Silverada has been a Texas country staple for almost two decades.
Known as Mike and the Moonpies until this year, the new name reflects a new direction and a new focus for the five-piece Austin-based group that got its start playing Monday night gigs.
Silverada has a record they’re excited about, a tour ready to go, and plan to take things up a notch. Prior to playing the Syndicate Smokedown in April, the band joined The Cowboy Channel to discuss where they are headed in 2024.
TCC: I am here with Mike Harmier and Zachary Moulton from Silverado, which, name change…
MH: Its pretty fresh, its going well right now I feel like. We’re happy, it was a big move, we wanted to do it for a long time, we have a record in the can that we’re really proud of, little bit of a departure for us and an evolution of the band, so we thought it was the perfect time to do it.
TCC: You might know them as Mike and The Moonpies but not anymore, so how is it going, is it confusing, is it a good rebranding?
ZM: I think it’s not confusing for people who care, there’s not much to it, it’s a good band and the same old thing.
MH: We’re the same guys, we’re the same band, nobody changed. No new members or anything and then the music is the same, there was reasons we had to do it and we kind of do what we want.
TCC: You’ve had a long successful career, what are some of your favorite moments?
MH: When we started this thing we played every Monday night at this bar called The Hole in the Wall in Austin and then moved over to every Thursday night at the White Horse on the east side of Austin and it was just steady growth of the whole thing into keeping that spiral going, getting outside of Texas at some point and touring the whole country, making a record overseas, there’s so many moments that, it just continues to grow and evolve. The evolution of it is my favorite part.
ZM: Honestly the name change moment’s like, I mean, the fans have to be happy for a band that’s excited about what they’re doing. That’s kind of how I’m feeling about it. We’re stoked on it and we’re ready to do the damn thing.
MH: What he said.
TCC: Out of all your music, do either of you have a favorite song?
MH: It kind of changes with me, I think my newest thing is always my favorite thing. We have a song right now called Radio Wave that I really like to play. It’ll change next week.
ZM: Honestly, Anywhere But Here, that ones right up there for me. I love playing it live. The new stuff, we’re excited to get out there and start playing it. Its fresh.
TCC: I read that when you write music, you have a lot of books around you and you read a lot of books. Is there anything specific you can think of that really helped you?
MH: For the most recent record, I was reading a lot these Jeff Tweedy books. He has a lot of these books about writing songs and kind of his story of his career with Wilco and Uncle Tupelo coming up. So, all of his books combined lately have been a big inspiration to me on how I’m writing.
TCC: Obviously, the name change is something big and new, but what else is new?
MH: We’re kind of at a slow build up to our year. We’re going to do a lot of touring in the later part of the year starting in summer. We’re headlining the Ryman for the first time in July. As soon as the record comes out, it’s going to be the next level, we’re going to level up a little bit and start really taking it as far as we can. It’s going to be a big year for us.
TCC: Being from Texas, I’m sure you have a lot of memories here in the Stockyards.
MH: Absolutely, I mean, we’ve played most of the bars here. Things that are closed down, you know what I mean. Some crazy nights at the Whiskey Girl I can remember. We’ve done Billy Bob’s so many times. We stop in Fort Worth all of the time, even when we don’t have a show, it’s a good hang every time and we have so many friends here. I’m thinking about going to Billy Bob’s tonight, (Fort Worth) is a great hang every time.
ZM: I never thought I’d say Billy Bob’s would be a home away from home kind of thing but it’s that way.
TCC: Any favorite on the road memory that comes to mind? Fun, crazy story anyone that jumps put?
MH: Zach…
ZM: Putting me on the spot here, crazy moments…(laughs)
MH: I’ll give you a recent one, we had two Monday night gigs this month and one of them was the eclipse party that we played a winery. And I’m not really a wine guy, I’m not really an eclipse guy it turns out. We did this show and we watched the eclipse, it was a weird day. And then a guy brought me in for a wine tasting and I had to pretend that I was really into it. So, Ron Yates Winery, if you’re watching - I’m sorry, I didn’t really get it.
Parts of this interview have been condensed for clarity. You can follow Silverada on social media here and listen to his music here.