Words: Ryan Getz | Photo: Samantha Skapin

The Columbus Music Commission (“the CMC”) is an entity that we’ve been getting to know a bit more in recent months. In their own words, their mission is as follows: “The Columbus Music Commission connects music makers, music commerce, and community to engage in creating, performing and promoting great music.”

Tuned Up’s vision has quite a bit in common with the CMC, and we are happy to be partnering with them with a series of interviews that gets back to our roots while also looking into the future. Every artist featured is one that Tuned Up has been fortunate to meet over the years and one who we’ll tell anyone we meet to check out.

Tuned Up operating in Columbus, Ohio since 2011. That’s hard to believe. What started as an idea and a WordPress site on one dude’s laptop has become an idea that has taken on a life of it’s own – that music conversation can be approachable and down to earth in all mediums. We’ve been fortunate enough to connect with a number of artists over the years that share our vision and also call the Columbus music scene their home.

One of those artists is Mister Moon. Actually, they got their start in northern Ohio near towns like Fremont and Norwalk, but recently they’ve found a home in the Columbus scene. We hope you’ll get to know their music better after you get to know them a bit below:

Tuned Up: How has living in Columbus benefited you as a musician in the past year? 

Mister Moon: Living in Columbus has opened up many opportunities to get our music to a number of different audiences and scenes in the Central Ohio area. The music scene here in town is overflowing with great bands to collaborate with and help lift up the music community as a whole. Columbus is also geographically in a great location being no more than a few hours from Cleveland, Cincinnati, Dayton, Indianapolis , Athens, and many other places that lends itself to spreading out to different markets.

What makes Columbus unique amongst music cities, from your point of view? 

As an Ohio band that’s been to all the major cities, what separates Cbus is two things: the way it’s built, being more spread out but still centrally located with a more modern approach to a big city layout and secondly, the energy in Cbus feels very hopeful. When we’re there we feel as if the city is alive and growing.

What was the last local show you attended? What did you like about it? 

The last Cbus show we went to was to see Parker (formerly of Forest and the Evergreens) at the Woodlands [Tavern]. Parker’s from Huron, OH which is right next to the little city we are from so obviously we are big supporters of what he does, not that it’s hard to find reason to be, the dude is killer.  A voice like velvet with the face of an angel.

What can we expect from you/your band in 2018?

Mister Moon has spent the winter writing, recording, and preparing for 2018. There is a potential tour with some good friends of ours in the works, we’ll be releasing music at a much faster rate than previous years, and obviously we’ll be playing shows around Ohio.

What shows in Columbus are you stoked about attending this year? Why? 

Honestly, we’re psyched to just keep meeting more cool people. W e are from a small town (like 17,000 population) and so being in Cbus where there is a thriving music scene and what seems like endless musicians is what gets us excited. We have some good buddies in a Columbus indie band called Wheelbarrel that we’re psyched to see play more, for sure.

Tell us about a memorable show you played in Columbus, and what made it such. 

We played at this place, it wasn’t a bar, it was an old firehouse/DIY venue. It was packed, smoky, sweaty, and everyone was there just having a good time. MIIR, a Columbus hip hop artist, really stuck out to me. Her songs were really, really catchy and we was just overall impressed. We actually play as her backing band from time to time . We LOVE her music.

What excites you about being a musician in this day and age? What can be improved upon?

What excites us about music right now is how fast the process can be from an idea in Mister Moons head, to when it gets into a listeners head. We can flesh out an idea, record, mix, and release a song in a day if we want to, and not only that, but because of the internet, we can get responses from all over the world. We have a handful of South Korean fans on Facebook that came across our stuff on the internet! And as for what can be improved, we have no clue. All we can do is try to be a professional and treat people with respect and hopefully be treated the same way.

What would you like to see develop further in the Columbus music scene in 2018 and beyond?

Columbus has been doing all the right things for a while now. If everyone keeps it up and keeps collaborating and working together to improve the scene, there is no limit to the success. We truly believe that the more artists from different scenes working together the better it is for the community as a whole. BAND TOGETHER.

Mister Moon is on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. You can find their music on iTunes and Bandcamp.

This article is brought you in partnership with the Columbus Music Commission.