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Every writer is challenged when the subject is moe.
The band with a penchant for improvisation during its live shows toyed with its proper noun even before word denigration was made into an art form by hip-hop artists and text messengers. A sentence can never start, but must always end, with the group's name, moe.
On Tuesday the venerable Buffalo, N.Y., band released its first album with an outside label in more than a decade, “What Happened to the La Las.” Producer John Travis has worked with Kid Rock, No Doubt, Social Distortion, and now moe.
Guitar player Al Schnier talked about playing for more than 20 years with moe.
Q Your band, moe. It has been around more than 20 years. That's pretty unusual.
A It's pretty mindboggling when you stop and think about it. In this day and age for anybody to have any job for more than 20 years is almost unusual but for us to be able to do this with a band is really, really unusual. For us to call it a career and make an OK living at it, it's awesome. We're really, really lucky.
Q What is the key to your longevity?
A We have a great team on the road with us, a great team at home that's really supportive of what we do, and we all get along. We tend to work together pretty well. I can't imagine going to this job and not like the guys there. That would be kind of rough.
The other thing, we're all involved to some degree. It's been a grassroots organization since its inception and we've got crew guys who have been working with us 15 years now. Our manager is the only manager we've ever had. Our publicist, same thing. The whole organization is kind of like that. Everybody who works for us is trying to figure out how to make this better. We're never complacent with what we do. Maybe it's because we never struck gold, we never had a big single. We've never been a very trendy, popular band. We've just always kind of plugged along. We're like the tortoise. We are all constantly evolving because everybody still wants to be here.
Q The band is often categorized as a jam band, but there wasn't even a jam band category when you started. What were you called?
A I don't know that we ever got thrown in a box. And that was something we prided ourselves on. We played any and all kinds of music, and sometimes over the course of one song. And that's OK. Frank Zappa made a career out of it, and you had bands like the Dead, Steely Dan and Little Feat and all these bands that we were big fans of that did the same thing. It was OK to play a country ballad, followed by a funk song, followed by a hard rock song and then go back into a cover song or an Americana thing or even play a jazz standard. All those were OK in the context of a single set. When we got started, the music we were listening to was the Chili Peppers and Fishbone and Primus and stuff like that. So our music had an edge to it, even though we were improvising and changing gears and doing all this stuff on the fly — that was sort of the thing that drove us at the same time. There was always a dark edge to what we did, so it didn't mater that there wasn't a name for what we do. It was OK. Fishbone's another good example. They were like a punk-ska-reggae band, and at the end of the day nobody really cared.
Q You are one of two lead guitarists in moe. Do you agree with me, guitar is the nation's most popular instrument?
A It's my favorite instrument. Who doesn't love a great guitar anthem? Every now and then you have a piano guy who makes a great piano song or there's a couple of good drum fills. There's the intro to “Jamie's Cryin'” but most of the great anthems have great guitar riffs. So the fact that we have two guitar players makes us twice as good, right?
Q Speaking of guitar anthems, the new album's “Bones of Lazarus” is a rearrangement of a familiar song, isn't it?
A There's been some revision. The original “Lazarus” is 10 years old or more. It was a contender for “Wormwood” early on, then shelved, then Rob (Derhak) played with it with a side band. The chorus became my song “The Road” and we brought “Lazarus” back. The version on the album is another version of it. It takes not the meat but the bones of the song and it incorporates an instrumental interlude we have been playing on the road, something we refer to as “Ricky Martin.” But somehow it's only three minutes long. So that's why Rob called it “Bones.”
Q When will the album be released?
A Tuesday (Jan. 24) and it is the best album we have ever made in the history of mankind. Everybody should buy three copies. One for themselves, one for their best friend and one for their mom.
Q What will you play at the Tahoe show?
A We have a repertoire of 100 songs or more that we are constantly drawing from we keep in rotation. Songs go in and out of it.
Q One hundred songs? Wow, I would say that's another reason why no one leaves the band. It would probably take a year to learn the library.
A We have a new lighting designer. He's become like a member of the band. He's got to learn all the cues to all of our songs but he's got to be in on all of the improv as well and he's got to develop that same sort of intuition as any other member of the band. It takes a good year to really digest the whole catalog like that.
Q You are returning to the Crystal Bay Crown Room. How do you like playing Tahoe?
A We were sold out. We had so much fun when we were in Tahoe last time. We got to ski a bunch. I've skied Squaw, Heavenly and Homewood the last time — What a great mountain for locals. It was awesome. I haven't gotten to Kirkwood yet. You guys are so fortunate you have all of these places to choose from.
The band with a penchant for improvisation during its live shows toyed with its proper noun even before word denigration was made into an art form by hip-hop artists and text messengers. A sentence can never start, but must always end, with the group's name, moe.
On Tuesday the venerable Buffalo, N.Y., band released its first album with an outside label in more than a decade, “What Happened to the La Las.” Producer John Travis has worked with Kid Rock, No Doubt, Social Distortion, and now moe.
Guitar player Al Schnier talked about playing for more than 20 years with moe.
Q Your band, moe. It has been around more than 20 years. That's pretty unusual.
A It's pretty mindboggling when you stop and think about it. In this day and age for anybody to have any job for more than 20 years is almost unusual but for us to be able to do this with a band is really, really unusual. For us to call it a career and make an OK living at it, it's awesome. We're really, really lucky.
Q What is the key to your longevity?
A We have a great team on the road with us, a great team at home that's really supportive of what we do, and we all get along. We tend to work together pretty well. I can't imagine going to this job and not like the guys there. That would be kind of rough.
The other thing, we're all involved to some degree. It's been a grassroots organization since its inception and we've got crew guys who have been working with us 15 years now. Our manager is the only manager we've ever had. Our publicist, same thing. The whole organization is kind of like that. Everybody who works for us is trying to figure out how to make this better. We're never complacent with what we do. Maybe it's because we never struck gold, we never had a big single. We've never been a very trendy, popular band. We've just always kind of plugged along. We're like the tortoise. We are all constantly evolving because everybody still wants to be here.
Q The band is often categorized as a jam band, but there wasn't even a jam band category when you started. What were you called?
A I don't know that we ever got thrown in a box. And that was something we prided ourselves on. We played any and all kinds of music, and sometimes over the course of one song. And that's OK. Frank Zappa made a career out of it, and you had bands like the Dead, Steely Dan and Little Feat and all these bands that we were big fans of that did the same thing. It was OK to play a country ballad, followed by a funk song, followed by a hard rock song and then go back into a cover song or an Americana thing or even play a jazz standard. All those were OK in the context of a single set. When we got started, the music we were listening to was the Chili Peppers and Fishbone and Primus and stuff like that. So our music had an edge to it, even though we were improvising and changing gears and doing all this stuff on the fly — that was sort of the thing that drove us at the same time. There was always a dark edge to what we did, so it didn't mater that there wasn't a name for what we do. It was OK. Fishbone's another good example. They were like a punk-ska-reggae band, and at the end of the day nobody really cared.
Q You are one of two lead guitarists in moe. Do you agree with me, guitar is the nation's most popular instrument?
A It's my favorite instrument. Who doesn't love a great guitar anthem? Every now and then you have a piano guy who makes a great piano song or there's a couple of good drum fills. There's the intro to “Jamie's Cryin'” but most of the great anthems have great guitar riffs. So the fact that we have two guitar players makes us twice as good, right?
Q Speaking of guitar anthems, the new album's “Bones of Lazarus” is a rearrangement of a familiar song, isn't it?
A There's been some revision. The original “Lazarus” is 10 years old or more. It was a contender for “Wormwood” early on, then shelved, then Rob (Derhak) played with it with a side band. The chorus became my song “The Road” and we brought “Lazarus” back. The version on the album is another version of it. It takes not the meat but the bones of the song and it incorporates an instrumental interlude we have been playing on the road, something we refer to as “Ricky Martin.” But somehow it's only three minutes long. So that's why Rob called it “Bones.”
Q When will the album be released?
A Tuesday (Jan. 24) and it is the best album we have ever made in the history of mankind. Everybody should buy three copies. One for themselves, one for their best friend and one for their mom.
Q What will you play at the Tahoe show?
A We have a repertoire of 100 songs or more that we are constantly drawing from we keep in rotation. Songs go in and out of it.
Q One hundred songs? Wow, I would say that's another reason why no one leaves the band. It would probably take a year to learn the library.
A We have a new lighting designer. He's become like a member of the band. He's got to learn all the cues to all of our songs but he's got to be in on all of the improv as well and he's got to develop that same sort of intuition as any other member of the band. It takes a good year to really digest the whole catalog like that.
Q You are returning to the Crystal Bay Crown Room. How do you like playing Tahoe?
A We were sold out. We had so much fun when we were in Tahoe last time. We got to ski a bunch. I've skied Squaw, Heavenly and Homewood the last time — What a great mountain for locals. It was awesome. I haven't gotten to Kirkwood yet. You guys are so fortunate you have all of these places to choose from.
