Local garage rock band Strawberry Moon are having an exciting year. Just after being voted No. 1 Richmond rock band by RVA Magazine’s Readers’ Poll, they released the new EP Smoon last month — and on Friday night will open for Of Montreal at the Broadberry.

I caught up with vocalist Katie Bowles and bassist Gray Stephenson about Strawberry Moon’s new era as a five-piece, how the local music scene has shaped their careers and their favorite character classes to play in Dungeons and Dragons.

Editor's note: This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and style. 

Annie Parnell: You've just released a great EP called Smoon. Tell us a little bit more about it.

Katie Bowles: It's five songs that we wrote over the course of the last year and have just been slowly rolling out. We put it out on Sockhead Records — a local record label run by the local band Destructo Disk who are our good buddies. We've been touring with them, and they've been really supportive.

It was recorded at Spacebomb Studios with Ricky Olson and mastered by Will Killingsworth. We're really proud of it. It's probably our favorite batch of songs that we've recorded so far.

Gray Stephenson: Definitely. It's also our first batch of songs recorded as a five-piece with our new drummer, Christian Noonan, and our old drummer TJ Mead being on second guitar.

TJ has been instrumental in songwriting, so it feels really good to have him on the instrument that he feels most comfortable with and does most of his writing on.

KB: I feel like it really upped the energy, because everybody's just really excited to be doing what they're doing. And Christian is killer at drums.

And “Smoon” is a nickname for your band?

KB: Yeah, it's just a mouthful. So we started calling ourselves “Smoon,” and then we started a whole “swoon for Smoon” thing, which is so silly, but really fun and just easy for people to call out at a show or whatever. So yeah, that's us now. We're Smoon.

What exactly is a Strawberry Moon?

KB: Strawberry Moon is one of the full moons. You know how every month there's the Harvest Moon, or the Blue Moon? The one in June is called the Strawberry Moon.

Both of us [Katie and Gray] have the same birthday; we were both born on June 2. When I first started the project, I was at the beach with my family, and there was a full Strawberry Moon. It just was a really nice moment for me and really stuck with me.

What is Strawberry Moon's creative process? I imagine it's been changing now that you're a five piece.

KB: Yeah, it's definitely changed a lot. This past year, it's pretty much been TJ bringing riffs to the table, or me writing really simple, stripped-down skeletons on acoustic guitar and bringing them in and being like, “OK boys, make this a punk song, please!”

It's been super fun. It's felt really natural and not forced at all this year.

[Turns to Gray]

What about you? How's your creative process?

GS: I mean, you summed it up pretty well. I just really love getting the skeleton and then putting all the pieces together for song structure, and figuring out how to complement the original chords and melody. I think that's where so much of the magic is, you know? Like, “what can we do right here to make this transition absolutely pop?” The alchemy of music is just crazy to me.

KB: We play a lot with dynamism — having really intricate parts, and then just “wall of sound” vibes. That's been a lot of fun. Our guitarist, Liam McElroy, is really good at that fuzzed out, Yo La Tengo energy. It's been really fun to just highlight everybody's strong points.

Katie, last time we spoke for a story, we were in Harrisonburg for MACROCK and Strawberry Moon had also just been voted No. 1 by RVA Mag’s Readers Poll. I'm wondering if you could share a little more about your connection with the local music scene.

KB: I've lived here for 11 years. It took me a while to get into the music scene, because I was just a little college kid and wasn't really confident enough with it yet. I think discovering the music scene was a really key part of me finding confidence as an adult, and finding community with people with shared interests and the queer community — just people who are really welcoming.

It definitely took some time to find the right pocket and not be trying to prove myself to a bunch of punk dudes who don't really care. But there's a lot of amazing local bands here and a lot of people who are just doing their thing — it's really inspiring,

GS: Absolutely. All of us in the band, we've just been in the scene for a really long time. Christian, our drummer, is actually the one I've known the longest, and we've just been in and out of bands and building connections for so many years. And we wouldn't have it any other way.

The Richmond scene, it’s got its ups and downs like anywhere else, but it really is home for all of us.

KB: We’re really thankful for the votes in the RVA Mag Readers’ Poll. It was wild to feel all of that support, and really validating, because we've been doing this for a long time, and it's really sweet that so many people recognize that.

One of the things I notice and love about Strawberry Moon is the way you balance powerhouse punk with this sense of play — “Polly Pocket World” on the new EP, for instance, uses this ‘90s childhood toy metaphor.

And your 2022 album Habitual Creatures has an ‘80s retro fantasy aesthetic.

KB: I think those are just aesthetics that we really like. With Habitual Creatures, we were really into Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and the art was really inspired by that.

We are all huge nerds and love fantasy and sci-fi, so that's really fun to hone in on, because it hits home for all five of us. “Polly Pocket World,” I mean, we're all ‘90s kids, much of our audience and friends and fans are '90s kids. It just felt like good timing. And who doesn't love Polly Pockets?

GS: When TJ wrote that riff, it just felt so fun and jubilant that I can't imagine a more apt metaphor.

Katie, I hear you're also a Dungeons and Dragons fan. Is that correct?

KB: Oh yeah.

What's your favorite D&D class to play?

KB: Probably ranger or druid — those are the two that I usually play. I think I'm still a ranger in my campaign. It's really nice to have that community with just a bunch of nerds — just doing your thing, playing pretend. Not judging each other and having fun, that's what it's all about.

You’ll be opening for Of Montreal when they perform in Richmond as part of their 20th anniversary tour for The Sunlandic Twins. What's your relationship with that album?

KB: I love Of Montreal. I have seen them like 10 times, probably, and that album is just queer joy. It's a party, it's anti-fascism; it's just a really fun, poppy album. I'm so excited to hear it full all the way through live.

That show is such a dream come true for me. I was over the moon when we got that invitation.

How did you connect with Of Montreal originally?

KB: When they announced the show back in November, I cold called The Broadberry, and I was like, “if you guys need some local support for this show, that would be amazing!” They said that they didn't need any local support because a band was supporting them, but I guess they’ve dropped off a couple of the shows on their tour.

They emailed us a couple weeks ago, and they were like, “if you still want to do it, we have room and you asked us.”

So, always just shoot your shot.

Right, it sounds like you put yourself out there and it worked out.

KB: It's nice to just unabashedly go for what you want. It's the name of the game with local music. You’ve got to self-promote all the time. You have to do the uncomfortable stuff. But I mean, people love local music, and it feels great that Of Montreal is down to uplift a band in Richmond when they come. I think it's really cool.

GS: On that note, I want to bop in and say the Strawberry Moon would not have any of the success that we do if Katie were not such a tenaciously hard worker when it comes to promotion, and scheduling and reaching out to people, and booking tours, and social media. The heart of the band!

KB: Thanks, Gray. Gray is kind of my partner-in-crime. He's the one that I always bounce ideas off of when I don't want to bother the rest of the boys. My Gemini twin!

It's been a journey building that confidence and not being afraid of annoying people, and I think it pays off, because I feel really uplifted by our community.

I remember at MACROCK, we talked about how the way that you got in touch with Sockhead Records was picking up one of their business cards and reaching out to them.

KB: Yeah, we love them. I'm so glad it's worked out. I can't believe that it's been three years now since we've joined them. They've been really supportive. They're definitely pulling their weight in the Richmond music scene and beyond.

GS: Gideon and Molly, they really do care about uplifting local artists. They’re just a really tiny, pretty much two-person operation, but they use a lot of spare resources from their own music endeavors to help with releases. They really help a lot with promotion. They're absolutely wonderful, great people to have behind us.

KB: It's really cool to work with people who are doing great in the music scene and really successful and are not gatekeeping it, and are sharing their wealth of knowledge with the rest of us.

You mentioned that Gray is your partner-in-crime in the band. What are some of the other social dynamics in Strawberry Moon?

KB: Liam McElroy is my boyfriend of seven years, and we live together. It's very sweet to collaborate with him.

One of my favorite things about our relationship is being in a band together and just always being creative together. TJ Mead is a really close friend of ours. Neither of them are the lead guitarist, because they take turns. But he has just been in the punk scene for so long, and is so knowledgeable, such a smart person.

GS: He, I feel like, is very much a grounding force in the band. We’re all friends.

KB: Yeah, we're all besties, and Christian joining this year has been awesome. Gray's been friends with him for a really long time, and I've known him acquaintance-style in Richmond for as long as I've lived here.

He's always been in amazing bands like Cold Beaches, and when he was interested in joining, we were just so psyched. He's such a good drummer.

GS: He’s absolutely a fantastic drummer. I've known him for ages. When I first moved into town and I was just getting things off the ground with my first group that I was in, Christian and some of his bandmates in Black Mold Jesus at the time were some of the first people who really vouched and threw support for us and welcomed us into the scene. We’ve been buddies ever since.

He did a little drumming for a band I was in called Night Creature, and we’ve toured before, and just always loved playing with them. He's such a joy and such a joyful, energetic drummer. When we were looking for somebody, it just made sense.

KB: And then Gray and I, we met really early on when Gray moved here. I was doing my solo project and had put out a solo cassette tape, and I remember Gray coming to my show at Garden Grove and buying a tape and being really supportive.

And then you were booking singer-songwriter stuff at The Camel and were really supportive of Strawberry Moon. When we decided to make it a garage rock band, it was just really obvious that it was the right fit.

GS: Eternally grateful. I love being a part of the process. It's been awesome.

KB: Some of the core elements of Strawberry Moon also align with some of my core values of non-complacency, and I think that it's really important to use your voice, especially right now.

Uplift the people that need it and protect the people that need it, and celebrate queerness, trans people, immigrants. I want to empower anyone that listens to us, or anyone that aligns with those values, to stay strong and stay focused.

The show with Of Montreal is on March 28 and Smoon is out now. Beyond that, what's next for Strawberry Moon?

KB: We're playing Yes Fest in Norfolk this May with Lava Presents, which we're really excited about. We may or may not have a couple shows that are really exciting that we cannot mention, but keep your eyes peeled.

We've been planning a tour, so keep an eye out if you want to catch us in DC, Pittsburgh, Philly, Detroit, Toronto. We're going to some new places this year. It's going to be a big year for Strawberry Moon.

Strawberry Moon’s new EP Smoon is available now. The band has announced they’ll be opening for Sheer Mag and True Body at Cobra Cabana on May 20.