EXCLUSIVE: The Southern Gothic Talk New EP ‘Burnin’ Moonlight’

Fast-rising country-influenced band The Southern Gothic are currently gearing up for the release of their brand new EP ‘Burnin’ Moonlight’ which drops on December 4th and is currently being supported by the hit single ‘Past Midnight’ for which they have just released the official music video for.

Here we talk exclusively with The Southern Gothic’s Connor Christian to discuss the record in more detail:

Congratulations on the success of your latest single, how have you found the response so far?
Thank you! Things are moving right along, and people seem to be really into it, which is, of course, is exactly what we’ve been hoping for. I think we’ll see a whole new crop of music lovers getting into it as the video is released.

The track is acting as a launchpad for your new EP, how excited are you about sharing the project?

I can’t even begin to tell you how excited we are! This EP was meant to release back in May. At the time, we thought the COVID issue would be solved by the fall (that’s a laugh now!) and it would make more sense to release it at that end of 2020. So, in hindsight, the waiting really didn’t put us in a different spot for touring. All that to say, really, that we’ve been sitting on these tunes forever, and we’re just so pumped to put them out into the world.

What was the overall writing experience like for the record?
Well, I moved to Nashville in 2015 to work at a publisher, writing songs for other artists, usually writing upwards of 130-150 songs every year. This EP is a collection of some of my favorites I’ve written down through the years. Some are from as far back as 2017. Some have already been cut by other artists, but this is my ‘Best of” record of the last few years.

Where did you look to for inspiration when crafting the soundtrack?
Inspiration is always all around. From the mundane daily beauty in my neighborhood that I forget to notice, the sounds of the city that disappear until we can quiet our minds down enough to hear and notice it, to the amazing records both my heroes and friends keep putting out. There are so many ways to be inspired once I just allow myself to be.

What are you hoping listeners take away from the record?
More than anything I hope that people who have been fans of the band enjoy the new direction that I’ve taken and can share in that evolution, and that very thing, the new, more modern sound, can bring lots of new listeners into the family.

Is there one song in particular off the tracklist that you’re most excited about sharing?
They’re all my babies, but I think “Villain” is probably my favorite. It is a bit of a call back to my younger years when I played in some really hard rock bands, and this one could definitely work at an arena rock show.

How would you describe the soundscape of the EP to new listeners?
This is a tougher one, because we’ve always been very eclectic in our sound, and with this EP, I’ve tried to push the envelope even further. You could always hear the alt-country, bluegrass, and southern rock in our sound. This go-round we’ve incorporated some of the pop vibes I grew up on – artists like Paula Abdul, Madonna and the harder-rocking feel of some of my bands from years past, to really give this one a stadium-worthy sound – touching on country, rock, pop, bluegrass, Americana – anything that’s affected me musically over the years.

What else can we expect from you this year?
Well, with COVID having essentially shut us down for 2020, we’re looking toward 2021. I keep writing and have a full album’s worth of new material, so we hope to get a jump on the next record soon. We’re also working on a late spring/early summer US & UK tour and hope to expand that to Ireland, Scandinavia, and some of western Europe. After that, it’s anybody’s guess!

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