The Road to Mountain Music Fest: Kanika Moore of Doom Flamingo June 1, 2022 21:51

Kanika: I was really surrounded by music at a young age. I was totally surrounded by it. I didn't actually start pursuing it until about 10 years ago. I think what sparked it was when my grandmother passed. She saw me sing with her in church a lot. She was involved with the choir and have me sing a little bit during rehearsal. When she passed, I sang a song at her funeral. From then on, I knew that's what I wanted to do.

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I went to school for surgical technology, but I ultimately decided I wanted to work in music. I moved away from Charleston (SC) for a while. I was actually in Columbia (SC), and that's when I started working with Mike Quinn (Doom Flamingo) in Charleston. I was working with a few of my family members who play around here as well. But yeah, It wasn't until about 10 years ago that I got into music as a professional.

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Kanika: Yeah absolutely. It was one of those things that kind of connected me to the music that I always knew. Before she passed, I was living with her. I started exploring more music, and that's when the interest really started developing. I eventually moved back to Charleston, and I was working with Mike. We were working with this wedding band, and that sparked into Motown Throwdown. Then, I started working with Ross and TK (Thomas Kenney). Actually, I've probably been working with TK as long as Mike.

We started working on some side projects. Hank (Wharton) reached out to one person, and someone reached out to someone else. Ryan (Stasik) had just moved here, and he was looking to start a side project. We put the band together like a puzzle. It was really supposed to be just a few gigs when Umphrey's was playing in Charleston.

From there, we got in the studio and recorded some stuff. We realized quickly that this was a lot more than that. Ever since then, we've just hit the ground running. We slowed down for a second during quarantine just like everyone else did, but it was still a new project for us. During that slow time, we got to send music to each other and build more original music.

Kanika: Definitely. It's been great to work on writing with someone like Ryan. The first time that I performed with Umphrey's was actually the first time I'd heard them live. That was quite the experience. I have a close friend who passed away a few years ago. He couldn't believe that I didn't know who Umphrey's McGee was. I went over to his house to buy some weed or something. He has his friend were watching videos of this band for hours and hours. They told me it was Umphrey's McGee, and I was like, "I don't know who that is!" I ended up staying the night and watching hours of videos. The next time I saw them was when I was performing with them on stage.

Kanika: Well, I think I took a late interest in music outside of Christian, R&B, and soul. When I started to learn about all of these other genres, I got really eager and wanted to learn everything. My outlet for that now is being able to play with different bands and experience that. I want to be busy, and I like all of the variety. I know that when you put a band together, you have a certain theme. I like the idea of being able to come to these festivals and play with everyone.

Doom really seems to be taking off this year. This is really the first time that we've had to focus on a band and try to cover a whole selection or set of music. That's what we did with Queen at 420 Fest. Ross had that idea. He's always had a passion for Queen. It's interesting playing with Ryan, because he works with Umphrey's, and that's also a really big thing. It does work out to do those late-night shows, but it's also been working out to play these festivals and be there for the entire weekend, like we will at Summer Camp.

Most of our plays are late-night, but the variety is also really nice. Kicking off the day at 420 Fest with that Queen set was amazing. Big Something comes to Charleston a lot. I hadn't had an opportunity to be a part of their show until that weekend. I had a lot of things on my chest that I wanted to do, and I got a lot of that done at 420. I didn't know how much I would be able to perform with others, but I definitely made myself available.

I loved that whole experience. It was amazing. The footage that I saw. The experience that I had on stage. Being able to perform our original music. Being able to perform with The Psychodelics. That band hadn't had the opportunity to play that large of a festival before. There were just a lot of things on my checklist that I got to do. The weather was perfect. The people were perfect.

They had a tent set up in the back. It was right after the Queen set. They had a chiropractor and a Vida Flo tent with the IVs. Right after that set, I got straightened up by the chiropractor. The rest of the weekend was just smooth sailing. It's easy to not take great care of yourself on the road. I'm so glad that they had all of that. I bought a bunch of shit out there. I had such a great time.

Kanika: Yes, I am. I've known the TAUK guys for a few years. I've always been interested in working with them. They just reached out to everyone to see if they were available. I'm sure you've seen how they do the TAUKing McGee thing. This seems like a similar thing. I'm not even sure how much time I'll be on stage with them, but I'm really excited to work with them.

This is why I love these festivals. When you're there, and these musicians are playing, you're going to brush shoulders at some point. You're going to figure out how much you have in common. All of the sudden you're working on music together. And if it hits hard enough, maybe you go into the studio and record it. So, fingers crossed things work out with what we're doing with TAUK. I do have some high hopes for that. Just the collaborating and merging of the band while we're in one area.

Kanika: Absolutely. The people just become more familiar with you.

Kanika: Ross wrote this song. Originally, a guy named Jordan Noir was working on some artwork to go along with our comic book that we came out with a few years ago. He came up with animated characters for each member of the band. Ross wrote this song about an idea of what our band would be doing if Charleston was completely different, and we were of the future. It started out with that, then the words, and we talked about putting some videos together.

I'm obviously a woman, and I've been on this girl power pitch for a while. When I first got into the festival scene, I noticed how few women were performing on stage. Female performers are such a big reason as to why a festival is so much fun. The colors, the dancing, just everything about it makes me feel spectacular. The video features an all-girl party, and I love that.

Kanika: Just the content that we're waiting to release. We have an album coming out. Releasing a bunch of songs. There is another music video coming out soon. More singles, another album, and more videos this year. Just eager to get the content out for everyone to listen to.