A Q&A with Moonshie Sax
“Moonshie Sax,” aka Matthew Palmquist, is the co-producer, lyricist, and saxophonist in the Minneapolis funk-duo, The Ancient Moon. Moonshie also describes himself as a “freelance saxophonist” willing to collaborate with other musicians featuring his mean saxophone.
His unique name is a reference to a friend of his that suggested “Moonshie,” combined with the instrument he has performed since his days performing open-mic nights at the tender age of 6 years old. It’s pretty clear that music is in his veins.
Q: When did you first begin playing the saxophone, and what drew you to that instrument?
I started playing in 4th grade. I was basically in a music class and they were showing us jazz composers, and they played a song by John Coltrane, he’s the greatest saxophone player of all time, I went home that night and told my Mom and she called her brother – he had one and brought it over to me that he hadn’t touched in years. In 6th grade I would play in bars with bands that my dad knew. It put me on a path to play in front of people. I can look back and I feel destined to do this, you now? They started me young. I fell in love with it. It’s the one thing I can never lose. You can lose a lot of stuff in life, but I can’t lose my saxophone, or my will to play.
Besides performing music, Moonshie wrote the lyrics to The Ancient Moon’s tracks such as: “Happy Thoughts,” “The 8th Wonder,” and “3am.” Their latest track, “Dilapitated Luna” is a progressive, funk track featuring Moonshie on the saxophone alongside progressive dubstep chords.
Q:Which track would you consider to be your favorite, or a standout track?
“No Soul” is probably my favorite. The beat builds so well, then it stops, and it hits you so hard.
The Ancient Moon is comprised of Minneapolis duo, Carter Petry – Producer / DJ / Guitar / Synth / Vocals, and Matthew Palmquist – Producer / Alto Saxophone / Vocals. The duo have been creating music together since (last) February 2017, and are part of the record label, Blooming Tone Records.
The Ancient Moon’s tracks can be described as funky, vibrant, ambient music. Its words are a mix of hip-hop, rap and funk. Some tracks include dubstep, and Moonshie’s, iconic saxophone.
Q: What artists inspire you?
There’s not one artist that inspires my producing, I just have all these ideas always circulating in my head, when I sit down at my laptop I can put them down.
I like trippy down-tempo psychedelic music. Cymbalto (soundcloud, spotify), His music is really tribal and has a trippy feeling to it. When I started playing in the electronic scene I wanted to produce music that was similar.
Moonshie has performed with The Ancient Moon at past events including, StrangeLand Music Festival held on May 2017, in Nebraska. The Ancient Moon has also performed with other local artists to raise donations for non-profit events such as “The Bridge of Youth,” a 24-hour youth shelter located in Minneapolis, MN.
Q:What has been your favorite show or festival to perform?
The first one that really stuck out to me was when I played with my friend Carter, the Ancient Moon. We opened up for Infected Mushroom at Skyway Theatre in Minneapolis.
When we got there, there was nobody at the main stage. the plan was that Carter was going to play for an hour and then call me up as a special guest, to mix things up … an hour goes by, I’m right by the giant mushroom, and I think “oh shit, it’s happening” and then there’s 2,000 people looking at me waiting to play the saxophone.
He plays the most beautiful tune and I always improvise. We were perfectly in-sync with our music. People were reaching for my hand at the front of the stage. I got off the stage after that set and took pictures with people and after that I signed autographs. It was NUTS! And I couldn’t have done it without Carter, he’s my best friend and put a lot of faith in me to bring me to shows like that so I’m grateful. I don’t work with him right now — he’s in New York working at a record studio, so Ancient Moon is kind of on hold.
Q: How did you prepare for the show tonight?
Right now we’ve been practicing a lot lately, we practice right before the show. It’s a two-hour set. We have to know exactly what we’re doing. Also, eat right — eat healthy food.
Q: Did you play anything new?
A lot of songs we performed at last week’s show. I added some acoustic stuff to it and some electronic stuff. I want to perform “Second Coming” again — I wrote that song for my family member. It’s a near-and-dear song to me.
“No soul” — it’s really trippy, almost dark in a way, I made it during a point in my life where I was having a rough time, instead of self-loathing, I made that song. You can feel. It’s darker than how I normally write songs. I haven’t released it yet, I’m getting it mastered by Max from Lifted Mindz. I’m going to promote it as a single.
Matt or “Moonshie” is available on Facebook to collaborate as a freelance saxophonist.
The duo can be contacted about their music at: AncientMNmusic@gmail.com
Story by: Kara Ketcher
