Night Moves will perform at A&R Music Bar Friday. Credit: Courtesy of Night Moves
Indie band Night Moves will light up the stage at A&R Music Bar Friday at 7 p.m. with the support of indie psychedelic band Good Doom.
The Minneapolis-based band’s fourth album release, “Double Life,” rolled out on July 25, showing a snippet of hardships faced by vocalist John Pelant over the last few years. Taking inspiration from the sounds of artists like The Ronettes, Neil Young and The Rolling Stones, the band describes itself as “cosmic twang rock disco fog sludge,” according to the album’s press release. The press release also states the album is about “moving through, not moving on.”
Pelant also writes the lyrics and plays keyboard and guitar. Playing alongside Pelant is bassist Micky Alfano, guitarist Charles Murlowski and drummer Mark Hanson.
Pelant said he took heartfelt inspiration from his experience navigating a death in his wife’s family and the general hardships of getting older. Hanson also played a small role in writing on the new album.
“It just seems like every record is kind of like a diary entry into, like, this three-year period of your life, and just kind of about that type of stuff that you were going through,” Pelant said.
The press release states the new album is the most candid album by the band yet.
“[The album is] built on personal experiences but written so that you can map your own life onto these songs, too,” the press release states. “Witness, for instance, “Hold On To Tonight,” a kaleidoscopic soul tune that was inspired by that death in the family; it’s a snapshot from a boozy night alone, when you stumble into the realization that the only thing you’re holding onto is faded memories.”
Pelant said he and Alfano met in high school and transitioned to college together at the University of Minnesota. Around 2010, the two started Night Moves.
“Working on music and writing songs — it’s like everything to me,” Pelant said. “So, I mean it’s very important. It’s very special. It’s the thing I’ve put the most time and energy [into], and I’ve been doing it more years now than I haven’t, so that’s kind of crazy.”
The band got its start playing at coffee houses and church basements before going on to perform at venues across the country and outside of the United States.
Though widespread streaming is now the norm, the band’s beginning predates platforms like Spotify and TikTok that make it easy to grow as an artist. Pelant said selling their own burned CDs, college radio, blogs and early social media forums aided the spread of the band’s music.
“Every record there’s some new internet tool or social media site,” Pelant said. “It’s really weird to see how people consume music.”
Various members have shifted in and out of the bands over the years. Murlowski and Hanson were both a part of a small band before joining Pelant and Alfano.
“We were friends for a long time beforehand, so it was kind of a nice little invite and a reason to hang with my friends and do some cool stuff — work on art, music [and] do creative things with good people,” Murlowski said.
Hanson said that their band “absorbed” into Night Moves.
“I feel really lucky to have been added to this group,” Hanson said. “We’ve known each other so long, and my old group, and the early versions of Night Moves were kind of like growing up together, and it’s just kind of cool that we’ve morphed.”
The group’s chemistry has brought them together every place they have traveled.
“It’s been very cool seeing the world and traveling with guys that have become like family members, you know, we all get along really well,” Alfano said. “it’s just been a really cool opportunity to experience parts of life that I never would have been able to on my own.”
Pelant said even after 15 years, the band still gets along well with one another.
“There’s a lot of bands who hate each other,” Pelant said. “I feel like the last record, like around 2019, is when we found the core unit that we have now.”
The band said they do not plan to stop moving any time soon.
“There’s some momentary burnt out, for sure, but I think there’s always still like a flame of passion,” Pelant said. “You have to stay enchanted, you know? And that’s its own special thing.”
A&R Music Bar is located at 391 Neil Ave. Tickets are $20 plus fees and can be purchased on the AXS ticketing site.
