Interview with Pete Devine of Pete’s Rock News and Views (http://petesrocknewsandviews.com)
PD: What type of artist are you?
OTM: I’d say we fall somewhere between hard rock and heavy metal. There’s a definite kinship and some influences with the stoner and doom scenes, but I wouldn’t consider us entirely typical of those genres.
PD: Tell us the brief history of yourself.
OTM: The original lineup of Ol’ Time Moonshine came together in Toronto, Canada, in 2009, and we released our first EP, “The Demon Haunted World” in 2013. The success of that EP saw us signed to US label Salt of the Earth Records, for our second release, “The Apocalypse Trilogies”, and invited to several US stoner and doom festivals. The current lineup came together near the beginning of 2019, and recorded “Magic”, which was released on Salt of the Earth Records in 2022. Over the years, we’ve been blessed to have the opportunity to play with bands like Corrosion of Conformity, EyeHateGod, Life of Agony, Conan, Mars Red Sky, and Karma to Burn to name a few.
PD: Who are your musical and non-musical influences?
OTM: Speaking more personally here, Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath, Ian MacKaye from Fugazi, Woody Weatherman from Corrosion of Conformity and John Christ from the classic lineup of Danzig are probably my biggest guitar influences. Vocally, Glenn Danzig, Lemmy from Motorhead, Neil Fallon from Clutch. Lyrically, I get a lot of inspiration from history, science fiction and horror. For “The Apocalypse Trilogies” I ended up writing 3 short stories, and pulled the lyrical content and intros from the content and lore of those. While “Magic” still has a lot of the fantastical elements, it is a more personal record overall.
PD: What are your dreams and goals?
OTM: To share the music I love with the world, and to inspire others to create.
PD: Who writes your songs, what are they about?
OTM: I write the lyrics, and up until “Magic” Chris (guitar) and I wrote the music. For our next record, we’re all in the mix musically (“Magic” was largely written prior to Adam and Jesse joining). Jesse (bass and vocals) definitely adds a lot vocally and musically. Writing with Adam (drums) is a joy, he’s a hard-hitting, creative and conscientious drummer.
PD: How do you promote your band and shows?
OTM: I’ve been playing in bands off and on for close to 30 years. It’s changed a lot since I’ve started, haha. These days it’s a combination of social media and personal outreach, creating content (videos, pictures, performances, etc), postering, partnership with other bands, and shouting at anyone who’ll listen.
PD: What do you think about downloading music online?
OTM: Ah the internet – it’s a blessing and a curse. In general, I love the ability to listen to music on demand and access new and exciting music from all over the world – and that it has, in turn, allowed people to hear our music all over the world. I don’t like that it has devalued arts and culture and opened creators to exploitation.
PD: What song do you wish you’d written and why?
OTM: I’m not proud, I’ll go with Happy Birthday – it makes insane money! It’s made more than $50 million and still brings in something like $5K a day. In all seriousness, though, I don’t really have a favourite song that I wish I wrote – maybe a vocal line or guitar lick I wish I’d gotten to first, but my brain doesn’t really work like that. I’m a sucker for a clever turn of phrase, though.
PD: What are some of your pet peeves?
OTM: Technical difficulties, unwarranted egos, lateness, and venues with steep/narrow stairs.
PD: What is your proudest moment in music?
OTM: So far, the response to our latest album, “Magic”. After barely keeping the wheels on through several lineup 
changes, and then dealing with the pandemic fallout, it felt great to push through adversity and come out ahead. We did things a bit differently this time with the production and recording, and the risk paid off. With what we’ve learned from this release, we’re poised to push our next record even further.
PD: So what are you working on at the moment?
OTM: We’re working on the follow-up to “Magic”, workshopping riffs and arrangements. For now, the plan is to be in the studio by summer. We’ve just shot a video for the second single from “Magic”, “Hexslinger”, and we’re working on some live dates for the summer and fall.
PD: What music have you available online and where can we buy it from?
OTM: All of our albums are available digitally from Bandcamp (oltimemoonshine.bandcamp.com) . Physical copies of our last two records are available through Bandcamp, and Salt of the Earth Records (saltofteearthrecords.com). We’re on all of the major streaming services, and people can find us on our socials and get these links and more by visiting linktr.ee/oltimemoonshine.
Thanks for listening!
Ol’ Time Moonshine links:
Band/Artist location – Toronto, Ontario
Website – Facebook – You Tube – Soundcloud – Bandcamp – Merch – Reverbnation –
Twitter – Instagram – Apple – Spotify – Amazon – Deezer – LinkTree –
Check our page for Ol’ Time Moonshine
