Toronto musician Daniel Woodhead sits silently inside Ottawa’s Ritual nightclub on Jan. 12, watching acclaimed Canadian hardcore punk act Fucked Up soundcheck onstage. Amidst the loud guitar riffing and crashing drums of his touring partners, Woodhead recounts stories of how the unique musical relationship formed.
“We played with Fucked Up in 2006 in Toronto,” he said. “I had heard of them at the time, but didn’t know much about them at the time. They are a really great band though.”
Woodhead and Fucked Up have reunited for a short string of tour dates through Canada this winter, with Woodhead bringing his current musical project in tow to perform with.
Under the name Moon King, the project consists of Woodhead handling lead vocals, and Maddy Wilde rounding out the sound with backing vocals and electric guitar.
Moon King was formed in 2011 from the ashes of the duo’s previous band, noted Canadian indie-rock quartet Spiral Beach.
“I had an idea for a fictional band when Spiral Beach was finishing up, which would feature an imaginary Japanese girl as the lead singer,” Woodhead said.
“At the time, Maddy and I didn’t think this was going to be an actual project. But I had a few leftover songs that I had written and decided I needed to do something with them.”
After playing and collaborating with former members of Spiral Beach, and other Canadian musicians such as Grimes and Daniel Lee of Toronto indie act Hooded Fang, Woodhead described the creation of Moon King as something that had to be done.
While he and Wilde are the main duo involved with the band’s creative process, a number of other musicians are incorporated in live settings to add to the band’s sound and performance.
These musicians, who are either friends of the band or people that Woodhead has collaborated with, tour and perform depending on their own schedules.
“We’re not really a band that hangs out and jams,” he said. “It’s weird, because that’s what most bands are like. They hang out and jam for a few hours in the basement. This band is not like that. I teach someone the song I wrote, then we get together a few times before a tour and play it a few times, and then we go play shows. That’s it.”
Woodhead has found musicians to play and collaborate with through mutual friends, the Internet, and watching local bands within Toronto’s grassroots music scene.
With everyone having to balance time between their own musical endeavours, Woodhead sees that factor of the group as more of a blessing than a curse.
“I think the most important thing is that all these collaborators have their own personality through making their own music,” he said. “It’s more important that everybody be interesting on their own. I hate the idea of being tied down to one thing.”
Having released their debut EP Obsession I this past August, Moon King is currently capturing the attention of music press and listeners across the country with their dream-like vocal harmonies, pounding percussion, and effects-laden guitars.
The connection with their current tour partners runs even deeper, as the band will release new music in 2013 on record label One Big Silence, operated by Fucked Up guitarist Mike Haliechuk. Like any hard-working act, the musical forecast is also sure to include more touring.
“The other cool thing about having so many shifting members of the band is that [Wilde] and I can just continuously stay on tour,” he said.
“Neither of us have apartments right now, so we’ll just have to keep floating and keep playing.”
