Dropping their latest EP 'Moonstar' we got to chat to Candy Riot about the making behind the masterpiece, playing live and the upcoming album.

Thanks so much for talking to revamp, in 3 words, describe your sound.   

Dark, fun and dancy

You formed in 2020, and 2020 was a weird year, how did you form as a band and what was the process like?

The two founding members were introduced by a mutual friend.  We both loved words & synthesizers and decided to write songs about the human experience.  

We started as a duo (under a different band name) with intentions of having fun and creating musical art. We played a few shows and quickly recognized our live performances needed more wind. About a month and 107 band names later, we changed the name and started perusing for a vocalist and synth player. Ricky and Erica impressed and were added to the band just in time to release our first LP ‘Moonstar’, which comes out August 31st.   

Growing up, who were your musical inspirations, and what made you decide to go into music? 

We were always a fan of Andy Bell’s voice and Depeche Mode’s music. The ‘80s was full of music to sing and dance to.  We wanted to try to create our own version of that fun, danceable music.  

You have a new EP ‘Moonstar’ out, how did this EP come about and what was the creative process like?  

We’d collected a stack of tracks that felt like us and put them on ‘Moonstar’.  We gather and talk about emotions and experiences.   A favorite is picked and lyrics are penned.  Finally we’ll go into the studio and twist knobs until the music sounds like the words.  

If you could each choose one track off the EP, which would you say your favorite track is and why?

‘Only You’ is a song that talks about the early stages of dating someone, catching feelings, and considering monogamy. The dating world is an adventure park full of scary and thrilling rides. We’re just the carnival barkers inviting you to come on in and listen to our pop song about the inevitable fear of breaking up.

We take emotions and give them a soundtrack, and hopefully some people will like the songs.   It feels good when they’re played on the radio and when friends come to the shows. The band has given us great opportunities to create art, befriend other musicians, and spend more time having fun.

You have live dates coming up for ‘Moonstar’, how are you preparing for this?

Our next show is 9/3 at The Chess Club.  We spent time booking and rehearsing for it, and we’d love to see friends in the crowd. Please come say hi and support local live music in Austin!

Finally, what is next for you?

Our album drops tomorrow and we’re playing the album release show on 9/3. We’re releasing a new single that features one of our favorite artists in September, and in October we start shooting a video for a song from the album called ‘Black Tie’. The band starts writing our second album in the fall.