Submitted Photo MoonCats band members are, from left, Sky Froelich, Jordan Eslinger and Danny Savage.

PICK CITY – A Pick City acoustic band that likes its music to incorporate some fun has decided to get fans in on more of that fun.

MoonCats, which has played a number of Minot venues since its start in 2018, has launched a crowd-funded Kickstarter campaign around the release of its fourth album.

“We’ve been gearing up and working really hard on a lot of different packages that will be available for our fans. So, anything from a $10 digital download to an executive credit on the actual record and everything in between, like backyard barbecues hosted by us and private listening parties for the album,” band member Danny Savage said. “We kind of just wanted to have an opportunity for our fans and the people that have gotten us to this point to be part of the project.”

Band members Savage, Jordan “Slinger” Eslinger and Sky Froelich met at an open mic place in Bismarck as high school and college students. Although Savage and Eslinger both grew up in Beulah and knew of each other, they first connected in Bismarck and formed MoonCats.

The band landed in Pick City after playing a show at a lakeside farm there. Learning the hosts were moving, they acquired the place in about 2019. Eslinger lives on the property, while Savage and Froelich now live in Bismarck.

“We have every weekend just about until September or so booked up this year, and every year it happens quicker and quicker. So, it’s been cool to see the band ramp up in the last few years,” Savage said.

The band has performed around North Dakota and in several other states, and this past year entertained in Arizona, New Mexico and Wisconsin.

“Minot has been one of our favorites,” Eslinger said. In addition to performing at local bars, the band has played at the downtown arts event, Frozen Fingers and Salute to Seniors.

It is scheduled to play at the Magic City Music Festival at the Blue Rider June 8, at The Spot on Aug. 23 and at Norsk Hostfest Sept. 24-27.

They’ve dubbed their music Americonscious campfire folk.

“Americana is early American roots music using acoustic instruments – banjo, guitar, harmonica, upright bass,” Eslinger said. “There’s tinges of bluegrass, too, but traditional bluegrass bands play very fast and have their traditional ways, where we kind of go all over the board. So, I wouldn’t say we’re just bluegrass. I wouldn’t say we’re just Americana. Wouldn’t say we’re just folk, but that’s what inspired a lot of my early writings – Bob Dylan, Neil Young, John Prine – those guys and their folk ways in telling a story with your song, having a message in the song. That was always big to me, so that’s something we’ve really stuck to is each song kind of has a message and you can get something from it. Not only can you dance, but you’ve got to listen to the lyrics, too, and see where the song and story is going.”

The band estimates it has produced about 60 original songs over the years. Although the newest album is another collection of original songs, instead of releasing it at a show, the band plans a series of tour dates as well as the Kickstarter.

Froelich said Kickstarter’s tiers of support entitling fans to opportunities such as private shows, conference calls or music lessons creates a stronger bond with listeners.

“I think just the opportunity to hang out and be friends and have that one-on-one experience is going to be really valuable. We have a lot of loyal fans that come to every show in the area,” he said.

There’s also the chance to snag a custom-made washboard from the band to play or hang on the wall, said Savage, who plays washboard with MoonCats.

“We just do a lot of quirky different things with our music, too. We have funny songs and comical songs, and so every time we bring something out, people are just like ‘Oh, what are the MoonCats going to do next?'” Eslinger said.

Recently the band teamed up with a brewer to release a pickled beer called Pickled Nordern, which is pickled northern with a Norwegian accent.

“I’d never heard of pickled northern pike until we were ice fishing and a friend was going to make some, and I thought, ‘Oh man, that’s got to be a song,'” Savage said. “We wrote the song a few years ago and it actually made it on the only vinyl that we’ve released so far, “Hot Tea,” our second album. So, I never would have thought years later that we’d have a song about pickled fish that had a beer named after it now. Pretty cool.”

The band recorded 15 tracks last summer as its selection for the upcoming album, which will be released on vinyl.

“We also recorded that whole album to reel to reel tape, which not a lot of bands are doing these days. It’s definitely the old way, so it was a very cool experience,” Froelich said.

The band has been motivated to go old-style because of the influences on their musical tastes.

“All our heroes had recorded to tape,” Froelich said. “It was cool just to do it the old-fashioned way, and there’s a certain sort of magic to the sound that you can’t get recording digital.”

Eslinger added that as an acoustic band, they use old-time instruments, and reel to reel tape is how the sounds of many of those instruments were first captured.

“It’s just kind of fun,” he said, “because we get to create these songs and it leaves our fans wanting more and knowing something new, exciting, fun is always on the brink.”

The Kickstarter campaign launched today on helpmooncats.com.