Meet Moby Rich, the LA pop duo supporting BROODS in Australia

Moby Rich are a two-piece on the edge of an international break-out. Over the last year, the emerging LA two-piece have stepped forward as a promising name in pop-rock, occupying a space similar to bands including Australian heavyweights 5SOS as consistent single releases and their debut EP, last year's aptly-titled Our First EP, bring together guitar-thick instrumentals with strong pop hooks not too far off those dominating the charts. It's a sound that on paper isn't too unique; 5SOS have championed this sound through their exponential rise, while bands like half•alive and Nasty Cherry are blossoming with similar, guitar-back textures. However, Moby Rich are keeping things unique, utilising this pop-rock sound simply as a backbone that they experiment and grow over the top of.

Take their pair of 2019 singles thus far - Blink and Sabotage - for example. The former is a single that feels more low-key, with their upbeat rhythms and confident pop hooks reduced slightly as they craft a single that carries of an infectious, instantly-catchy sound. The latter, meanwhile, feels more refined and slick, with the two-piece cementing their crafty sound while solidifying their abilities to work off each other to create the best work possible. "Where my vocal lacks, his vocal picks up the slack and vice versa," says one-half of the duo, Connor Pledger, on the other half, Maxwell Joseph. "Almost like a yin and yang of vocal qualities." They're a duo bent on collaborational songwriting, which perhaps is reflected in how slick and polished their sound feels when their brains meet, something they're looking set to further showcase with a big year ahead.

A big part of said year ahead comes in the form of a support slot for BROODS, touring alongside the explosive New Zealand duo on a victory lap around the country currently away, with dates through to the end of the month. Find the dates below alongside their latest single, which you can stream while you better get to know a duo bound to blow up very, very soon.

Tell us about yourself?

Telling someone about yourself is always a bit awkward. To be honest, we are goofy and a bit fucked up in the head. We are also pretty normal if that makes any sense. We love to read, get tattoos, drink coffee and go for runs. We like the beach and smoking cigarettes with friends. We also love creating music. We live together in Los Angeles. We really like California and don’t plan on moving anytime soon. However, we love getting to travel to new cities, be it in the US, or overseas. We are really looking forward to touring to start picking up even more. At this moment, we are currently in Melbourne, Australia drinking coffee and waking up after a night of partying with the locals and exploring a bit. Today we are going to try to cuddle a koala and or Kangaroo. Wish us luck.

What’s the vibe music-wise?

We like to think of ourselves as alt-pop. Similar qualities to MGMT, Cage The Elephant and Weezer.

We love a lot of different music so we think it bleeds through a bit into our sounds and productions. We tend to write about the things that trouble us in our own lives (anxiety, depression, relationships, failure) we know these are problems that so many people struggle with, ourselves included, and we want to create a safe space with our music to talk about them and let people know that we understand how they feel.

What are your production and writing processes like?

We are a bit all over the place. It can start with an idea or come from nowhere. We are both very open to allowing the process to illuminate itself in whatever way it will. We prefer to start with a concept if possible, but never want to stifle the process if it comes in another way.

We also like to be sure while writing the song that we can strip it down to acoustic, to be sure that the song can stand alone. It’s always nice to know that you can have a stripped version for acoustic settings. We both come from singer-songwriter backgrounds, and the idea of being able to strip the song down to its bare-bones has always been exciting to us.

Can you tell us about your latest single, Sabotage?

Sabotage is a little ditty about self-destruction. We are both masters in the art of self-sabotage.

Any tour dates coming up?

We are currently on Tour with Broods in Australia and when we return to the US we will be playing our first headline show in LA on June 26th at the resident.

You’re touring Australia with BROODS – can you walk us through your live show and what to expect?

When we tour it’s us and our drummer Gavin McDonald. With the three of us, we are able to get the sound of the record and add in a bit more hype and energy with live drums, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, synths, samplers and a lot of jumping around. We are excited to see what the crowd will be like here in Australia. We are gonna try and play as many songs as possible and let the crowd get to know us and what we’re about. Australia is so receptive to new music so we’re excited to see what will happen. It’s gonna be a blast.

What does 2019 have in store for you?

So far, 2019 has been a beautiful year for us. The rest is a bit of a mystery.

What we do know is that we will be releasing more music and playing as many shows as humanly possible! And in between, we are going to continue to write more and more music. And hopefully, some more crazy music videos too!

Where can we find more of your music?

You can find our music on Spotify, Apple, YouTube and pretty much wherever you can listen to music.

Tour Dates:

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