AUSTIN BASED INDIE ROCK

POWERHOUSE MOVING CASTLES

KEEPS THE PASSION FLOWING AND ROUGH

EDGES INTACT ON THEIR PROVOCATIVE

DEBUT EP ‘TWIN DAGGERS’

They may call themselves Moving Castles—and no doubt they’ll be out touring the U.S. soon—but for now, the high energy art-pop influenced band is firmly planted on the thriving indie scene in Austin, Texas.

Moving Castles is on the front lines of a culture war in their hometown. In the infectious, biting tune “Warhol”, front man, guitarist, and main songwriter John Eric laments on the pitfalls of a culture of the tragically hip that uses feigned apathy and disinterest to gain a social high ground. It’s not up to one indie rock band to change a this ingrained mindset, but if anyone can inspire intense passion live and in the studio, it’s Eric and his cohorts Daniel Zane (guitar/vocals), Marshall Garrett Berry (guitar/vocals) and drummer Nick Cogdill.  Moving Castles draws inspiration from a provocative line in album closer “Hush My Bones” to title their debut 5-track EP: Twin Daggers.

Taking the spirit of the fast, earnest pop-punk music he listened to while growing up and putting an artful, brainy twist on it, Eric calls Moving Castles’ vibe slightly snarky, sometimes aggressive pop with very personal lyrics. “This EP shows what we can do on our own with absolutely no budget,” he says. “It shows that I can write and record great songs without the help of an outside producer. I intentionally left some rough edges on this recording. We wanted it to sound like a band playing together in a room with a lot of energy.”

“I want this EP to reflect the honesty of the songwriting, that we aren’t pandering to any demographic or trying to force success in any way. All of these songs are based on real people and events. We’re an honest band that loves to make music with very few gimmicks. Before coming together to form Moving Castles, Nick, Marshall and I were in a pop group that was gaining some level of notoriety but looking back, it was like we were pandering to a younger audience just to be successful. We’ve learned that in order for us to be happy, we cannot sacrifice any personal integrity when it comes to music.”

After the fallout of spending a year touring and playing guitar with the aforementioned group, John Eric got the guys together with a slightly different lineup in late 2009 to start playing some of his songs for the fun of it. Daniel was roommates with John Eric at the point that he was coming into his own as a songwriter. The two would write crass pop songs reminiscent of the band Ween. The personality of those pop songs would later inform the early Moving Castles material. This past year, each member relocated to Austin and Trevor Tull and Matty Panera would eventually round out the current line-up. Eric asked Tull to help him record and mix the EP. Moving Castles began playing opening slots on shows in East Texas, then began playing at the local rock venue in Tyler, Texas, where they had the strange experience of opening for the band Alien Ant Farm, who were at the height of their success when the members of Moving Castles were still in high school; according to Eric, the gig was oddly and somewhat underwhelmingly surreal. Recent dates in Austin include opening for Quiet Company and an event at Antone’s curated by rock band The Toadies and local rock station 101x.

In addition to “Warhol,” which uses the pop art icon to lament the lethargic culture of their new surroundings, Twin Daggers includes the fiery “Sick Girls,” which is an aggressive reaction to a girl toying with the emotions of a fragile friend; and “Hush My Bones,” which deals with the incredibly hermit-like and introverted John Eric’s disillusionment toward the rituals of dating and courtship as a modern day twenty-something.

Even though Eric is inward facing and distant when it comes to his personal life, he assumes a rare form (for him) on stage and in the studio. “In the previous bands I’ve worked with,” Eric says, “I contributed to the songwriting, but I was never the lead singer, so my role in Moving Castles really speaks about the confidence I now have in myself to be out there in front of people, projecting to the crowd and letting them into my head. Playing lead guitar is all about performing specific parts in a physical sense, but being a front man puts me in a unique situation where I am able to make a mental and emotional connection with an audience. It’s so much fun playing with these guys and we love having the opportunity to share ourselves so earnestly.”