Hip hop and punk music are combined in the song “Any Longer” to create a nostalgic sound. It transports listeners back to the year 2000 while sprinkling in some new age lyrical wordplay. A passionate song with inventive songwriting techniques, it is full of emotion. Check out the exclusive interview below:
1. Can you tell us a bit about where you come from and how it all got started?
MOODY MAC: Well, I am a Military Brat as some like to call it. My father was in the military and I traveled around a lot growing up so I never really had a solid place to say I was from. I do like to claim Texas as my home State as that’s where I graduated High School and spent most of my teenage years. I got started with music in 2008, I had just joined the Army and got stationed on a random Navy base as one of the only Army personnel stationed there. The Base was called NSA Mid South and it was about 25 minutes outside of Memphis. The town was really small with not much to do. I ended up purchasing a used CPU from a friend for about 100 bucks; these were the Limewire days; I started playing around with the most basic version of voice recorder and a cheapest mic I could get my hands on. While going through this process I developed a love for making sounds and music and I continued to progress with equipment and knowledge as well as cycling through what genres fit my personality best.
2. Did you have any formal training or are you self-taught?
MOODY MAC: I did not have any formal training is the music making process. I did play the Alto Saxophone in Middle School so maybe this helped in some way. I self taught my self all the programs and developed my own process of telling stories through music. I did however attend film school in San Diego, California which was a great experience, film and sound have a very close relationship and I feel like it boosted a lot of artistic expression for me. Now days you can really self teach yourself anything with drive and determination, the process is always on going though in my opinion, I can always learn more and strive to do that day in and day out.
3. Who were your first and strongest musical influences and why the name ‘MOODY MAC’?
MOODY MAC: Strangely enough or maybe not too strange; my strongest influence was Lil Wayne, his adaptability to records and his constant drive to make music was always something that inspired me. I remember listening to his album The Carter 1 and instantly feeling a connection to his story telling ability. Artist like Fall out Boy, Boys Like Girls, and Blink 182 also influenced me as well. I’ve always listened to everything, I really have no genre of choice, I just love music, its one of the greatest forms of expression. The name Moody Mac is actually the shortened and revised version of Moody Mac Main which is name that came to me while recording back in 2011 at a California studio. This was when I tried a lane of strictly hip hop music while signed to a small label in San Diego. Moody is my last name, Mac referred to what I thought was my ability to communicate with women, and Main signified that when I stepped on stage I thought of myself as the main event. Moving into a new era of my life I dropped the Main, but kept Moody Mac as to me it just flowed. The meaning is much different now.
4. What do you feel are the key elements in your music that should resonate with listeners, and how would you personally describe your sound?
MOODY MAC: The elements of music that I would like to resonate to listeners are the underlying stories. With every record I try to tell some type of story or explain some type of event. I try to take listeners though a journey that they have experienced or will experience by listening. It is not an easy task, story telling through music is an art that is constantly evolving, finding a lane, keeping up with new sounds and trends it’s a give and take of staying true to self while moving with the wave.
5. What has been the most difficult thing you’ve had to endure in your life or music career so far?
MOODY MAC:
While signed to a small label in San Diego, I found out some disheartening news about the company’s manager. It put me at a cross roads in my career because things were going so good and I was about to move to Hollywood. Ultimately I went a new route that set me years behind in music and I feel like that was the most difficult part of my music career that I’ve had to endure so far.
6. For most artists, originality is first preceded by a phase of learning and, often, emulating others. What was this like for you? How would you describe your own development as an artist and music maker, and the transition towards your own style, which is known as ROCK?
MOODY MAC:
The learning process of music is absolutely beautiful. Its a phase that will either make or break you. Its important to understand what you make music for. For me its expression, even if no one was listening I would still continue to do it everyday because it a needed form of expression for my own mental health. I transitioned from straight hip hop to a more punk/rock/hip hip vibe because that’s where I felt most comfortable telling my stories. I feel like constant traveling as a child and adult cultured me in a way that brought about more than one sound for me. I had to find that sound though, I had to peel back the layers of myself to find what made me comfortable, what made me say yea, this is me, this is what I feel.
7. Do you feel that your music is giving you back just as much fulfillment as the amount of work you are putting into it or are you expecting something more, or different in the future?
MOODY MAC: This is a great question that I feel like I ask myself often. I would have to say that all in all yes, I do feel that my music is giving me back just as much fulfillment as the amount of work I put into it. The feeling I get after making a song or project is indescribable. All the time, effort, and creativity wrapped up in a couple minutes, flowing just the way I wanted it too, its a great euphoria.
8. Could you describe your creative processes? How do usually start, and go about shaping ideas into a completed song? Do you usually start with a tune, a beat, or a narrative in your head? And do you collaborate with others in this process?
MOODY MAC: My creative process is unique in my opinion. I’m sure other artist use the same method I do but I start with the instrumentals, its a process of going though beats and different instrument sounds and arrangements. After picking the sound I feel like I can completely vibe to, I mumble the tune and cadence of the lyrics over the instruments. After I find a sound and mumble that I like, I follow that cadence and create a story to it. The words usually come to me while listening to the mumbles and cadence that I created.
9. On the contrary, what would you consider a successful, proud or significant point in your life or music career so far?
MOODY MAC: My proudest music moments have always been performances for me, performing with Twista was a great moment for me, also attending the BET, MTV Music Video Awards and IHeart Radio awards in 2012 were just awesome. Outside of music I love to make documentaries and videos so when I was nominated for an EMMY for a documentary I shot in France in 2021, that was a really proud moment for me as well.
10. Creative work in a studio or home environment, or interaction with a live audience? Which of these two options excites you most, and why?
MOODY MAC: I really enjoy creative work with a live audience, the energy I receive from the crowd while performing live is unmatched. There is no way to describe the feeling of bringing your art from a studio setting where it was born to an audience who can receive it live and in person. I like it because I can be my absolute self and express to others how the music flows through my veins not just vocally but through my whole body as well.
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