{"id":549,"date":"2011-07-20T05:41:41","date_gmt":"2011-07-20T10:41:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=549"},"modified":"2015-10-31T18:20:10","modified_gmt":"2015-10-31T18:20:10","slug":"r-stevie-moore-music-than-youd-ever-want","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2011\/07\/20\/r-stevie-moore-music-than-youd-ever-want\/","title":{"rendered":"R. Stevie Moore\u2019s Hobbies Galore"},"content":{"rendered":"

Known primarily — when he\u2019s known at all \u2013 as a studio rat, R. Stevie Moore<\/strong> has more than 400 albums to his credit. No, that\u2019s not a typo: this underground sensation has recorded and released literally hundreds of albums \u2013 first on cassette, and then later on CDR — since 1966. Stevie takes issue with the term album<\/em>, preferring to characterize his releases as \u201cdiaries of sound.\u201d Nearly always working alone, Moore writes, records, plays and sings everything on his albums. Long before the term DIY was coined as an aesthetic for musicians, Moore crafted his endearingly oddball albums, releasing them through mail order (and later, via digital means as well). It\u2019s no overstatement to call him the Father (or Grandfather) of DIY.<\/p>\n

Working loosely in the pop idiom, Moore possesses a strong sense of melody; he knows how to insert hooks into his songs. But Stevie filters those songs through a skewed sensibility that ensures his sales figures won\u2019t ever compete with those of Justin Bieber<\/strong>. He\u2019s weird, but not inaccessible. No Jandek <\/strong>or Residents <\/strong><\/a>is he; at least not usually. A handful of his albums have seen mainstream release, including 1976\u2019s Phonography<\/em>, and a pair of best-of collections (2008\u2019s Meet the R. Stevie Moore<\/em><\/a> and 2009\u2019s Me Too<\/em>). But none of his songs has ever troubled the pop charts.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Moore recently left his home of thirty-plus years in New Jersey, and returned to his hometown of Nashville TN. Concurrent with \u2013 but unconnected to — that change, filmmaking student and friend Jon Demiglio<\/strong> approached Moore about making a documentary about the musician. One thing led to another, and New York-based Demiglio rounded up some friends and put a band together to back Moore on some live dates. Next thing they knew, they had mounted a tour, Moore\u2019s first. \u201cIt just fell into place,\u201d Moore says. \u201cI didn\u2019t seek it out.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2010 Moore \u2013 via website and social media — invited fans and friends to record covers of songs from his vast catalog, planning to compile them onto a self-tribute album. The blog-based project blossomed into an eight-volume set titled Copy Me<\/em>. The set includes RSM songs reinterpreted by some of his most ardent fans. That list includes Dave Gregory<\/strong> (XTC<\/strong>); Ariel Pink\u2019s Haunted Grafitti<\/strong>; pop auteurs Jason Falkner<\/strong><\/a> and Eric Matthews<\/strong>; Jad Fair <\/strong>(Half Japanese<\/strong>); James Richardson<\/strong> (MGMT<\/strong>); and Penn Jillette<\/strong> (Penn & Teller<\/strong>), plus dozens of (far) lesser-known names.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe irony is that my name has been bubbling under in the underground for decades,\u201d Moore observes, \u201cand now it\u2019s shot through the roof.\u201d In a recent New York Times<\/em> interview, up-and-coming rapper\/singer Theophilus London<\/strong> compared Moore to Brian Wilson<\/strong>, calling Stevie \u201cone of my favorite writers\u2026a genius.\u201d For his part, London\u2019s interviewer called Moore \u201cthis New Jersey low-fi cult musician.\u201d They\u2019re both right.<\/p>\n

When Stevie landed back in Nashville, he got together with another friend and began work on (yet) another album, to be titled Advanced<\/em>. Using the popular Kickstarter funding platform, Moore set out to cover the album\u2019s recording and production costs.<\/p>\n

Like Moore\u2019s recording efforts, he stresses that the tour is \u201ctotally DIY. I have no booking agent, or management, or anything.\u201d Moore met up with his new band in NYC in April, and the tour began in earnest. They\u2019ve secured some festival shows and just lined up a tour of Europe. \u201cThe sky\u2019s the limit,\u201d gushes the 59-year-old Moore. Surprisingly for someone who\u2019s made a career out of working by himself in a home studio, Moore admits that he \u201creally like[s] living out of a suitcase.\u201d<\/p>\n

The band is a study in contrasts. While bassist Moore — the son of famed Nashville session bassist Bob Moore<\/strong> \u2013 is a longtime veteran musician proficient on all manner of instruments, he describes his three bandmates as \u201cless than half my age.\u201d But he insists their musical approach is \u201clike any young band. I\u2019m the band leader, but I\u2019m very generous with spontaneity, whatever they feel like doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a wild man onstage,\u201d claims Moore, and there are ample YouTube clips online to prove him right. \u201cI\u2019m shredding my vocals more than I ever intended to, but that\u2019s what comes out.\u201d While the set does include a few ballads, Moore says the show \u201cleans toward hard rock. Like my records, the show is as diverse as possible.\u201d He adds that he often wears women\u2019s clothes (\u201cplus size,\u201d he laughs) onstage. Following his winning album approach, Moore says that the show always includes \u201cspoken word, absurdities, dada\u201d between songs. Calling himself a \u201cMaster of Ceremonies,\u201d Moore asserts that he wants to give \u201centertainment value. I don\u2019t want to be some shoegaze band.\u201d<\/p>\n

But with such a massive back catalog, how does Moore pick those songs for an evening\u2019s entertainment? \u201cIt\u2019s all the hits,\u201d he says, without a trace of irony.<\/p>\n

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Known primarily — when he\u2019s known at all \u2013 as a studio rat, R. Stevie Moore has more than 400 albums to his credit. No, that\u2019s not a typo: this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[1770],"class_list":["post-549","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interview","tag-r-stevie-moore","cat-41-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/549","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=549"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/549\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9516,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/549\/revisions\/9516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}