Getting to Know… High Moonlight | Interview

For the 28^th interview in the ‘Getting to Know…’ series, Robert Wagner, guitarist & vocalist of Brazilian metal band, High Moonlight, provides the scoop.

“We are a band that plays a unique and authentic heavy metal with striking and creative riffs plus great vocal melodies and beautiful guitar solos.” Those are the words of Robert Wagner, the guitarist and vocalist of Brazilian heavy metal band, High Moonlight.  High Moonlight highlights The Musical Hype’s 28^th interview in the ‘Getting to Know…’ series and continues to highlight a diverse group of musicians from around the world.  Wagner provides The Musical Hype with some great insight into the band, not to mention some cool facts about himself – he has some art skills (sculpture, painting, drawing)! Without further ado, here is Getting to Know… High Moonlight – Interview #28!

Brent Faulkner, The Musical Hype (BF): Let’s get this started off right. For those who may not be familiar with you, what would you say makes High Moonlight distinct or unique? How do you rock the audience’s socks off?

Robert Wagner, High Moonlight: Hello everyone, thank you very much for the opportunity to be able to promote my band through this interview, so, come on. I am Robert Wagner, the guitarist and vocalist of the band High Moonlight. The band is from São Paulo, Brazil and continues making good old classic heavy metal. The High Moonlight came into being in the mid-90’s and although the band started their work in this period, only now can we launch our first seven-song EP available on the SoundCloud digital platform. We are a band that plays a unique and authentic Heavy Metal with striking and creative riffs plus great vocal melodies and beautiful guitar solos.

BF: Awesome! Okay, let’s explore some juicy backstories. How did High Moonlight form and what were some of the goals or visions you had as a band early on?

R. Wagner: The band was formed by school friends. We all just wanted to play for fun, but over time we decided to take music seriously. Then came the idea of a name (High Moonlight) and we began to think of it as a profession. My goal was always to record an album and go on tour around the world, but those of the other members were always more fun, because of this the formation of the band changed several times and we got to stay a good time without any kind of musical activity, because we could not find committed and dedicated people with the proposal to take music seriously. My goal has always been and continues to be to make music my profession and gradually this is happening, and I want to do all this with High Moonlight.

BF: Let’s talk more about goals. Have your goals or your perspectives changed since first

starting out? What do your aspirations or goals look like now?

R. Wagner: No. My goal has always been to make High Moonlight a world-known band. Many who played in High Moonlight gave up or went on to other bands but I keep working to make that happen.

BF: Fair enough. Everybody is influenced by somebody else. Who would you consider some of your biggest musical influences and how are they influential?

R. Wagner: My biggest musical influences are bands like Black Sabbath, Dio, and Rainbow. They influenced me a lot in the way of how to make or create a true musical work through simplicity and objectivity without much coaxing.

BF: Ah, the fun stuff. What’s your craziest tour story or the wackiest thing that’s happened during a performance? Feel free to be creative.

R. Wagner: As the band has always changed, a lot of training over the years and several types of musicians have gone through it. And in some cases, some musicians would miss the beat to watch me play… It seems strange but sometimes the music was intercepted because one or another instrument player was surprised by the sonority of the band and the ease with which I played the songs… I did not believe it either.

BF: Up until this point in your career, what would you describe as your favorite song you’ve recorded or performed live? What makes that song special?

R. Wagner: These are two songs that I consider special. “Arcturians” for being one of my earliest compositions on the guitar and for her to always get people’s attention when being played and “Inovaya” also for being one of my earliest guitar compositions and for having an initial riff that reminds me a lot of Rainbow of the time when Ronnie James Dio was the lead singer. Their riffs are very beautiful and powerful I love them and that makes them very special too. I consider them both as sisters.

BF: Is there anything else awesome, cool, or left of center the world should know about you? Secret talents or surprising tidbits?

R. Wagner: Well, besides being the guitarist, I also sing and compose for all the other instruments of the band. In addition, I also make sculptures and I venture into paintings of paintings and drawings.

BF: Artistic as well? That’s pretty cool! Closing this thing out, what is High Moonlight currently working on, promoting that you can share with us or want us to know about? We love secrets, but there’s no pressure.

R. Wagner: I’m selecting new members for the band. Here in Brazil, this is not so easy. Most musicians here prefer to play covers from other bands than to create copyrighted music, and when you talk about heavy metal, it gets even more complicated. In addition, I’m already working on new compositions for an upcoming release that I hope will be later this year. That is, soon we will have news, can wait.

BF: Thank you so much for sharing taking the time to answer these questions, and best of luck moving forward.

R. Wagner: I thank the immense opportunity to be able to divulge my work in this interview and I leave here the link of our songs for those who want to check and help in spreading the world band out. A big hug to everyone.