Moon Tokki: Defying Mediocrity with Awk-Rock and Friendship
Kaitlin Valentine pulls up a picture on her phone and says, “such babies.” The photo shows drummer Andrew Cobb and guitarist Alex Amador gearing up for a high school marching band competition in Florida. The three of them first crossed paths in the MacArthur High School marching band. Years later, Cobb met Jillian Gomez, a creative dynamo and Alice, Texas native, at Texas State University. Their shared musical tastes sparked both a collaboration and a romance. Fast forward nearly 16 years, and this close-knit group has recorded an album, been spotlighted on radio shows like PBS's "Sound on Tap," opened for David Byrne’s backup singer Chris Giarmo and the '90s space-rock band Man or Astro-Man, won local accolades—including Burleson Beer Garden’s Battle of the Bands—and embarked on their inaugural tour as Moon Tokki across the southeastern United States.
Moon Tokki dubs their sound "awk-rock," an eclectic mix of angular, retro-futuristic guitar rock paired with bubblegum-colored synth melodies that “dads love.” Their collection of tunes spans from anthems celebrating defiance against mediocrity to love songs dedicated to one another (the band members are romantically involved: Cobb with Gomez, and Amador with Valentine), their cats, and homages to their idol and mercurial ambassador, David Bowie.
They shun seriousness, often breaking into sibling-like inside jokes. Currently, they are facetiously debating the validity of Gomez’s high school diploma. “We don't know if they give diplomas in cow towns where they drive tractors to school,” Amador says. “We’re an oil town, sir,” Gomez couthly responds.
“We’re just four friends having fun,” Valentine says.
The band's formation was spurred by Gomez's dissatisfaction with her and Cobb's previous project, The Flying Buttresses. After dabbling in ventures like The Goon Squad, a David Bowie tribute band, Gomez longed to create original music again. She recalled Amador’s interest in joining a band and persuaded a reluctant Cobb in 2020 to let him in. Despite Amador’s lack of prior band experience and Valentine never having played bass, Gomez believed in their potential. “Kaitlin shouldn’t stay home alone. She should join too,” Gomez insisted. They handed Valentine a bass, and now, according to Gomez, “she’s the best bassist in San Antonio.”
Initially a typical rock ensemble with bass, drums, guitar, and vocals, the band has expanded their musical arsenal to include a variety of synths, such as a Melodica, a Mininova, several pocket pianos, and a Matt Bellamy-inspired Kaoss pad on Amador’s guitar. Their influences are a melting pot of vaporwave, Japanese fusion, alternative indie rock bands like St. Vincent, Franz Ferdinand, Fiona Apple, Daft Punk, and Muse, as well as '60s rock icons like Blondie, Talking Heads, and David Bowie. Valentine, in particular, draws from '60s pop, French pop, and K-pop.
“I don't know if that's just because we're not trained musicians,” Gomez muses. “But I have the creativity and the art background to know when something feels and sounds great.”
Formed during the pandemic, they released their first self-titled EP in 2021, featuring ethereal odes to the dead such as “Moon Dust” and “Lundy.” It was recorded in Corpus Christi by producer David King.
Although Moon Tokki is relatively new to the San Antonio music scene, their shows are interactive, belying how bashful the members actually are. Gomez is a voracious ringleader, mesmerizing listeners with ceremonial grandeur, sometimes stepping off the stage, weaving through the crowd, and incorporating props into her performances. Their lyrics often explore themes of escapism and dreams, with love letters to Gomez’s deceased cat and the bona fide space alien, David Bowie. Amador’s playful guitar riffs, coupled with Valentine and Cobb’s subtly complex rhythms, create an alluring auditory panorama.
Their immersive style of performance, patterned after the theatricality of artists such as David Byrne and David Bowie, catapulted their win at Burleson Beer Garden’s Battle of the Bands last month. “I kept telling The Tokkis, 'I don't know if we'll win this tonight, because I don't know what they're looking for. But I know that people are going to leave here and they're going to remember our set,’' Gomez said. “Regardless of whether or not we win, we’re going to be the most memorable thing here.”
“I've never won anything in my entire life. It felt like I just got a trophy,” Amador laughs.
During their winning performance, the band premiered attire designed and made by Valentine and played a new song, “Moonless Midnight.” “Another slow moon song,” according to Amador. The words are a collection of phrases from western books such as "Lonesome Dove" and "Dead Man Walking," and the melodic result of Gomez wondering, “What would Wayne Coyne write with this pocket piano?” To add to the stagecraft , Gomez recruited her friend Jonathan Pfortmiller of Please Drown to direct the lighting as she floated through the audience, and a few others to release confetti at the end of their presentation.
In March, the band embarked on their first tour, hitting cities like Denton, Asheville, New Orleans, and Nashville. On their second-to-last stop, Gomez broke a key on her synth and the heel of her shoe, while earlier that week, one of the shows was nearly canceled to prevent a possible lice infestation from one of the other bands on the lineup. The group of introverts confesses those instances were by far their “craziest” experiences. For the most part, they spent their off time collectively consuming no more than $50 worth of Taco Bell per night and watching "Family Feud."
“It was a good test of our functionality as a band,” Cobb reflects.
Moon Tokki’s TX Music Recommendations
mypilotis: “They started playing and I was like, “who the fuck are they? So cool!” - Jillian Gomez
HoneyBunny: “Just great people, great songs.” - Andrew Cobb
PleaseDrown: “Synth dancy, moody… it's funny because Jonathan is a very, sweet, quiet dude, but when he's on stage performing he moves and grooves. He becomes a different person.” - Jillian Gomez
RI¢H: “It’s going to be an insane setup when they start playing live shows again.” - Jillian Gomez
Wrevlonne: “They give me Smith's vibes. Also they love us because most of them are dads and dads love us.” - Jillian Gomez
The tour offered a break from the mundane, echoing the themes in their songs like “Ordinary Life.” All band members work office jobs and spend their limited free time chasing creative pursuits. When they’re not at work or balancing their schedule on a shared Google calendar, Valentine is a fiber artist, knitting, crocheting, and sewing. Cobb pilots small aircrafts. Amador is a craftsman and builds things. And Gomez lives the “Hannah Montana” lifestyle, working as a children’s librarian by day and fronting several musical projects at night while self-publishing zines through Sybil Press.
“I think we're all kind of not wanting to just have mediocrity or an average life,” Amador says.
Gomez adds, “Not to say we don't love our beautiful home, our life, and the things that we have, but we do want to do more creative things.”
The tour also gave the band a chance to appreciate talent both in other cities and at home. “San Antonio gets a bad rap about not being the Music City or whatever. Like, it's always Austin,” Amador observes. “But in reality, I think a lot of the bands that play in San Antonio could easily have fit in any of those shows.”
He continues, “I think overall, just going on the tour and seeing all the really cool venues and meeting so many cool bands inspired me to make more music and want to play more shows and push ourselves to venture out more in Texas, not just San Antonio.” He also hopes the band will one day be able to tour internationally and play in Mexico.
Fans can look forward to a new album soon, which Cobb says is an “exciting time because the album we're working on is kind of bridging two eras of Moon Tokki.”
“I think going forward, we have a more clear picture of what we're going to sound like.”
Keep up with Moon Tokki by following them on Instagram, Spotify, YouTube, and Apple Music.
