Red Stick Sounds: Moon Honey returns

Photo above of Moon Honey, taken by Jessi Arnold, courtesy of the band.

Moon Honey is one of Baton Rouge’s most promising exports at the moment. The group formed and developed their craft in the Capital City and drew attention from national media outlets like The New York Times for their “whirlwind virtuosity.”

The band’s core creative duo of Jessica Ramsey and Andrew Martin moved westward a few months ago to pursue opportunities in Los Angeles. They return to their stomping grounds Thursday, March 12 with a show at Chelsea’s Cafe before continuing their national tour. For more information or to RSVP, click here. This marks the group’s first local appearance since a sold out send-off show back in August.

I caught up with Ramsey to talk about Moon Honey’s homecoming and what the band has been up to recently.

How has L.A. been treating you?
It’s been fabulous. We love it. We moved there for a few reasons…besides being such a great music scene and there being so many career opportunities in music. What I really love about LA is being in the center, between the beach and the mountains and the desert and the redwoods. It’s all really accessible, and it’s really fast paced.

Inquiring minds need to know… Do you miss Louisiana?
Oh yeah. I do. Just being here. I really miss the humidity, everything being green, the lushness, the food, my family, my friends. The west coast is really different, and I love it, but the culture here is unbeatable.

Have you found any inroads or met any likeminded people in Los Angeles?
We’ve definitely met a lot of likeminded people. It is very different in that with B.R. you know what’s going on, there’s this community and everyone is supporting each other. L.A. is much more competitive. It’s so huge and saturated with artists. Getting yourself noticed can be difficult. Its like Alanis Morissette is playing at the club next door, how are you going to get people to come to your show? Actually, I don’t know if Alanis Morissette is a good example (laughs).

Are you mainly focusing on touring and continuing to write currently, or do you have a new record in your sights?
We do have a lot of new music. We’re looking for the right situation, the right place to record, the right people to work on and distribute it, that’s all in the works. We’re still kind of looking for our niche as far as Los Angeles goes, we’ve been settling in and getting our band together, scoping things out. We haven’t really played any L.A. shows yet, we wanted to go out on tour and come back with our band very much together. I think it’s important to tour as much as you can. There are still a lot of people who haven’t heard our last record. We’re meeting amazing people every night and it’s worth it, so for right now touring is number one.

Has the change of scenery or band personnel had any effect on the band’s artistic direction?
It’s always going to be a part of our songwriting to try and be unique and have a certain kind of complexity and different orchestration, but we’re trying to do that in a more minimalistic way. I think it will always be like that. The live group we’re playing with now, the songs are simpler and tighter when we’re out on tour. It’s not as overwhelming. I love that, but we want to make sure people understand us. The music we’re writing right now is focusing on being clear.

See Moon Honey’s video for “The Ship” below or tune in to their live studio performance at kexp.org Wednesday, April 1 at 11 p.m.