Habitat Noise

By Amanda Baran
About a year ago, lead singer and songwriter, Donald Moats, collaborated with drummer, Chris Nelson, bass player, Lisa Lombardi, and guitarist, Chris Horton to form the band, Habitat Noise. They have been performing in Savannah and the surrounding areas ever since.

Nelson says their music has an “alternative 90’s sound.”

Agreeing, Moats says (there’s) “some new styles mixed in with some more modern bands, but not your mainstream rock and roll kind of radio rock.”

The group currently has a 4 song EP out, and is working on their next studio album, which is being produced in Habitat Noise Studios – a non-profit studio that Moats owns.

Their next Savannah show will be on November 20 at The Rock House on Tybee Island.

Click play in the video player to the left to see a video interview with Moats and Nelson. - Savannah Morning News

HABITAT NOISE

At 11 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 18

The Jinx, 127 W. Congress St.

The A through Z of this grungy hard-rock quartet is Donald Moats, a local guy who played drums in a lot of Savannah bands - The Reply being the best-known - before deciding to take the guitar, and songwriting, seriously.

(Yeah, we know there are only three people in the photo. Moats has since added a second guitarist, joining bassist Lisa Lombardi and drummer Chris Nelson.)

There are four songs on the EP Habitat Noise, all written by Moats, who played all the instruments and sang all the vocals himself.

"I just went through bands to where the singer was flaky or something like that," Moats explains, "and I said ‘You know what, I'm gonna learn to sing and play.' That way, I don't have to worry about anybody being flaky. It's just me."

This all happened after he'd spent four years in Los Angeles "to explore the musical adventure." After playing 40 or 50 shows, for precious little dinero, he returned to Savannah two years ago and put together a home studio.

"I've been playing guitar since the end of high school, just kind of messing around, but a year ago I couldn't play and sing at the same time," Moats says. "At all."

Making a true "solo" record presents a problem, especially when it comes to live performances. "I knew when I wrote all these songs I was going to want to play them out and promote them," Moats says. "I have friends in town that I knew from when I was here before - hey always liked the music, the sound that I created. They're not hired guns, so to speak, because they're friends, but they understand that I will take the band wherever I go, that kind of thing. It's my project.

"Honestly, now that we've been gigging around I'm way better than I was when I recorded that EP."

Habitat Noise shares a fan base with the punk band Cusses - they're all friends, they have a lot of the same friends, and as a matter of fact Cusses is playing this show with them.

And, Moats adds, every performance is better than the one before. "We're starting to spread out as a band, to where the people in the band are putting more effort in - because they're really getting into it now." The bill also includes Cusses and the Charleston band Firework Show. See reverbnation.com/habitatnoise. - Connect Savannah