Opening for Mumford & Sons a wild experience for Montreal’s Half Moon Run
Posted Apr 5, 2013 05:53:49 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
MONTREAL – Opening for popular British band Mumford & Sons on their current tour has been a heady experience for Montreal’s Half Moon Run.
“It’s extraordinary,” says Dylan Phillips, who does triple duty as keyboardist, drummer and singer with the Montreal-based pop rockers. “We’ve played in the biggest halls of our lives.”
Such as when excited fans packed the Anvers Sportpaleis is Belgium.
“The Mumford fans were crazy so they were there very early,” Phillips recalled in a telephone interview from Germany. “At the end of our set, there were already 18,000 people there. It was a little scary but it went well.”
In Amsterdam, Half Moon Run were invited on stage by the show’s stars.
“They asked us to join them on stage to play ‘The Weight.’ The other opening band was there too. Everyone had instruments. It was memorable.”
Mumford’s Ben Lovett spotted Half Moon Run at a show in London — an event Phillips describes as their “first buzz” on British soil — and asked the group if they’d like to tour.
“I knew a lot of bands wanted that gig,” Phillips said.
As if to put the cherry on top, Lovett signed them with his Communion label. Half Moon Run already have a foot in Australia with Indica Australia/ MGM.
Fans of the European scene, Half Moon Run have a busy schedule, alternating between their performances with Mumford & Sons and bookings in smaller venues.
Hailing from Ontario and British Columbia, the members of Half Moon Run met in Montreal when they were students.
About a year after the Canadian release of “Dark Eyes,” their first album, international interest began to grow.
Now it seems they barely have time to catch their breath.
Half Moon Run will also open for the Icelandic group Of Monsters & Men in Oakland and Kansas City as well as at a May 24 show in Montreal.
They will be in Toronto at Echo Beach the next day with Of Monsters & Men as well as Sam Roberts for an open-air festival.
Summer will also be packed, with a major show in August at Chicago’s Lollapalooza, said Phillips, although details have yet to be confirmed.
They are also hoping to squeeze in some time to produce some new material as well.
“However, the unexpected touring gives us little time to write,” Phillips noted.
They did manage a recording session during the Quebec showcase at the South by Southwest Festival in Texas last month and Phillips has been able to listen to a preliminary version.
“We’re very happy,” he said. “We’d like to get this out soon. We don’t know when or how.”
The band will likely produce their next studio album next year.
