Somewhere in San Francisco, Tyke, Willie, Tyler and Addison, from Utah-based band The Moss, sat in their tour van to talk to us about creative processes, their friendship, and the behind-the-scenes of making a life in music.
As they hit the road ahead of the release of their new album Big Blue Moon—their first full-length project since Kentucky Derby in 2021—the group is just as excited to perform live as they were at the beginning of their careers and reflect back on their growth so far.
STAGED HAZE: I know you guys are all from different states and different places, and that you mostly met in Hawaii and then moved to Utah. Why Utah? Other than the indie scene that’s there, what keeps you in Salt Lake City? What do you like about it, and are there some challenges living there?
WILLIE: It’s an interesting question. What brought us there originally was just the access to nature and the outdoors. It changes things.
STAGED HAZE: How do you think it affects your relationship with the industry?
TYLER: It makes it a longer drive [laughs]. Starting a tour always means you’ve got to start with like, an eight-hour drive.
TYKE: But Salt Lake City is useful creatively, because it has a lot more open space and accessible quiet, as opposed to a place like LA, where you’d have more opportunity to collaborate, but less space to hear your own ideas and flush them out. And it’s not as expensive to live, so there’s not that added pressure of needing to make money from music. Because a lot of the time you have to pick one or the other.
WILLIE: And there’s a lot of musicians in Utah. A lot of people learn piano at a young age there, so it’s actually a very musical place.
STAGED HAZE: And coming from Hawaii, is the different lifestyle something you’ve had to adapt to, or do you feel comfortable there now?
WILLIE: We miss the beach! But we snowboard now, so…we just went full Johnny Tsunami mode.
STAGED HAZE: In the past years, how has your friendship evolved?
TYLER: I didn’t even know these guys four years ago, but now they’re like my best friends.
TYKE: Tyler started playing with us and joined the band, and then became our friend. We started making music together first and that’s how we became friends. Me and Willie were kind of music-first too, back in Hawaii. Learning to balance turning something that was just a fun thing into our livelihood, something that takes up most of our time and energy, and balancing that with friendship has been a really valuable lesson.
WILLIE: I feel like I’ve known Tyke for the better half of a decade, and I thought I knew so much when I met him, but we’ve both gone through so much that I realize I don’t know very much at all. You just continue to get to know each other, and yourself. We’ve always lived close in Salt Lake, within 10 minutes of each other.
STAGED HAZE: Are you still able to hang out just for the sake of hanging out, or does it always turn into a band meeting?
WILLIE: At the beginning it was a lot of just hanging out to hang out, but that shifts naturally. We definitely still hang out, but now it’s more focused on the band.
TYKE: It’s hard not to when you get together and there are ideas you want to talk about. And when you’re on tour, your touring friends understand things about you that other people don’t, so it’s nice to be back in that mode together.
STAGED HAZE: What’s your favorite part of being a musician?
WILLIE: Playing live!
STAGED HAZE: And your favorite part about touring, other than playing live?
TYLER: Getting to meet a lot of really cool people that we wouldn’t meet otherwise.
STAGED HAZE: What’s your least favorite thing about both?
WILLIE: Balancing the business side and the creative side. I do a lot of the finances in the band, and when I feel financial pressure, it strips creativity really quickly. That’s my least favorite thing. Unfortunately, you have to have money to tour. People don’t realize how expensive it is. We spend $2,500 a day on tour…it gets stressful.
STAGED HAZE: Do you guys have a team traveling with you?
TYLER: Yeah, we have a three-person crew. They take a lot off our plate now. We used to tour just the four of us; driving, planning hotels, loading all the gear, sound checking, doing everything. And you just get so tired. Now it’s like… I’m not that tired.
STAGED HAZE: Do you get enough time between tour dates to explore a little? You guys love the outdoors, so do you actually get to see that side while traveling?
TYLER: Here and there. We’re pretty good at planning extra little things. Like, we’ll be in Dana Point for the next three days even though we don’t technically have to be, but it’s like, let’s surf, let’s hang out. It makes it a lot more fun.
STAGED HAZE: Is there something like a ritual or habit you have before songwriting that involves going outside or getting inspired by your environment? And Tyke, since you write most of the lyrics—does nature influence you in a special way, or do you write more about personal relationships?
TYKE: Most of what I’ve been writing about lately is thought processes and thought patterns, things I get hung up on. And I like being in nature because it puts those things into perspective for me.
STAGED HAZE: Do you ever take on the role of storyteller and write from someone else’s point of view?
TYKE: Yeah, I definitely switch up the point of view. Sometimes I’ll be talking about myself but it sounds like I’m talking about someone else, or vice versa. And sometimes a couple of things will happen in my life and I’ll start writing about them, and then I’ll think “it would just be a better song if this happened instead.” So there are definitely some imaginary moments in my songs.
STAGED HAZE: Is there a milestone that would make you feel like “okay, we made it”? Or have you already had that moment?
TYLER: For me it’s always going to be a moving target. For a long time the goal was just to do music as our job, and now we do that. So now it’s like, how do we play bigger shows, or write a better song? I hope it’s always a moving target.
ADDISON: You never stop working forward, that’s for sure. There are moments where you sit back and think “this is crazy, I can’t believe I’m doing this”, but there’s also always a sense of wanting to keep pushing. Like… why are we not playing Coachella this weekend?
STAGED HAZE: Is there a festival or venue you really want to play eventually?
WILLIE: Lollapalooza!
TYKE: And Red Rocks.
STAGED HAZE: Are there any older projects of yours that you hope people will continue to find? Like things that maybe deserved more attention?
TYKE: I’ve been putting stuff out as The Moss since I was like 16, so there’s really old, funny music still out there. I love when people find that stuff and are like “I like this song” and I’m like what, how? I love that. And Tyler has his own band too. I like when people find those little pockets.
STAGED HAZE: Who are some upcoming artists or bands you want to recommend to people?
WILLIE: Marlon Funaki, shout out!
TYLER: Shout out future.exboyfriend. And our openers: Rec Hall, Gatlin, and Hotel Fiction.
TYLER: Also Bad Luck Brigade
The Moss’ new album Big Blue Moon drops on April 24.
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