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By Ann Marie Svilar
moe. by Danny Clinch |
Lord of the Flies is required reading for almost everybody in this country around the disorderly age of sixteen. It's a story about a bunch of little boys whose situation is chaotic and their symbol of control is a conch shell. The Conch is also the tenth studio album by moe.. The seventeen songs range from the fun falsetto and simple lyrics of "Blue Jeans Pizza" to the reflective, sad "Another One Gone" to the title track which starts off sweetly and ends crazy. Even though the songs span quite a range of styles and emotions, they all have that moe. flare for the jam. What makes moe. a jamband is their tendency to dip into improvisation. What makes the album work is that their jams aren't messy. There is no fight over who has control. There is a sense that the boys of moe. are listening to each other and passing the metaphorical conch around while they play.
Rob Derhak by Jake Krolick |
"We've always said we have a sort of Lord of the Flies existence. It starts out all normal and by the end of the tour everyone's just sort of guarding their meat," says bassist Rob Derhak. "Basically it's really easy to apply to every aspect of our band's life. During the writing and recording of the album, to restore any order, someone has to have the conch. Somebody has to have the symbol that will allow us to get our point across. There is no real conch, it's a matter of showing each other respect."
That respect is something that seems to come naturally for moe. On stage and throughout the interview with Rob Derhak, he and they, give off the impression that they are just a group of friends who love playing music together. There is a lack of arrogance and a heartfelt appreciation for the people who love their music. As with any good jamband, they have a loyal fan base willing to follow them around the country. These rabid fans get a track of their own on The Conch titled "Eaux Massa," which is a French expression that means "water massed." The song was recorded live at the State Theatre. The crowd sung lyrics, "Be on my side, I'll be on your side," are what make up the minute long track.
moe. by Jake Krolick |
"It's a bunch of silliness. Basically we set up at a theatre in Portland, Maine, and did about a week of recording. Then we did two shows in front of an audience. During the intermissions Al [Schnier] went up and got people to sing things and do an audience participation section for the song. We had a bunch of different things we were going to try to add to the music. They were singing 'be on my side' and Al's son was like, 'Why are those people singing 'eaux massa?' We thought it was funny so we decided to call that section 'Eaux Massa.'"
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