Known Moons Makes its Debut with Pair of Singles

Known Moons. Photo by Samer Ghani.

Star Wars and Marvel fans can attest: It’s beyond exciting when your favorite side character finally gets their turn in the spotlight and receives a movie of their own.

For Milwaukee music fans, that’s what it was like when Known Moons was announced as a band.

Known Moons frontman Andy James is a beloved Milwaukee musician typically seen on either stage left or stage right – never front and center. He played guitar in Paper Holland and Flat Teeth, and most recently toured the country as a fill-in member for both M.A.G.S. and Oso Oso. Known Moons puts James in the spotlight for the first time – he’s finally getting that Marvel movie of his own.

The name Known Moons stems from the idea of exploring the unknown – a fitting name considering that James is taking a new step in his musical endeavors.

“The name Known Moons means multiple things to me, but the short answer is that it represents a desire to not rest on your laurels,” James said. “It serves as an abstract mission statement: Keep pushing forward into the unknown.”

The idea of Known Moons was conceived while James was on the road with M.A.G.S. He met Elliott Douglas, frontman of M.A.G.S., on the internet – a shared love of music gear and skateboarding kept the online conversations flowing. It just so happened that Douglas was also in a band that needed a fill-in guitar player for a tour, and thus the online friends became actual friends.

The music of Known Moons lived on James’ phone as incomplete voice memos for a while. It wasn’t until he shared those rough ideas with Douglas, while in the tour van, that the idea to create a band and polish up and record those songs became a reality. James also sought the help of Josh Evert, audio engineer at Silver City Studios. Evert not only helped record and produce the songs over a week, but contributed his own compositional additions as well.

The band currently has two singles out– both of which are part of an EP that will be released at a currently announced date. Known Moons’ first single, “By the Billions,” was released on Halloween alongside a wholesome music video showing James trick-or-treating with a dog. In the video, the dog ends up going home with more treats than James does. For James, “By the Billions” felt like a natural first release.

“I’ve read about other musicians having similar experiences with songs that they feel ‘write themselves,’” James says. “While we definitely spent time crafting this song, everything came together smoothly and just felt right – almost as if the song fast-tracked itself to the front of the line.”

“By the Billions” sets the bar high on what to expect from Known Moons – it’s a bouncy, indie-rock track that dabbles more on the clean-cut side of the genre as opposed to the dirtier garage rock that many Milwaukee indie bands lean into. Utilizing a blend of lo-fi sampling, choppy chord progressions and layered vocal harmonies, “By the Billions” invokes the sort of melancholy that, despite its lyrics, inspires you to dance anyway. A little past the halfway mark of the song, the band shifts into a dreamy bridge, with James repeating the phrase, “Everything is fine” before ultimately ending with “Everything is finite.” It perfectly embodies the vibe of “By the Billions,” an objectively poppy track with underlying tones about dealing with depression and paranoia.

Known Moons followed up the release of “By the Billions” with “A Coffin for the Cosmos,” a song that grew from an idea that James had written on a drum machine and blossomed into a fully-fledged song. The track is reminiscent of early 2000s indie bands, particularly Bloc Party, and is a commentary on how the rich and greedy could drastically improve the lives of hundreds of people but choose not to.

Although Known Moons was originally announced as a studio project with no shows booked,  the band recently revealed that it is scheduled to perform at Barely Civil’s album release show on March 31. That show will take place at Cactus Club, and will also feature a performance by the East-Coast-based Magazine Beach.

As far as introductions go, Known Moons has done it right. With the release of two strong singles, a fun, adorable music video and a big first show announcement, Known Moons has immediately commanded the attention of Milwaukee music fans and continues to generate hype for the band’s live debut. It’s only been a few months, but there are already thousands of people listening to Known Moons, according to Spotify.

He might not have expected it, but it turns out that the role of band leader suits James quite comfortably.