Above, We Shot the Moon performs “A Silver Lining” during Sunday’s concert.
The members of We Shot the Moon don’t take themselves too seriously, and they will be the first ones to tell you.
Formed as the Honor Roll when lead vocalist and pianist Jonathan Jones’ band Waking Ashland split up, the San Diego quartet renamed themselves We Shot the Moon in 2007.
“It’s a reference to the card game Hearts,” Jones said. “We wanted to call our band Shoot the Moon, but there was a band that had the name Shoot the Moon at the time.”
We Shot the Moon has a funky sense of style and carry themselves well. They have no pretense. They are who they are.
The band characterizes their music as pop and rock with influences from Jimmy Eat World, Jack’s Mannequin and The Fray.
“I grew up listening to country,” drummer Trevor Faris said. “I really liked No Doubt, Led Zeppelin and The Police. I guess No Doubt is kind of the oddball there, but they were my favorite band in school at the time.”
Listen to We Shot the Moon live and one will see the Californian sensibilities that shot Gwen Stefani and company to worldwide acclaim. Songs from their latest album, “A Silver Lining” like “The Bright Side” or “Miracle” are perfect for Top 40 radio and should be storming up the charts.
Unfortunately for the band, touring has been difficult the last few months after their trailer was wrecked last November. The band considers this one of the greatest challenges they have faced thus far.
“It was a financial burden that has made it difficult to continue touring the way we used to,” guitarist Jason De La Torre said.
Jones adds that the band cannot perform every day anymore. In the past, the band would be on the road between 200 to 250 days of the year or more, but now they only perform a few days in any given month.
“For the hand that has been dealt to us, what we’ve been dealing with, we have been playing really nicely,” Jones said. “It was a terrible thing that happened to our band, but it opened some other doors.”
Despite any and all hardships, We Shot the Moon has a refreshing and relaxed demeanor with entertaining sense of humor that makes them cool to be around.
Minutes away from opening for Grammy-nominated band The Fray, We Shot the Moon appeared cool and collected.
“[The Fray] is a band that I personally listen to, so that’s kind of cool,” Jones said. “I can’t say that every night when we play on the road.”
We Shot the Moon playfully jokes around and seemingly know how to have a good time, but it is all business when it comes to the performance.
“When we are on stage we take ourselves very seriously,” Jones said. “We want to make sure we sound the best that we can sound. We want to make sure everyone in the crowd is engaged in our show.”
