Estadio José Amalfitani, Buenos Aires, 1992: Moon Baillie is losing his mind at the only show Nirvana ever played in Argentina, reeling as the band unleashes a ferocious set of rarities and off-the-cuff jams to stadium full of some 50,000 fans. Only a teenager, Moon Baillie has no idea that that moment—loud, ecstatic, explosive—would shape his musical development throughout the rest of his life. Or that five short years later he'd be living in Seattle, the grunge godfathers' hometown, and establishing his own unique brand of Pacific Northwest rock n' roll.
Over the last few years, Moon Baillie's band Pampa has played stages and festivals across Seattle, earning veteran status despite having no recorded material. Now the quintet introduces "In the Flatlands" their debut LP, a mesmerizing mix of elegantly entwined guitars, dramatically unfolding compositions and Moon Baillie's poignant vocals, sung in English and Spanish. "In the Flatlands" picks up the tradition of moody Northwest angst and embellishes it with Moon Baillie's well-traveled, world-weary perspective. These 9 songs are simultaneously classic and of-the-moment, beautiful and stormy, presenting time-tested rock n roll through a fresh, expansive perspective.
To get here Moon Baillie followed a meandering path, both geographically and creatively. Growing up in Buenos Aires, his godfather owned the city's largest record store and turned him on to giants of American rock like Neil Young and Jimi Hendrix. After high school he took a job at an advertising agency, which he quickly recognized was not his destiny. Looking to expand his horizons and follow his muse, Moon Baillie found his way to St. Andrews College in Laurinburg, North Carolina. The two years he spent there weren't easy—this was the small-town South, a place wary of newcomers—but they were instructive. Moon studied composition, honed his guitar skills and eventually joined a band lead by a guy who was in the process of coming out of the closet and desperate to leave NC. Inspired, he followed him clear across the country to the liberal Mecca of Seattle. Since arriving in 1997 he's pretty much never looked back.
But he's had his share of trials. Finding his sound took awhile. Moon Baillie rekindled his studies in composition at the city's renowned Cornish College of the Arts, a rigorous program that taught him how little he actually knew about music.
The Noble Manes is definitely a band and it started in 2012 when the original members were studying at university together. Naturally, they called themselves The Noble Manes. After recording a short EP and playing shows together for nearly 1.5 years, the quintuple disbanded. Years later, TNM has been resurrected (in Seattle no less!). However, after having received word that The Noble Manes may return, an evil force, obviously feeling threatened and vulnerable at this possibility, unleashed the plague that we now call COVID-19. But this resurrection, like mf Thanos himself, is inevitable. We are back.
