moe: Down with Casual

The following chat with moe. vocalist-guitarist Al Schnier covers much ground. Among
other topics, it touches on Dither, the band’s seventh and best album to date; their
co-producer/engineer, John Siket; moe.down, their Labor Day Weekend music
festival in their home turf of Upstate New York with The Radiators, Cracker,
Soulive, Lo Faber Band, The New Deal, Project/Object, Donna the Buffalo,
The Wailers and many others; a look at the crowded summer concert scene;
moe.‘s club act, Monkeys On Ecstasy; the band’s Fatboy Records and its
burgeoning, post-major label (Sony 550) independent operation, including a
recent tour of Japan; and several tasty upcoming plans, both solo and with
moe. All in all, quite an exhausting menu, bot not surprising given Al’s energy and that of the band. After reading this interview, visit moe.org for more details
about moe.down and other band news.

‘Dither’ is your best album. How did that come to be?

How much did John Siket have to do with that?

What do you like most about Dither?

What most excites you about this year’s moe.down?

Who are you most looking forward to jamming with at moe.down and why?

Besides the fact that you like them, what do most of the moe.down acts have in common?

It seems like everybody’s a jam band these days.

*Other than an increased amount of alcohol involved, what’s the difference
between a moe. show and a Monkeys on Ecstasy show?*

The Dead were like that a lot of time.

For the better part of their career, they would take chances and
that’s what made it exciting. But it seems to me that the latter part, they
became a lot more complacent and started approaching things in the same way.
The segues weren’t even segues anymore. That was one of their shortcomings in
the end; although it didn’t hurt ticket sales in the least. They would still
sell out stadiums. But frankly, the music didn’t have the same quality it did
years before. It was a cyclical thing. It was not the result of success or
demise. A lot of it had to do with running a corporation and the politics
in becoming a stadium band when they were this experimental theater
band 15 years before that. There was a lot of change for them over the course
of 10 years from 1980 to 1990. The surge in popularity increased so
dramatically that it was a lot for even them to deal with. But they were one
of the most casual bands around.

How are the Transamericans doing?

Describe your experience touring in Japan?

The band constantly reinvests its money to sustain its independent operation. While the business grows what is the one thing that makes living more hand-to-mouth than you otherwise would need to, most worthwhile?

Bob Makin has been writing about moe. since 1993 and jam bands since 1988.
Jam bands and venues can send him info at makinclan@aol.com and material to
PO Box 6600, Bridgewater, NJ 08807.