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Conflict is at the very heart of “MOONLIGHT SURVIVED,” the compelling Salad Days/Atlantic debut from Moments In Grace. Driven by invigorating rock dynamics and the dazzling vocals of singer, guitarist, and chief songwriter Jeremy Griffith, the collection is richly melod |
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Conflict is at the very heart of “MOONLIGHT SURVIVED,” the compelling Salad Days/Atlantic debut from Moments In Grace. Driven by invigorating rock dynamics and the dazzling vocals of singer, guitarist, and chief songwriter Jeremy Griffith, the collection is richly melodic yet fraught with a potent, progressive edge. Songs such as the stirring first single, “Stratus,” and the energetic “My Dying Day” explore haunted emotional terrain – loneliness, struggle, regret – yet ultimately achieve great beauty and genuine catharsis. Produced by Brian McTernan – known for his work with the likes of Thrice, Cave In, the Movielife, and Hot Water Music – “MOONLIGHT SURVIVED” is a genuinely moving, often inspiring premiere that stands as a powerful introduction to a remarkable new band.
“For me, this record is pretty emotionally heavy,” says Griffith. “The lyrics and the songs are about everything from hope and happiness to my fear of failing and my fear of being left alone. This album is my life to this point.”
Griffith and bassist Jake Brown first met in the late 1990s, when the two musicians played in a couple of North Florida punk combos. Griffith eventually moved north to Boston, but they maintained their friendship via e-mail and late night phone calls. In 2001, Brown issued a disc of Griffith’s demos, called The Purple Magnolia, through his “really, really, really indie” label, Computer Club Records. When Griffith returned to Florida the following year, it seemed obvious that the two friends should team up in a band. They enlisted guitarist/keyboardist Justin Etheridge and drummer Brandon Cook to fill out the line-up. Taking their moniker from a lyric by Fugazi precursor Rites of Spring, Moments In Grace was born. They quickly began playing live gigs, but most of their time was spent holed up at Griffith’s rented rehearsal space – dubbed “the Factory” – writing songs and refining their sonic approach.
In June ‘02, Moments In Grace supported Liars Academy at a show near Birmingham, Alabama, and the two like-minded outfits became fast friends. Later that year, Liars Academy was recording tracks with renowned indie producer/engineer McTernan at his Salad Days Studio in scenic Beltsville, Maryland. During a break between sessions, McTernan overheard the band’s guitarist listening to Moments in Grace’s early demo CD.
“I was like, ‘Holy shit, who is that?’” McTernan recalls. “Jeremy’s voice was unbelievable. I just couldn’t stop listening to it.”
Impressed and moved by what he’d heard, McTernan reached out to the young band, with an eye towards signing them to his new Salad Days imprint. He flew down to St. Augustine, Florida to see them play live, and while he was intrigued with their provocative sound, it was clear Moments in Grace was still in its embryonic stage. It wasn’t until drummer Tim Kirkpatrick (formerly of prominent hardcore outfit As Friends Rust) was drafted into the fold that the band began to truly gel into something special.
The four musicians knew they had found their fire after penning the yearning, anthemic “Stratus.” “It really set the tone for what we wanted to do with the band,” says Griffith. “Recording it was awesome as well. We rented a Hammond B3 organ, which is really cool to get to play. We also brought in a string section, which took the song to a whole other place.”
From there, Moments In Grace spent most of 2003 hard at work at Salad Days Studio, honing and crafting the rest of the songs that would eventually become “MOONLIGHT SURVIVED.” In December of last year, the band released “THESE DAYS WILL FADE,” a four-track downloadable EP, available via their www.momentsingrace.com site, as well as www.absolutepunk.net. The EP – which featured “Stratus” and another album track, “Broken Promises,” along with two non-LP cuts – drew instant acclaim from the indie underground, where it was hailed for its blend of inventive textures and glorious riffs.
Happy to have realized their vision in the studio, Moments In Grace are now sharing their music from the live stage, determined to create a truly inclusive union between band and audience. To that end, they have been gigging virtually non-stop, supporting the likes of Thrice, Poison the Well, Engine Down, and Avenged Sevenfold, with a string of Vans Warped Tour dates slated for Summer ’04. “The other day I looked at our odometer and realized we had put 40,000 miles on our van in the last three and a half months,” says Etheridge. “I’m doing now what I always wanted to do with my life, and I feel very fortunate.”
With the evocative, highly charged “MOONLIGHT SURVIVED,” Moments In Grace have made an album that openly shares who they are and what they care about. “The album is all about hope, love, and loss,” says Brown. “It’s about that point where you learn to live with your scars and finally find a way to have closeness in your life. It’s an attempt to freeze that moment in time.”
Bio written by: punk_freak_liz |
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