By Nicholas Jason Lopez
They may have missed the mark by about 60 years, but The Moon City Masters have the type of sound that would fit right alongside the other songs on Peter Quill’s mixtape.
With a handful of harmonious, electric singles like “Takin’ it Back,” “Over Now,” “Where You Wanna Run To,” “Starstruck,” “Real Thing,” “No Warning” and “Send It On” in their ever-growing catalogue of funky 70’s-esque jams and rad riffs, The Moon City Masters do it best when they deliver upfront neo-classic rock and roll to the hungry masses.
The duo – composed of twin brothers Jordan and Talor Steinberg – have worked and recorded with Grammy-nominated producer Justin Craig in his Lower East Side studio in New York City. In 2019, they released their debut EP ‘The Adventures Of The Moon City Masters’ and have continued to collaborate for their latest material.
The Music Bugle had the chance to speak with Talor about what they’ve been up to lately and more.
Music Bugle – How did you guys decide the band name?
Talor Steinberg – Honestly, we were hanging with our older brother and he just blurted it out. We thought it was funny and probably not taken, so we decided to go with it. Finding a band name is so hard and we have had a lot of bad ones (Laughs), but we love being The Moon City Masters.
Music Bugle – What directly inspired your single “No Warning”?
Talor Steinberg – “No Warning” is inspired by the pandemic. A little bit about our experience and the hurt other people have been going through. The chorus is the lesson we’ve learned to enjoy every moment we have because you don’t know when things will change.
Music Bugle – What excites you the most about your style of music?
Talor Steinberg – We just always been drawn to rock music, especially 70s and early 80s rock. The energy, riffs and the singing. We’ve loved it since we were kids and it’s still our favorite music to listen to.
Music Bugle – How have you been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic?
Talor Steinberg – Well, luckily, we’ve stayed safe and have been able to stay afloat by giving guitar lessons, so we consider ourselves lucky. Not playing shows for over a year was very tough, because we live for playing live, but we just decided to focus on what we can do. We really have been digging deep trying to write the best songs we can and engage with fans on social media. Its been working. We actually built our fan base significantly this past year.
Music Bugle – Who are you listening to right now, music-wise?
Talor Steinberg – It changes all the time! We both really love Sly And The Family Stone and Graham Central Station lately, but recently, we were watching Judas Priest’s show at Bloodstock. They sound amazing!
Music Bugle – What do you hope for as we begin 2022?
Talor Steinberg – Keep releasing better and better songs and play live as much as we can now that we’re back to playing shows again.
Music Bugle – What’s a quote that motivates you to keep doing what you do?
Talor Steinberg – I can’t think of a quote, but what keeps us going is we don’t love doing anything as much as we enjoy making/playing music together.
Music Bugle – Where do you go when you need an escape?
Talor Steinberg – Kicking back with my fiancee Maris is my escape.
Music Bugle – If you had to pick your own theme song, what would it be?
Talor Steinberg – Our song “Takin’ It Back” is our theme song. It’s everything we’re about in a song.
Music Bugle – What has been your biggest challenge lately?
Talor Steinberg – We have a lot of shows/tours in the works. Its tough, ’cause we wanna play everywhere as much as possible, but there’s risk still with Covid, even though we’re vaccinated, so the biggest challenge, to be honest, is figuring out how to play live, stay safe and keep our loved ones safe.
