Meet MOONLIGHT DESIRES

For fans of Sons of Butcher, Me First And The Gimme Gimmes, Foo Fighters, Soundgarden, 80s pop hits.

Moonlight Desires might only play 80s cover songs, but you’d be wrong to dismiss them as just another cover band. Formed by long-time Hamilton, ON musician Trevor Ziebarth (Actor/Writer/Composer on Teletoon’s adult comedy series Sons of Butcher), Moonlight Desires is his ode to the raunchy romances and youthful misadventures of summer’s past. By re-working synth laden pop hits of the 1980s, Ziebarth manages to turn familiar guilty pleasures into modern, guitar-driven rock anthems.

“For those unfamiliar, I created a television show with my brother Jay Ziebarth back in 2005 called ‘Sons of Butcher’. It was a unique adult comedy cartoon series that aired on Teletoon and was sold to over 200 countries around the world. The show was the first to blend video heads into a cartoon world. The Sons of Butcher characters worked in a butcher shop by day and were a spandex clad rock outfit by night, with my character (Ricky Butcher) relentlessly trying to make it as a big rock star. As a companion to the show, Sons of Butcher recorded and released a few comedy rock albums using songs from the show as inspiration, and travelled across Canada twice on a sponsored tour by Teletoon. As a live band, Sons of Butcher used to perform heavied-up covers of 80s songs and they often became fan/crowd favourites. Ultimately, I noticed the positive response and it led to the formation of Moonlight Desires in 2013.” says Trevor Ziebarth.

As an homage to their Canadian music heritage, the band decided to take their name from the popular 80s song ‘Moonlight Desires’ by iconic singer/songwriter Gowan.

“I wanted to have a direct (1980s song) reference …but I also thought it would fit in nicely with the band’s heavier direction.” says Ziebarth.

Joined in the studio by drummer Dave Dunham (Not Of, DAVIDS, ex-Chore, ex-Sons Of Butcher) and lead guitarist Marco Bressette (Dead Tired, ex-Threat Signal), he says “Just The Hits: 1981-1985” is “…a more layered, fully realized version of the band. We really just wanted to show people a good time, while still staying true to our metal, grunge and hard rock influences. Thanks to Mitch Bowden at Mechanical Noise, the production sounds big and warm, and I think this album really captures the fun of what Moonlight Desires is all about.”

While their 2014 debut album “Frankie Goes To Hamilton” delivered a rollicking arrangement of classic love songs, the band’s follow-up “Just The Hits: 1981-1985”transforms timeless hits such as “Sunglasses At Night” by Corey Hart and “Something About You” by Level 42 into party rock anthems. Satisfying that hunger to escape the shackles of reality with fun times and familiar hits, Moonlight Desires entire catalogue will be available for the first time on all major digital platforms (including iTunes, Spotify, Google Play) on September 15, 2017.

The album explained by the band with a track bytrack:

This album features a hand-picked selection of massive 80s pop hits heavier up! This is a great summer driving soundtrack, perfect for pool parties or BBQs. It’s meant to be a soundtrack to celebration. With many memorable melodies from the past, it’s relatable yet still feel fresh and newly discovered.

A Criminal Mind is one of the biggest singles by Lawrence Gowan. We based the structure on the Styx/Gowan live version because we liked how creative it was, and we wanted this one to sound heavier/darker because of the lyrics. We used heavier guitar tones for this one, making it a bit more aggressive and dramatic to match the mood of the track. It builds towards a huge end.

Sunglasses At Night by Corey Hart is Canadian radio staple. We kept the catchy melodies and transformed the memorable synth line into heavier lead riffs. The song is a bit gritty, so we wanted to match that in this cover. The hard rock vibe is consistent throughout, culminating in a big Thin Lizzy style octave guitar finale!

Out Of Touch, a quintessential hit by Hal & Oates, is written around a chugging wall of guitars. This cover features an original bridge with a blackened death metal break! It still maintains the upbeat feel of the original throughout most of the song, but it’s transformed suddenly by an original bridge that’s meant as a nod to our love of blackened death metal!

Hungry Like The Wolf, originally by Duran Duran, features Jay Ziebarth (bass) on lead vocals! Jay used to sing some tracks with Sons of Butcher, so this one is for all of those old school fans. Stylistically, this is pretty much a straight cover of the original hit, but it’s faster and utilizes some cool production effects. We also kind of loved how one of the lyrics is “I’ll be upon you by the Moonlight sign”.

Exploding onto the album at a good clip, next is Rod Stewart’s monster single Young Turks! The lyrics speak to the freedom of youth and living life on your own terms, so we wanted to speed it up a lot and give those lyrics a boost of aggressive urgency. By the end, it kind of feels anthemic and we was surprised by how relatable it still is!

Bette Davis Eyes is not originally by Kim Carnes, but it was her version that we chose to cover. This one evolved slowly, but it ended up being quite upbeat and layered with lead guitars and high vocals. We wanted to keep the fun feel of the handclaps in the original so we actually layered a few percussive instruments, and even created our own instrument out of bits and pieces around the studio!

Holding Back The Years by Simply Red is a popular ballad that still gets radio play to this day. His version is re-imagined as a grunge’d up, down-tuned track with big, fuzzy sounding guitar riffs. It builds through the verses to a giant chorus melody, with many memorable moments throughout. In our opinion, this track is a perfect model for Moonlight Desires can produced a completely different approach to a classic.

Valerie by Steve Winwood has one of the biggest and most memorable chorus melodies of the 80s! Speeding it up and layering it with distorted Gibson Firebirds takes this hit in a rocking new direction. It maintains a lot of the upbeat fun of the original track, but adds some cool new moments. The jazzy solo and lead by Marco Bressette were inspired by the lyrics (“jazz on a summers day”), and the chorus was made to sound huge and singable!

Totally reimagined synth and bass parts turn Promises Promises by Naked Eyes into a chunky, feedback laden rock tune. We went for a more aggressive approach to give the lyrics a boost of anger. It’s the 80’s song you know and love, but with that Moonlight Desires feel.

Something About You by Level 42 is transformed into a distorted, downtuned track with soaring leads and screaming rock vocals. For most people who have heard the album, it has become the instant favourite! This one utilized the creative bass lines from the original, with new guitar parts.

The finale of the album is a take on a tender ballad, The Power of Love by Frankie Goes to Hollywood. Re-imagined more of a sludgy, shoe-gaze style hybrid. We wanted this one to feel dark and haunting. It seems to plod its way to the finish line thanks to an ever-building wall of octave guitar leads mixed with crashing drums and lots of feedback! It sort of bookends the album, nodding to the slow-but-heavy feel of A Criminal Mind in track 1.

Release Date: September 15, 2017
Label: Infamous Butcher Records
Distribution: IDLA (Worldwide Digital Delivery)’ and Available On: All digital platforms.

Tracklist:
1. A Criminal Mind (3:43)
2. Sunglasses At Night (2:56)
3. Out of Touch (3:17)
4. Hungry Like The Wolf (2:59)
5. Young Turks (3:51)
6. Bettie Davis Eyes (3:01)
7. Holding Back The Years (3:31)
8. Valerie (3:15)
9. Promises Promises (3:03)
10. Something About You (2:50)
11. The Power of Love (4:38)
Album Length: 37:09

Album Credits:
– All songs performed by: Moonlight Desires
– All songs written by: Various Artists
– All songs arranged by: Trevor Ziebarth- Produced by: Mitch Bowden at Mechanical Noise Studio in Dunnville, ON
– Mixed by: Mitch Bowden at Mechanical Noise Studio in Dunnville, ON
– Mastered by: Bill Henderson at Azimuth Recording
– Album Artwork by: Tara Smith (Photography), Jay Ziebarth (Layout/Arrangement), Tone Vantresca (Logo), Trevor Ziebarth (Concept)
– Member of SOCAN: Trevor Ziebarth
– Canadian Content: Yes

Album Band Lineup:
– Trevor Ziebarth – Vocals, Rhythm/Lead Guitar, Bass, Drums, Percussion
– Dave Dunham – Drums, Percussion
– Marco Bressette – Lead Guitar, Solos
– Mitch Bowden – Guitars, Keyboard

Live Band Lineup:
– Trevor Ziebarth – Vocals, Rhythm Guitar
– Marco Bressette – Lead Guitar
– Nick K. Daleo – Rhythm Guitar
– Jay Ziebarth – Bass, Vocals
– Scott Brady – Drums

Discography
2017 – Just The Hits: 1981-1985
2014 – Frankie Goes To Hamilton

http://www.facebook.com/moonlightdesires