Nether Hour Pore Over Their Combustive Record ‘MOONSHINE’ [Guest Blog]

As a band, Nether Hour hold their roots in high regard. You’ll see what we mean on the band’s recently released new album MOONSHINE. The eight-track record, released via the band’s Nether Family Records, is raw, authentic, and deeply rooted in the influences that the band has grown up around. Now based in Austin, the members hail from Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. Consequently, there are lots of Southern sounds, swampy grooves, and bluesy riffs scattered throughout the record. The band has found their way playing dive bars and tiny clubs in and around Austin, and that atmosphere has found its way into Moonshine.

But MOONSHINE should not be mistaken for a country or a Southern rock record. It features a mix of funk, blues, soul, and traditional rock n’ roll. Each song has a late-night kind of feel to it. They even sound like they were recorded at the end of a long night. The members of Nether Hour feel like this album is the truest representation yet of who they are as people and musicians. It’s a spirited set of songs that sound good no matter what mood you are in.

The band joins us today for a Guest Blog and a deeper look into MOONSHINE. They provide an up-close and personal look at the record and many of its songs. It’s an honest characterization of the album and its inner soul.

MOONSHINE: Nether Hour’s Baptism by Fire:

“There’s something dangerous about MOONSHINE. It rolls in thick, like the smell of spilled whiskey. It doesn’t just drip from the speakers, it oozes, bleeds, kicks you in the teeth, then picks you up and buys you a drink. The Austin-bred, tequila-baptized band from Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi has bottled that madness in MOONSHINE, a record soaked in sin, sweat, and the ghosts of every dive bar in Austin. This isn’t just an album; it’s a backroad sermon, a shotgun-wielding preacher hollering from the pulpit of a dive bar jukebox. Every song sounds like it was recorded at the end of a long night — half drunk, fully alive, and teetering between revelation and complete obliteration.

“The album’s lead single, ‘Long As I Ain’t Alone’ might pass as a country song if you squint through a cloud of cigarette smoke, but that’s just the bait. As Nether Hour puts it, ‘We aren’t country music, just a bunch of country boys that make music.’ ‘Long As I Ain’t Alone’ is a neon-lit pool hall at 2 am — gritty, a little reckless, and always soaked in soul. Yet, as the band has gained traction outside of Austin’s live music scene, just as The Back Pumas or Charley Crockett, and others before them, it’s impossible to separate them completely from the city’s unique musical roots.

Nether Hour ‘MOONSHINE’ album artwork

“Then there’s ‘Perdido (con el Diablo),’ a fever dream of Latin grooves and gypsy swagger, narrated by a woman who dances to forget the weight of her past. ‘A coping mechanism,’ says frontman Bob Flaco, who admits that much of Nether Hour’s songwriting boils down to just that: survival, turning chaos into music. Similar to ‘Sex Ed,’ a song that started back in 2017 with nothing but a guitar lick and a feeling.

“‘I showed an ex-bandmate and friend Maurice, and he just started freestyling — that’s how we got that first verse,’ Bob recalls. ‘The rest of the words were already written, originally intended for another track, but when the groove started rolling, the transition was effortless. Once we got going and began to build it, it was just an easy audible to bring those words into that melody and groove. It’s the kind of song that feels inevitable, like it was always meant to exist — just waiting for the right moment to come alive.’

“That same spirit carried into ‘Stargazer,’ a track that was once nothing more than an intro to ‘Sex Ed’ before it took on a life of its own. ‘Live, I’m always trying to do something different in this section,’ Bercy says. ‘In the studio, I can’t remember if it was Oliver Ocean’s or Bishop’s idea to put the sub-bass pedal on the bass, but that flipped my head into the world of Pino Palladino, J Dilla — kind of that D’Angelo world. I’d even say some Michael League influence there. What came out was beautiful, and I’m super happy with how it turned out on the album.’

“‘Stargazer’ floats in that space between groove and atmosphere, a moment of hazy introspection before the band kicks the door back open and sets the room on fire again. It’s the eye of the storm — a moment of heavy-lidded reflection before the band throws another log on the fire.

Nether Hour, photo by Henry Houghton

“Another fan favourite, ‘Look My Way’ sounds like it was yanked from a lost ’80s mixtape, then runs through the grit and grind of a snarling fuzz pedal. ‘Look My Way’ is my favourite song we’ve released to date!’ says Bishop. ‘Lil’ bit of that ’80s pop-rock energy and a guitar solo from Bobbo that sounds like a chainsaw growling through the speakers trying to cut you like Texas Chainsaw Massacre. We used a vintage fuzz pedal that the Stones used back in the day and we had to bang on it to get it to work — it was barely hanging on. Eventually, we knocked it hard enough and it stayed on through a whole take. Took our tracks over to the boys at 601 and we added some fun harmony layers, drops, and slowed it down like 4 BPM, so good luck playing along (laughs)!’

“The result? A track that refuses to sit still, pulsing with reckless energy and arena-sized swagger.

“What MOONSHINE does best is capture the reckless, no-rules energy of a Nether Hour live show — where riffs get deeper with every passing verse, and the music doesn’t just play, it grabs you by the balls until you start questioning yourself and who you are.

“So, pour yourself something strong, turn the dial up, and let MOONSHINE take the wheel. Just don’t expect it to take you anywhere safe.”