The Moons of Jupiter
Nicky Rowe (left) James Harris (right)
The Moons of Jupiter have been on the Revival Synth radar for some time now, and it has been a pleasure to watch the duo go from strength to strength throughout 2024.
I had the pleasure of putting a few questions to Nicky & James as they set their sights on more live appearances across the UK whilst polishing up their new album.
9th August 2024
Q. When and how did it all begin for The Moons of Jupiter?
A. Nicky and I have known each other since primary school and we actually grew up on the same street/crescent! We've both worked on music for many years independently as solo artists and I've also been in a couple of bands. But we didn't start working together until 2007 when Nick posted an instrumental track on his MySpace page which was entitled "Ghosts". I instantly loved it and found that a lyric just came to me easily that fitted it. I recorded a rough demo and sent it to Nicky. We both really liked the track so I tried adding lyrics to a few more of his compositions. Non of the others where any good though. I also came up with the band name back then too. But we both felt that the time wasn't right to work on it and said we would do one day in the future. Fast forward to 2023 and I was putting together a short film entitled "Fallen Angel". I asked Nicky if I could use some of his music as the soundtrack. We worked together on the film and also another track for the film's Soundtrack EP called "Secrets of Space & Time". After work was completed on the film and it's soundtrack, we both thought that it might be the right time to continue working together on the band we'd planned some 16 years earlier, The Moons Of Jupiter! Originally we had just planned to finally record Ghosts properly and had hoped to maybe be able to slowly put together an EP, but we found it was the right time for the duo as all of the rest of the songs for album 1 just flowed and the music and lyrics came to us so easily. A lot of the music was already written and I added my vocal parts to them over the course of about 2 weeks. We found then that we had a full album that we really liked and that there was a lot more than just a single or EP in The Moons Of Jupiter.
Q. Who came up with the name and what inspired it?
A. I thought of it back in 2007 when we first had the idea for the duo. It just seemed to fit the feel of the music. I guess, if it means anything, it's kind of about having a more universal perspective on life and our place in the cosmos. Also recently, it's been interesting to see the moons of Jupiter making headlines as potentially the place where we might first find alien life. So it could serendipitously prove to be a very relevant name in the coming years. It may be the place where mankind finally finds proof that we are not alone.
Q. Are there any specific artists or bands that have had a significant impact on your music style or approach?
A. For me I was inspired to want to make music when I first discovered Adam & the Ants at 8 years of age. I also love Kate Bush, Tears for Fears, The Beatles and Queen. And I've learnt about songwriting from them all, although our music may be quite different to most of them. They are the main artists who have inspired me to want to make music and who's music I still love. As for Nicky, I know he's a big fan of Talk Talk and Marillion, and the one band we both love is Depeche Mode.
Q. You released two EP’s in 2023, ‘Ghosts’ & ‘Angel’, and you have a debut album release planned for this year. What stage are you at with the album?
A. Well we've actually just released a 3rd EP "Planet Earth". All the tracks are covers of ones from the 1980's and it's free to anyone who joins our emailing list. But in answer to your question, we had thought the album was finished a few weeks ago, and it was just about to go to print, we also had an album launch event planned which still went ahead but we sold "Promo" versions of the album there, and there are still some copies of it available at HMV Merry Hill. But we realised there were some issues with the mixes and wanted to get the album as good as we could before we release it properly, so we're still currently polishing the mixes of the 10 tracks originally planned for the album. We're also now working on a couple of extra tracks that we decided to add. We've written so many songs recently that we felt it would be good to put a couple more on the debut album and 10 tracks felt a little bit too short. It will be out sometime this year and will be professionally printed and initially only available on CD.
Q. Can you tell us about the creative process while you were writing and recording tracks for the album?
A. You'd need to ask Nicky about the music as he composes it all on his own then sends me the tracks. I then add my vocal parts which usually fit the music perfectly with no need to make any changes. It's like we're tuning into the same thing. And my process while doing that is usually to listen to a lot of Nicks unused instrumental tracks while driving in my car. I'll sing along to them when inspired to. I actually went out driving at night locally specifically to do this recently and found that I could drive around until an entire song lyric came to me then just go home and record the demo. In future we're gonna try "reverse engineering" some of my acoustic songs but so far all our tracks have started with the music and then I've added my vocal parts to them. With instrumentals Nicky kindly shares the credit but it's all his work. I know you like our track Gobekli Tepe, that was all Nicks composition, but I did contribute a bit to that, that track started when I thought of the title and suggested Nicky might write a piece called "Gobekli Tepe" that sounded mysterious and haunting. The result was a truly beautiful composition that although I contributed very little to, I'm proud of as a MOJ track. Revival Synth : Hear! hear!
Q. You recently covered Duran Duran’s classic ‘Planet Earth’. How do you approach the process of selecting and recording cover songs, why this track, and what do you think makes a great cover?
A. We wanted to record a few covers and have both come up with song ideas. We actually have a full 8 track album already on the way, Nick has recorded the music for a further 4 covers which I will work on as and when I have time in future. With Planet Earth, that's one I thought of covering. It's such a great song which I've always loved and also seemed so fitting for The Moons Of Jupiter to cover. And we are also from the same city as them! As for the recording process, Nick puts down the tracks and usually stays pretty faithful to the original but with a few changes and his own style. Just as with our own tracks, I'll then just add my vocals once the music is complete. It can be a challenge as at times I have to sing in keys I'm not used to etc. Which is all great experience and helps me expand my vocal repertoire. Planet Earth was a great example of this, my first attempts at singing it were awful and I wondered if I'd be able to. But I worked on it and found different ways of using my voice that worked for the track. Once the vocals are down, I spend a lot of time cleaning up my vocals and mixing them in to blend with the music, then finally Nicky masters the tracks. As for what makes a great cover, I guess it's when there's a real emotional truth expressed through the song and it's not just a carbon copy of the original but shows the track in a different light. Although we tend to be quite true to the original arrangements with our covers, we hope that by Nicky putting his own style and touches to the music and then by my vocal also giving a different feel to the song, we hope to have recorded versions that the original artists would like as well as all those who know and love the song already. You put these covers out there and brace yourself for negative comments and criticism, but I must say, so far we've been very fortunate and the vast majority of feedback has been very positive and encouraging.
Q. 2024 has been quite a busy year for you guys on the live circuit. Have you any more dates planned?
A. Yes, we only started playing live at the end of January this year and now have a list of gigs which can all be found on our banner on our Facebook page. We hope to build on this next year so if any festivals or venues would like to book us then please do get in touch.
Q. How do you approach live performances, and what do you hope to convey to your audience through your music?
A. I used to get very nervous before going on stage both as an actor and as a singer. But through the years I've learnt not to worry about it and to just enjoy performing live. So we just make sure we're rehearsed properly and after that what will be will be, so just aim to enjoy the gigs. Which helps with what we wish to convey to an audience, we've always said we want to put a positive energy out into the world with our music.
Q. As independent artists, how have you adapted to social media? Do you fully embrace it or is it too time consuming, especially when most of the platforms are controlled by algorithmania?
A. We actually find it all quite empowering and freeing. It would be nice if one day we got the chance to work with a record label who could help take our music to the next level, but with or without a record company behind us, we can still record our albums and release and promote them all across the globe. So yes, it's something we embrace. And we have no choice anyway, it would perhaps be nice if things were like they used to be in the 60s, 70s and 80s, but we can't change it so might as well embrace it all and make as best use of what the internet has to offer as we can.
Q. Revival Synth has seen so many brilliant artists come and go over the years, what would you say is the key to longevity within the music industry?
A. I guess just to keep doing what you love. And as we are currently independent and release our own music, we don't have to answer to anyone and so can just work at our own pace. If ever we run out of songs we want to share then we'd probably take time out but leave the door open to work together again at some point in the future, when we have new songs to sing. At the moment though we have a lot of unreleased tracks that we really like, so it seems we have our work cut out for the next few years at least.
Q. When you’re not writing and recording as The Moons of Jupiter, you have your own solo projects. Would you like to tell us a bit more about them?
A. Yes, Nicky has been recording instrumental tracks for many years previously under the name Snowkitten and now as Nightlights. I write and record songs playing acoustic guitar and am also working with a friend Paul Beadle on an EP of some of those tracks. Since we started working on The Moons Of Jupiter though that has taken over from most other work and is our main focus. That said, the other aspects to our music actually feed into the duo. For example Nicky recently wrote some new Nightlights tracks and sent them to me to see if any might work for the band. One of them lyrics came to me instantly and I also used some of the lyric and the title from a song I wrote on acoustic guitar called "Closer To Heaven". I've done that before, taken a line or 2 from an acoustic song and used it in a MOJ track. So having our separate projects is great, both as our own musical outlets but also as a mine of music and lyrics that we can draw from when working on new tracks for the duo.
Q. Over the years I have always asked the artist/s their thoughts on Spotify, and how it returns so little to the artist/s, but now we’re seeing a tsunami of Ai generated music being thrown onto their platform. With all this unfolding, how do you see the music industry evolving in the future, and how do you plan to adapt and stay relevant as artists?
A. All the things happening with AI are scary for artists as it seems that it could make life all the more difficult for people to get their music heard and artwork seen. That said, where AI is concerned, it seems that that is the least of our worries as we could be heading into some kind of dystopian dark future. Sadly there seems to be little we can do to change the path humanity is on. So we just plan to continue to be true to ourselves as artist and express real emotion through our songs. And we hope that people will still connect with it and like it. But what will be will be and we can just do our best to make the best music we can and promote it as well as we're able to. The rest is in the lap of the gods.
Q. What annoys you the most about today’s music industry?
A. Nothing. We chose to focus on the positives. We now have better quality recording studios in our homes than The Beatles had to record their albums on when they first started. We also have via the internet, access to release our own albums and promote them all around the world for free. It's an amazing time we live in in that sense. We could focus on the down side of all this but why would we? Focusing on negatives doesn't help. So nothing annoys us. We just focus on moving forwards and finding our own path.
Q. On the spot question. If you were to be asked by any musical genius to support them on a tour, who would you like it to be?
A. It would be a dream come true for both of us if Martin Gore were to ask us to support Depeche Mode on tour.
Q. Can you discuss any future collaborations/projects you have in the works with other musicians or artists?
A. Yes, we are currently working with a guitarist on a couple of tracks that we hope will make it onto our debut album. Also, we have the second album written already and there's a song on there that we hope to record as a duet with a female vocalist who's work we've admired for a long time. She seems to be open to the idea, so when we start work on album 2 we'll send her the demo and see if that can happen. It's a song I really like and if it does get recorded as a duet then it will actually work so much better. So that's another collaboration that we're keeping our fingers crossed will happen.
Q. And finally, James & Nicky, thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to participate in this Q&A. Is there anything further you would like to add?
A. Just to say thank you, Andy, and it's been fun answering these questions. For anyone who likes our music, please do follow us on social media, the main ones being Facebook and YouTube. Our self-titled debut album will be out this year. Album 2 should be out next year and we have a few more albums worth of tracks written already that we really like, so there's plenty more music on it's way from The Moons Of Jupiter!
LINKS
Nightlights on Bandcamp
Snowkitten on Bandcamp
James Harris on Bandcamp
