Exposed Vocals Interviews Moxxie Anderchild
Straight Outta Paynesville MN, small town America, Moxxie Anderchild is a glam rapper and multi-instrumentalist who tells his story over bass heavy innovative beats. He fuses heavy metal influences with EDM and organic rap beats into an aggressive rap core style.
Moxxie unabashedly defends his Christian faith in upbeat anthems and paints raw lyrical pictures of hope through agony and suffering, drawing from current events and personal experience. His “anti-hip hop†approach to rap provides thought provoking alternatives to the tired clichés of mainstream radio rap. Â
Exposed Vocals: So tell us your story. Where did you grow up? What made you decide to become an artist?
Moxxie Anderchild: I grew up in Paynesville, a small, rural town in central Minnesota. It was very country and almost everyone knew each other. Paynesville had very little diversity but I met a lot of great friends I speak with to this day.Â
I became an artist because I loved music and wanted to create my own. Music was also a way to express emotion and aggression in a creative and constructive way instead of doing things to hurt myself. Growing up I had significant angst and anger derived from how some people treated and thought of me. At one point I tried cutting. I never did anything too out of control but many nights I would turn off the lights and play my bass for hours. I had some technical knowledge but played with pure passion and emotion. That is how the best music is made. I also became an artist for the platform of sharing my faith to a wider audience than I would in person.
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Exposed Vocals: How did you come up with that name? What was your inspiration behind it?
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Moxxie Anderchild: I went to college at Bethel University in St. Paul, Minnesota and my floormates called me “Anderchild†after my last name, Anderson and evidently my level of maturity! Anderchild stuck but I thought I needed a first name. There was a hair salon out on Grand Avenue called Moxy’s and I thought it sounded cool. My image is very flamboyant and glam so I spelled it Moxxie to fit the genre style. I made Moxxie Anderchild into my brand (also band) name and today many people call me Moxxie instead of my birth first name.
Exposed Vocals: What do you think about online music sharing? Do you ever give your music away for free? Why?
Moxxie Anderchild: I believe strategic use of free music can be great for exposure and I’ve heard about many big names starting out by giving free cd’s out to get their music to the public. That said at some point I feel it devalues the product. I see free music all over and frankly sometimes there’s a reason it’s free. It’s very difficult to make a living by selling music so to some extent I see value in at least getting it out to fans who like hearing it but don’t even buy music from their favorite artists. I currently offer my Straight Outta Paynesville original rap ep for free as a gift to fans. It has my top viewed song on YouTube, the “Boba Fett Gangster Song†so it’s great content, I just have a price on my other albums because I feel giving away one’s discography for free cheapens the product and is not sustainable.
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Exposed Vocals: Since everyone was a start-up once, can you give any smaller or local bands or artists looking to get gigs and airplay some tips?
Moxxie Anderchild: Don’t be discouraged by rejection. It happens to us all and sometimes in a sea of NO’s all you need is one YES to get your music career started. Networking local is huge to get gigs as well, become friends with local artists and organizers even if it means swallowing your pride. One of my favorite gigs was a concert we organized ourselves, advertised all over nearby towns, and played in a local park. The turnout was surprisingly high.
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Exposed Vocals: Do you ever make mistakes during performances? How do you handle that?
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Moxxie Anderchild: Oooh yeah, who doesn’t at some point? Show must go on, if I miss a line or get off beat I like to subtly pause and recover on the next line. I haven’t forgot the lyrics on stage for a while but you can always adlib or repeat the last section until you get to the chorus haha! Most people don’t even know you mess up unless you draw attention to it.
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Exposed Vocals: Do you tour? Anything interesting happen on tour that you think our readers would enjoy hearing about?
Moxxie Anderchild: I recently moved to Tampa, Florida so I have not tested the waters too much. In Minnesota, I played some locals venues and open mics. It was somewhat a circuit but I never called it a tour.
Well, pre show I do my makeup which involves applying silver nail polish to my lips and blue stripes on my cheeks in addition to leather, leopard, and other outrageous glam attire. When I was finishing up in the bathroom mirror at Bethel University, an older professor walked in and when I turned around he screamed like I was a vampire or something. One of my first gigs every in Paynesville had no mirror in the bathroom so I had to use the shiny part of a urinal to do my makeup Â
Exposed Vocals: Where do you usually gather songwriting inspiration? What is your usual songwriting process?
Moxxie Anderchild: I am inspired by painful life experiences and bad days. I also draw inspiration from ignorant posts on social media or injustices in the world. Whatever makes me angry often makes me most inspired. Typically I write whenever something comes to mind. I try to have a notebook and pen in every room of my apartment, and everywhere else I go. There is a phone app called Ink Pad that is helpful too. I very rarely sit down just to “write a song.â€
Exposed Vocals: Do you have a band website? What online platforms do you use to share your music?
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Moxxie Anderchild:Â I used my Bandcamp page as my official website: https://moxxieanderchild.
I also use Reverbnation, Youtube, Facebook, and Twitter in that order. I have a Soundcloud page also but don’t like the format as much.
Exposed Vocals: What are some really embarrassing songs that we might find on your mp3 player?
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Moxxie Anderchild: Rockstar by Nickelback (C’mon, it’s catchy!), some Black Eyed Peas, and a lot more Disney tracks than a grown man should probably have.
Exposed Vocals: If you were given half a million dollars and a year off, what would you do? How would you spend it?
Moxxie Anderchild: I would quit my day job and buy a $200,000 house. I would radically upgrade my recording software and microphones, invest in an electric drumset, better production, and more professional promotion and distribution. I would retire from my day job and work to fully monetize music as an independent artist who does not place money over creativity.
Exposed Vocals: Any planned studio upgrades? What are you working with now?
Moxxie Anderchild: It’s pretty ghetto right now actually but it works. I use an old software called Kristal but it’s extremely modded out with plug ins and add on’s that make the production pretty decent. I use a CAD USB microphone for vocals and recording amps on basses, guitars, drum synths, and keys. I plan to move to a more advanced software and invest in more versatile microphones eventually. I have a mixer but found that recording instruments with a microphone by the amp sounds better so far.
Exposed Vocals: How do you find ways to promote your music? What works best for you?
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Moxxie Anderchild: Word of mouth is nice and fast when gigging or at other concerts. I hand out business card like advertisements with my links. Social media is an obvious one though aside from existing friends I find most followers only add you hoping you’ll add them back. Aggressively pursuing blog posts and websites that take submissions is a good way to gain more exposure. YouTube and Tumblr are underrated in my opinion.
Exposed Vocals: If you could perform anywhere and with any artists (Dead or Alive) where and who would it be with? Why?
Moxxie Anderchild: It would be insane to do a song with Axl Rose and Eminem because they are the two wildest, most emotion driven and enigmatic artists the world has ever seen in my opinion. I’ve always dreamed of doing a collab with Trevor McNevan from Thousand Foot Krutch as well because they are my favorite band and he is my favorite all around signer.Â
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Exposed Vocals: So, what’s next? Any new upcoming projects that you want to talk about?
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Moxxie Anderchild: This month in fact I am releasing a solo punk influenced rock album called “Teenage Rage.â€Â It is an ep of reworked songs I wrote in high school and was never happy with the original recordings.
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Exposed Vocals: If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing?
Moxxie Anderchild: Therapy! Haha probably writing short stories or a lot more working out.
Exposed Vocals: Do you remember buying your first album? Who was it? What was going through your head?
Moxxie Anderchild: My first album was “Welcome to Diverse City†by Tobymac. I thought the combination of channeled rock, bass heavy beats, and all around groove were epic. Though it’s not a style I listen to nearly as often, it remains one of my favorite albums today.
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Exposed Vocals: How do you juggle the rest of your responsibilities while trying to stay ahead in your music life?
Moxxie Anderchild: Not very well sometimes! I have a day job which is almost 50 hours per week including commuting time so I cannot dedicate nearly the amount of time I wish for music. The job is good and I hope to “retire†very early and shift the focus over to music but do it right and not go broke in the process. Even now I am easily able to dedicate 1-2 hours a day to practicing, recording, writing, or whatever combination necessary.
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Exposed Vocals: What should fans look forward to in the next year or so?
Moxxie Anderchild: A lot! I have the Teenage Rage ep set to drop this month, I am working on a new rap album called Moxxiecontin, a couple new songs with Psychodelix and the E-Villes. Also we are getting better with video production and are making music videos for many of the songs off my Young N Cold rap release. Can’t wait to share it!
