Dexter and the Moonrocks Drop Debut, Pack 13,000 Fans — SkimNews
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- Dexter and the Moonrocks released their 13-track debut album "Friends That I Don't Like" on Friday via Severance Records/Big Loud Rock, with guest appearances from Avery Anna and Treaty Oak Revival, produced by Taylor Kimball — a record the band had no plans to make until "Freakin' Out" cracked the Hot 100.
- The Throckmorton, Texas four-piece (population 727) headlined a 13,000-ticket album release show at Cook's Garage in Lubbock that featured motocross, BMX races, mud pits, and crowd surfers — roughly a year after their biggest crowds numbered in the hundreds.
- The band is part of a grunge-and-90s-alt-rock surge in country music alongside Cigarettes at Sunset, Fox N' Vead, and Winyah, with the article tracing the trend back through Treaty Oak Revival, Koe Wetzel, and Whiskey Myers.
- Turnpike Troubadours frontman Evan Felker texted the band after hearing the album: "If you guys had come around at the right time, I'd be playing a Les Paul" — after the Moonrocks opened arena dates for Turnpike and Muscadine Bloodline this summer.
- Dexter and the Moonrocks appeared on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon in August and launch a headlining tour on Halloween running through February, with stops at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago, Mission Ballroom in Denver, and two nights at Webster Hall in New York, plus a mid-October Australian run at Strummingbird Festival.
- The band made a 2025 public push for a Cheez-Its sponsorship that the company refused, asking them to stop throwing Cheez-Its from the stage — prompting Felker to post, "CheezIts is rolling over in its grave."
Why it matters: In roughly a year, Dexter and the Moonrocks went from playing to a few hundred fans to selling 13,000 tickets at Cook's Garage — and earned headlining dates at the Aragon Ballroom, Mission Ballroom, and two nights at Webster Hall. Turnpike Troubadours frontman Evan Felker told them he'd be playing a Les Paul if they'd come around sooner, a credentialing endorsement from the Texas country scene's most respected songwriter.
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