NAUGHTY CLOUDS IS…

…the meeting of the minds of two songwriters from different sides of the Hudson River.

Ray Kubian and Alexis Moon met doing a David Bowie tribute at Arlene’s Grocery in NYC (six months before the untimely death of the Thin White Duke.) They became fast friends on social media, “liking” each other’s posts on everything from Bernie to Buzzcocks.

At the time, Ray was playing drums with a few renowned NJ and PA bands (as great drummers who sing are wont to do) such as Dean Ween Group, Chris Forsyth’s Solar Motel Band, Chris Harford’s Band of Changes, and backing up Pulitzer prize-winning Irish poet Paul Muldoon.

Alexis Moon, a native of NYC, had cut her teeth (a few times over) as a solo singer-songwriter performing at venues such as Wetlands Preserve and Knitting Factory in TriBeca, as well as having sung for Joe Gallant’s jazz-rock orchestra Illuminati.

In the month that our lord and savior, David Bowie, passed, Ray and Alexis happened to be rehearsing together again for the first time since the previous summer’s Bowie tribute. Commiseration was like a salve for both musicians and, that quartet, which featured guitarist Keith Hartel and bassist Tom Shad, eventually became an early incarnation of Naughty Clouds.

Duo chemistry prevailed, however, and Ray and Alexis began to play out on their own, having started to accumulate a set of co-written music. As a duo, they have now released their first full length album Everything’s Hard. Because everything IS hard.

Although, it’s a little easier with two…