The rising eight-piece group invited fans onto a tourist bus for an acoustic performance.
A press release for the Mowgli's describes the group as the "quintessential California band," and the folk-pop octet most assuredly belongs to the Golden State, although maybe not from this era. With their debut album "Waiting for the Dawn," the Los Angeles troupe -- one girl, seven guys, some with majestic beards and others with balls of frizz atop their pale heads -- has naturally created an image that embraces "universal love" (per the same press release) and eradicates any trace of negativity, serving themselves up as an antidote to the #snark and #sarcasm of the social media age. Their music videos are filled with cartoon hearts, their songs are built around refrains like "Love is simple/Love is easy," and they often leap into their audiences during live performances. The Mowgli's, simply put, want you to be happy. And although they're a major label-affiliated artist still searching for a major fan base ("Waiting for the Dawn" debuted at No. 109 on the Billboard 200 chart last month, and has sold 7,000 copies to date since its release on Photo Finish/Island Records, according to Nielsen SoundScan), those who have invested in their chill vibes are being invited to join innovative fan events that often make the likable group even more endearing.
Such was the case on Tuesday night (July 9), when the Mowgli's invited media members on a CitySights NY's "Ride of Fame" tour through New York City for a full acoustic performance prior to their headlining show at Bowery Ballroom. At 8:30 PM, the band climbed atop one of two red double decker tourist buses parked outside the Island Def Jam offices on 57th Street and Broadway, huddled in the front clutching their unplugged instruments and delved into their song "Emily" as their bus and another started creeping toward Times Square (the group switched buses midway to the venue). A pit stop was made to pick up a handful of fans, who had been waiting with painted signs with messages like "I Feel The Love" and "New York <3's The Mowgli's." As the journey downtown continued and the Mowgli's plowed through the majority of their album, the fans' singing was only interrupted by the sound of camera clicks, mild rain showers that required white ponchos to be distributed, and the warnings of the bus' flustered tour guide, who kept yelling "Look out!" in order to avoid someone on the top level of the bus getting clocked by a low-dangling traffic light.