At an age when most bands are just starting to find a voice, Moon Taxi has emerged as a beacon of the heralded Nashville, TN music scene. After two LP releases in the less than two years and tireless touring, the band has seen their audience grow to packed theatres and festival stages around the US.

This fall, Moon Taxi heads out on the Animal Style Tour, their biggest headline tour to date. Before packing up the bus, the band has something for fans to give them a taste of what they can expect from the upcoming tour. We were able to chat with lead guitarist Spencer Thomson to chat about the new EP, the upcoming tour and Moon Taxi’s Immersion Bundle.

BitTorrent: You guys have described Mountains Beaches Cities as a big step for the band as songwriters. Was it a conscious effort to do something different? Were there any specific songs that helped drive that change? How is the writing process different for the band now as new songs come together?

Spencer Thomson: Our goal was just to make and write music we would want to listen to. One’s musical taste is constantly evolving so each record is going to be different. So far, as we’re working on songs for the next record we’ve been playing them live as a group more than we did on the last record. It’s probably too early to tell what that will mean for the end result. We tend to go through various stages when we are writing and recording each record. It can be messy and frustrating while you are doing it but in the end the big picture comes into view.

Our goal was just to make and write music we would want to listen to…We tend to go through various stages when we are writing and recording each record. It can be messy and frustrating while you are doing it but in the end the big picture comes into view.

BitTorrent: How important has coming up in the Nashville scene been for the band? Has that helped shape you as songwriters?

Spencer Thomson: There are definitely a lot of songwriters here and there are definitely a lot of business people here. There are a million resources in this town which is great. I think the important thing is to learn what you can but always maintain a unique voice. From the get go we’ve always toured outside of Nashville quite a bit. I feel like our view as songwriters is a little broader but we do try and maintain a sense of the South in our music. I think that probably comes through more than any “Nashville” sound.

BitTorrent: The live show has always been a big element for Moon Taxi. The Animal Style tour has the band stopping at some of the biggest venues you’ve played yet. Anything special prepared for the tour?

Spencer Thomson: Yeah, definitely. We’re planning on a new stage setup and bigger production than we’ve ever had for a tour. We’re also going to start playing some new material we are working on for the next album. That will be a lot of fun as I’m sure it will change and evolve from night to night.

BitTorrent: How do you decide BitTorrent Bundle for the release of the Live in Austin EP? In addition to the new record, what can fans expect from the Bundle?

Spencer Thomson: We wanted the chance to give our fans something back after all the support they’ve shown us. This allowed us to do that while reaching a large audience that may have not heard of us before. In addition to the Live EP, the bundle also contains 4 songs from our 2012 album Cabaret, the video for our song Mercury, a set of exclusive photos and the stems to our song Morocco for anyone out there who wants to take a stab at remixing the track. That’s actually what I’m probably most excited about. I’d love to hear some different takes on that song.

BitTorrent: What’s next for Moon Taxi after the Animal Style tour? What can fans expect in 2015?

Spencer Thomson: We are looking forward to a pair of big shows in Birmingham and Atlanta in November. We also have another big show announcement coming soon. Meanwhile we’re going to keep on working on the next record. We’re all really excited about that and you can look for that to come out in 2015.

Moon Taxi has teamed with BitTorrent to deliver the exclusive Live in Austin EP as a part of the Immersion BitTorrent Bundle, an “animal-style” digital collection of work, hand-crafted by the band for their fans. The 5-track EP was recorded live this past March at SXSW 2014 and features performances of singles from across Moon Taxi’s catalog.

Click here to unlock a Bundle steeped with a sampling of all the Moon Taxi goods, a new live EP, choice tracks from their catalog, multitrack stems, a new music video, and hand-picked photos. Listen up and check out Moon Taxi coming to your city soon on the Animal Style Tour this fall.

Moon Taxi Immersion Bundle

01 Live from Austin 5-track EP (Audio)
02 4 tracks from Caberet LP (Audio)
03 Morocco multitrack stems (Audio)
04 Mercury band-produced music video (Video)
05 Immersion Photobook (Art)

Moon Taxi Animal Style Tour

Click your city for tickets

09/04 Georgia Theatre Athens, GA
09/07 Loufest St. Louis, MO
09/13 Piney Wood Picnic Hattiesburg, MS
09/19 Bristol Rhythm and Roots Bristol, TN
09/24 The Bottleneck Lawrence, KS
09/26 Fox Theatre Boulder, CO
09/27 The State Room Salt Lake City, UT
09/29 Tractor Tavern Seattle, WA
09/30 Mississippi Studios Portland, OR
10/02 Slim’s San Francisco, CA
10/03 Cargo Reno, NV
10/04 Brooklyn Bowl Las Vegas, NV
10/05 House of Blues San Diego, CA
10/06 House of Blues Los Angeles, CA
10/07 Crescent Ballroom Phoenix, AZ
10/16 The Deluxe Indianapolis, IN
10/17 House of Blues Chicago, IL
10/18 The Stache Grand Rapids, MI
10/19 The Shelter Detroit, MI
10/21 The Fillmore Silver Spring, MD
10/22 Brighton Music Hall Allston, MA
10/24 Gramercy Theatre New York, NY
10/26 The Fillmore Charlotte, NC
10/28 House of Blues Orlando, FL
10/30 House of Blues New Orleans, LA
10/31 Track 29 Chattanooga, TN
11/04 Revolution Music Room Little Rock, AR
11/05 House of Blues Houston, TX
11/06 House of Blues Dallas, TX
11/21 Iron City Birmingham, AL
11/28 Buckhead Theatre Atlanta, GA

About BitTorrent Bundle

BitTorrent Bundle is an alpha project made with and for the web’s creative community. Our mission is to help artists connect directly with fans, inside the content they share.

Each BitTorrent Bundle allows artists to distribute content directly to the Internet. And each Bundle comes with a key. Fans can unlock artist content with an email address. The idea is to make each song a storefront, and each file more valuable, every time it’s shared. Got ideas for the next BitTorrent Bundle? Hit us up.