Moon Boots: Right Away, Live Shows, and Balancing Family and Music on the On Locations Sessions presented by The DJ Sessions at Decadence 12/30/22

Moon Boots: Right Away, Live Shows, and Balancing Family and Music

In this lively On Location edition of The DJ Sessions – Virtual Sessions, host Darran Bruce sits down with Chicago-born, Brooklyn-based DJ and producer Moon Boots at Decadence Festival in Phoenix. Fresh off a dynamic set, Moon Boots reflects on his journey as a touring artist, his live band roots, and his upcoming third album Right Away. Set for release on St. Patrick’s Day, the album blends psychedelic grooves, soulful vocals, and instrumental interludes into a cohesive listening experience that goes far beyond the dance floor.

Moon Boots shares his passion for fusing DJing with live music, recalling his days as a keyboardist and band member, and confirming plans to revive his live band shows in 2023 after several years away. He also discusses his latest collaboration with Nick Hanson, Take Me To Your Body, which showcases his versatility in producing not only club-focused tracks but also more introspective, home-listening music.

The conversation highlights his strong relationship with Anjunadeep, a label he praises for encouraging authenticity and individuality, as well as his admiration for other imprints like Defected, Running Back, Trick, and XL. Moon Boots also touches on broader topics, from the value labels bring to artists, to his thoughts on virtual reality concerts and augmented reality as tools for accessibility.

Balancing fatherhood with a busy touring life, Moon Boots reveals how family keeps him grounded while continuing to explore fresh sounds and ambitious live productions. His outlook is clear: create music that moves people emotionally, whether on the dance floor or at home.

Show Notes – 

Host: Darran Bruce
Guest: Moon Boots
Location: VIP Platinum Tent – Decadence Festival, Phoenix AZ

Overview:
Darran Bruce speaks with Moon Boots about his upcoming album Right Away, his return to live band shows, and how he balances family life with a global DJ career.

Topics Covered:

• New Year’s Eve shows in DC, Phoenix, and Austin with Oliver Heldens
• Plans to relaunch his live band shows in 2023
• Collaboration with Nick Hanson on Take Me To Your Body and future tracks
• Upcoming third album Right Away – psychedelic, soulful, and eclectic
• Working relationship with Anjunadeep and freedom to create authentically
• Admiration for labels like Defected, XL, Running Back, and Trick
• Views on labels providing guidance and promotion for artists
• Thoughts on virtual reality and augmented reality as future platforms
• Balancing fatherhood and touring life with help from his wife
• Inspirations as a keyboardist and love for solos in live settings
• Advice for artists: focus on wide-ranging creativity, not just festival bangers

Call to Action:
Follow Moon Boots on Instagram @moonbootsmusic and stream his upcoming album Right Away on all major platforms.
Discover more exclusive interviews and live sessions at thedjsessions.com

[Darran]
Welcome back to another episode of the DJ Sessions on location sessions where we feature the best DJs, producers and industry professionals from around the world. I’m your host Darran and right now we’re sitting at the VIP in the VIP tent at Decadence brought to you by Relentless Beats in Phoenix, Arizona on the first night and none other than catching this awesome DJ set playing my favorite genre music house music and other styles that he blends into it. We’re sitting here with Moon Beats tonight.

Moon Beats, how’s it going? It’s going great.

[Moon Beats]
Set was awesome tonight. Yeah, thank you.

[Darran]
I love the shows. I love the laser lineup, the colors, everything was there. I was dancing.

Got to get up a little close and personal up there. You know, did you just come, are you on tour right now or is this part of just a kind of one-off event that you brought, that brought you to Decadence?

[Moon Beats]
I mean, you know, it’s New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Eve weekend. So I came from a show last night. I played DC last night, a club called Flash, which is great.

I’m going to be opening for Oliver Heldens tomorrow at Concourse Project in Austin. So like, you know, you got to be busy around New Year’s because, hey, you know, but it’s not like a tour tour. It’s just like doing some New Year’s shows.

You know, everyone wants a party at New Year’s. So now in addition to DJing, you’re also in a live band, correct? Yeah, I’ve got a live band.

I actually, I haven’t done it since 2019. I did two live tours, 2018, 2019. We’re obviously planning a big one in 2020, whatever.

But we’re going to bring that back next spring. We’re going to do a run of shows in May and then I think another one in the fall, which we’re figuring out. But yeah, I’m going to bring back the live show.

And that’s also just, it’s another totally different experience, but it’s a, it’s great. It’s a, I don’t know. It’s a, I love DJing, but it’s also, I’m kind of a keyboard geek at heart.

That’s sort of how I started. And so I get to be like music director and I want to do more like solos and things to just like get into like, I don’t know. Yeah, doing the live thing.

I come from playing in bands and it’s good to do it again.

[Darran]
And, you know, that brings me to a question. You produce tracks, something you recently did with Nick Hanson about a month ago, Take Me To Your Body. How has that been received out there?

It’s been good.

[Moon Beats]
You know, it’s a, it’s a tough track right now. I’m kind of like waiting for it to get like remixed. We’re talking to a couple different remixers because it doesn’t feel like sort of like a festival ready track.

It’s more like, I don’t just make, it’s kind of weird, but I don’t just make tracks for like clubs and festivals and stuff like that. I’d say like maybe half or a third of the music I make is for that. And half of it’s like also like kind of with like the live show in mind or like home listening and chilling.

Like what do I want to listen to just on a regular night? So like, yeah, it’s a, it’s one of those kind of groovy tracks that I feel like it’s connecting really well though. You know, Nick is a homie we’ve done.

This is our third collaboration. We’ve got another track coming out next year. I produced for him.

He’s a really talented dude and it’s just great to work with.

[Darran]
Yeah. And you have your third album in the can now. It’s going to be released in 2023.

Can you give us any preview, any, any insight of what that’s going to sound like? What did you have a theme or anything you’re going with throughout the album? Is it named yet?

Can you release any information to our DJs and fans?

[Moon Beats]
So it’s called right away. And the vibe is I’m, you know, I’ve released three of the tracks so far that are going to be on the, um, that are on the album. And, um, it’s coming out on St. Patrick’s day, March 17th. And, uh, the vibe is it’s kind of, it’s uplifting. It’s psychedelic. It’s got a mix of instrumentals and like sort of more kind of like pop and almost kind of like, soul and kind of things.

And I don’t, it’s a whole, it’s an experience. It’s not just one style, but I feel like it’s a, I’m very proud of the way it sounds front to back, which is what I like to go for in an album format, you know, not just banger after banger, you know?

[Darran]
Yeah. With this being your third album release and also releasing tracks, what’s the most important thing that a record label can do for the artists they represent?

[Moon Beats]
Um, I feel like a label, you know, it, it takes a lot of, I think the label is, it’s crucial because I know people who like release their own music, but there’s really a lot of work that goes into releasing music and labels get kind of like badmouthed sometimes. And I don’t know if it’s entirely fair because they do bring a lot of promotion and organization energy to the table. They help like, you know, there’s some songs that might not always work on the project.

You need a little guidance. You can’t just be like out there doing it all yourself. I don’t know.

I’m, I’ve had a very good relationship going with Anjuna Deep. Um, I feel like they really encouraged me to just be me. It’s not like I’m trying to be any specific sound.

They really love what I bring to the table and, and I love what they bring to the table. So it’s good. Yeah.

[Darran]
We’re super excited over here at the DJ sessions. We’re getting ready to start our own label in 2023. Just working on it.

I’m just wondering, you know, what are sounds going to be like? What are we going to go with? Who are we going to bring off our roster to produce first?

And, and you know, how often are we going to release all those things that are come up that I’m sure you’ve gone through multiple times, you know, and it’s going to be a new venture, a new project of what we do. What are your current top five record labels for reoccurring quality releases that you go to? Like if you had five that you go to and say, I love what’s coming out there and what they do.

Five of them.

[Moon Beats]
Hmm. Uh, it’s kind of tricky. Um, I mean, I don’t know.

I didn’t like the dance music world. I’d say probably like, I want to know what like XL is, you know, they have such a strong, like, um, whenever somebody comes out on XL, you kind of have to pay attention, um, with what they’re doing and defected. Of course.

Um, I love what Anjuna D puts out. Um, I feel like running back does good stuff. I mean, there’s so many good labels out there.

I, I will follow people on Bandcamp and I like to follow labels on there just to see what’s going on. Uh, Patrick toppings label is really cool. Um, trick, uh, man, I don’t know that.

I think I just named four. Uh, that’s enough, right?

[Darran]
If you could go back 25 years of music history or 50 years forward and music future, which one would you pick and why? Wait, wait, wait, sorry. If you could go back 25 years of music history, knowing what you know now, or go forward 50 years of music future, knowing what you know now, which way would you go and why?

[Moon Beats]
Ooh, 50 years is mysterious in the future. I thought you were saying five years in the future. Okay.

Maybe I know what’s good. I have no idea what’s going to be in 50 years. I mean, just for the hell of it, I’d say 50 just to see, because otherwise I know what already happened.

So it’s like, why, you know, I would, I would like to go into the unknown.

[Darran]
Have you looked at anything looking future forward? Have you looked or have you, um, investigated in doing anything in virtual reality? Um, I did, uh, short answer.

[Moon Beats]
No, no, not really. I almost did a VR, uh, festival in 2020. It didn’t really go well though.

[Darran]
So I guess I can’t really say that I have, I just asked because we’re launching our VR nightclubs. Yeah. We got two nightclubs.

Uh, we’re launching a VR chat and alt space. They’re already up and running. We’re getting a grand opening here soon.

So, uh, we’re really excited for that. And then also looking into what’s called AR or augmented reality technology as well. No, that’s interesting.

[Moon Beats]
I think it’d be the idea of like opening it up to like a whole audience that either, you know, there’s a lot of people who can’t necessarily come out to shows. Maybe they don’t live in a major city or they have health problems or something like that. There’s a lot of good reasons for it.

So I’m excited to check it out and see what happens.

[Darran]
Yeah. Now you’re on tour, you’re out doing shows. You’re in Washington DC.

You’re here in Phoenix, Arizona night. I was going through your Instagram and there was a very awesome picture. Looks like you’re a family man.

Oh yeah. Next question is how do you mix your family life when you’re out on tour? When you’re out on the road?

[Moon Beats]
I mean, my wife is sort of like, she isn’t my tour manager and that she doesn’t like travel with me and, and plug in the USB key when I start, but she advances all the shows and, um, it’s, it’s a, you know, we’re figuring it out, but it’s been good so far. I’m still, I’m not like, I’ve only been a dad for four and a half months. So, you know, I’ve just kind of gotten in the rhythm of being like DJing again, really in the past month.

Um, but it’s been, it’s been good so far. Yeah, man. What do you prefer doing when you take a break, when you’re taking a break from music?

Um, when I’m taking a break from music, uh, I don’t know. Well, I mean, now I’m just hanging, I’m hanging out with my daughter, you know, really. Yeah.

[Darran]
And if someone were to write a biography about you, what do you think the title should be? Um, I have no, I don’t have a good answer for that. I’m sorry.

Well, is there anything else you want to let our DJ sessions fans know about before we let you get back to the event?

[Moon Beats]
Um, yeah, I guess just, uh, you know, if you aren’t familiar with my music, check me out. This is a, I’ve got my third album coming out in a couple months. I’ve got two albums before I released a couple, um, uh, EPs on pure moons over the past few years that are like out.

I think it’s pretty interesting. It’s more club focused. Um, but yeah, just a wide range of stuff.

If you want to check me out on Instagram, YouTube, Twitter at moon boots music, all of the above, uh, I’d appreciate that.

[Darran]
So thanks for taking the time to talk. Awesome. Pete, thank you so much for coming on the show tonight.

Great decadence out there and have a happy new year. You too. Thank you.

Very welcome. On that note, don’t forget to go to our website, the DJ sessions.com find us on Insta meta, Twitter, Twitch, everywhere out there, even in our VR nightclubs and all space and VR chat. Don’t forget to go to our website and download the app over 600 news stories, exclusive interviews, exclusive mixes, and more at the DJ sessions.com.

This is moon boots. I’m Darran coming to you from decadence in Phoenix, Arizona, presented by relentless beats. And remember on the DJ sessions, the music never stops.