At a time when live music is so volatile, it’s all the more important to support our local musicians. Allison and Moon is a prime example of a local band to pay attention to. 

Based in Boston, the band creates punk-influenced tracks and has been together since 2017. Allison Griggs, the band’s founder, started the group as a solo project, dreaming of one day putting together a full band.

Later on in 2017 that dream started to become a reality when Griggs met bassist Mike Hayden, and the two joined forces to make Allison and Moon. After cycling through various musicians, the band is now comprised of Allison Griggs on guitar and lead vocals, Mike Hayden on bass, Chris Canieso on drums and Teli Boisvert on lead guitar. 

The group released their newest single, inspired by ABBA’s compilation record ABBA Gold, in late 2021. The fun punky track is extremely catchy and the jumpy rhythm is so enticing it makes the listener want to get up and bop around the room. Reminiscent of 2000s pop-punk, the single drags out gnarly emotions associated with complicated relationships in an upbeat hook, begging to be played again, even louder than before. 

The slightly rough-around-the-edges guitar sound adds to the punk-like nature of the track and the echo-y backing vocal tracks softens out the track, creating a well-rounded listening experience.

Griggs says she prefers writing on an acoustic guitar when starting on a new track for the band. “To me it’s just fuller and I can like sing along with it,” says Griggs. Once she has a solid idea for the song, she brings it to the band, “and then it sort of gets filled out by everyone.”

While Griggs has done a lot of songwriting on her own, sometimes other bandmates come with ideas to work out with the group too. The process usually ends up being collaborative and speaks to the chemistry within the band. Griggs speaks to playing and writing together with her band in-person saying, “I really love doing that with these folks.”

Griggs describes the writing process for the band’s latest single “Abba Gold,” saying, “It ended up being original, but it didn’t start being original. I was like, I have this sort of melody in mind, but I don’t have anything to say right now.”

Griggs says she was inspired by lyrics from ABBA’s compilation record, ABBA Gold. She adapted the sentiments of each song’s lyrics to create a unique story that turned into the final product. 

The band also touched on the effect the Covid-19 pandemic has had on their forward momentum as a group. “Mostly we’ve been trying to like, get back into the groove of playing live,” says lead guitarist Telli Boisvert. “We just really want to sound like, solid as a band, especially since we were out for like 2020.” After the spike in Covid cases earlier this winter she says they’re psyched to ease back into the live concert scene.

The band is also planning on releasing another EP that has been in the works. “We’ve been thinking about putting it out before,” Griggs explains, “but then it just keeps getting delayed mostly because we haven’t been playing out very much.” 

You can support Allison and Moon by following their Instagram and Spotify accounts to stay up-to-date with their releases and performances.