ine years ago, Lucas Showalter, former bassist for Moon Jr., pulled up a cover of the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ song “Pea” to play for a small audience in his basement.  This was the first recording of Pauline’s Basement, the band that went on to become Moon Jr. One of Rolla’s biggest up and coming success stories. Earlier this month, Moon Jr., who has been on tour for over a year, released its first studio album, which is self titled, and opened for MUTEMATH at Rolla’s Best Ever 106th St. Patrick’s Day concert.
“We were just messing around then. We were called Pauline’s Basement, because we practiced in Brian [Taggart]’s grandma’s basement, whose name was Pauline,” August Rolufs, frontman of Moon Jr. said. “Pauline’s Basement was Brian Taggart on drums, Matt Crane on bass, and me and Nathan [Showalter] still on guitar and keyboard respectively.”
When all of the members of Pauline’s Basement graduated, everyone went their seperate ways, Brian went to school to learn how to fly helicopters, Mac went to college in Springfield, Augie moved to St. Louis, and Nathan moved to Estonia for a while with his family (but moved back to Rolla after a short period to take classes at S&T). Augie also moved back to Rolla to attend S&T. Jon was working at the scholastic factory in Jefferson City at the time and was playing gigs constantly with funk bands and cover bands. Jon was unsatisfied with playing cover music and wanted to form an original band. Heath barrack had been working at Benton Square in Rolla and got word that they were looking for a house band.
Heath met Augie while Augie was performing an acoustic gig in the lounge at Benton Square. After meeting they had a jam session and called Jon, who Heath knew from playing with him in the Red Hot Tube Sox. At the same time they called Nathan, who had just arrived back from Estonia.
They played one gig at Benton Square together and it fell apart. The gig was unrehearsed and terrible, however, Nate, Jon, and Augie continued to write music with Nathan’s younger brother, Lucas, on bass.
The band moved out of the basement and formed a new identity, featuring a very talented four-piece ensemble of Lucas Showalter on bass, Jon Ammerman on drums, and, of course, Augie and Nathan. In the fall of 2012, the name Moon Jr. was decided for the future of the band, and if one were to track the progress of the band, with the name change began the development of something beautiful. After a few months they decided the name didn’t fit and they changed it to Moon Jr. Lucas left the band on good terms in 2013 to persue college with Heath Barrack replacing him on bass
Following their first successful tour in the summer of 2013, Moon Jr.’s growth and popularity has grown, especially in Rolla. Travelling the United States and playing in multiple cities is a special opportunity that most bands wouldn’t ever get, and Moon Jr. certainly views it as so.
“I just love being in a new place every day,” Ammerman said. “I saw so much of the United States last summer, and it was just really neat getting to see the difference; the towns that I expected to be the best and then the towns that I didn’t expect to be so awesome. Like Louisville was really an awesome town to play music in.”
Rolufs and Ammerman both agreed that the tour was quite an eye-opening experience, one that could be defined as the most important thing to happen to the band in its complex history. It was their first taste of being a “real band” and as I sit and talk with them about their experiences, I can tell that they’re on their way to create a legacy that will forever be a part of Rolla’s history.
After Lucas Showalter’s departure from the band in the fall of 2013, the guys introduced a new member to their band: Heath Barrack. The transformation was easy, as Rolufs pointed out, because Barrack is quite a talented bassist. However, with the departure of the youngest Showalter, rumors began to swirl that Nathan would also be departing.
Showalter has recently begun music taking classes in Kansas City to improve his skill, which is where the idea that he would be departing came from.
“It’s not true at all,” Showalter said. “The reason I’m here is to improve myself as a musician and improve the band. There’s a lot of unfinished business with Moon Jr., and I’m nowhere near giving up on my dreams with that.”
This sort of study-abroad looks promising to bring new ideas and inspiration to the band as they look to continue what they’ve started. Showalter says that he is really improving himself and has experienced things that he wouldn’t otherwise been exposed to, had he not gone to study in Kansas City.
“I’m around so many different musicians, just trying to learn whatever I can in school. I’m taking jazz piano performance classes, so I’m learning whatever I can there. I’ve seen live music every night this week. That’s kind of my new thing is I want to see live music every night and try to absorb those styles and try to meet with as many musicians as I can.” Showalter said.
Despite their jazz and blues influence, the band insists that labelling their band as a blues-rock band wouldn’t really do justice to their music.
“People label music and put it into genres and all that labelling does is restrict you,” Showalter said.