World renowned and grammatically confusing, jam band moe. is known today for playing massive shows like the annual Bonnaroo festival in Tennessee. But they started out meeting each other right here at UB.
The Buffalo-bred group, which has been put on par with bands such as The Allman Brothers and Phish, is returning to their hometown to perform tonight at the Riviera Theater at 7 p.m. The quintet has drawn thousands of fans to their own shows, but at this year's Bonnaroo, they opened for David Byrne and Trey Anastasio in front of 90,000 people.
moe. seems to have a considerable range of talent, judging from their three Jammy Awards (for Best Live Album, Best Live Set, and Best Studio Album). Their latest album, "Wormwood," has received acclaim for its unique composition. They recorded mini-sets during live shows and used those as the basic tracks for a studio recording, thereby making a decent studio album that sounds like a live performance.
"We retained the live energy with studio quality," said singer/guitarist Chuck Garvey, "We kind of bridged the gap."
moe. has been rehearsing at the Riviera Theater for their upcoming Buffalo show and for their Halloween show in Nashville. They enjoy giving thematic Halloween concerts. In the past, they've impersonated everything from characters from "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" to various heavy metal bands. One year, they played dressed as "Wizard of Oz" characters, and did Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" while the movie played.
"It was fun to keep it secret, and come out on stage dressed as the freakin' Tin Man," said Garvey. "But we also enjoy letting everyone know what we're playing."
This year, they will be at the Ryman Auditorium, and they'll be playing "A Salute to the Grand 'Ole Opry", featuring all country music, in part to show how it has influenced musical legends that moe. respects.
Garvey has a lot of positive comments about the University at Buffalo and the supportive atmosphere that encouraged the group as a whole to keep performing in Western New York.
"We like to spend time here when we can. I love coming back and seeing what's changed and what's stayed the same," he said. "Had I not gone to school here, this band would never exist. UB's big community enabled us to meet each other and it really started my music career."
They refer to their fans as being "in it for the music," not just hopping on whatever tour might come their way. Many fans have faithfully followed moe. from UB to the success they enjoy today.
Garvey explained that the "jam band" category is a bit broad, and that moe. encompasses elements of jazz, electronica, bluegrass and rock."
"People who had older siblings with classic rock collections best describes the people who listen to our music," he said.
Some people are less than impressed with moe.'s style, which is sometimes described as watery, not inventive enough, or too pop.
"I like to think we have an edge," says Garvey.
Garvey feels that the most talented musician of moe. is drummer Vinnie Amico.
"Vinnie can play anything. He remembers the songs we grew up with. He remembers all the words and arrangements. He can play lots of different styles. He's an underrated musician."
Moe. played a six-hour set in Bonnaroo 2000 that won them one of their Jammy awards. But Garvey likes to reminisce about his first-ever Bonnaroo.
"The first one was fun, but I was really sleep-deprived, so it's kinda fuzzy," he said. "This past Bonnaroo was absolutely amazing with this huge crowd that gave back all the energy we were giving."
Garvey also spoke of moe.'s policies on file-sharing and recording live performances. moe. allowed camcorders into a few shows, because they were having a movie contest of who could make the best moe. documentary (the winner was selected at this year's moe.down festival).
"We do allow audio recordings and people can bring microphones into our shows," he said.
moe. is fine with fans sharing free tapes of concerts to spread their music around the world, but they are opposed to file-sharing because the studio music is copyrighted to them.
Several of moe.'s fans express the belief that moe. will inherit the "Grateful Dead Crown" that passed onto Phish, and that moe.'s contenders are String Cheese Incident and Widespread Panic. Garvey does not agree with these views, however.
"A lot of people feel that way, but there's no 'best' as far as music goes. We all do different things," he said. "And it'd be a great honor if people felt that strong about us, but it would be weird to inherit a whole segment of society that feels a void."
When asked if moe. was interested in ever achieving the commercial and popular success of a group like the Dave Matthews Band, Garvey expressed the importance of doing things for the right reasons.
"It's not just commerce. It's art," he said. "Most people would love to be wildly successful in their chosen careers, but at the same time I like being able to walk down the street and nobody knows who I am."
But why, oh why do they spell their name lowercase and with a period?
Garvey explains, "I used to draw flyers by hand for us, and I messed with the logos and different ways of writing it. We evolved towards it over time. I thought it was interesting to put the period at the end, like the end of a sentence. It's something people can recognize. It sets us apart. And no, it has nothing to do with e.e. cummings," he said with a laugh.
