reviews and year end lists, to this piece I saw where two guys were talking about it and one of them was telling the other how great he thought it was and the other guy was like, "Yeah, I know they've been around for a minute and I heard a lot of people talking about it and saw all the reviews, I just haven't gotten around to it yet." Like, that person's refusing to check it out cause he didn't want to do what people tell him to or whatever but still begrudgingly acknowledging the praise it was getting, that was even more validating ‘cause it kind of showed me that we were one of [those bands now. The kind of band that some people like and maybe the kind of band that a lot of people are aware of, even if they haven't heard us, which for some reason made me happy.
But yeah, I think people got what we were going for. There was an overwhelming amount of positivity that came at us last year that I think we're still riding kinda high from. I'd get messages from people going through similar stuff, or we'd get tagged in things from people and it was just so cool to feel like we were all part of this thing together. Even if it was something as simple as someone drinking by themselves at a bar ‘cause their friends bailed on them last minute and then they tag us and tell us how they weren't feeling alone cause they were thinking of one of our songs that reminded them of their situation or whatever. The fact that something I was going through could make someone feel less alone, it was such a cool thing to see.
Scene Point Blank: You worked with several labels. How is that experience? Is it something you'd like to do again, or was it "too many cooks in the kitchen" sometimes?
David Green: Oh, everyone was really cool. I think it was more like when you go and see a movie and there's like 4 or 5 different production company logos before the movie starts, like Universal and Legendary and Syncopy and Focus Features and Indian Paintbrush (sorry, I just saw Asteroid City and I'm about to see Oppenheimer, so that might be why those specific names jumped out to me). It's kinda like that but with way less money changing hands, haha. No, it was great.
Drew from Tiny Dragon suggested it as a way to get more eyes on it. Like if people were into what Bearded Punk was doing but maybe hadn't heard of us, then there are some people that might check it out that maybe wouldn't have if it was just the one label? We knew we wanted a European label attached anyway, so Bram and Bjorn [Bearded Punk Records] being so nice and helping out was great. Damon from Bypolar Records is just a sweetheart and a real joy to work with. Tommy from No Time has always been so cool to us so it was great to have them part of it too. Drew's our old homie and he knows more about it than we do so we trusted him. He called it a "Nascar Release" cause it had so many different company's logos on the back, haha.
Scene Point Blank: Is The Forest as personal or true-to-life as it sounds, or do you take liberties for writing effect?
David Green: It's definitely all true. I have this thing where it can't be inauthentic. I feel like I’m pretty good at sniffing that out in other people's songs, and I feel like I'm also pretty loud if I'm talking shit about something, so to sort of put my money where my mouth is, I like to try and keep everything true. Like sometimes you hear a breakup song or any sort of song with a narrative and you're like, "This super didn't happen." Not that that's not aloud, but I just feel like maybe we're better picture painters instead of story tellers with our songs. I mean, there's definitely metaphors and stuff going on. Like, did I have a pair of wire cutters in my pocket to keep myself from exploding? No. But, did I feel like I was gonna explode that day when I was sitting on the floor crying in that elevator? Unfortunately, yes. So yeah, it was all super true.
Scene Point Blank: We had the privilege to premiere "I Really Wanted To". Why is Whirlyball so special?
David Green: Haha, I think to us, or I guess I can't super speak for everyone else on this ‘cause we haven't compared notes about it or anything, but at least for me the appeal is kinda similar to how I feel about DIY punk in general. It's this really cool, really fun thing that not everyone is aware of and it makes us feel like we're getting away with something while we're doing it, if that makes sense. It's not something that exists everywhere, so when you find it happening in a city on tour or you meet someone who knows about it it's like this weird secret handshake. When we play it, it's usually during the day before the show while we're on tour, so it's just this cool thing where you're thinking, "Other people are at work right now and I get to be here, doing this with my friends." Same way I feel about playing in bands in general.
It's also just insanely fun. Like, it's 1pm in the afternoon and there's a kid's birthday party going on in one of the courts, and there's like an office "team building exercise" with "young professionals" happening on another, and then there's us and we have our shirts off ‘cause we thought we were so good that they need to "retire our jerseys" so we're trying to tape our shirts to the wall and there's a pyramid of empty beer cans and someone ordered pizza to be delivered from a different location even though they sell pizza here where we are, and then you're out there lightly trying to murder each other, but not really, but also kinda? It's like, "Really? So, nobody is trying to stop us from doing any of this?" So we wanted to try and translate some of that fun into a video.
Scene Point Blank: What other hobbies do you have?
David Green: I don't have a ton of hobbies that don't pertain to this. I mostly try to utilize it all in some capacity for the band. Like, I watch a lot of TV and movies, and I try to let that influence the writing the way that people who read a lot of books would in their art. I like comic books and I dabble in writing. We used to have this podcast that involved me writing comedy scripts that was a lot of fun. I do a lot of bar trivia, that's sort of my main hobby outside of Moonraker. Me and a couple of my friends do it once or twice a week in our town and in various spots around LA and we're pretty good. If you're ever at a trivia night in LA and team Girth Brooks is there, buy me a drink! Haha.
Scene Point Blank: Speaking to interests, the punk influences kind of show themselves in your music. What else do you listen to?
David Green: This is the part where I'm supposed to tell you a bunch of cool cred stuff that I listen to that make us cool ‘cause we "don't really listen to that much punk, actually," but that's not really what goes on in our camp. I mostly do listen to punk. But if we're talking about non punk stuff, one of my favorite bands is Ben Folds Five. They're not punk, but there's a lot of punk sensibility involved with what they do/did. But yeah, I really love the Ben Folds Five, and pretty much everything Ben Folds does. He had this recurring roll on the show You're the Worst where he played himself and it was so great! I really like the new Olivia Rodrigo song, “Vampire.” The boygenius record rules. I listen to a lot of The Killers. Weezer technically isn't a punk band, but kind of is, (but also isn't?) and I listen to/talk about them most of the time. Nick spent the better part of the beginning of the year only listening to the Beastie Boys. Again, not a punk band but sort of a punk band. There was a pop-up Beastie Boys exhibit in LA earlier this year and we went to it (it was great!).
Scene Point Blank: What was the last concert you saw (where you didn't play)?
David Green: I just went last weekend to see Sweet Gloom at The Sardine in San Pedro for their record release show. Odd Robot played too and Todd from Gentleman Prefer Blood has a new band called Suburban Life with a couple of the guys from Casuist and they opened it. That bar rules and the show was really fun!
Scene Point Blank: What inspired the Moonraker name? Is there a story? Are you Bond or spy-genre fans?
David Green: I do really like Bond movies! It's not like a personality trait that I push on people at parties or anything, but yeah, I'm a big fan. Basically, when we were starting the band, I was in college and taking this music business class. The teacher was this guy who was managing this band called The Daylights and the class was basically him lazily mining ideas from all of us on how to break them so he could take the credit. The name The Daylights made me think of The Living Daylights, which made me think, "I wonder if there are any other Bond movie titles that would be cool?" The name Moonraker just sorta jumped out to me as something that sounded like what we were trying to do. Plus it sounded like "Jawbreaker" a little, haha. It also was at a time where one word, something-er band names were pretty popular (RVIVR, Rebuilder, Rehasher, etc), so I was hoping it could maybe give us some of that, "that sounds familiar," or "I haven't heard them, but their name sounds cool like other stuff I listen to so I'll probably check them out" energy. I don't know, naming bands is impossible, haha.
Scene Point Blank: What's your favorite record or song this year?
David Green: The new Bouncing Souls record is crazy good! I love the new Gaslight Anthem song, "Positive Charge." "Oh Catalonia" by Wolves&Wolves&Wolves&Wolves is one I haven't stopped listening to since it came out. Again, that Olivia Rodrigo song rules. The Sweet Gloom record is great. Stuff like that.
Scene Point Blank: The SoCal scene has a lot of well-known bands. Who are some under the radar bands you enjoy right now?
David Green: Well, as far as SoCal, our buds in Odd Robot, Failing Up and Holyfangs are all super worth checking out! Outside of southern California, you can't go wrong with Boss' Daughter, The Jukebox Romantics, Neckscars, Lightweight and Braceface. We met the guys in Burnt Tapes last year when we were in England and I haven't stopped listening to them since. Our friends Goodbye Viking from Seattle just put a record out (I played drums on it). And I mean, Dead Bars, Dollar Signs and Bong Mountain, but everybody knows all about them already.
Scene Point Blank: The Forest seems to come from some dark personal places and experiences. To me, it sounds really unified, like a few specific experiences shaped the record. What comes next? Are you trying a similar approach or just letting things work out for themselves?
David Green: Yeah, there was a lot of dark personal stuff happening. A lot of it was inspired by a falling out I had with a couple close friends at a time where I was feeling less and less significant to everyone I knew, all sort of in the shadow of all of our gear getting stolen. Like, having so much of your identity tied up in, "Hi, my name's David and I play drums in Moonraker." But then all of a sudden there are no drums. And then you start thinking, "Do people even care about Moonraker? Do people not care about Moonraker because people don't care about me?" So then you start spiraling and people you know move away and you blame yourself and people you know stop talking to you and you blame yourself and all that fun stuff. I think The Forest is our best record by far, but I never want to feel the way I felt when we were making it again.
As far as what's next, we've got a few things in the works. We'll be at FEST and we'll be out in the fall doing shows and stuff. There's gonna be some new songs coming out later this year, and hopefully a cool release happening sometime next year too. We're starting to get the ball rolling writing new stuff and figuring out what the next record is gonna be like. Definitely letting things work out for themselves a little more. We were just in New Orleans a couple weeks ago writing some songs and I'm really excited about the new stuff and the idea of more new stuff. There's never really been a better time to be in Moonraker than right now. Me and Nick and Matt are tighter than ever as friends and bandmates. Just trying to figure out how to look at things now that people seem to be a little more in our corner than in the past. Hard to reconcile that with the perpetual chip on your shoulder that comes from like a decade of thinking the whole world's against you. But yeah, really stoked to see what happens next!
