Dexter and The Moonrocks Are Putting Texas Rock on the Map

How am I just now finding out Dexter and The Moonrocks are from Texas?!

I've been hearing these guys for months thanks to “Freakin' Out,” one of the biggest alternative rock songs of the year and a song that seemed to take over my social media feed.

Then I started digging a little deeper and discovered the band comes straight out of Abilene!

Suddenly, I had another reason to pay attention, because Dexter and The Moonrocks have been on a pretty wild climb over the last few years, and now they're getting ready to hit another major milestone.

Dexter and The Moonrocks Announce Their New Album

Dexter and The Moonrocks have officially announced their first full-length studio album, Friends That I Don’t Like, arriving October 2.

The 12-track album includes the breakout hit “Freakin' Out,” “12 Steps” featuring fellow Texans Treaty Oak Revival and “If You Could Talk.”

Along with the album announcement, the band dropped another new song, “It’s A Lot,” giving fans another taste of what's coming in October.

This Texas Band Went From Abilene to the Billboard Charts

Dexter and The Moonrocks formed in Abilene in 2021, and their origin story makes their success even more fun.

Before the band took off, the four guys worked some very normal jobs: fry cook, oil field operator, concrete surface decorator and kids' baseball coach.

Their song “Couch” first helped them gain attention online, followed by “Sad in Carolina,” which became a No. 1 Alternative radio hit.

Then came “Freakin' Out.”

The song became the band's first Billboard Hot 100 hit and took off online- which is actually how I discovered them. “Freakin' Out” kept popping up as part of the “remember who you are” trend, and eventually I needed to know who was behind it.

Finding out afterward that these guys were from Abilene just made me like them a little more.

Dexter and The Moonrocks Mix Texas With '90s Rock

Another thing I love about this band is that they don't seem too concerned with fitting neatly into one category.

They call their sound “Western Space Grunge”, but you'll also see alternative rock, country rock, grunge, red dirt and even “sad cowboy” used to describe them!

Growing up in West Texas, the guys were surrounded by country and western music while also loving the grunge and alternative rock of the '90s. Instead of choosing one, they mashed it all together.

Personally, my description is much simpler:

This sounds like a band I would've LOVED when I was 16! Whatever you want to call their music, it's clearly working.

Dexter and The Moonrocks have gone from regular jobs in Abilene to viral songs, Billboard charts and now their first full-length album.

Texas may need to start making a little more room for Western Space Grunge.