Moon Hooch is an American band from

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, New York, known for their dance-oriented percussion- and saxophone-based music. The band consists of saxophonists Wenzl McGowen and Michael Wilbur, and drummer Cyzon Griffin. The two woodwind players, along with original drummer James Muschler, met while attending

The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music The School of Jazz and Contemporary Music is a Private university, private music school of The New School in New York City. It is located on 13th Street (Manhattan), West 13th Street in the neighborhood of Greenwich Village. It was once known ...

, and got their start

busking Street performance or busking is the act of performing in public places for gratuity, gratuities. In many countries, the rewards are generally in the form of money but other gratuities such as food, drink or gifts may be given. Street performa ...

New York City Subway The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system in New York City serving the New York City boroughs, boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx. It is owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Tr ...

stations. Their self-titled debut album was released in 2013 and peaked at number 9 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Jazz Albums The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in ''Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ''Billboard'' charts, p ...

chart. Their second album ''This Is Cave Music'' was released on September 16, 2014. and reached number 5 on the Billboard Jazz Albums chart.

History

Early years

The band first started busking in 2010, playing in front of the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

. The band started out playing mostly jazz, but then moved to dance music after a better audience reception. Later, they decided to busk in the

. In the process they were banned from the Bedford Avenue station by the NYPD, who tried to prevent people from dancing on the platform edge. In 2011, they appeared as the house band on the Australian TV series ''

Hamish and Andy's Gap Year Hamish & Andy's Gap Year is a Logie Award–winning comedy series following Hamish Blake and Andy Lee (comedian), Andy Lee, a pair of Australian comedians, on their trips to various international locations. The first season saw the boys visiting ...

'' where they were re-christened "The Busketeers". Their album artwork is designed by Ari Michael Warner.

2013–2015

Moon Hooch in 2014. After gaining a reputation from busking, Moon Hooch started to release albums, beginning with their self-titled debut on June 25, 2013. It was recorded in a 24-hour period at Bunker Studio in Brooklyn, and most of the copies were sold while the band was still busking. Their second album, ''This is Cave Music'', was released on September 16, 2014, and was the first to use synthesizers, post-production work, and vocals. It received positive reviews, and many reviewers commented on the band's unique style. Their next album, ''Red Sky'', would continue to use the same elements pioneered in ''This is Cave Music''. Moon Hooch has been influential in the “brass house” genre, as well as pushing the boundaries of jazz.

2016–2024

The band released their first EP, ''The Joshua Tree'', in early 2017. Their second EP, ''Light It Up,'' was released on April 6, 2018, via Hornblow Recordings. The short three track EP was announced alongside the video for the first single of the album, "Acid Mountain." On November 5, 2019, Moon Hooch released the single ''Candlelight,'' followed by an announcement of the release of their newest album ''Life On Other Planets.'' The album was released in January 2020, and was followed by a large North American tour and a smaller European tour. In February 2021 they released a continuous play album ''2021: A Hooch Odyssey'', which featured remixes of their favorite songs. On September 9, 2021, the band released a new album titled ''Super Cone Bros'' referencing the character

Mario Mario (; ) is a Character (arts), character created by the Japanese game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the star of the ''Mario (franchise), Mario'' franchise, a recurring character in the ''Donkey Kong'' franchise, and the mascot of the Ja ...

April 2024–present

On Wednesday, April 10th, 2024 via his

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

, Jules Jenssen posted from

Asbury Park, NJ Asbury Park () is a beachfront City (New Jersey), city located on the Jersey Shore in Monmouth County, New Jersey, Monmouth County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is part of the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States cens ...

to announce that he would be playing drums with the band at Wonder Bar that night and "for the foreseeable future." Jules had previously assisted Michael with configuring his

live looping Live looping is the recording and playback of a piece of music in real-time using either dedicated hardware devices, called loopers or phrase samplers, or software running on a computer with an audio interface. Musicians can loop with either loo ...

setup (including auto-looping) and collaborates in similar capacities, and as a live playback engineer, with artists including Machine Gun Kelly,

Lil Wayne Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. (born September27, 1982), known professionally as Lil Wayne, is an American rapper. He is often regarded as one of the most influential hip hop artists of his generation, as well as one of the greatest rappers of all ...

The Kid Laroi Charlton Kenneth Jeffrey Howard (born 17 August 2003), known professionally as the Kid Laroi (stylized as The Kid LAROI), is an Australian rapper, singer and songwriter. He was first discovered by Triple J Unearthed in 2016 at the age of 13. As ...

Cordae Cordae Amari Brooks ( Dunston; born August 26, 1997), known mononymously as Cordae (formerly YBN Cordae and Entendre), is an American rapper. He began his career as a member of the hip hop collective YBN (collective), YBN. His 2019 debut studio ...

Benee Stella Rose Bennett (born 30 January 2000), better known as Benee (stylised in all caps; pronounced ) and formerly Bene, is a New Zealand singer and songwriter from Auckland. In both 2019 and 2020, she consecutively won Single of the Year, Bes ...

and Honeycomb ( Beat boxer and musician). On Monday, April 21st, 2025, Moon Hooch announced through their social media that they would begin an indefinite hiatus starting in 2026. In their announcement they also stated that each of the three members would be taking time to focus on their solo careers. They will continue to play shows through to the end of 2025.

Philosophy

The band believes deeply in environmental causes. They are strongly passionate about

environmentalism Environmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology, and social movement about supporting life, habitats, and surroundings. While environmentalism focuses more on the environmental and nature-related aspects of green ideology and politics, ecolog ...

and

sustainable living Sustainable living describes a lifestyle (sociology), lifestyle that attempts to reduce the use of Earth's natural resources by an individual or society. Its practitioners often attempt to reduce their ecological footprint (including their carbo ...

, and use their influence to share this philosophy with others. In 2017, they announced that the band would be

carbon neutral Global net-zero emissions is reached when greenhouse gas emissions and Greenhouse gas removal, removals due to human activities are in balance. It is often called simply net zero. ''Emissions'' can refer to all greenhouse gases or only carbon diox ...

. Along with environmental activism, the band is also united in their practice of

meditation Meditation is a practice in which an individual uses a technique to train attention and awareness and detach from reflexive, "discursive thinking", achieving a mentally clear and emotionally calm and stable state, while not judging the meditat ...

. They say that it helps to give them focus, something they value in their work. The band also believes that meditation has allowed them to become better people.

Discography

Studio albums * ''Moon Hooch'' (2013) * ''This Is Cave Music'' (2014) * '' Red Sky'' (2016) * ''Life on Other Planets'' (2020) * ''2021: A Hooch Odyssey'' (2021) * ''Super Cone Bros'' (2021) * ''My Head & My Heart'' (2023) * ''Yesterday's Problem'' (2024) * ''Tomorrow'' (Moon Hooch & Tonio Sagan, 2025) EPs * ''Joshua Tree'' (2017) * ''Light It Up'' (2018) * ''Light It Up Remix'' (ft. Roni size and D. Konopka, 2021) * ''Super Cone Bros'' (2021) Live albums * ''Live at the Cathedral'' (2017) * ''Live in Nashville'' (2020) Singles * "Moon Zooz, Pt. 1" (2016) * "Mon Santo" (2018) * "Acid Mountain" (2018) * "Rise" (Moon Hooch & Tonio Sagan, 2019) * "Give Yourself to Love" (2019) * "Candlelight" (2019) * "Nonphysical" (2019) * "Dirty Dishes" (2020) * "STONK" (2020) * "Moon Zooz, Pt. 2" (2021) * "One Planet" (2022)

Band members

* Michael Wilbur –

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (whi ...

soprano saxophone The soprano saxophone is a small, high-pitched member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments invented in the 1840s by Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax. Built in B♭ an octave above the tenor saxophone (or rarely, slightly small ...

bass saxophone The bass saxophone is the third lowest member of the saxophone family—larger and lower than the more common baritone saxophone. It was likely the first type of saxophone built by Adolphe Sax, as first observed by Berlioz in 1842. It is a trans ...

synthesizers A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

soprano clarinet A soprano clarinet is a clarinet that is higher in register than the basset horn or alto clarinet. The unmodified word ''clarinet'' usually refers to the B clarinet, which is by far the most common type. The term ''soprano'' also applies to th ...

, vocals * Wenzl McGowen –

baritone saxophone The baritone saxophone (sometimes abbreviated to "bari sax") is a member of the saxophone family of instruments, larger (and lower-pitched) than the tenor saxophone, but smaller (and higher-pitched) than the bass saxophone, bass. It is the lowe ...

contrabass clarinet The contrabass clarinet (also pedal clarinet, after the pedals of pipe organs) and contra-alto clarinet are the two largest members of the clarinet family that are in common usage. Modern contrabass clarinets are transposing instruments pitche ...

, EWI, synthesizers * Cyzon Griffin - drums and percussion

Former band members

* Jules Jenssen - drums and percussion * James Muschler – drums and percussion,

tabla A ''tabla'' is a pair of hand drums from the Indian subcontinent. Since the 18th century, it has been the principal percussion instrument in Hindustani classical music, where it may be played solo, as an accompaniment with other instruments a ...

* Ethan Snyder - drums and percussion

References

External links

* *
Official YouTube Channel

Official Bandcamp

Jules Jenssen / MAD MIDI's YouTube Channel

Moon Hooch on NPR's Tiny Desk
{{Authority control American dance music groups Musical groups from Brooklyn American street performers Palmetto Records artists Musical groups established in 2010 2010 establishments in New York City