Tempe Rockers The Black Moods Ready a Wild Return to Milwaukee

What would an adult Disneyland sound like?

If you ask Tempe, Arizona-based rock trio The Black Moods, they will likely point you straight to their swaggering new single "Red Lights." It’s easy to see why as it has a vibe and atmosphere that is inviting yet dangerous.

Recorded at The Stereotypes studio in Los Angeles alongside the Grammy-winning production team famous for chart-topping pop hits with Bruno Mars, the track, like other new tunes, pushes the band well outside their usual element.

Anchored by an intro riff born from frontman Joshua Kennedy’s deep dive into The Smashing Pumpkins, the song twists the classic children’s book “Where the Wild Things” Are into a dangerous, late-night anthem.

"We had that envisioned, and then we just made an adult version of it," Kennedy says. "Lyrically, it’s like, 'She wants a drag on my cigarette / her eyeliner’s on the run / She said she wants to get out of here now / She knows I like to have fun.’ That kind of vibe. It's a good adult Disneyland kind of thing."

The band feels the song came out so well because it only took a couple hours to put together, a trait they feel has led to their best work. Fans responded instantly by driving it to number 13 on the iTunes charts. It is exactly the kind of high-energy, classic-meets-modern rock mix that has earned the trio a fiercely loyal following in places like Milwaukee.

While the band’s latest singles mix a brand of classic and modern recording techniques thanks to working with different collaborators, they hope to eventually get into the studio to record a straight-ahead rock album.

Ahead of their return to Shank Hall this Friday, August 21, the Shepherd Express caught up with Kennedy, bassist Brenden McBride, and drummer Chico Diaz to discuss how studio collaborations have pushed their boundaries, their desire to make a rock and roll album, and why they always try to add tour stops in Milwaukee and Wisconsin.

The band's sound blends classic and modern rock elements. What about that balance is exciting to you?

Josh Kennedy: Oh, all of it. I always say our band is kind of like if the ’70s and the ’90s had a baby. We came together because we all have different influences. I grew up in the Ozarks, about two hours from Tulsa, so there was a lot of Creedence, Skynyrd, Clapton, and that kind of stuff. Meanwhile, Chico and Brenden both grew up in Phoenix.

Chico Diaz: I had a totally different musical background. Mine was focused on a lot heavier music, like metal and things like that. It was really nice to meet Josh and learn a lot of different styles; our two backgrounds ended up mixing really well. Then Brenden’s parents have awesome taste in music, so he grew up around a huge variety.

Brenden McBride: I lived in Tempe, Arizona my whole life and grew up going to local shows there. There were a lot of local blues and reggae bands in Tempe when I was growing up, but really, I listened to everything across all genres.

Kennedy: I also have a heavy country background, which is ironic.

Diaz: Old country.

Kennedy: Yeah, the real stuff—not bro country. Merle Haggard, that kind of thing. Early George Strait, not the “Check Yes or No” George Strait.

In recent years, it seems like the band has experimented more in the studio. What drove that desire to branch out?

Kennedy: When you're making records as a three-piece band, you usually just write the songs, work them out, go into the studio, and lay them down. But variety is the spice of life. Eventually, you venture out and try new things. Still, I always find that you come back home, and that’s exactly what we’re going to do with the next record.

McBride: Going into the studio with a third-party writer who isn't in the band pulls things out of you that you might not generally do on your own. It’s nice to have that experience, but it’s also nice to come back home and just create a raw rock record.

Diaz: We know we can write with other people and play nice now. But at this point, we really trust ourselves. We can go in confidently knowing we're going to make a great record together while still using some of those learned elements. We know what layers we want when it comes to overdubbing. We like putting keys on stuff, but I think the next record will feature more Hammond organ and less synthy textures. We like those little experimental elements, but the core is definitely going to be just the three of us.

The band will be releasing an acoustic version of “Red Lights” soon. What did you like most about doing the song like that?

McBride: It kind of took on a life of its own. It's completely different from the original. The thing about doing acoustic versions of songs that I found is you kind of take whatever's in your environment and put it in there. I think we tracked like a spatula. We used four shakers, the kitchen sink, everything with the kitchen sink is in it, you know. So, you get really creative when it comes to tracking acoustic because they have no limits.

Diaz: And where we did it was in Monett, Missouri where the head of our record label lives. And during the summer we just relocate over there. And he just has this really big basement and a bunch of toys. There's a studio down there for us.

And a bar and golden tea. So, inspiration comes just from hanging out. It was pretty neat. We're trying to track some drums on it and didn't want to do an actual kick drum. So, we just put the floor tom down and…we just covered it and it made it perfect. What's within five feet of you that you can mess with and have creativity with, and it was really fun.

McBride: Yeah. He was like, "I need something that sounds like a snare drum, but I don't want to use a snare drum." So, you just come up with something that size.

With the studio version, how did you go about making the arrangement for that one?

Kennedy: It just really fell together. Oddly enough, it was like, because I think we wrote it all in a couple hours.

McBride: All the best songs are written like that. It just works right away.

Diaz: Plus, the guys that we were working with, they were really good…We worked super, super fast. And then just doing all the overdub stuff. And then we went to one of our other producers, Jim Kaufman. Yeah. He's a high school friend of mine that I've known forever.

He’s doing things with Everclear, different things like that. So, it was really neat to do that, to build the whole song and then take it to him and basically rebuild it with full on drums and bass and not nearly as many synthesizers, but it was cool. It was really fun.

Kennedy: Long process, but totally worth it. We spent a lot more time in LA than we liked to.

With the previous single “Time Bomb”, how did that compare with making this one?

Kennedy: Well, we recorded with the same guys out there actually. “Time Bomb”, oddly enough, it broke top 40 here in the States on Billboard. And it actually has been number 1 for a few weeks now in Italy, because we were signed with a label called CDF Records out of Italy. So, it's been doing really good. Travis Mills came in. He has a band called girlfriends and has his own podcast and stuff like that. But that was another one where we just kind of wrote it in a couple of hours.

Diaz: And started with the riff.

Kennedy: Yeah. And it was talking about that girl you hung out with that sucked and took your clothes.

It goes on quite the sonic journey. When you were writing, how did you map it out?

Kennedy: Again, it was working with a different production team that we haven't before but working in a completely different way. We're a three-piece rock and roll band, so we write songs and go in. We write it together and we can play a three-piece. Well, this time we went in, and those guys have no idea what it's like to be just in a band, period. They don't work like that. They're all studio cats. So, it was kind of a growth thing on our part, and they had to go in reverse on their part because we had to let them know, it's like, "Hey, we got to be able to pull this off live because we don't really play the tracks or that kind of thing." So, it's just very organic with what our band does. They worked inside the box, so they would push the production and then we would pull it back. So, it was a lot of give and take whenever we were tracking these songs.

As a songwriter, how do you think you've most grown?

Diaz: That's tough because writing with other people is fun and it's challenging. And putting your ideas out there is kind of like going on a blind date naked. You're putting yourself out there and you don't really... It's hard. So, you learn not to be so insecure. There are no bad ideas. You just got to put it out there. But I'll still go back in by myself, and I can write a complete song called top to bottom. So very hook aware, I guess you can say, because it's like “Red Lights” and “Time Bomb” and “Savior”, and Dance in the Dark is the new one that's going to be coming out soon. I think it's a natural progression as far as just growing up in a way, if that makes sense.

It sounds like the band is planning to release more new singles in the near future.

Diaz: Yeah. We've got a new one called “Dance in the Dark”. Not to be confused with Springsteen's “Dancing In the Dark”.

Kennedy: I mean, I hope it does as well, but it's called “Dance in the Dark”. And all the details for that will come out at blackmoods.com, our website. We have more songs coming up, so we're just going to be doing...We're sitting out for the rest of the year and then we're going to go back in and make a new record. Once the holidays come around, we slow down on touring because we've toured in the winter in the Midwest and it's north and it's scary. You know what I'm talking about. Some of those mountains you don't want to drive down or up.

So, these songs won't be part of the new album?

Kennedy: I don't think so. Because right now the music business and the way people are releasing songs, we're kind of in a limbo period, I feel. So, I think we're just going to put singles out and then we'll put an actual album out. So, I think all these are just going to be singles. And then I think by the time we get done releasing these singles, like we're doing throughout the end of the year, just like bell-bottoms come back in style and rock music is coming back and I think the record will come back. Because right now everybody's attention span's so short.

Diaz: And actually, we have physical copies of these songs out at our merch table. And we did that on purpose to not put everything out all at once on the digital platform because we're a live band, so come pick it up when we're playing live. And it's available in our merch.

Kennedy: But yeah, we're going to release these singles throughout the end of the year and then make a new record. And that's what we're really excited for because like you said, the sonic evolution of the band, we kind of reached out and stretched out with these singles that are coming out and we're ready to get back in the studio and make a rock and roll record again.

Do you think there's common themes between these singles?

Kennedy: I hear a lot of Los Angeles because we spent time there and we wrote and recorded the songs there. And it wasn't at Chateau Marmont. We were in the city.

Diaz: Yeah, we were in the valley.

Kennedy: We had to step over some hobos to get to the studio we were recording in. There was definitely a variety of food truck vendors out front and liquor store, like a store pawn shop, that kind of situation. Because we recorded it and it's funny because when we were tracking the studio, you couldn't tell it was a studio. And you walk in and it's all this nice gear and all these gold and platinum records on the wall. Bruno Mars, Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande.

Diaz: All these pop stars.

Kennedy: Yeah, they've written and recorded there. So, we're like, "Oh, this is great." And they're like, "Oh yeah, this is the studio you'll be working in." And we walked through all the cool studios, and they had us in the Home Depot break room or mop closet, where they kept all the cases in the mop buckets. So, I hear a lot of that. There was a lot of hanging out in the studio. It was like, "Let's get in here and get this done and get out." So, I feel that and I hear that.

Diaz: That was cool because we did get to meet Bruno Mars.

Kennedy: Yeah, we met him. I actually was on the phone with my dad walking out of the studio and I tripped over him. He was sitting down smoking a cigarette. And I was like, "Oh man, I'm sorry." I thought it was just another hobo. Nope, Bruno Mars. So that was kind of funny.

Diaz: Yeah, he was really nice.

Kennedy: Yeah, he was super sweet. Very nice guy.

I imagine it's kind of a much different world than what you're used to in Arizona.

Kennedy: Yeah. Just Los Angeles in general, I have a love-hate relationship with it. It seems to get more friendly when we go out there now, which kind of piss me off because I want to hate it so much. When we first were going out there, I was like, “there's no place to park. The people aren't friendly.” And then now it's kind of switched around to where we've been going out there so much since we were kids. We kind of know a lot of people and the community...it winds up getting smaller.

And I mean, we have a studio in Arizona, but we also have one in the Ozarks too. So, we're kind of bouncing back and forth and we spend more time on the road and in studios than we do in Arizona these days. We hardly get to be there at all. So, we really appreciate it when we get to be there.

McBride: Yeah. Around the holidays because it's 70 degrees every day.

Kennedy: Yeah. It's beautiful.

The band's been able to work with a bunch of music vets like The Doors’ Robby Krieger. What was it like working with him and recording a cover of The Doors' hit song "Roadhouse Blues"?

Diaz: Well, luckily, we toured with him prior to that. So, we opened some shows for him and his son, Waylon, happened to be sick on a few of the dates that we did. So, Robby asked me if I would go in and sing a couple songs. So, him and I kind of hit it off like that. And then I don't even know how it came about. We were like, "We should collaborate with somebody." And our manager at the time happened to work with Robby's management or something like that or a guy that Robby knew. So, we just asked. I reached out to him and he said, "Yeah, let's do it." And we brought Diamante, [singer Diamante Azzura Bovelli], in because we've met her a couple times because we just wanted to. We were like, "Oh, let's just see if let's get a girl's voice on here and see what happened." And it was a blast, man.

Kennedy: We went in to record with him, and we went and set up the day before and it was like going to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. But you get to actually touch everything and play on all the instruments and stuff because there's all these Doors memorabilia and [Doors drummer John] Densmore as a kid, Jim's mic and all this kind of stuff. And keyboards and all this kind of cool stuff that they used. Even some of the amps that they used at the Hollywood Bowl in '68 when they filmed that concert. So, we were like kids in a candy store. And then the next day we were all stoked and we'd get there and we'd filmed the whole thing too. So, it was kind of a trip. And we just kind of loosened up…And we were stiff…We went and listened to it. And then Robby comes back into the room and he's really soft-spoken. And you would not, in a million years think...

McBride: Easy, kind of soft-spoken.

Kennedy: You wouldn't think in a million years this guy was best friends with Jim Morrison, who was supposed to be one of the craziest rockers ever. But he's so soft-spoken. He's like, "Hey, do you boys smoke grass?" We're like, "What?" We're like, "Yes." And he's like, "Maybe burn a joint and then let's come back here and try it again." We're like, "Oh my God, Robby Krieger just told us to go smoke weed. Let's do it." So, we did, and we came back in and did the take, and that's the one we got. That's the one we did. And then after we did the take and he listened back, he's like, "You guys got any more of that grass?" And then we smoked some grass with Robbie Krieger.

Diaz: Hashtag true story.

Kennedy: But yeah, he's great. And then his whole team's awesome. They're engineers and production managers, everybody. It was one of the best two days that we've had. And we actually just got back from Sturgis. We played there and we opened up for a band called Blackberry Smoke, which I've heard of, but I've never listened to. And those guys are fantastic.

McBride: Yeah, they were great. Super nice guys too.

Kennedy: Yeah, the nicest guys. And that was awesome. They're not a new band. They're celebrating their 25th anniversary. But man, I'll tell you what, if you haven't checked them out, you should. They're great.

What's one of the biggest pieces of advice from the legend musicians that still impacts you today?

Kennedy: Don't do heroin. [laughs]

McBride: Don't leave your toothbrush at home.

Kennedy: Yeah. No, just keep riding, is what they all say to me. Keep riding, keep writing, keep riding. And also, don't quit.

Diaz: Yeah. That's what they all say.

Kennedy: Because you get frustrated. The road is not easy. Everybody thinks it's glamorous and fun to be in a band and on the road, and it's hard work. You work 180 hours a week, so you don't have to work 40.

Last year you guys played the national anthem and headlined the UFL Championship halftime show. What was it like being on that kind of stage?

Kennedy: Frightening.

Diaz: Yeah, definitely a lot of nerves in that one.

Kennedy: Yeah, to go back, because I was like, "What am I going to wear when I play the national anthem?" I'm like, "Oh, I'll wear the American Flag pants, an American Flag shirt." Well, I almost pissed my American Flag pants, which would be embarrassing in front of three million people or however many was watching it. But it was something else, man. I'm telling you what, talk about adrenaline going. That was something else.

Diaz: Yeah, that was cool because I would say a lot of respect for the crews that worked that. The production for that three-minute bit that we did, or six minutes, whatever it was, was... I mean, there were 200 people working that. Just go, go, go.

McBride: Easily. They set all of our stuff up. Moving it across 75 yards.

Diaz: In 30 seconds. And we weren't allowed to touch it because union stuff and everything.

McBride: There was one guy for per instrument or whatever. It was crazy.

Diaz: And they rehearsed it. And that's what I love about it is, like I said, the respect of what goes on behind the scenes…So that was really cool, but the adrenaline of actually playing it was something else. It was cool.

Kennedy: Yeah. Once I was done with the national anthem, everything was... Easy peasy.

Diaz: And then after the game, we were staying with the winners. They were in the same hotel as us, so we partied at the hotel with all these athletes. They were so cool.

Kennedy: The day of the game, because we all had our hotel rooms and we're on the 17th floor, keep in mind, and there was supposed to be riots or something downtown St. Louis at times. So, there was some kind of political bullshit going on. So, our buddies are like, "Just be aware of your surroundings." My dad's like, "Be aware of your surroundings." Well, we're there and we don't have to sound check until 2:00 or 3:00 or something. So, we're all in our hotel rooms by ourselves, just chilling and trying to calm before the storm. And the fire alarm goes off at 11:00 AM and all of a sudden, and you can't take the elevator. So, you're like, "Is this for real?" And it turns out the other team, the opposing team, somebody came in and pulled the fire alarm to rattle those guys…We weren't privy to that information that that happens between sports rivals.

Diaz: Yeah. I didn't know you could do that.

Kennedy: That's how our day started.

You have a few stops in Wisconsin on this run. What do you like about this area so much?

Diaz: The people.

McBride: Yeah. Everybody's so nice.

Diaz: It's so nice. Well, the landscape, the beauty.

McBride: It's gorgeous here.

Kennedy: Sometimes it can be super hot, but most of the time when we're here, it's awesome. And they're dangerous too, because, man, they like to party.

Diaz: Wisconsin knows how to party. But yeah, again, the people. The people that we've met here will be friends for the rest of our lives and then we keep meeting them every day.

Have you played Shank Hall before?

Diaz: We have. It's so awesome. A couple of times. Last summer was the first time we headlined it, and it was fantastic. And that was on a weekday, so we're excited for this weekend. It's the 21st. But yeah, I really like it. The staff there is super cool. Can't wait to get over there. It's going to be great.

Kennedy: Yeah. I mean, Shank Hall, come on, Spinal Tap for crying out loud. You can't not like Shank Hall.

Yeah, it's a really cool, intimate venue.

McBride: Yes. It's always a good vibe. It's cool. It's like the stage isn't too tall. You're right there with the people. It's fun.

Kennedy: That's a place you come back to even if you're playing arenas or stadiums or something like that. It's always fun to have those little gems that you can sneak into and have a good time. Even the Rolling Stones would come through town and show up at the Rhythm Room and play in Phoenix, which is honestly very similar to Shank Hall.