Mojave Nomads: Local Band Tries To “Live Off The Craft”

Mojave Nomads: Local Band Tries To “Live Off The Craft”

Sitting at the local coffee shop, Jessie Jean’s Coffee Bean’s Homestyle Café in Roy, Utah, Gephardt Daily had the opportunity to speak with the up and coming band, Mojave Nomads.

Sitting in a circle of chairs the five guys would occasionally take time to laugh and reminisce about memories from shows and practice or simply just stop to give each other a hard time.

Mojave Nomads was officially complete in late October of 2014 with the addition of keyboard player, Mason Hill, 15. The group’s first show with the full band was at the popular music venue called Mojo’s in Ogden, Utah on Halloween night.

The band began with jam sessions between lead guitarist, Colter Hill, 20 and drummer, Cole Eisenhower, 21. Colter said that he first had the idea of forming a band at a Cage The Elephant concert. The opener for the show was a band called J. Roddy Walston and The Business, while watching them perform, Colter thought to himself, “They can do it, why can’t we do that?”

Tyler Harris, lead vocals, 18, said that he had bounced around band-to-band looking for the perfect fit. Bryton Bell, bass player, 21, joined the band after a long-time friendship with the other members and Mason was added to the band by being the little brother of Colter and contributing his skills with the keyboard.

The band plays indie rock music and the name Mojave Nomads was created after the group wrote down a bunch of words on a piece of paper looking to see what sounded best. “We thought it was a good fit, for the kind of music we play,” Harris said. “It’s different,” said Mason.

The music scene in Ogden isn’t ideal for indie artists like Mojave Nomads because it is a smaller area and the demographic is more for metal rock. The guys said that if they were all 21 that there might be more opportunities in the area but it’s more about who comes out to see the band. Mojave Nomads has begun playing shows further south in the Provo area where “people are more into it,” and there is “a lot more potential” for indie artists, Eisenhower said.

Mojave Nomads has made appearances on Park City TV and recently was X96’s Live and Local Spotlight. The band has also won the first portion of the popular contest called Battle of the Bands and will continue on to the second round May 16th at the Venue in Salt Lake City. They said that these opportunities really validate the band and has helped them gain viewership.

When it comes to writing the songs the band says that it’s pretty collective. One of the members will bring an idea and then let it “blossom” from there. Another way that has been affective to write songs is to get together, “jam and record it. Listen back to it and pull out things we like,” Bell said. One other way is Harris will come forward with a vocal melody and the band will look at it as a rough draft and then go from there. The five members said that they are always working on their songs, tweaking and perfecting them.

They have begun recording at Joshua James’ Studio with Jordan Clark a member of a band called Vanladylove, who is now the Mojave Nomads’ sound engineer and producer of some songs. The band met Clark through mutual friends and by reaching out to him to have him hear their music, once he heard he was on board. Mojave Nomads plans to release their EP on iTunes and Soundcloud by summer of 2015.

The biggest goal of the band is to tour out-of-state during the summer and get their music to anyone and everyone. As for a long-term goal, “I want to be able to just make music, we don’t have to make it big, I just want to be able to just make music,” said Bell. “I would love to not do anything else,” said Colter. “Live off the craft,” said Harris. Eisenhower then chimed in and said “We’re gonna do it,” continuing on to say “I win, I kick ass,” while the rest of the band began to chuckle and say that Eisenhower’s mindset does sometimes help them out.

Money is always involved when it comes to making any sort of dream come true. It’s been expensive according to the guys but they do as much as they can to support the band. Among the five they said they all bring in what they can from outside jobs, then pointing to 15-year-old Mason saying “except this guy who doesn’t have any income,” and is currently a student at Sandridge Jr. High. “I feel like I work a job, just to support the band,” said Harris.

When asked which band they would want to open for, it was a split decision. With differing opinions Harris would want to open for Portugal the man, Bell wanting Kings of Leon, Mason with Alt-J, while Colter and Eisenhower would prefer Jack White.

Mojave Nomads has a bright future ahead of them; they plan to tour out of Utah this summer and continue playing shows in hopes to make a bigger name for themselves.

To see them yourself, stop by one of their shows listed below or check out their newest video.

Upcoming Shows:

• The Pig Pen: March 28th
• Mojos: April 11th
• The Leonardo: April 24th
• WhySound: May 8th
• The Venue: May 16th

[hdplay id=89 height=400 width=500]

You can also give Mojave Nomads a follow on their Twitter account: @MojaveNomads, Instagram: MojaveNomads, Facebook: Mojave Nomads, or YouTube Channel: ‪Mojave Nomads