Surprisingly, Rob Derhak remembers a time when he didn’t know what improv music was. Why surprisingly? Because Derhak is the bassist of moe., an eclectic, improvisation-driven five-piece band.
But it wasn’t until after moe.’s inception that Derhak saw jamming as a performance technique.
“We saw a lot of cool potential in improvising instead of playing a solo over the same three chords,” Derhak says. “[Jamming is] everybody making something evolve.”
With that approach in mind, moe. has became one of the most well-known names to come out of the improvisational music scene. With two self-named festivals – moe.down and snoe.down – a yearly headlining slot at the Summer Camp festival and a genre-defying sound coupled with live improvisation – moe. represents all things jam.
Since moe. released its independent debut Fatboy in 1992, it has crafted a multi-genre sound. With roots in rock, the moe. sound stylistically incorporates elements of everything from country to funk to blues. In concert, the band’s improvisational chemistry adds a dimension of musical cohesiveness that has been perfected from 15 years of performing.
“I’ve always sort of made a conscious effort to not just sit there and play the groove,” Derhak says. “I like to also bust out, do some melodic playing.”
As the bassist, Derhak has to hold down the band’s sound foundation – or at least make sure drummer Vinnie Amico does – before he ventures into improv beats.
“We’re always covering each other’s asses,” Derhak says. “If everybody gets lost, we just start playing a bunch of weird notes and someone will just start playing the groove again.”
To capture its live flare on an album, moe. decided to record in its most comfortable setting: a live venue.
The Conch, which will be released in January, was recorded at the State Theater in Portland, Maine. The band spent a week recording in the empty venue and played two shows there that were also recorded for the album.
“It definitely captures more of the vibe of a live show,” Derhak says of playing in the venue.
moe.’s last studio album, 2003’s Wormwood, used a similar recording approach. But since the album was recorded while the band was on tour, moe. couldn’t focus on mastering its sound in just one venue.
As a jamband, moe. is also no stranger to sit-ins. At festivals or when touring with other bands, moe. will often invite members of other bands to perform with them. On the band’s current tour, guitarist Al Schnier suddenly found he was afflicted with tendonitis and had to stop playing his instrument to recover. Although Schnier is still singing, moe. brought out several guests each night to fill in the gap, including Umphrey’s McGee guitarist Brendan Bayliss, ex-Phish keyboardist Page McConnell and Assembly of Dust guitarist Adam Terrell.
But even when moe. brings in different artists, the segues from song to song – often with key and tempo changes – flow smoothly and effortlessly.
With the tracks for The Conch completed, Derhak is already looking forward to future moe. recordings.
“We’ve had this goal of getting to an album where we show up … write the entire album of stuff that no one’s ever heard before and then record it,” he says.
Nevertheless, Derhak’s goal is a hard one to accomplish because the band always enters projects with new songs it’s been playing live but hasn’t recorded yet.
“It’s tough to get to that point,” Derhak says.
moe. performs this Sunday at Rams Head Live! with Assembly of Dust in Baltimore. Tickets are $25 in advance, $27 at the door. Doors open at 7 p.m., the show begins at 8 p.m.
Contact reporter Marc Shapiro at shapirodbk@gmail.com.
