Voodoo Moonshine
Orlando, Florida, United States | Established. Jan 01, 2018
Music
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Guitarist Jeff Losawyer had pretty much walked away from the music business back in 2012 after some initial success with his band Voodoo Moonshine's debut album.
"I was just going through life being a 'working Joe,'" said Losawyer during a recent interview with Sinclair Broadcast Group. "I was content with my life."
But good songs can't be buried forever.
A chance message from a well-known producer got Losawyer to rethink his current situation.
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"I heard from a well-known manager back in 2019 on the band's social media pages," he said. "He didn't want anything. He just said that he loved our music. Then about 3 days later, I got a message from producer Steve Thompson, who has worked with Tesla and Guns 'N Roses and he was wanting to work with us. I thought this was nonsense, but we did a Facetime together and it was really him. So at that point, I knew I had to get the band back together."
That message has led to the release of Voodoo Moonshine's new album "Bottom of the Barrel," which eventually was produced by Sean Shannon, former drummer for Molly Hatchet, and featuring the hit song "Bring It Down" and their latest single "Give It To Me." The band features Losawyer on lead guitar, Pedro Espada on vocals, bass player Hector Acevedo and drummer Eddie Cruise.
The band released the video for the new single "Give It To Me" on Friday, which was shot in a country bar called "The Barn" in Sanford, Fla, complete with line dancers.
"The location we had picked out fell through about four days prior to the shoot," he said. "We found this country bar where Garth Brooks and Blake Shelton had played there. It was amazing the amount of these huge artists that had played there. The night before we were to shoot there, I saw that they were teaching line dancing. I asked them if they could learn to line dance to my song and have them come to the video shoot. It worked out great."
TAKING A BREAK
But let's rewind back to 2005.
Voodoo Moonshine had just released their debut album "Decade of Decay" in March 2005 to rave reviews. They were voted No. 1 band in England seven times and six times in Japan, which led to an extensive European tour. The band's popularity was at an all-time high when rock radio around the world began playing the album. Their songs were being played right along side rock's best like Guns 'N Roses, Scorpions, Bon Jovi and Skid Row.
The band toured constantly for the next two years before the band took some much needed time off.
"When the first album came out in 2005, we were really busy," said Losawyer. "We were really surprised it did so well in Europe before the days of social media. We all were tired when we finally got off the road."
Nobody knew at the time that this would be the last time the original members of Voodoo Moonshine would play live together.
The break continued as Losawyer would work on a solo record, but then his world turned upside down in 2009.
"My grandmother had gotten ill in 2009 and I went home to Oklahoma to see her, which I hadn't been back in like 12 years," he said. "She passed away. But within a three-month period, I lost her, my girlfriend, our original bass player and about four other people. It was a tough time."
But his passion for songwriting led Losawyer to compose new songs to help get him through these tough times.
"I recorded a bunch of songs to play at those funerals and it ended up getting a record deal, so I released it," he said. "Going through all that, I ended up writing songs for this (Voodoo Moonshine) album, which was 10 years ago. I finished it in 2012 and put it aside. I just thought I was done with it (music business)."
But after Steve Thompson's offer to produce the next Voodoo Moonshine record was on the table, he knew he had to find new bandmates. So he started looking for a new lead singer.
FINDING A SINGER
To find a new singer, Losawyer began looking through YouTube and Facebook to see if he could find that perfect voice to go with his songs. After hours and hours of searching, he happened upon Pedro Espada's YouTube page. After listening to him sing songs by Journey, Def Leppard and Heart, he believed that Pedro was talented, but it wasn't until he happened to hear him sing a specific tune that convince him that he was the singer he'd been looking for.
"I had seen Pedro on YouTube doing 'I'll Never Let You Go' by Steelheart and he pulled it off," he said. "Then I thought that everyone can sound good in their studio, but I saw a video of him doing that song live and he again, pulled it off. And that's a tough song to sing. I'm not necessarily writing 80s music, but I wanted the new singer to have that ability to sing that style."
Pedro's amazing vocal range was just the thing to bring Losawyer's songs new life after languishing for a decade.
Now that he's found his singer, the next step was to convince him to join his band.
And it wouldn't be easy. Pedro fronted Rockit Fly, the top cover band in Florida and were drawing huge crowds in the Sunshine State.
"It took a while to convince him because he's always been in his own bands," he said. "I gave him the songs I had and told him that I didn't want him to sound like the other guy. Let's redo them. He liked the songs and said let's do it."
It was a trip down to Florida that help Losawyer land Pedro, but first he'd have to get back on the stage for the first time in almost a decade.
"I hadn't been on stage for eight years, but I went down to Bike Fest in Daytona to see Pedro's cover band, which was the biggest cover band in Florida, and he asked me to jam with them. So the equivalent of us auditioning each other was saying 'Hey, how you doing?' right before I went on stage in front of 3,000 people. And I'm playing songs I'd just learned the night before. It didn't bother me a bit. I felt right at home. I was messing up a bit but it didn't' matter. We had fun."
With the release of the new video and now that he's got second chance with Voodoo Moonshine, Losawyer can't wait to bring these songs to fans around America and maybe another run at Europe.
"I don't take anything for granted," he said. "I'm enjoying playing as much as I ever have and we're going to work to get these songs out to the people."
CLICK HERE for more information on Voodoo Moonshine. - Christopher Hoffman - Sinclair Broadcasting Group
Jeff Losawyer is the guitar player and original member in the band Voodoo Moonshine. As you can probably guess, they’re a bluesy, southern rock band. We talk about his career and his path to where he is now, their latest album and much, much more.
Enjoy……Meltdown - Meltdown Wrif
VOODOO MOONSHINE – “IT’S JUST ALL AROUND ROCK AND ROLL, MAN”
July 29, 2022, 4 months ago
By Greg Prato
feature hard rock voodoo mooshine
1
VOODOO MOONSHINE – “It’s Just All Around Rock And Roll, Man”
Bluesy rockers Voodoo Moonshine are back with a new single and video from their latest album, Bottom of the Barrel. The song, “Give It to Me,” came about when Jeff Losawyer (the founding member, songwriter and lead guitarist) was traveling from Oklahoma to Tennessee to write and record for the album that became Bottom of the Barrel. It turns out that Losawyer was sitting in his hotel room with his dog Daisy eating Taco Bell, and the thought of one-night stands came to mind and became the song’s lyrical inspiration. Also included in the band are members Pedro Espada – vocals, Hector Acevedo – bass, and Eddie Cruise – drums. The guitarist spoke to BraveWords correspondent Greg Prato about the new album, its videos, and why there was a ten year gap between albums for the band.
BraveWords: Let’s discuss the new album, Bottom Of The Barrel.
Jeff Losawyer: “Believe it or not, that was like a 10 year process. I started writing that album back in 2011, when I’d come back from Oklahoma and going to Memphis, I was working with a different singer and members at that time. It was created around late 2010 and finishing it up around 2011. I thought I was done with it and I just you know kind of shelved it you know I just completed it and I thought well you know I'm done with it, and just kind of shelved it and thought, ‘I’m done with it,’ and went about normal life. I wasn't really interested in putting it out or pursuing anything with it. And then about four years ago, I started getting some random messages - one was from my well known manager of well-known rock bands, and he messaged me and said he really liked the band. He wasn't offering anything and wasn’t asking for anything – he was just giving me the compliment. I thought, ‘Well, that's nice’ - out of the blue. Then a week later I got another message from a really well known producer [Steve Thompson], and he was wanting to produce the CD. He didn't even know about the new CD - he just knew from our first album. And I thought, ‘This is just really odd that this stuff is happening, so I guess I need to put the band together again.’ And I did - I found my guys that I have now, and my singer Pedro Espada re-recorded all the vocals, and we had Sean Shannon who used to play drums with Molly Hatchet and Pat Travers mix it and produce it. And we finally released it ten years later - we released it February 4th of this year. And it's done well so far.”
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BraveWords: The first single/video off the album is “Give It to Me,” right?
Jeff Losawyer: “No. Well…we released it independently. I just kind of threw it out there online about a year or so back. But no - Give It To Me’ is actually the single and the video that's coming out tomorrow. ‘Locked And Loaded’ was the actual first video that we did and the first single. And then ‘Bring It Down’ was the last single that we put out about four months ago, that did really well - it actually I think reached 201 on the Billboard charts. And now we've been nominated for the ISSA Awards - best album, best video, best single with that song ‘Bring It Down.’ And then at the Josie Awards in Nashville for the best single and best video, as well.”
BraveWords: Let’s discuss the videos.
Jeff Losawyer: “We filmed ‘Locked And Loaded’… y’know, normally because I'm here in Georgia and my guys live in Florida, when we come together we try to get as much done as possible. Meaning photo shoots, video shoots - whatever we can. So when the guys came down back in December of last year, we shot ‘Locked And Loaded’ and ‘Bring It Down’ at that time. When we released ‘Locked And Loaded,’ it did fairly well with very little promotion, and we also did ‘Bring It Down.’ Well, when we were editing the video, we’d come to find out we were missing a vital part of the vocals for ‘Bring It Down,’ so we had to scrap it. So this time the band back, we shot ‘Bring It Down’ once again, and we shot ‘What A Way To Go’ - two videos at the same time.”
BraveWords: The press release says the band hails from Memphis, but you just said that all the other members are from Florida, right?
Jeff Losawyer: “Well, yeah. They original band when I started it…I broke down in Memphis, Tennessee in 1992, and I stayed there for a few years. I think in 2003 is when I put the band together with the guys down there now. Those guys - especially with 10 year gap in between - they kind of moved on with life, so they ended up joining other bands and going on. I moved out here to the Atlanta area about six years ago, and I'm here in Atlanta. All the rest of the new guys are in the Orlando/Daytona area.”
BraveWords: Why exactly was there a 10-year gap in the band?
Jeff Losawyer: “Well, so we put out the first album in 2005, and we did really well with it. In 2008 is when things kind of slowed down for us, and in 2009 my grandmother fell ill back in Oklahoma, so it was time for me to break anyway. And I went home and she ultimately passed away. Well right after she passed away, my girlfriend passed away and my original bass player passed away. I lost but like five people within a month period. So, I had written a bunch of songs to play at these funerals, and my manager at the time ended up getting a label that wanted to put it out. And I said, ‘We can do that if all the proceeds go to the Cancer Society. I spent a couple of years back in Oklahoma just writing and being with my family. So, I did the solo album, that got me right back in the writing mode. So I called the guys that were left and said, ‘I’m planning to come to Memphis, to record.’ That was around 2010. The reason for that gap was after I recorded the initial recordings, I was married again and she got ill. So a lot of life was happening, which is why there was a lot of gap in between. I had to take her for quite a bit of time, and I just thought I'd be working guy you know to try to take care of this this situation. So, that's reason for the gaps between the records.”
BraveWords: I’ve heard a description of the band as a “bluesy groove rock band.” Do you agree?
Jeff Losawyer: “Yeah. I mean, it's been a wide range. We do have a couple of points that are a little heavy, then we’ve got the typical ballads. I think me being from Oklahoma and starting the band in Memphis, I think the blues factors in. But it’s just all around rock and roll, man.” - Greg Prato - Bravewords
Discography
Still working on that hot first release.
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Bio
Florida/Georgia rockers Voodoo Moonshine - a “bluesy groove rock band”, was formed in Memphis, TN in 2003 by lead guitarist, Jeff Losawyer. The debut album, Decade of Decay, was released in March 2005, and was well received throughout Europe. A tour was booked, including shows in England, Ireland, and Scotland. Due to the album’s success they were voted “Number One Band” seven times in England, and six times in Japan. In mid-2005, Voodoo Moonshine was introduced in Dublin, Ireland and quickly became one of the top three requested bands there.
Their debut received rave reviews in many music publications including R.I.P. Magazine. 2006 saw the band’s popularity continue to rise, and rock radio around the world stood up and took notice. Voodoo Moonshine could be heard in Portugal, Greece, Canada and of course, at home in America. Many times, during the year, the band’s songs charted ahead of some of rock's so-called heavy hitters, like Bon Jovi, Skid Row, Guns N Roses and the Scorpions. The album Decade of Decay continued to do extremely well deep into 2007, more than two full years after its release. As the year wound down, the band took some much needed, and well deserved, time off. This eventually led to guitarist Jeff Losawyer's work on a solo album. Jeff continued to write music during this time, and never gave up his passion to play.
Fast forward, and suddenly 12 years had passed. Interestingly enough, he heard Pedro Espada singing in a YouTube video and really liked what he heard. He took a chance and reached out to Pedro to see if he would be interested in singing some of his songs. Initially he didn’t receive a very warm response. As a matter of fact, he was mostly ignored, but he knew he had found the right man for the job, so he was persistent. His persistence paid off and Jeff was invited to Daytona Beach Bike Week 2018 to jam with Pedro and his bandmates of Rockit Fly. Needless to say, things went well with Pedro, former Nova Rex member Eddie Cruise and Hector Acevedo, merging to bring back Voodoo Moonshine.
“Future plans…shows, shows, and shows. Fans can expect a set of big energy versatile songs that everyone should like. Working on songs for the next album already and continued growth of the band and fan base.”
Voodoo
Moonshine Radio Success:
BILLBOARD MAINSTREAM ROCK “Give It To Me” - #28
FOUNDATIONS SECONDARY CHART “Give It To Me” - #21
BILLBOARD MAINSTREAM ROCK “Bring It Down”- #201
BILLBOARD MAINSTREAM ROCK “Sometimes Ya Just Wanna” - #434
BILLBOARD MAINSTREAM ROCK “Locked and Loaded” - #474
BILLBOARD MAINSTREAM ROCK “Rise Free” - #512
MEDIABASE ACTIVE ROCK INDIE LABEL REPORT “Rise Free” - #126
MEDIABASE ACTIVE ROCK INDIE LABEL REPORT “Locked and Loaded” - #145
METAL CONTRABAND MOST ADDED - #7
MEDIABASE ROCK and METAL CHART “Bring It Down” - #99
97 UNDERGROUND – #1
WRKC – Wilkes Barre, PA - #5
KGRR – Dubuque, IA - #65
METAL AUTHORITY RADIO – #20
Voodoo Moonshine Awards:
The 8th Annual Josie Music Awards 2022 - “Album of the Year”
International Singer-Songwriters Association Awards 2022 – GOLD Winner – “Band of the Year”
International Singer-Songwriters Association Awards 2022 – GOLD Winner – “Band Single of the Year” – Bring It Down
World Songwriting Awards Summer 2022 - “Best Rock Song” - Give It To Me (Top 10 Finalist)
World Songwriting Awards Spring 2022 – “Best Rock Song” – Bring It Down
The John Lebang Show - Voodoo Moonshine winner of “Crank It up Award” for “Bring It
Down”
The John Lebang Show - 5th Annual Banger Music Awards – winner “Best Male
Vocalist”
The Epic Show - Winner of The Epic Top 100 Voters Choice Poll
Rela Radio 3rd Annual Rela - Voted Artist of the Year Award
Voodoo Moonshine Recent Shows:
Rock Bash – Bristol, TN – with Saliva
Rocktober Fest – Cordova, MD
Smokin Country Saloon – Bloomville, Ohio – with Texas Hippie Coalition
Summer Bash – Muncie, Indiana – with Framing the Red and The Native Howl
Cd Realease Show – Winter Park, Florida
Rock to Stop Suicide Benefit - Sanford, Florida
TBMN Showcase/OCC Roadhouse - St. Pete/Clearwater, Florida
1st Annual JMA Fest 2022 - Nashville, TN
Band Members
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