Moosic: First off, What’s up with your name? Is there a story behind it?
Chris Conway, guitarist: The band had slowly formed out of a social gathering a few of us had with some friends that we called “Vinyl Night”; we’d all gather at a different person’s home every month or so and spin records for each other, chat about the music, maybe have a few cold drinks. Lots of the records ended up being garage, R&B, and ‘50s rock and roll 45s. We had all been in bands over the years, but never all together and it had been a few years since we’d done any gigging, or writing. We decided to get together for some informal covers of the stuff we’d been spinning, and next thing you know we’ve got a gig at a friend’s informal home music festival. Now we need a name! Steve [O’Brien, singer] and I were at a Barry Gibb concert at the Boston Garden throwing around ideas during the intermission, and Steve suggested it. And there it was!
O’Brien: Gypsy Moths nearly defoliated Massachusetts many years ago and did a lot of damage one particular spring. Years later, Chris and I were at a concert kicking around ideas for a huge house party we had committed to play and we needed a name and I recalled the The Gypsy Moths infestation in the ‘80s – and it stuck.
Tell us about your musical past, would you tell us about your early years?
Conway: Early years were an extension of that first gig referenced above, slowly morphing into a bar band mostly playing saloons around the South Shore of Boston. Still mostly playing the ‘50s and ‘60s obscurities, but mixing in some AM gold from the ‘70s that some of us also loved. None of us had ever been in a “covers” or bar band before, so it was a lot of fun the first four or so years. But then we decided to start writing again, initially in the style of a lot of the stuff we’d been performing. Once that fuse was lit, the songs started coming, more and more and with a renewed sense of inspiration.
We released our own four-song 12-inch EP on vinyl of our first compositions, moved away from the non-original material, and then connected with Rum Bar Records at the end of 2022. We’ve released two albums with them now, Lou (Mansdorf, Rum Bar’s main man) is a wonderful, inspiring person and he’s been incredibly supportive, enthusiastic, and encouraging of our continued growth as a band.
O’Brien: A proper Saturday afternoon in high school meant trolling through used record stores in Kenmore Square. And music stores to look at guitars we couldn’t afford and maybe a slice of pizza. We always loved music and it was an amazing learning experience, digging and exploring. We all still collect.
How would you describe your sound?
Conway: We had a review of one of our earlier singles that we loved and ran with – “garage soul shakers” – and that’s certainly still an influence on our hearts and ears. But the stuff we’ve written for this record has maybe broken into even more territories of sound, tapping into our love of ‘60s British pop, ‘70s UK songwriter pub-pop like Elvis Costello, Rockpile, Squeeze, the Stiff Records stuff. But we’re all dyed in the wool music fanatics of many genres, so lots of stuff seeps in there. We’ve got songs on our upcoming album that step into corners like loungey jazz, Nilsson-soaked whimsy, Bakersfield shuffle, and power pop.
O’Brien: One foot in the past and one in the future. We were born in a garage rock world and still wind up back there, I think.
Which artists have the biggest influence on your sound?
Conway: For me, all roads lead back to The Beatles as songwriters and record makers, and The Rolling Stones as a rock and roll band. But I probably listen to Wings and solo McCartney more than I do anything. It’s ever unfolding, his alien-like genius.
O’Brien: Speaking for myself I was always a Beatles-Stones-Who-Beach Boys guy along with whatever else I found in my older brothers records .
What’s the last song you listened to?
Conway: Sloan, “Dream It All Over Again”
O’Brien: “Quarter Horses” by Michael Brown & Scott Trusty.
What’s your source for hearing new music?
Conway: Friends recommendations, ideally in person but sometimes via social media posts. And great local radio in the Boston area like WUMB and WMFO, along with scores of great streaming independent shows. Bands we share bills with that are new to us, or have brand new music. But more often than not, I return to my record library to rediscover things more than bring in new things.
O’Brien: Mostly anything Andew Sandoval has anything to do with. He does incredible re-issue work on many old artists and I just find it all fascinating that I haven’t heard before. Check out his podcast “Come To The Sunshine.”
Who is your dream producer?
Conway: Glyn Johns. With Ken Scott and Chris Thomas engineering!
O’Brien: I honestly don’t know. People like Shel Talmy, Mickey Most, George Martin… all gone now. However We are very fortunate to have Chris Conway produce everything The Gypsy Moths do. I make silly suggestions and he brilliantly filters far too much input from the rest of us in the band and makes our recordings sound amazing with the assistance from our engineer Ed Reimer.
If you could collaborate with anyone, who would it be?
Conway: If we could open up the time machine and go that route, I’d go with David Bowie. As we stand here today? Noel Gallagher. And with Elliot Easton guesting on guitar on both sessions!
O’Brien: That’s an intimidating thought. I have a great love of Van Morrison’s music and yet a true fear of the man himself. It’s hard to imagine making music with someone who you find so talented. I would be perhaps more content to be able to closely watch them work.
What led you to music, and what motivates you to keep making it?
Conway: I’ve been living and breathing it since I can remember, family tells me I was singing along to songs before I could speak sentences, and was making little air guitar and drums with my toys in the crib. Records came into the mix at a very early age thanks to some great babysitters and older cousins, aunts, and uncles who recognized my deep love for and connection to music, as well as a transistor radio in kindergarten which blew to doors wide open. This was 1974, so that radio was a transmitter and portal to a wide and varied world of music and attitude via the great radio dial in Boston, Massachusetts. All of these things are the roots and seeds on why I’m still with it. I say with enormous gratitude and some wonder that I feel more connected to the creative spirit and need for that outlet than I ever have.
O’Brien: My Dad was a singer and our home was always filled with music. It’s been a part of our lives for quite some time now so we feel we might as well take it as far as we can go. And there will come a day when we can’t, but until then…
Tell us about the songwriting process. How does it all come together?
Conway: Steve and I have been writing together, or alongside each other, in various forms, shapes, and manners since our teenage years growing up together just outside of Boston in the city of Quincy, Massachusetts, learning the ropes of our instruments and what it means to try and put together a rock and roll band. But it’s taken on a wholly unique and fertile form in this band, as we hadn’t done much writing for a bit before we revisited it as the band evolved.
By and large, it’s a bit from the Difford & Tilbrook page, where I’ll put together a song musically and record it as a home demo, arranged in full form for the most part, with various guitar, keyboard, and precision overdubs. First order of business is sending it over to Steve, and he adds his chapters in the form of lyrics, melody, and harmony ideas for the vocals. We then bring them all together and get it in front of the band, and start building out a recorded demo to take to the studio. And with this new record in particular, and I guess the same with the last one to a certain extent, we have the song recorded and in process in the studio before we ever play it live, or before we even play it as a band in our rehearsal room.
So the live versions usually come after and are variations on the studio versions, versus the more traditional approach of a studio recording capturing the live band with a few things added onto it. I’m also writing a lot more on the piano on these current (and future) tunes, so that has had an impact on the writing and recording process as well.
O’Brien: Chris is rather prolific and sends out ideas and demos to all of us. I often live with his demos on repeat for a while until I find a melody or a hook that I can begin to write lyrics. I love history and story telling so I suppose that is part of where we come from lyrically. The guys are very supportive which means a lot to me, and over a while the song begins to form and gradually the song makes it to our rehearsal in an old house in South Boston where the song takes shape.
How do you connect with your audience? What is the easiest way for them to connect with you?
Conway: Primarily, it’s through this ever evolving, ever complex ether that is online, and social, and streaming platforms, and podcasts, all of it. The whole world of independent streaming radio has opened us up to listeners around the world, where we could have our music spun and talked about on shows, stations, and broadcast in countries we never could have dreamed of reaching just 10 years ago. With some tunes, based on airplay, you could have someone in Spain be more familiar with your latest single than someone in your hometown. But I guess that’s just another iteration of how bands or artists have always connected with their audience, or built on that audience, forever through the music. So the other side of that coin, connecting with us, is the other end of that old telephone line; finding us on social media, or through our band website, or through our Bandcamp page. Or those same portals through Rum Bar Records. And of course, if you see us play a show, please come say hello!
O’Brien: I can only hope they want to connect with us. I don’t think we write for anyone we certainly hope they enjoy what we do but we try to make music we would want to hear and music we want to play .
Homepage: https://www.thegypsymothsband.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gypsymoths_band/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gypsymoths
What’s next for you?
Conway: We’re just about done mixing our next album, a 25-song double LP coming out this October. So wrapping that up, alongside a few gigs this summer and fall. We don’t play out nearly as much as we used to but still get about a half dozen or so in a year. And then onto the next record, the next batch of tunes are starting to stack up. But until then, a nice ocean swim will do.
O’Brien: The full release of the double album in October of some 25 songs that has been our focus of work for almost two years now.
Bio:
Garage soul shakers from Boston, MA, rolling out floor fillers since 2014. Raucous, rollicking, garage soul, rock & roll music bringing a full fledged party to the stage in the tradition of the classic r&b show bands, on a mission to keep hips shaking and knees quaking ’til the houselights come back on. The Moths are your garage rock and roll soul/dancing and drinking soundtrack, and just released a new EP, ‘Five By Five From Four’, on Rum Bar Records.
