MOLD! by Forrest Canaday
For all of the difficulties that South Florida can pose to local musicians trying to muster a scene (if you know, you know), we’ve managed to serve as a haven for musical immigrants. The Cuban expats of Miami Sound Machine provided a template, and paved the way for a Miami-based Latin music industry with talent resettling here from all over the Spanish-speaking world.
But to focus on more recent examples from outside mega-pop, psych rockers Zeta, originally from Venezuela, found a home in Miami for a critical few years beginning in 2015 that helped them build a following that has outlasted their local residency. Couple the region’s openness to newcomers with its ability to re-invent itself every decade or so, and we have the basis for a scene that supports a band like MOLD!
MOLD! are Carlo Barbacci on guitar and synth, sharing vocal duties with Bronto Montano on bass and Frankie Lujan on drums. Barbacci and Montano moved to Miami from Peru in 2019 and quickly assimilated. By 2021 they had their fully formed band and the first MOLD! album, “NO SILENCE!”
Since emerging from the Magic City chrysalis, they’ve been nominated as the Best Emerging Act in Miami New Times for 2021. They’ve embarked on tours with Palomino Blond, played iii Points, Bumblefest, and the Winterland Festival in Jacksonville.
Currently, MOLD! have released the third single, “CHOOSE TO BE CONTROLLED!,” off of their new album to be released in September. They once again worked with Ryan Haft, the sound engineer for Wrong, Torche and Jacuzzi Boys, to record and co-produce the new album.
“The song is about carving our own path in a world full of powerful people trying to control us,” says Barbacci, “and how some of us choose to be controlled for comfort, while some others find the strength to find freedom just to realize freedom hurts too.”
Speak your truth, gentlemen; you’ve come a long way to get it out to the world.
MOLD! with special guests Wrong, Palomino Blond and frogs show mercy play 7pm Saturday, September 16 at Gramps in Miami. mooold.bandcamp.com ~ Tim Moffatt
