moe.’s Chuck Garvey & Rob Derhak Talk Health Scares, ‘Wormwood’ & More On ‘Comes A Time’ Podcast

moe. guitarist Chuck Garvey and bassist Rob Derhak were the guests on JamBase partner Osiris Media’s Comes A Time Podcast. Garvey and Derhak spoke with hosts Oteil Burbridge and Mike Finoia about their recent health scares, working on moe.’s 2003 album Wormwood and more.

After talking a bit about their upcoming tour schedule, Finoiashared some stories of seeing moe. in the 1990s, in particular catching the first-generation jam act at Toad’s Place in New Haven, Connecticut, which triggered a tale from Derhak about drinking a “warm, dosed beer” at Toad’s.

The resilient musicians also discussed their serious health issues as Garvey recently suffered a stroke and just returned to the stage on New Year’s Eve in Philadelphia.

“Chuck is a trooper man,” Derhak said. “He’s definitely made a lot of strides in this past year. When he first started to come back he had like five words. He couldn’t use his whole right hand. It was scary.”

Garvey noted that he had to use one arm to move the other and said his arm looked like a “loaf of bread.” Garvey also detailed the terrifying moments when he knew he was having a stroke and said he remembered waking up on the “Mercy flight” and thinking “this is bad, this is really bad.”

Garvey was then put into a medically induced coma for three days after which he noted he could hear his friends and family around him but couldn’t speak. “It was really hard,” he said. Chuck also detailed his long road to recovery, learning to both speak and move again.

Derhak also spoke about his health scare when he was diagnosed with throat cancer in July 2017. Derhak talked about how difficult it was to finally recover from cancer only to be sidelined by the pandemic a few years later and then have Garvey suffer a stroke just days after their Black Sabbath-themed Halloween concert in 2021. Although they are talking about heavy subjects, the two old friends discuss them like two old friends would, with levity and a “we’re still here” attitude which is great to see.

Elsewhere in the conversation Derhak and Garvey discussed recording their landmark 2003 album Wormwood, experiences with the legendary Col. Bruce Hampton and more. Watch the complete episode of Comes A Time with Derhak and Garvey below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5vV3iPtaBE&ab_channel=OsirisMedia