:: Ogden Theatre ::
:: November 30 and December 1 ::
By Derek Miles
In late July, moe. was scheduled for two nights at the Ogden Theatre in Denver. But early that month an announcement was made via the web cancelling several upcoming shows due to drummer Vinnie Amico being out sick at the time. Including the Ogden shows, a handful of dates were scrapped and ticket refunds were issued. It was the last thing that a heavy touring group like moe. wanted to do and it was equally disappointing for both fans and the band.
In a recent phone interview with The Marquee, guitarist Chuck Garvey made it clear that the band regretted having to cancel the shows and with that, it was palpably evident that moe. cares deeply for all of their fans — especially here in Colorado. So while most shows from the summer tour were flat out cancelled, the Colorado dates were the only ones that were rescheduled and Garvey was happy to say that Amico is healthy and back in full force again.
And it seems like it’s just in time.
Garvey explained that in addition to the group’s fall tour, which started in mid-October with a few chilly outdoor shows in upstate New York and includes the Denver make-up shows, the band’s 2013 will start busy and from the looks of it will continue that way for a good chunk of the year.
For the second year in a row, moe. will be holding their New Year’s Eve shows in Portland, Maine. “It was great last year,” said Garvey in a recent interview with The Marquee. “So why not do it again? Our bassist Rob [Derhak] lives there so he loves the idea of having New Years Eve there. He can go sleep in his own bed at night.”
Next year also marks the first time that moe. — who hosted their own cruises in 2004 and again in 2007 — will be playing the legendary JamCruise, now in its eleventh year. This year, JamCruise 11, which sails Jan. 7 – 12, will start in Ft. Lauderdale and make stops in Grand Turk, in the Turks and Caicos Islands, and Coco Cay, Bahamas.
The band is also already booked for next summer’s Herzberg Festival in Germany, which they plan to base a tour around.
Garvey explained that moe. has been looking to further expand their fan base on the other side of the Atlantic, and he said that he looked forward to getting back in front of European crowds. “Their English is better,” he said. “Their command of the English language is astounding.”
A vast majority of this touring will be centered around the band’s most recent album What Happened to the La Las, which was released in January of 2012. It’s fairly well known by now in the moe. community that the band approached the album a bit differently than they had previous works.
It was the first time in several years that the band brought in an outside producer, John Travis, who has a wide and varied roster of artists he has worked with, including Social Distortion, No Doubt, and Sugar Ray. “He provided an objective set of ears that pushed the band when in the past we may have been satisfied with a certain result,” Garvey explained. “He didn’t let us settle for what we thought was good enough. He flogged us a little bit.”
In addition to the alternative approach to recording for What Happened to the La Las, the band chose to include as bonus material acoustic versions of all the songs, recorded at various soundchecks while the band was on tour in 2011.
Garvey said that the group is already writing material for yet another album and while moe. will always remain a live band, they won’t ever stop chronicling their repertoire with albums. “Right now, the studio album is like a calling card, but it doesn’t carry the weight that it once did,” Garvey said. “It’s something that every artist feels compelled to do. It’s the best way to commemorate the best aspects of a certain song.”
:: moe. ::
:: Ogden Theatre ::
:: November 30 and December 1 ::
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