“I feel like this is the perfect time to do this, while things are going good.” These were the words from the founder of Half Moon BK, Surf Allah. He continues by saying, “we want to make everything better. We didn’t fall off, we just fell back.”
It’s been a little over a year since we last spoke about Half Moon with Surf on the record. During that time, we watched the Brooklyn-based online radio station curate three livestream events with Boiler Room TV and throw two raves across the United States. Just when we thought the fun would never stop, Half Moon BK announces that they will be shutting down HQ and pausing their radio programming.
We were a bit concerned, it’s not every day you see an organization created by a person of color to elevate creatives and musicians who are also of color. It set minds at ease for people in their niche community when Half Moon stated, “this will only be [temporary] and we plan to come back even better!”
After speaking with Surf, it made all the more sense for the radio station to lay low and iron out any unnecessary kinks. He tells us, “more eyes are on us now. We’re not like this super super local brand no more, more and more people are watching…we want to make sure that they’re getting their money’s worth or viewerships worth. I’m going to make it worth their while.”
Half Moon BK is definitely worth our while, between the various mixes uploaded to their Mixcloud page and countless collaborations for intimate parties, there’s always something to look forward to. When they closed their doors, it didn’t really feel like they ever left. It’s admirable of them to want to include us in their progress through social media. It’s been nothing but updates, surveying the community for new artists, and party announcements…yes, announcements galore!
Since partnering with Resident Advisor and making them their exclusive ticket distributor, Half Moon has been delivering a plethora of events for all different types of music lovers. They created an opportunity for niche party-goers and organizers by going the DIY route. “We love our club bookings and everything,” Surf says. “But you know when working in a club environment, you’re still limited to how much control you actually have. So, we’re just in control more and we figured just having them push us with the marketing side could bring more traction and more parties in different cities.”
You can learn more about Half Moon BK by visiting their website and you can listen back to some of their most recent shows on Mixcloud.