Tex Moonlight’s “Ape Shall Not Kill Ape” Feels Like a Glitch in Reality

Most artists mellow out with time. Tex Moonlight did the opposite. “Ape Shall Not Kill Ape” feels like it was pulled from a different era and dropped into 2026 without warning. It’s chaotic, slightly disorienting, and fully intentional. Instead of chasing polish, Moonlight leans into distortion, unpredictability, and that uneasy feeling that something’s just a little off.

The track runs on a stiff, mechanical pulse that immediately nods to Devo, but it doesn’t sit still long enough to be labeled. The bassline stretches and snaps, the vocals feel detached and almost spoken, and the entire thing moves like it’s glitching in real time.

Then the Planet of the Apes references start to land, and suddenly the chaos feels more deliberate. Not clearer, just more intentional. Moonlight isn’t trying to hand you a message. He’s throwing fragments at you. Lines about the “villain in the mirror,” strange commandments, bits of meaning that feel just out of reach. You’re left somewhere between confusion and curiosity, which is exactly where this kind of music thrives.

The video doubles down on that energy. A human-sized ape roaming Fort Lauderdale alongside a French bulldog named after Johnny Ramone sounds ridiculous on paper, but that’s the point. It leans into absurdity, early-2000s visuals, and pure randomness in a way that feels oddly refreshing.

At a time when most artists are trying to be hyper-calculated, Moonlight goes the other direction. Loud, weird, and unapologetically messy. It doesn’t fully make sense. But it doesn’t need to.

“Ape Shall Not Kill Ape” feels intentionally chaotic and uncomfortable at times. Were you trying to make something that resists easy interpretation, or did it naturally come out that way?

To a certain degree, I always want to make things that are a bit left of center and quirky/thoughtful. The song definitely didn’t start that way, but it definitely morphed as time went on. Oddly enough, the driving drum beat, which is a loop I built up, really started to take over and dictate the direction of the song and consequently the lyric. Definitely a collage piece that was cobbled together, and then at some point I thought, “oh wow, this is cool.”  

You pull from Planet of the Apes and flip those references into something darker and more abstract. What about that world or those themes felt relevant to where you’re at right now?

COVID certainly seeded the landscape for an apocalyptic kind of vibe to take hold, or maybe I’m older and watching more news now. It just all feels very End-of-Times-y these days. That original POA movie is such a banger; pitch-perfect! So the lyric, “there’s a piece of my head, and it tells me it says, that we don’t have much time left to go,” is really capturing the current cultural zeitgeist.

Your sound blends punk energy with this almost mechanical, new wave feel. How do you balance raw emotion with something that feels so controlled and robotic?

I love blending genres and opposites in general. When one part of a song feels a bit clinical or antiseptic, I really try to offer a more personal/passionate vibe to offset any sterility. Also, we were feeling mad Devo vibes in the studio, so we really wanted to lean into that.

You’ve talked about returning to your roots with this release. What did you feel like you lost in your “mellow” era, and what made you want to reclaim this version of yourself? 

Standing! Hahhaha. The mellow stuff really made it easier to sit and deliver songs. I think I really just got tired of sitting and chilling out. I was known as an energetic fellow back in the day, so I guess I just wanted to make sure I still had it.

The video leans into absurdity with the ape, the dog, and that early-2000s aesthetic. Do you see humor as part of your message, or is it more about distracting people before they realize what you’re actually saying? 

Both. There’s nothing wrong with a bit of humor to remind me not to take myself too seriously. Especially when I was writing the mellower stuff, as I naturally tend toward morose and downtrodden themes. Also, though, I love trying to sneak a little bit of social commentary in there without hitting people over the head with it. Ultimately, it feels like a fun, upbeat song, so that’s kind of what really dictated how the video was going to appear. Thanks for including me on BUZZMUSIC.