Musician Spotlight: The Blood Moons

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by Eric Baylies
by Eric Baylies

The Blood Moons are one of New Bedford’s busiest bands.There are  not many original bands in a city this size can boast of playing so often at local venues. They are a mix of roots rock and punk, with murder ballads and rockers. You will enjoy them if you are a fan of Jerry Lee Lewis, Nick Cave, Johnny Cash, The Clash or the Buzzcocks.  I spoke with lead singer Chris Evil about getting his hustle on in the Whaling City club scene.

How did the band get started? Who plays what?
Chris Evil: The Blood Moons started a couple of years ago after a long period of Greg Faris and I wanting to do something different from  (punk act) Chris Evil & the Taints. Besides me and Greg, the band is rounded out by Mike Almond on drums and Troy Morin on second guitar. All the recordings so far have featured Ethan Weiss on keys. The name came from some late night drunken television viewing. I was watching that crappy Seventh Sign movie with Demi Moore and saw that one of the signs of the apocalypse was the moon turning blood red or something silly like that and came up with the name. I had the band name before I even knew what I was going to do with it. Greg and I have been in Chris Evil & the Taints for around a decade. Troy has played with us for the past two years or so. Pre-Taints I was in several less than notable local bands. Greg has played with a bunch of different people. I met him when he was doing Too Many Jens, he also played in Chozen Frozen with Sonic Nova. Mike has played in a bunch of different styles. Pre-Blood Moons he was in alternative  rockers Rooftop Suicide Club and Junk Lemonade. He also plays with the kids group  Toe Jam Puppet Band. Troy played with Immortal Alice for two decades.

The Bloon Moons New Bedford MAHow are the songs written and arranged? What are they about?
Chris Evil: The songs are mostly written by me. I come up with most of the music, lyrics, and all that. I show them to the band, and then we arrange it and make it work to our satisfaction. Most of the tunes are nice little love songs about burying lovers in shallow graves.

Are there any Blood Moons recordings available?
Chris Evil:The Blood Moons put out a full length CD with 75 Or Less Records from Providence last year. Hopefully before this year ends we’ll have a split 12-inch with our friends Six Star General out. It’s all recorded, it’s just that getting records pressed takes time.

Between the Blood Moons and Chris Evil & the Taints playing all ages venues and rock shows all over the city, and Chris Evil playing acoustic at fancypants restaurants like Freestones, you seem to be everywhere at once. Is it time to take this show on the road?
Chris Evil: We play a lot of shows but we have no plans to tour. In this day and age, touring is too costly and the reward for a band that nobody knows or cares about is non-existant. If I got an email from someone out in wherever (not New England) and they wanted us to play, we’d probably find a way to do it, but to just leave on a self booked tour is something I have no interest in.

Any comments on the area in general? You have spent a long time here.
Chris Evil: The New Bedford area is great. Compared to a lot of places in Massachusetts it is  a pretty musician/artist friendly community. With the exception of one venue that shall remain nameless, pretty much all the bars that have music take care of the bands. The Blood Moons play twice a month at the Pour Farm Tavern on Purchase St. in New Bedford and it’s a great bar. Other bars we play at include the Black Watch Pub, No Problemo, Hibernia, Freestones and Candleworks. There’s plenty of great stuff in New Bedford. In terms of bands, there’s quite a few good ones in the area. The Dividers are probably the best local band I’ve ever witnessed around here. They’re awesome. Other really good stuff around here includes: the O’Toole’s, Judo Heirs, Iron Oak, Mike Mountain, Joel Monty, there’s way too much going on in this area that you’d have a hard time not finding a show to see on any weekend or weeknight.

What are the main influences on the band?
Chris Evil: Our main influences are, but not limited to: old garage rock, older country, power pop, mid to late eighties college rock, old punk, blues, I don’t know, how about the Pixies, Roky Erickson, and the Rolling Stones.

What’s next for the Blood Moons?
Chris Evil: A split 12-inch, hopefully a 7-inch after that, probably a CD or two or three or five or whatever until we get bored and break up. I’m not that smart or calculated to think long term. At best, I can have ideas that may or may not actually happen and we’ll leave it at that.

Check the bands myspace for upcoming dates. You can barely stroll  the cobblestone streets downtown that Melville walked without bumping into a Blood Moons flyer. You have no excuse not to check them out.

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One comment

  1. Love the Blood Moons!!! Go Chris Evil!!!

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