Road warriors return home
Half Moon Run back for two Metropolis shows
All four members of Montreal indiepop-folk phenomenon Half Moon Run are, one by one, ambling into Indica Records’ expansive Plateau recording studio. One is changing into a clean shirt, others are sorting through gear, and guitarist/keyboardist Conner Molander is perusing the list of interview questions that he deftly swiped from my chair when I had my back turned. So much for the element of surprise.
It’s a quick hometown pit stop in preparation for an afternoon run to a Toronto concert that evening, and one step closer to the light at the end of a head-spinning, planet-spanning tour tunnel.
“I think, in 2013, we played something like 150 shows,” Molander says.
Actually, after their two sold-out dates at Metropolis this weekend, it will be exactly 168 concerts, including an Australian tour, two U.S. tours, two Canadian tours, three European tours and numerous short jaunts in between. To put that in context, that’s 66 more shows than apex touring animal Jon Bon Jovi’s seemingly never-ending six-continent Because We Can tour this year.
It’s an almost unbelievable number, made more so when you consider that Half Moon Run have performed nearly 350 times totally since their first small club show at Montreal’s Barfly in May 2010. So either they’re the first of a newly evolved suprahuman species of touring musician, or it’s simply not sustainable.
“It’s not sustainable,” Molander said bluntly.
“It’s coming to the end,” added drummer/keyboardist Dylan Phillips in a tone that resides somewhere between relief and disbelief. “I thought we were maxed out a while ago, but I guess you discover your limits. But we need the break now, and it’s coming in a few days.”
Despite it all, Half Moon Run — the band is rounded out by Devon Portielje (guitar/percussion) and new addition Isaac Symonds (drums/guitar/keys) — appear grounded and are gamely engaging, though all are suffering to some degree from a more existential kind of condition.
“We just came up with a name for it last night, actually: Acquired Tour Syndrome,” Phillips said. “It’s a combination of being dirty, tired, homesick, unhealthy, frustrated and broke.”
“It can start with something as simple as the weather,” Portielje said. “Like, if it’s really hot out and your clothes become really stinky and then everything goes downhill from there.”
That would be pretty much the only downhill trajectory associated with a band that has known nothing but astonishing ascendancy since their formation in 2009 and, specifically, the release of their very wellreceived debut album, Dark Eyes, in March 2012.
Dark Eyes is suffused with a sophisticated, spellbinding compositional wizardry that has drawn comparisons to Radiohead, Alt-J, Band of Horses and a whole host of significant others by the cream of the tastemaking crop. And for good reason. To see them perform their impossibly evocative YouTube hit Full Circle (nearly two million views and counting), for example, is to watch musical magic in action. Trademark three-part harmonies (all members sing) ride intricate psych-folk guitar lines, emotive electronics and subtle percussion that appeal to the heart, head and soul in equal measure. Follow-up singles Call Me in the Afternoon and She Wants to Know provide more of the same.
The point at which they realized they had something extraordinary on their hands came early. And it wasn’t long after that that the initial trio, all of whom had moved to Montreal for university (Molander and Phillips from Comox, B.C., and Portielje from Ottawa), had lifechanging decisions to make.
“I felt something at the first jam, to be honest,” Molander said. “Even back then, I had the feeling that this is good enough that, no matter what opportunities present themselves to the band, even at this early stage, I’m going to say yes to them because I believed in it right away. To the point that I dropped out of school before we really even had anything going, and so did Dylan. Essentially, it was an abandonment of our backup plan.
“It was either do a half-assed job at both school and with the band, or do a good job at one.”
They did a good enough job to catch the attention of Mumford and Sons keyboardist Ben Lovett, also a co-founder of U.K. indie label Communion.
“He came to one of our shows in London in 2012 on a recommendation,” Portielje said. “I didn’t know who he was, and he was like, ‘Hi, I’m Ben.’ And I was like, ‘Uh, hi Ben.’ (Laughs) He didn’t give any context as to who he was. He just said, ‘That was really cool.’ It wasn’t long after that we signed to his label.”
That led to an invitation to open for Mumford and Sons’ European stadium tour in March and April this year, an offer that would prove huge in every respect.
“They would invite us on stage to do encores,” Portielje said. “We did The Weight by The Band about four or five times with Mystery Jets, the other band on the tour, and there’d be about 18 of us on stage and we’d be playing to these enormous crowds…”
“We sh-t ourselves the first time,” said Phillips, prompting a good laugh and head nods all around. “One day, we walked up to see them sound check in this massive stadium, and through the mic Marcus (Mumford) said, ‘Hey guys, you wanna play with us tonight?’ And, well, the only answer is yes.”
“So (that night) I got Marcus’s guitar, and Isaac’s standing centre stage with a mandolin singing through the same mic as Marcus, Dylan’s on drums and Conner’s on keys,” Portielje said with a still-evi- dent wonderment.
And the odyssey didn’t end with the Mumfords. Half Moon Run have also toured with Of Monsters and Men, Metric and Patrick Watson while performing at band bucket list festivals like Glastonbury, Reading and Lollapalooza. Somewhere along the way, they’ve become a study in momentum. Early last December, they performed a sold-out show at the 700-seat Le National in Montreal without having done an iota of promo (“We just posted it on our Facebook page and people came,” Phillips said), and now, a year later, the band is readying for two soldout shows at the 2,300-seat Metropolis. These concerts represent more of an emotional milestone than a numerical one for these proud new Montrealers.
“It’s huge,” Phillips said. “I’m bringing my family out from B.C. — there’s no way I would let them miss it.”
“It’s a big homecoming after that whole massive year of ridiculous touring,” Portielje added. “They’re the last two shows of the year for us — it feels like the end of a chapter.”
Half Moon Run with Thus: Owls, Friday, and Folly and The Hunter Saturday, 8 p.m., at Metropolis, 59 Ste-Catherine E. Both shows are sold out.