Full Moon/Eternal
The Power to posses you
Photographs by Jen Meller
During October 2020’s Full Blue Moon, Brooklyn’s supernatural supergroup Murder Tag was formed. The band talks about meeting during the making of a horror film, being surrounded by spirits, and their new double release “Full Moon/Eternal”.
Brooklyn, USA
Murder Tag was born while making a horror film. What was the experience like? How did it inspire the formation of Murder Tag?
Carlo: The film took place during the pandemic, when it was chilly, eerily dark with the full moon glowing directly above us. Those factors really set the scene for something ominous. And that’s what inspired the idea for this project- setting a scary and spooky theme for a horror film. Since we’re musicians and we “starred” in the film, it seemed like the perfect scenario for making music together. So I said to Mike and Stephanie, “Hey, I just wrote a bunch of melodies. Would you like to collaborate?”
Mike: Making the movie with Jen Meller and all our friends was a ridiculous amount of fun. It was the night of the Full Blue Moon October 2020 in the height of the pandemic, and it was the first time many of us had seen each other or interacted with other humans in quite awhile. I think we were looking for another way to harness and hold onto the fun we were having a little longer. That became Murder Tag for Stephanie, Carlo, and myself.
Stephanie: It was the perfect antidote to pandemic stress. Like Mike said, it was the first time a lot of us had interacted with friends in months. What began as a fun DIY horror movie for Jen’s birthday led to us joking about starting a band. Then Carlo had the brilliant idea of writing music for the soundtrack of the film. Sticking to a supernatural theme was a pretty timely and fun way to process everything going on in the world.
The band is composed of members of already active bands in the Brooklyn rock scene. How does Murder Tag allow each member to express themselves differently than in the other bands?
Carlo: The songwriting process can vary dynamically from band to band and writing a soundtrack was not common practice for us. We’ve also never played in a band together. Therefore, my approach to this project was to establish an objective, present the riffs and make it a collaborative effort. No matter what musical suggestions or ideas we had, we would listen to each other’s opinions, provide feedback and then hash out the ideas in songwriting sessions. Ultimately, it came down to keeping the communication open, being respectful and dedicating a healthy amount of time to the process.
Mike: I find it allows us some room to break out past some of the expectations that come with each of our individual bands. It was nice because we all came in with the general concept. We very quickly started finding some cool new places we all kinda wanted to travel musically together.
Stephanie: When we started writing together, we made a conscious decision to try to not make anything that sounded like our other bands. Of course, there’s hints of our personal styles still present, but we wanted to focus on mixing it up a bit. Having a specific supernatural theme and letting the project be focused on having fun really helped everything to flow easily. It was really exciting to see how our ideas meshed together and we’re pretty happy with the result.
What were the positives and negatives about forming a band during the pandemic?
Mike: We never would have had time for this project has it not been for the pandemic. It was definitely an obstacle, however, getting together to write and record during the pandemic. I remember, I had a few times I had close calls regarding contact with positive covid cases at my job, and that delayed a photo shoot, and some of our recording. But we took all the necessary precautions, and we were as safe as we could be with limited exposure.
Stephanie: Honestly, forming Murder Tag was such a healthy and cathartic release for me during the pandemic. It reminded me why making music is so important, and I’m really grateful for the experience.
Carlo:The negative is that rehearsing and tracking (and even editing) required diligence and strict scheduling. More than usual, because we had to abide by social distancing guidelines especially while tracking in my small rehearsal space. That is not an easy feat with 4 people!
The positive take away from this experience was that we had more time than we normally would have to focus on a side project. With no shows, meant fewer rehearsals and social events. That can really free up your schedule for other things. Now I might not be the best example of this because I’m notoriously starting projects and collaborations. But I acknowledge that the making of this record was made possible in large part by the pandemic. With that said, I’m incredibly grateful Mike, Stephanie and I were able to work together.
You just released a doUble single "Full Moon/Eternal". What is this about? What kind of journey are you taking us on?
Mike: Well, it is 2 songs, with an A-side and a B-side. Stephanie is a Gemini, so she can definitely tell you all about the duality of our songs.
Stephanie: Haha! Thanks for that introduction Mike! What was really cool about writing these songs was that Mike and I sort of made an unsaid decision to each pick a song to write lyrics/ vocal melodies to. I wrote the words and vocals for Full Moon and Mike did for Eternal. To me, Full Moon has an edgy 60s vibe with lots of dreamy backups and disorienting guitars. Without giving too much away about the film, lyrically I was focusing on the idea that spirits and entities surround us constantly. Maybe spirits are always listening...and possibly some actually have the power to possess you. I feel like Eternal takes a more 80s goth path with a mix of hopeful and tragic melodies.
Carlo: Originally, the songs “Full Moon” and “Eternal” had different working titles. One was called “Someone Spilled the Moon Juice” and the other “I Didn’t Bring Anything to Light It”. They both are in reference to scenes from the film, which unfortunately we can’t give away. But musically, “Full Moon” is taking you on an alluring, dark and disorientating walk through a spooky haunted place, like a castle. “Eternal” is more alarming and mystical in the mood it creates, leaving the listener uncertain whether to run or stand still. And we all know that feeling while watching horror films!
What's next for Murder Tag?
Stephanie: We definitely have more ideas to explore, but we aren’t putting any pressure on it as far as timing. Fingers crossed, maybe there will be something special in store for Halloween 2021!
Mike: There’s a real musical connection here that we definitely haven’t finished exploring. As long as we’re having fun, we’ll probably keep doing it. I kind of like that there’s no real agenda or strict timeline. I think it’s a really good outlet for the 3 of us with everything else we’ve got going on.
Carlo: It was a great opportunity to make some spooky tunes together for Jen Meller’s horror film and maybe we’ll collaborate again in the near future. We’ll keep you in the loop! In the meantime, stay on the lookout for the film premiere (to be announced).
