I think there’s something in the water here, something about Grey Bruce Simcoe that quietly breeds creativity. Maybe it’s the slower pace, or the way the quiet makes people want to make their own noise. Whatever it is, Moondoggy seems to fit right into it.
The band’s story starts in Collingwood in 2018, when two high school friends, Jakob Matanowitsch and Johnny Contini, were each making music on their own before deciding to combine forces. They wrote songs in their bedrooms, played at house parties, and slowly pulled more people into the mix. Over time, the band moved to Toronto, the lineup expanded, shows got bigger, and the music became more defined.
Today, Moondoggy is a fully formed unit with a clear identity, gearing up to release their third album and take on their first tour….a long way from those early bedroom demos.
The band is made up of Jakob Matanowitsch on vocals, Johnny Contini on guitar, Ben Matanowitsch on sax, and Victor Carrillo on drums. Together, they’ve built a sound shaped by four different musical backgrounds that meet in the middle, giving us the unique sound of Moondoggy.
“All of us have different influences,” says Jakob. “I’m into indie, alternative, and classic rock. Cage the Elephant was huge for me. Johnny, Ben, and the others pull from everything: jazz, R&B, Latin music. Victor’s from Ecuador, so there’s a lot of that in there too. It’s all over the place, and that mix is what gives us our sound.”
Those contrasting tastes don’t pull them apart; instead, they create the tension that gives Moondoggy its identity.
“I think we thrive on having different tastes. If we all liked the same things, the music would probably end up pretty boring. We definitely overlap in places, but creatively, it helps that we’re all coming from different angles. On the business side, we have a shared goal, but creatively the differences are what make it fun,” says Jakob.
Although Moondoggy started in Collingwood, the band eventually found themselves in Toronto, trading the small-town house parties for some of Toronto’s most iconic venues.
“Our first few shows at the Horseshoe Tavern and Lee’s Palace were really rewarding. People we’d never met were coming out after finding us online or just wandering in. That was the moment we thought, okay, this is working,” Jake says.
But Moondoggy’s growth isn’t limited to the venues they’ve played; it also shows up in how they write and record together now. Their earlier projects were very DIY, stitched together in makeshift studios, in bedrooms and basements. Over time, that shifted into working with engineers and eventually with different producers who helped shape the direction of their new material.
The band released their first album in 2023, titled Mad and Noisy, and their second album in 2024, titled Changing Seasons, Breaking Even. At the time of writing this article, they are gearing up to release their fourth album with a March release.
“We used to do everything ourselves, but we quickly realized that’s not how it works. The first step was bringing in someone to engineer the project and record in a proper studio, which we did for our first album, Mad and Noisy. It’s fun having someone outside the band who gets a say in how the music takes shape,” says Jakob.
And now, with new music on the way, the band is getting ready to take the songs on the road for the first time.
“It’ll be our first tour. We’re doing a run through the northeast U.S. in March to promote the album, which we’re really excited about. Then in May, we head to Europe for the first time – mostly Germany, Slovenia, and a few other spots. After that, we’ll be back in the U.S. once or twice to wrap up the year,” says Jakob.
“We’re going from only playing within a hundred-kilometre radius to playing in places like Belgium. It’s a bit weird, but very cool.”
It is very cool. And Moondoggy’s music is very cool. It’s the stuff I want on when I’m driving at night, cooking dinner, or walking around the city; it’s the kind of music that hits no matter the mood. Capital City has that genre-mixing groove, Ramona leans into that relentless rhythm, and Carry On brings the softer melodic side. They’re a band you can stumble onto by accident and stay for the whole set, and one you actually look out for when they drop new music or announce shows.
Catch them live this year or find them on your favourite streaming platform.
Words by Maddy Grasman
