Copper Dragon brings moe. music

By Gus Bode

Heads up, moe.rons. moe. is coming to Carbondale on the road to Woodstock.

The group has just finished its winter tour, which has included sold-out shows at the Los Angeles House of Blues, the San Francisco Fillmore Auditorium and the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C.

Scheduled to play at the 30th anniversary concert in Woodstock this July, moe. is making an impact. The band’s latest album, Tin Cans and Car Tires, released in September, was recently counted among the 10 most important albums of 98 by Rolling Stone magazine. The review describes the band’s lyrics and melodic figures as being among a small few to approach focused greatness.

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Band members claim to have stayed cutting edge with their music and equipment, which is reflected in the most recent album one they refer to as their most mature effort to date.

If life were a cartoon, we’d be the soundtrack, AL Schnier, guitarist for moe., said.

And with rave reviews from Rolling Stone magazine, members of moe. hope their music is catching on.

We are hoping to become the most famous band in the world, Vinnie Amico, the band’s drummer, said. Amico describes the band’s musical stylings as eclectic, but classic, in its old-fashioned rock-and-roll appeal.

Our music moves in a lot of different directions, but we are definitely all rock and roll, Amico said.

Though the band disagrees with the comparisons, fans recognize their long guitar solos and throngs of screaming, tie-dyed fans as being very Phish-like and reminiscent of the glory days of the Grateful Dead.

Our inspirations do include the Grateful Dead and Phish, but we all have many other types of music we enjoy, Amico said.

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I have always loved Led Zeppelin, Frank Zappa, Rush, The Clash and many others. We are not just a Grateful Dead band. We play a lot of college towns and we just connect with that age group.

But despite this seemingly understated assessment, fans are impressed with the moe.-style contemporary rock.

Amico said moe. has not hit a sophomore slump, as other bands tend to do.

We’re still going strong, he said.

Fortune and glory before them, the band never forgets its roots. Originally formed in Buffalo, N.Y., moe. began as a small band named five guys named moe., from the Louis Jordan song by that name.

A short time after they were together, the band lost a member and shortened the name to moe. Band members describe themselves as goofy and claim that attributes somewhat to their success.

You have to have a sense of humor in this business, and we’re all pretty goofy guys, Amico said.

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