Interview with Greg Dunn, singer of Moving Mountains

I did a phone interview with lead singer and guitarist, Gregory Dunn of Moving Mountains (MovMou). We chatted all things MovMou, as they are embarking on a new tour and are anticipating the release of a new album Waves.

Moving Mountains, not meant to be inspirational but implied, initially started as a school project by Dunn and drummer, Nick Pizzolato in 2005. "We would hang out, write music and record it. It was basically high school experimentation," said Dunn. Little did they know that after the tracks they recorded leaked on the Internet, a sensation was born. "It was sort of an accident. There were no shows and no band. People just really liked it." Eventually they completed the band with Frank Graniero, guitar/vocals and Mitchell Lee, bass. In 2007 they released Pneuma, which was later re-released in 2008 by Deep Elm Records. The follow-up effort to this was Forward, which came out just before the end of 2008. 

MovMou's sound is a clash of genres. They combine the post rock of bands like Taking Back Sunday and Brand New, but with the melodicness of a band like Thrice. "We combine the aesthetics of music," Dunn said. "...elements of punk and hardcore bands-with the aggressiveness of post rock." He also describes the writing process as a little bit challenging and interesting. "Our demographic covers a few different scenes, but it's better this way," he says.

After finding their burst of Internet success, Moving Mountains found themselves being hunted down by mainstream acts for touring. "It's so weird and it never gets old. At the end of the day we are a bunch of fan boys just like everyone else," said Dunn. Right out of the box, MovMou was asked by Thursday to join them on tour. "We get to tour with people who inspire us. It obviously made me pee my pants," he said with a laugh.

The first tour they embarked on was the "Say Anything Tour." Dunn describes it as a "real kick in the a**." They realized as a band that this was how things were going to be, and this is what it's like to play in front of 3,000 people. "I was just thinking, how did I survive? But in the end, we came out a better band."Dunn recalls the moment he realized that all this was real, "It was a sold out show on the tour. I just had this surreal out of body moment. I was like, holy sh*t, I'm playing in front of a couple thousand people. It was perfect." 

In talking about the new album, Waves (set for release May 10th 2011) Dunn says of the album "It's very much the same as everything we've done. The only difference between this and our previous works is that we are older." They produced and recorded themselves, and describe it as still Moving Mountains, but more of a "live record." "We wanted to make a record that we could play naturally on tour. The influences are two years of being on the road. I'm 22 now, I see things differently, my style is different," Dunn said. He promises the album is way more rock, more aggressive, and straight forward-"As real as possible."

So what does the immediate future hold for Moving Mountains? This summer they will be doing two months of Warped Tour before hopefully doing their own tour in the fall. "We would also like to tour out of the country, go to Europe and Australia in 2012," said Dunn. From his own experiences people in Europe are more receptive and open to new music. They are starting to make more ties overseas and hope to make the jump. "Next year we really want to devote our lives to doing it."

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