Come meet rising star Angela Perley of Angela Perley & The Howlin' Moons! At 27-years-old, Angela Perley’s nostalgic and high energy music tells stories of love, death, railroads, and everything in-between. Her songs are rooted in small town Ohio where she spent much of her childhood wandering in her family’s cornfields, enveloped in her own world of dreams and imagination.
I read that you get a lot of your inspiration from old movies, I am also a huge fan. What are some favorites?
The first old movie I ever fell in love with was when I watched The Wizard of Oz when I was little. Such a classic mix of imagination and innocence and to this day is in my tops because it was the first movie that really made an impact on me. I remember memorizing “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” immediately and singing it on my backyard swing wishing I was Dorothy.
I think from that point on I used the public library to mostly check out old movies and music and only watched TV to absorb movies on TCM (Turner Classic Movies). I mean where else can you watch Charlie Chaplin and obscure silent films at 2am in the morning?
I’m a big Hitchcock fan and my favorite films of his are Notorious and Vertigo . As far as romantic films I would have to say that To Have and Have Not ,Casablanca, Gone with the Wind, Splendor in the Grass , A Place in the Sun, and Butterfield 8 are my favorites. I Love Marilyn Monroe’s comedies too so Some Like it Hot, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes , and How to Marry a Millionaire are up there. I’ll stop it there because then there is the tender place in my heart for all the 60’s and 70’s cult films and Fellini movies.
Give me a day in the life on the road…
A day in the life of the road is driving for hours in the band van listening and singing along to Satellite radio- always keeps it fresh when we run out of records to listen to and usually there are some sweet live in-studio performances. Favorite cruising channels are Outlaw Country, Willie’s Roadhouse, The Loft, and 40s on 4. We always try to bring healthy snacks and fruit on the road- but mornings usually evolve around local diners and Waffle House’s, safe road lunch is usually Chipotle, Subway, and Starbucks for coffee, and dinner is usually whatever is provided at the gig or whatever happens to be in town that is local- we tend to always find good mom and pop Mexican food.
We are a pretty laid back crew so our road life is mainly laughing a lot, loading and unloading gear, and getting to play music with each other in all sorts of settings/venues- from 10-20 people kind of shows to big ones that are pretty rowdy. One time the electric went out in the whole town we played in so the crowd lit some candles and we did the show unplugged in the dark. Another time the whole electricity in most of Ohio was out from a big wind storm but we played a full out electric show in the middle of the woods and people heard it from their houses and small town nearby and came out and started dancing- so many memorable experiences like this make playing music truly a pleasure.
This year we have mainly been doing weekend warrior runs to NYC, Chicago, TN, KY, NC, and SC, although last month we played in NXNE so got to check out Toronto, Canada which was a great music town. Ohio is a great launching pad to get to a lot of different cool cities in a short period of time- so we are still doing everything pretty grass roots and just trying to get out as much as we can to support ourselves and having a blast doing it. The guys in the band are so amazing and talented and just generally kind hearted and humble people- so it really does feel like a family/wolfpack wherever we go.
What can one expect at a Angela Perley & The Howlin' Moons live show?
One can always expect us to switch things up at a live show. Depending on the venue/space we switch all the time between full out electric rock sets, to more country/folk acoustic shows to somewhere in-between. We are usually pretty spontaneous and set a lot of shows on how we are feeling and how the crowd is feeling. We have a lot of energy so you will most likely see me jumping around and dancing while playing my guitar and playing musical saw. If our bass player, Billy Zehnal, is feeling it you may catch him doing the splits while playing, and our guitar player, Chris Connor, has been known every blue moon to entertain us with some guitar teeth playing. Steve Rupp, our drummer holds it down and keeps a mean steady beat. Many people say they prefer our live show over our recordings- there definitely is one of a kind magic in the live shows and band chemistry that really makes it special.
Where can one go to buy the latest EP, Nowhere is Now Here?
If one would like to purchase our latest EP Nowhere is Now Here they can get it on iTunes, Amazon, and Rhapsody and can also stream it on Spotify. Physical copies right now can only be purchased at live shows but if you go to our website ( www.angelaperley.com) in the contact section there is an email contact with info. on how to order through paypal and have the EPs mailed out to those who really want a physical copy but can’t make it to the shows.
What is next for Angela Perley & The Howlin' Moons?
We have some some shows in Chicago, Knoxville, South Carolina, and New York City coming up this summer and have a ton of gigs in and around Ohio coming up. We are finishing up our first full length record which will be due out hopefully late fall under Vital Music USA, which has done all our previous EPs and music videos. If we get it out by Nov/Dec then we have plans in motion to tour the UK in fall of 2014 which will be amazing- they have taken the most interest in our music so far which is pretty cool- so hoping we can line up the timing right to make that happen. Then hopefully next year we can start doing some longer tours and more music festivals. Goal is to keep on truckin’ and keep growing and making music that inspires us.
Angela Perley & The Howlin' Moons
The Southgate House Revival
Wednesday July 17th
10p
FREE
