Thinking in Portlandia Skits with Moon Gel

interview by Gavin Valladares || photography by Sophia Ragomo

A few weeks ago we had the chance to talk to psychedelic synth group, Moon Gel, previewing their latest music video for their track, “Muscle Memory,” directed by Isabel Damberg. It’s no secret that these girls have an energy that is no less than infections, I mean, when you think in Portlandia skits and speak for the smooshed coffee cups of the world, what else can you expect? Talking with the members of Moon Gel had to be one of the funniest interviews we’ve done, and with every answer they gave, inspired us further. Keep reading to learn more about the latest group taking over NYC.

First off, I wanna start by getting to know you even better! What is everyone's name, what instrument do you play, and if you had to live on one fast food restaurant for the rest of you life, what would it be?

Khaya: I’m Khaya! I’m the singer and producer of the group. And hmmm, probs Dollar Za.

Leah: Hey I’m Leah! I play drumz and I’d live off Halal Guys, no doubt.

Emily: I’m Emilyyyy!!! I play keyboards and this is a really hard choice. McDonalds is like c’mon a classic. Nothing like those fries at 3am.

I see you guys announced in your first ever Instagram post that you were together for six years before being ready to release music, how do you feel that this somewhat longer period influenced the development of your music more than other bands that release in say one or two years after forming?

Khaya: Emily and I had met when we were in high school, at a music camp at Berklee College of Music. Apparently I was mean to her and we weren’t friends that summer, but when we got back she asked me to be in a band with her. And we’d played in groups together on and off from then until now. We also used to write together for our high school band. We talk about this a lot, how we feel like the evolution from high school us to mature us plays a huge role in how well Moon Gel works. We both had to mature personally and musically to collaborate in the way we do now. Now, it’s like we are always on the same wavelength when we are creating, and it just makes it so fun. And then we met Leah, an absolute gem of a human, who really takes the band to the next level musically and also socially. I think Moon Gel is a really well working machine right now because we are all such good friends, but also because we all work really hard and care a lot about the art we make.

Leah: Khaya and Emily are both absolute gems of humans. It was clear to me as soon as I met them that they had a strong friendship that only comes from spending a good amount of time together, and that’s the first thing you hear when you listen to the music.

Emily: Khaya wasn’t mean she was just very scary when I met her, but I’m scared of lots of people when I meet them. We always had similar tastes in music which we vibed on so we consistently wrote together throughout the years. I think we have definitely fine tuned our skills and styles as writers and I think we are even more so on the same page with our taste in music now. Doing a band now after all this time just feels right and I think we really know how to work well together. Leah is the BEST and has brought so so so much to the group. It’s like we’ve known her for all the years me and Khaya have worked together, she was there in spirit I think haha.

Tell us a little bit about this new music video, how was the concept created and what do you want people watching (or reading) to know about it?

Khaya: We are all a little bit scared of cameras, so our approach to music video making is very casual. But we are working with my friend Isabel Damberg, an amazing filmmaker who specializes in experimental and art work. She is basically a one woman crew. We did our last video with her too. I love working with Isabel because it is so fun and chill. For this video we shot in a black box at the theater we rehearse in...we sort of just hung out and lip sang/lip played our song a bunch and played with the lights, and she directed and captured all of it. And now she’s editing, and I trust her 100% and know it’s gonna be amazing.

Leah: Music videos are so fun! Cameras are definitely scary, but creating art in a visual medium really opens up creativity. We spent a bunch of hours working in the black box with Isabel and our friends Marissa and Sophie, which fostered a really beautiful environment for sharing ideas. My question for anyone who watches it is if they can figure out what 1977 film we reference in the video ;)

Emily: Isabel is amazing and the video is going to look wild! We did some really funky takes with a film projected on us and Leah has some light sabers for sticks at one point.

I recently listened to your single, "Drama Queens;" personally, it reminded me a lot of Muse blended with Blondie. I really enjoyed your use of progressive keyboard parts with blissful vocals. What was your favorite part of recording this track?

Khaya: Thank you! This track started out with a splice loop (shout out splice). Splice is a program for sharing samples. So I found that synth loop the song starts out with the first day I got splice and was so inspired by it that I wrote an entire song around it, in like an hour. This was fun because it kind of just came out of me. I demoed it out on ableton, but it wasn’t quite there yet sonically so I brought it to Emily, who wrote these amazing synth parts. Then we got together and recorded them and wrote the bridge, which is basically just a massive, timeless, reverbed out explosion.

Emily: Thanks! My favorite part of recording this was figuring out the bridge of the song. I found this massive bass sound on the MicoKorg which fit so well and I think matched the “buzz” in our minds really well. We also put a “whip” sound in the chorus which was fun to find on splice. They have some cool sounds on there.

Pretty straightforward question here: in your time together, what's the funniest experience that you have shared together?

Khaya: Literally too many. We die laughing in every rehearsal. But also our sense of humor probably doesn’t translate to other people because we are pretty stupid. I’ll list one moment here and let the other two list more. We had a whole bit getting to a gig last week where every turn we made we announced that we were ‘banking’ left or right. Yeah, sounds dumb but we thought it was hilarious. Oh and I need to add another one about a coffee cup we used to keep a door held open but then when we came back the door had squashed the cup and we had a whole bit where the coffee cup was just screaming “HELP ME I’M STUCK.”

Leah: I’m legitimately cracking up thinking of the ‘banking’ bit. All of our jokes are pretty stupid, but specifically there is a lot of dumb humor that goes on during our song ‘Panic Mania’. Sometimes Khaya puts the entire microphone in her mouth during that song. Sometimes I forget a section of the song and come in early, so Emily looks at me and furiously shakes her head in warning beforehand. Sometimes the entire drum set breaks because I go a wee bit too hard.

Emily: We always think in Portlandia skits haha. I’ve never laughed harder than at some of the stuff we say. We have this thing of going to get Ramen and having spoons for hands or chopsticks for hands. It’s funny to wave at people through the window because a lot of the time they look directly at us and immediately turn away.  

As an all female group coming out of NYC, in what ways do you try to inspire the next generation of women that want to be musicians and look up to you?

Khaya: I think this is something that we try not to focus on. We all work really hard and are good at what we do, and happen to all be women, so we don’t want to identify as a ‘girl band.’ That being said though, working with women is amazing and easy, because we all pull equal weight. And I think that representation is the best way to inspire, so if a little girl sees us on stage and wants to be us, that is great.

Leah: We definitely all focus on music more than gender. However, Khaya’s right that representation absolutely is the best way to inspire. Every time I play with this band I hope that someone will hear it and feel the electricity that I did when I heard my favorite bands perform, especially all the younger girls who aren’t taken as seriously and don’t feel like there’s a place for them in music.

Emily: I agree with Khaya and Leah. We are all great at what we do and we make fun music. I work as a pit percussionist in children’s musicals. The thing that inspires me the most is when a young girl comes up to me after the show and has a beaming smile saying she also plays an instrument or plays percussion in school. I think that there are a lot more female musicians in the world right now that more young girls have to look up to which is so exciting. If we feel good playing our music and play really well, that is definitely how we aim to inspire the next generation of female musicians.

I'm not familiar with the NYC scene currently; what are some other bands you guys play often with and/or who are some of your favorites to play with?

Khaya: We’ve kind of just been taking whatever gigs come to us. We all go to music school, so we have a strong community of other artists and musicians. Emily and Leah both play in a ton of other bands that we love and support, so I’ll let them write about that.

Leah: Two bands I’ve really enjoyed playing with are Modern Diet and Sara Neal. I found them through working with Emily and Khaya, which really goes to show the supportive and encouraging nature of this particular group of musicians I’m fortunate enough to have ended up with.

Emily: It’s great to always run into people at shows who are also playing. It just shows how tight knit the community is of artists and musicians. Right now two other pop groups I play with are Sunspeaker and JW Francis which are both a really fun time! I also play in a contemporary music group called Alpine Ensemble led by Clifford Cameron which I get to play vibraphone in. I also have another project that I write and play vibraphone for called Whaliens! Which is a experimental/jazz/rock group.

Outside of the band, what does each on of you do in terms of jobs and have these jobs ever played into the mood or lyrics of your music?

Khaya: I’m a producer and songwriter, so I’ll write and produce for and with other artists. This and Moon Gel definitely feed into each other because I am constantly creating music and learning new production skills and coming up with new ideas that I can then work back into the band. And reversely, Moon Gel is one of the projects that I work on tirelessly and allows me get some of my 10,000 hours of production.

Leah: I just started studying as a freshman at The New School For Jazz, so the idea of getting a real adult job scares me. Maybe I’ll bartend or something? Only time will tell :-)

Emily: I’ve been doing a lot of giging with all the groups I’m in and the children’s shows which is great! I also assist in booking at The Groove in Greenwhich Village and I often usher at BRIC House which is such a great space.

To bring this interview to a close, I want to ask if you will be coming California anytime soon? And what are your plans for the future, say the next six months!

Khaya: I don’t think any of us know our plans haha. Except Leah because she’s a lil baby freshman (but the coolest freshman ever). I plan on staying in NY, but I’ll let you know if I visit :)

Leah: It’s true, I am a lil baby freshman. I’ll likely continue to reside in NYC until I die, but maybe Moon Gel does a Cali tour?? Emily and Khaya are in charge of booking the gigs so I’ll wait for them to tell me where to go haha Leah if u can make a Cali tour happen I’m THERE.

Emily: Ooooo California would be fun!!! I’m down for it. We are planning a tour in June on the east coast which will be awesome! I just plan on continuing to play the gigs I’m playing and looking to do more composition! We will see what the future holds!

Huge thanks to Moon Gel for taking the time to talk with us, keep an eye out for all their future adventures because they won’t be ones to miss. You can keep up with upcoming shows, releases, and more inside jokes on their Instagram, linked here.

Cannot wait for everything 2019 holds in store for these killer musicians and artists.