'Moonbeam City’s' Musical Duo, Night Club: 'It's Really F---ing Hard to Make a Fake Toto Song'

Imagine a magical, mythical urban paradise where pastel-hued dolphins frolic against vivid Lisa Frank cityscapes; citizens all sport the moon-tanned porcelain pallor of vintage Patrick Nagel prints; every moody room is accessorized with dramatically stripe-shadow-casting Venetian blinds; and it’s 1982 all the time, forever and ever.

Sounds totally rad, right?

This faraway land is called Moonbeam City, the neon-lit location for Comedy Central’s brilliant new Miami Vice-reminiscent cartoon cop comedy of the same name. The series stars actual ‘80s icon Rob Lowe as bumbling Sonny Crockett wannabe Dazzle Novak; Elizabeth Banks as his Rio-album-cover-lookalike boss, Pizzaz Miller; Kata Mara as preppy rookie Chrysalis Zirconia Tate; and Will Forte as Dazzle’s obnoxious nemesis, shoulderpad enthusiast Rad Cunningham. But an equally important – and equally awesome – fifth Moonbeam City character of sorts is the show’s throbbing synth soundtrack. The instant the theme song’s first Faltermeyer-esque beats pulse across the small screen during the opening credits, the mood is perfectly set.

As Mark Brooks, the series’ director and one half of Night Club, the electropop duo behind the show’s music, attests: “It’s like if it was 1982, and then the alternate reality just kept going, staying in the '80s. So it’s like 30 to 40 years later – but it’s still the '80s. It’s the '80s future!” That’s exactly what the Moonbeam City score sounds like.

(Night Club’s Mark Brooks and Emily Kavanaugh are the Moonbeam City house band)

Brooks – who used to direct the music-minded animated series Metalocalypse, and has directed for Eminem, the Melvins, Slayer, and Danzig – formed Night Club in 2011 with Emily Kavanaugh. And when he got involved with Conan writer Scott Gairdner’s Moonbeam City, two years later, it only made sense that Night Club become the house band.

“We weren’t trying to be really '80s,” laughs Kavanaugh, as she describes the duo’s slick new wave sound. “I think it just kind of naturally happened because Mark grew up with all that music, and I always liked that music. I think it was just sort of an organic sound that we naturally started creating.”

“When this whole thing started, we had the elements of the '80s kind of thing, but also mashed with a modern pop thing,” says Brooks. “I think that’s ultimately what got Scott behind it, and musically where we were already at: making music that was pretty modern and '80s at the same time.”

Since then, Night Club have supplied all the original music that drives Moonbeam City, whether it’s Dazzle Novak’s barely-legal children’s rave; the “Sly Stone meets Doobies” jam “Leaving the H”; or the Cree Summer-vocalized, rainstick-augmented new age opus “Flight of the Windstress” (influenced by Ofra Haza, Vangelis, and “the guy who plays drums at Universal Citywalk,” notes Kavanaugh).

But some of Gairdner’s very specific musical assignments have been stranger than others. “Scott’s got some really deep taste. He’ll be like, 'I need something like a Benjamin Orr solo record,’” recalls Brooks with a grin.

“Or, 'a Don Johnson album track,”“ adds Kavanaugh.

"With Scott, you’re just like: 'Wow, this guy’s like 30 years old, and he has the knowledge of, like, a 70-year-old fan of music,” Brooks marvels.

“You don’t get this order asked that much: 'Go write a song like Toto,’” says Kavanaugh, referring to arguably Season 1’s musical centerpiece and masterpiece, the Toto-spoofing “Aquatica,” a love theme for a scene when Dazzle, in undercover/underwater mode, falls head over fins for a dolphin named Splasha.

“It’s really f—ing hard to make a fake Toto song, to be honest,” Brooks chuckles. “You have to really nail the vibe. And that was one of the things that was really specific: that Scott wanted a parody of it, but he also wanted a song that would coexist with a Journey record or Asia, that could be a companion piece to all that music at the same time.

"A big part of that one that really sold that is the singers on it. One is a young guy named Tyler Burton, who does the verse vocal. And then we had a friend, this guy Randy Roberts, who was the singer in a hair metal band in the '80s called Normandie. He gave David Lee Roth a run for his money onstage. And he knew Toto, he knew all those guys. He’s from that era. He sings the chorus, and he’s incredible. He just has that voice – that voice of those guys like REO Speedwagon, Asia, Journey. It’s just a timelocked era of music – that AOR rock 'n’ roll with synthesizers. It’s a real thing that Scott loves. And we love it, too. In fact, we went to go see Toto a couple of months afterwards at the Hollywood Bowl, because we were just so enamored.”

Night Club proudly declare that Gairdner “has never stumped us” – due in part to their “secret weapon,” guest keyboard genius Roger Joseph Manning Jr., of Jellyfish/Moog Cookbook/Imperial Drag/Beck fame. “He just comes in and brings that magic – that magic synthesizer,” says Brooks.

Says Kavanaugh: “He did some crazy s— on 'Welcome to Cop Con’ that was just, like, super-awesome. We kind of wrote the basis of it, and he went to town on solo-ing.”

“It’s got all that Moog Cookbook stuff going on,” Brooks raves.

However, though they didn’t get stumped, Night Club did face a particular challenge when writing “Cop This Town,” a Stray Cats-inspired rockabilly romp performed by Dazzle’s bar band, Buster Brown’s Midnight Moonshine and the Texas Holdem Boys, featuring real-life lead vocals by Rob Lowe himself. (Sadly, Lowe’s St. Elmo’s Fire saxophone doesn’t appear on the track, but Lowe does have rock cred, according to Brooks: “I didn’t know that he likes to go secretly up onstage and sing with the Beach Boys and all that stuff. He’s got all these crazy rock 'n’ roll stories; they’re really amazing. He’ll tell you a million stories that’ll blow your mind.”)

“Basically, we were told we had to write a song that Rob Lowe was going to sing,” explains Brooks. “So we were kind of nervous; we were like, 'Oh man, this is gonna be weird.’ What’s funny is that Emily did the vocal [at first], and then Rob came to record the song in the studio. We’re sitting there, me and Scott and everybody, and we’re like, 'All right, here’s the song.’ And lo and behold, he did it in a couple takes, and it turned out great. It sounds like Elvis meets… I don’t know what. But it’s awesome.”

“Rob has a pretty decent singing voice. I was kind of surprised,” admits Kavanaugh.

Moonbeam City airs Wednesdays on Comedy Central. Night Club’s original soundtrack for the show came out this week digitally, with a physical release (including vinyl, of course!) due out in December.

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