Action Jackson and AdraBoo make up buzzworthy band Fly Moon Royalty and the duo is taking Seattle by storm with their harmonius mix of hip hop, soul,and rap with a little bit of funk . The Duo recently played Seattle's Capitol Hill Block Party, Friday evening July 20th, drawing the largest crowd the Vera stage saw all weekend. I feel very honored the duo took a few moments to answer some questions for readers.
Najamoniq: Fly Moon Royalty, I know this is a typical question, but tell our readers the inspiration for your unique name?
Action Jackson: Honestly, there is not a very clear answer for this. It was a challenging process considering we were about to press the album when we changed from Sugar Water Purple to Fly Moon Royalty, due to another band already having the name - SWP. FMR was a long, careful process of finding a name that we felt somehow embodied our music. Simply put, it just had to feel right. Just like when we make music. We would prefer the name to take on its own personal meaning for the listener.
Najamoniq: Adraboo, you are from Seattle. What got you into music?
AdraBoo: I grew up with music in the house, in my family. My uncles were in bands, them and my big brother rapped around the house and, currently, around the town, and my mom sings too. I didn’t know that this is where I would be with it, but it’s like home.
Najamoniq: Action Jackson, I’ve heard you referred to as a musician’s musician. What was your inspiration for getting into music? What made you transplant to Seattle?
Action Jackson: Like many young people the first time they heard an intoxicating sound come out of speakers…. I has hooked. When I heard Gangstarr’s ‘Mass Appeal’ it blew my damn mind. I was like, ‘How the hell did he (DJ Premier) make that sound, that beat, that uuuuugh!’Make-your-neck-snap snares and kicks and those samples. Damn. I needed to know how that sound came to life.’ I didn’t know where to start, so I bought turntables and taught myself how to scratch and mix. Years after that, I bought my first Akai MPC 2000 and taught myself how to make beats. At the same time, I started in a music recording program at the community college in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I had never properly used a musical instrument in my life before this point. I was a percussion major; however, I discovered I had a deep love and understanding of the piano. I am a producer at the core of me. Playing piano LIVE was something that manifested by working with Adra and this project. Moving to Seattle was a natural direction because it was a bigger and more music-friendly city than where I was in Michigan. I was in a hip hop group in MI called Sex Panther: 1 MC(Matt) and 1 DJ/Producer (me). We were serious about our music so we both moved to Seattle in ’09 to give it a shot.
Najamoniq: What musicians have inspired your rebel music style?
AdraBoo: Really, we listen to so much of a variety of music…I'm into a lot of old school funk, 90s R&B, and also a bit of indie alternative, and then Mike grew up with that Detroit hip hop and soul… (Mike jump in here…)
Action Jackson: If I was to credit one genre over another, it would have to be hip hop. Golden era hip hop. (Late 80′s/ 90′s) Tribe, Dilla, Gangstarr, Busta, Talib, Mos Def, etc… But hip hop by no means is the only inspiration. Stevie, James Brown, and the entire Motown sound. Older soul/ funk music tends to have an energy that I don’t hear as much these days. An honesty and rawness. Intentional or unintentional, it was there. The way things we recorded were so rich you can taste it. At the end of the day, I just want to hear some good music that comes from the soul.
Najamoniq: How did the two of you meet and come up with the concept of Fly Moon Royalty? AdraBoo: We met at work, and we still work there currently. The day we met we were both in other groups and had started talking trades and this and that. Action produced an EP for the group I was in, and I sang a few hooks for his group, and in the middle of all that, kept meeting in the middle about what we dug about music… and then, Andoid Love was born. We’ve been making music that we want to make since! Emphasis on ‘that we want to make.’ We’ve never called it anything conceptually. We just make what we feel.
Najamoniq: What are some music artists/DJs right now that you are into?
AdraBoo: Frank Ocean, Le Vice, Allen Stone, Lemolo, Incubus, Little Dragon, DJs Action Jackson (obviously), Supreme LaRock, and 100Proof to name a handful… I listen to so much music right now, I couldn’t possibly name it all.
Action Jackson: Little Dragon, Black Milk, Guilty Simpson, Money Making Jam Boys, Black Keys, Beirut, Herbie Hancock, Erykah Badu etc.
For more on Fly Moon Royalty, check out their reverb nation page, and for a look at something really fly, check out the video below "My Heart Keeps Pumping" a tale of strength, retrospect and triumph, truly an empowering track.
See you next week for my new music obsession.
xoxoxoxoxoxo Najamoniq
"Love cannot express the idea of music, while music may give an idea of love." - Louis-Hector Berlioz
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