Rock Band Breaks up, Will Livestream Final Concert

Walk the Moon, a pop-rock group from Ohio known for their 2014 hit single “Shut Up and Dance,” recently announced their “hibernation,” with lead singer Nicholas Petricca tweeting that “The time has come for us to take a good long break from touring and making records together.” The band will likely reunite someday, as Petricca suggested in a video shared on YouTube. Petricca added that when this reunification occurs, it will be a “glorious day.” However, he said, “The truth is, we don’t know when that’s gonna be.” The band is expected to release new music before going on hiatus. “Something to celebrate our time together and the road ahead,” Petricca said. “So stay tuned for that.” In addition, Walk the Moon will livestream the band’s final performance, scheduled for Aug. 12 in Arcadia, Wisconsin. Moreover, Petricca said Walk the Moon would be delving into the archives in the coming weeks and sharing “some art, clips, stories” about the band’s history. He encouraged fans to “share your own stories, so that we can repost.” Finally, the frontman noted that Walk the Moon would use its social channels to share information about upcoming projects, such as guitarist Eli Maiman’s “new musical collaboration” and his own “solo project universe.” 

The decision to dissolve Walk the Moon comes a few years after the departure of longtime bassist Kevin Ray. Petricca announced that Ray would leave the group in Dec. 2020, saying at the time they had learned “firsthand information which leads us to conclude that Kevin Ray has acted out of alignment with our values.” Walk the Moon’s origins date back to the band Petricca founded in 2006 while still a student at Kenyon College. The band’s debut, I Want! I Want! arrived in 2011, but the lineup’s main iteration didn’t take shape until a year later when Petricca linked up with Maiman, Ray, and drummer Sean Waugaman. While still a student at Kenyon College, Petricca founded Walk the Moon in 2006. While the band’s debut album, I Want! I Want!, was released in 2011, the main lineup didn’t take shape until a year later, when Petricca joined forces with Maiman, Ray, and drummer Sean Waugaman. With their self-titled debut album released in 2012, Walk the Moon scored minor hits with songs such as “Anna Sun” and “Tightrope.” They reached Number Four on Billboard’s Hot 100 two years later with their breakthrough hit, “Shut Up and Dance.” Talking Is Hard, the album in which it appeared, was certified platinum by the RIAA and peaked at number 14 on the Billboard 200 Albums chart in 2013. The band has released two albums since Talking Is Hard, What If Nothing from 2017 and Heights from 2021. 

In the video, Petricca notes that this summer marks 18 years since he began the band, saying, “For half of my life this band has been the main focus of my creative love and energy. It makes it well over a decade since Sean and Eli were the new guys, and devoted themselves to the cause.And the same is true for each of us: Nothing else on Earth has received more ours of our love and attention than this indie, alt, pop rock and roll band.” Petricca concluded his message by reading a dedication the band included in its liner notes for Walk the Moon’s 10th anniversary: “Walk the Moon is a universe that invites everybody to play along, play full out, play all in. It’s a place where everyone is welcome and participation is everything. And more than that, Walk the Moon has always been and forever will be, what you make of it.”