3.2 Band History.
The following is a post from Chuck from when the list first began. It has been slightly updated
(updates are noted by [NOTE:]).
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Subj: *** moe. history file *** (take one)
Date: Thu, Jan 25, 1996 3:05 AM EDT
From: (Brendan P. O'Neill)
To: moe@Shinbone.Psych.Brown.Edu
moe. history
This is by no means complete, but if you want to know vaguely what happened to us, this is about
all that we remember.
bass, vocals: Rob Derhak
drums: Ray Schwartz
guitar, vocals: Chuck Garvey
The three of us got together by the suggestion of a friend of Rays. She wanted us to play at her
house for Halloween and we complied.
Halloween 1989
Set list in no particular order: Green Earrings ( Steely Dan ), The One I Love ( R.E.M . ), The
Munsters theme, Purple Haze, Melt With You ( Modern English).... you get the picture. We've
tried to forget.
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bass, vocal: Rob
guit, vocal: Chuck
drums: Ray
guit: Dave Kessler
sax, vocal: Steve ?
The band actually forms in winter of 1990. Dave, Ray and Steve were playing with another bass
player, but we all decide to start playing together. We were called "Five Guys Named Moe" from
the Louis Jordan tune of the same name. We opened up for a band of especially good sports named
Monkey Wrench at Broadway Joe's in Buffalo, NY. Thanks Timo.
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rob,
chuck,
ray,
dave
In Fall of 90, Steve quits the band. We rename ourselves "Haggis" for one week, but soon go to
moe without the period. Rob pushed for the Moe , but a Brooklyn band of that name already
exists. Ray likes "Canned Pastries" and "Soft White Underbelly".
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Rob: bass, vocals
Chuck: guitar, vocals
Ray: drums
Dave: guitar
Al Schnier: guitar, conga
Al filled in for absent Dave at a party at chicklets house in Buffalo. He played guitar and a
conga. After that, he played back up guitar for several gigs - part time. (yes, there were three
guitar players in the band . We were known as the moe guitar army.) At this time we also began
to use the period at the end of moe in typewriter letters. In January of 1992 Al is inducted as
official third guitarist. In Feb. of 1992 moe. goes out of town for the first time to Oneonta,
NY. In Spring of 1992 Dave phases out due to lack of interest.
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Rob: bass, voc
Chuck: guitar, voc
Al: guitar, voc
Ray -----> Jim: drums
June of 1992: moe. records Fatboy. At the end of mixing, Ray leaves to go to grad school. In
September of 1992, Jim Loughlin officially joins the band as drummer. In the summer of 1993,
Chuck quits the band at a bad time for two months then begs for readmittance and more abuse. In
Spring of 1994, moe. records Headseed. moe. officially and finally quit their day jobs, move to
Albany, NY (of all places!) and go Full Time all in the Fall of 1994. Headseed was released in
October of 1994, just a month after moe.s first tour down south.
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In March of 1995, Brendan O'Neill joined the band as Audio Engineer for moe.s first trip out
west to the Rockies. June 1995, Jim Loughlin leaves band to play with Yolk , from Binghamton NY.
[NOTE: Jim's last show was 7.15.95]
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Rob: bass, voc
Chuck: guitar, voc
Al: guitar, voc
Mike Strazza: drums
Late July 95 Mike joins the band. In Sept. , Mike quits but agrees to play through the end of
the year. Thanksgiving weekend of 95 - moe. records Loaf during two nights at the Wetlands in
NYC.
[NOTE: Mike played with moe. publicly between 7.22.95 and 12.9.95]
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Rob: bass, voc
Chuck: guitar, voc
Al: guitar, voc
Chris Mazur: drums
December 29th 1995: Chris Mazur (from Pittsburgh, PA) begins playing with moe. in Erie, PA,
Washington D.C., and for New Years Eve at the Wetlands, NYC till 7:00 a.m. to a record breaking
crowd. Jan. 19th, 1996 - moe. begins its first tour with Chris. Jan. 25th, 1996 - Chuck finishes
his glib little history on moe. from Raleigh, NC, where the band is currently traveling their
asses off to pay their bills and spread a little bit of lovin.
[NOTE: Chris's last show was 11.17.96. He was replaced by Vinnie Amico who's first appearance
was 11.21.96.
Brendan O'Neill was replaced by Steve Young as Front of House Engineer / Monitor Engineer
Drummer #2, Jim Loughlin, returned to the lineup on January 23, 1999. He is playing Percussion,
Flute, Bass, Washboard & Acoustic Guitar with the band.]
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Well, that's it for now, time to watch Conan and HBO (we never get to watch cable) and go to
sleep. While this little autobiography may be self-serving, not completely true and rife with
misinformed, distracting trivia and glaring omissions, it is meant only as mild entertainment of
the truly bored, and shouldn't be taken too seriously.
Take it easy and we hope to see you on the road and on the little device you are currently
operating to procure this message of great social import.
Chuck.
3.2.1 Band Update from Chuck - February 2001.
The following is an update provided by Chuck in February 2001 to Dean Budnick and jambands.com. Reprinted with permission.
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Stardate: February 6, 2001
Hey! Dither is released today!
Well, here we are again - me sitting in a hotel room somewhere, typing nonsense into a computer.
Who'da thunk we would still be talking about this? I guess it's just a pleasant surprise! Thanks
to all of the people (like yourself) that read and give a crap about this kind of history, we
are able to continue playing, recording and contributing valuable bandwidth to upstanding
members of society. Thank you!
I have updated a few details in the preceding section of the moe.timeline, as well as trying to
remember the last coupla years.
[Chuck's updates in the previous sections can be seen at http://www.jambands.com/feb01/moe/timeline.html. This section in the FAQ only covers from where we left off...]
Here we go.....
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1996
In February, Mike Wright is hired to tour manage.
In april(?), moe. signs a deal with SONY and in the next six months, records and releases "no
doy".
Chris is replaced by longtime friend and Buffalo drummer Vinnie Amico, who played in numerous
bands, including Sonic Garden (Dead tribute), Outer Circle Orchestra and Acoustic Forum.
[NOTE: Chris's last show was 11.17.96. He was replaced by Vinnie Amico whose first appearance
was 11.21.96.]
Ken "Scippi" (or Skip) Richman is hired to tour manage (replacing Mike Wright). He flies out to
Minneapolis to start work on St. Patty's Day, 97. Skip is yet another Buffalo buddy from when
the band played to 9 or so friends at Broadway Joe's.
moe. lands a spot on Further Festival for the summer of 1997 and is allowed to grace the same
stage as The Black Crowes, Jorma Kaukonen, Arlo Guthrie, Ratdog and Bruce Hornsby among others.
Way cool.
Chris Burrows begins working for moe. on their Fall '97 tour.
Fall/winter of 97 - Brendan O'Neill is replaced by Steve Young as Front of House Engineer /
Monitor Engineer. Steve (as well as lighting director Chris Ragan) had been with us for a
while. Steve was still another Buffalo friend who used to mix and record many of moe.'s early
lo-fi Buffalo shows at Broadway Joe's, The curve (once!), Essex St. Pub,...etc......as well as
Vinnie's bands.
Most of '97 is spent touring the entire country several times, then in the winter/early spring
of '98, moe. records "Tin cans and car tires" with John Alagia and John Siket.
While rehearsing in Maine in January, '99, we decide to call up Jim Loughlin and get him to be
the "rover" of the band. He agrees. [Drummer #2, Jim Loughlin, returned to the lineup on January
23, 1999. He is playing Percussion, Flute, Bass, Washboard & Acoustic Guitar with the band.]
April of '99, moe. and SONY part ways after two albums and three years.
August '99, moe plays at the early, "non-riot" part of Woodstock weekend in Rome, NY. The event
is simulcast on pay per view worldwide to millions of people.
Late Spring/early Summer of '99, moe. begins studio sessions which, at first, are meant only to
be a demo, but 4 or 5 studios later become the year-spanning "Dither" project. At the same time,
moe. plays and records live shows with the engineering help of Bill Emmons, who also did work
with the band in its San Francisco Dither session. John Siket (with the help of Al) mixes the
live shows which are released as "L", as well as co-producing and engineering most of "Dither".
"L" is released on moe.'s own label, Fatboy records, in April 2000.
August of 2000, the band does one final overdub, arranging and mixing session in NYC, then
finishing up at Bearsville studios.
moe. releases "Dither" on Feb. 6th.
OK, that about does it fer now. I hope that this answers all of the gnawing, burning questions
that you may have been grappling with for god knows how long.
We sincerely hope that this history will continue to grow indefinitely and that you will always
be a willing, satisfied participant in some way. Achtung! Du liebst moe.! Mach schnell!!!! heh,
heh.
Thanks for listening and being so durn cool!
chuck.
Eugene, Oregon - Seattle Washington. February 6-8, 2001.
