Two decades ago, a group of musical buddies thrown together randomly at the University of Buffalo coalesced into a swinging little band called Five Guys Named Moe, which morphed, for a thankfully brief week, into Haggis before settling on the simple name moe. (with a quick detour to the moe. guitar army, but that was more of a fan thing).
With little deliberation and an adventurous spirit of improvisational caprice, moe. fashioned a new Jam sound out of disparate elements from the American Rock experience — bits of Zappa, touches of the Grateful Dead, heaping helpings of the Southern Rock tradition and flecks of anything lying around in their practice space or frontal lobes.
Although moe. flirted with the major-label system for a heartbeat in the 1990s, the vast majority of the band’s accomplishments have been notched without any corporate assistance (some would call it meddling) and they’ve succeeded on a grand scale largely on their own; in addition to running their own label, the moe. members have started a number of their own festivals (in addition to attending the many that already exist) and cruises.
A good deal of moe.’s success is directly attributable to the Internet, which was a tantalizing mix of voodoo and technology when the band was starting out. Using the Web to directly communicate with their fan base, moe. has effectively publicized tours, sold merchandise and disseminated information via its site (www.moe.com). Technology has also made it possible for moe.’s fans to take home a copy of many of the shows they attend, with the enticing offer of a flash drive loaded with MP3s of that evening’s performance (or even better, the ones fans missed). Beyond the massive undertaking of making, marketing and performing music, moe. has become one of the most philanthropic bands in America, throwing their considerable fundraising influence behind autism research and earthquake and tsunami relief.
A phenomenally talented Jam band, masters of tech-nerd wizardry, gifted humanitarians — these are five guys who are all this and moe.
Moe plays the Madison Theatre in Covington Saturday April 2. Buy tickets, check out performance times and get venue details here.
This article appears in Mar 30 – Apr 5, 2011.