NowVIZ Q+A
NowVIZ: How did the three of you become The Black Moods? Josh Kennedy I moved to Tempe, AZ from the Ozarks to attend the Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences. During that time, I started working in the Gin Blossoms’ studio recording local bands and working on my own demos. I met Chico through a mutual friend and we started playing all around Arizona. We eventually played with a band from L.A. that Jordan was in and we stole him. That’s the short version! NowVIZ: You put out an album Sunshine last May 2020, which was recorded by Grammy-nominated producer Johnny “K” Karkazis. He’s also working with you on your upcoming album due out this fall. Did that collaboration have an impact? Josh: Johnny has become a part of the family. He came in and stepped up our game--and pissed us off a lot! Sunshine was really about us getting to know each other. This record was like a crazy Christmas vacation. NowVIZ: A new emotional music video for the ballad “Home” is out which delves into the struggle of balancing family life with being a touring musician. How did the song evolve? Josh: We had nine songs completed for the record and felt we needed at least one more. There are mostly rock songs on the album, so we started talking about adding a ballad. My son was in the Midwest with his mother while we were in Arizona making the record so I would FaceTime him and play him some acoustic songs. I wasn’t on the phone for more than 15 minutes and the music that came out sounded like a lullaby. After I hung up the phone, I started writing and finished “Home” in about 10 minutes. It just poured out. The song captures the way the band feels being on the road away from the ones you love, hoping they don’t forget about you, grow away from you or grow up too fast. Then Covid hit and it resonated with everyone that couldn’t be with their loved ones due to being on the front lines, in bad health or stuck somewhere away from home. NowVIZ: How did the opportunity to record with legendary producer Eddie Kramer come about? Josh: I met Eddie Kramer at Gene Simmon’s house. Eddie has produced some of the KISS records and had stopped by to visit while I was there so Gene introduced us. We immediately hit it off so I started working on some studio projects with him. We stayed in touch over the years, so when the singles from Sunshine started breaking into the charts, I called him. We always seemed to be busy at the same time though, until Covid hit. With both of us free we decided to do something that hadn’t been done before and tracked a song together using Zoom and a software platform called Audio Movers. It was a blast! It’s amazing to work with such a legend; we are lucky to call him a friend.