Trevor Montgomery doesn’t do boredom – he does yoga at sunset, late-night beat making, and wolf-howls after espresso. From spontaneous dance parties to whispered tributes for fallen crows, his world hums with music, magic, and just enough mystery.
I am most passionate about… Creating and recording songs. I love diving into the murky waters and reaching through the veil. Sometimes I get consumed by a song and I can work on it in my head. I’ll be making vids on my phone, mouthing drumbeats or melodies. I’ll wake up and it has been in my head all night. I love figuring out how to match the song in my head as much as possible to the sound in reality.
The world would be a better place with more… Spontaneous dance parties, loud music in cafés, and compassion. Compassion and kindness surely are the best way to dance in a loud café after drinking a perfect espresso and then maybe giving a wild howl like a wolf – a howl always seems to make people smile. The ones that don’t smile, well, perhaps they are the wolf in sheep’s clothing.
I get myself out of a funk by… I’ll do it a few ways. I do yoga, that always seems to help set my mind straight a bit, especially if it’s in the afternoon and the sun is setting. I like to do a headstand every day if I have time. Not sure what’s really happening there, but something good is… the best way I get myself out of a funk is by going to the studio. Getting my drum machine out and making a beat, recording it and then trying to figure out a song. Just diving into the rabbit hole. When I emerge at the end of the night, the music, the layers of sounds and rhythms will have lifted my spirits incredibly.
When I’m bored I… I don’t believe in the word. When I was a kid, I definitely threw it around a lot. There is so much to be done. Books to be read. Clouds to be gazed at. Birds to whistle back to. Songs to be written. People that need to be seen, truly seen.
A random fact I love is… Crows/ravens hold funerals for a fallen friend. They will appear from all around, lining the trees and wires surrounding the dead bird, and start cawing out a tribute. Just as mysteriously as they arrived, they will disperse. What’s going on here? I believe I learned about this first from an episode of the amazing Love and Radio podcast.
The biggest risk I’ve taken… Was moving across the world from California where I spent my whole life. Leaving it all behind and moving across the world to a tiny little country called New Zealand. I knew nobody really and had no connections – just my partner, Simone, and our daughter Wilder. Yeah, that was risky. I’m so happy that we did it.
At a party you will find me… Dancing, laughing or talking wildly about sci-fi, whale communication, plant consciousness – or else awkwardly in the corner frozen solid with social anxiety.
My biggest regret in life… I can’t live my life like that. If I was to think of all the things that I’ve done wrong, which are endless, it would just be a black hole. Everything worked out the way it was supposed to, to get me to this point right here and right now.
One thing I wish more people knew about is… The book Grapefruit by the artist Yoko Ono. It’s a wonderful book of art pieces in poem form or little poems in art form. They’re wildly imagined meditations, super positive and just great to read. A perfect book to read when you just need to hang out in the clouds for a while.
Young Moon are performing at The Dog’s Bone on Saturday
30 August. Tickets via undertheradar.co.nz
