Winnipeg progressive rock/ funk trio Moon Tan are out for some fun on a Monday night when they return to the Slice, Dec. 7 with Moose Jaw’s Johnny 2 Fingers and the Deformities and local rock trio the Supervoid.
They are not only supporting a new video for their cover of the Rush hit “Spirit of Radio,” to be released on Monday, Nov. 30, but they get to tour with their friends from moose Jaw, Johnny Two Fingers and the Deformities.
“We’ve been friends with them for a long time. We met and found we meshed musically so we talked abut touring together and finally our schedules allowed us to do a week long tour,” said Moon Tan drummer Nicholas Kula.
“ And it worked out really well with the release of the video,” he continued. He said while the trio has diverse influences, they share Rush as the common influence.
“ We have a quasi-progressive rock influence, but Rush is a big influence on all three of us,” he said.
He noted they did a video of Moon Tan covering Black Sabbath’s “Supernaut,” which was an immediate Youtube fan favourite, so they thought they’d do the same for Rush.
“ We’ve been playing Spirit of Radio live for years and it is always a fan favourite, so we thought why not record it,” Kula said.
“So we went into the studio and recorded it an another Rush song we aren’t announcing yet. Then the next day we filmed us playing it,” he said.
He said they tried to keep their version of the song as close to the original as possible.
“ When most bands cover a song, they try to put their own stamp on it. But it is hard enough to get a Rush song close to the original. But Geddy Lee plays a lot of keyboards on the song, we don’t. So while the arrangement is similar to Rush, it has been switched around so it is still us,” he said.
Moon Tan are psyched to return to Lethbridge.
“ It’s on a Monday night . And we’re playing with Johnny two Fingers and the Deformities. It’s going to be exciting. We have some old songs some new covers and we’ve got some new material,” he said.
Moon Tan plan to release a new CD in September and are just beginning the writing process.
“We have the first five a of about 50. It’s better to have too many than nit enough,” he said.
“ We’ve been talking to a career counsellor and he suggested we look at next September,” he said.
Moon Tan, as expected, draw a lot of their image from the moon, so they have make-up and costumes inspired by the Moon.
“We were influenced a lot by shock rockers like Alice Cooper and Peter Gabriel era Genesis who wore make up as well as theatre and opera. We want audiences to be totally immersed in the show so it’s not so much a concert as it is a happening. We want to make it an experience,” he said.
The show begins at 9 p.m. at the Slice, Dec. 7. There is a $10 cover.
