As legend has it, it's been almost two years since I first wrote about a band called Moonalice. Right around that time, Chubby Wombat Moonalice (aka, Roger McNamee) and I chatted briefly about getting Moonalice on Twitter and a music social network or two.
Somewhere in the conversation thread, CWM officially welcomed me to the tribe and bestowed me the moniker, Long Blonde Moonalice. A few months later, a miniblog was born.
Fast forward to early '09: I'm back west, and finally find myself at a couple of Moonalice gigs. Before elaborating, a nice summary of the band:
A perfect example of the proverbial whole being greater than the sum of its parts, Moonalice turns its collective body of experience, ace musicianship, great songs, and love of adventure into live performances as distinct as they are compelling.
Ace musicianship, indeed. Beginning with guitar hero G.E. Smith (aka, Hardwood Moonalice), from Hidden Track's AJ Crandal:
Remember G.E. Smith? You remember, long blond hair, a jaw line that is kindly referred to as ‘chiseled’ and enough guitar playing talent to be the de facto band leader whenever he plays anything, even the radio. Sure you remember him. He toured for years with Hall & Oates. Led the Saturday Night Live Band for about ten years. ... Played with Dylan, Jagger, and Bowie. He even led the house band at Live Aid back in ’85. Yeah, THAT G.E. Smith.
The rest of the band members are rather legendary, as well: Pete Sears (Jefferson Starship, Hot Tuna), Barry Sless (David Nelson Band, Phil Lesh), Jimmy Sanchez (Boz Scaggs, Bonnie Raitt), Ann McNamee (Flying Other Brothers), Roger McNamee (Flying Other Brothers) and sometimes Jack Casady (Jefferson Airplane, Hot Tuna).
Music As Art. For each show, there is a highly artistic, custom work of art in the form of a poster which is given away for free (my collection is up to three, so far). As Chubby Wombat Moonalice explains:
Art has been with Moonalice from the very beginning. ... These posters are as much Moonalice as the music.
You can see some of this astounding artwork in high res pics, here. They're also available to purchase online, as is the Moonalice Legend.
Music as Technology. Moonalice's debut release is not only produced by Grammy Award-winning T Bone Burnett, but will feature his own ΧΟΔΕ (CODE) technology. In order to delve into that, I'm afraid a new blog post is required. But, in short, ΧΟΔΕ allows us - the music listener - to hear music as the artist intended us to hear it when it was recorded. In T Bone's words:
Sound is important. It is, as you know, one of the five senses. It is not to be taken lightly. Especially when it comes to music.
The debut release, available on April 14th, will be sold as a DVD audio disc, a CD, and two music videos. Also included are four ΧΟΔΕ audio formats: mp3, WAV, FLAC and AAC files. All in one package. All for the price of a single CD. Very nice.
Music as Celebration. On the eve of April 3, 2009, in celebration of the new release, the band will perform a special show at Slim's in San Francisco. It promises to be full of surprises, great music, and lots of fun.
Experiencing Moonalice live is something that I highly recommend. The level of rock hard-iness, hall of fame musicianship, and serious sense of tribal fusion on the Moonalice stage will not only blow you away -- it will rock your soul.
But don't just take my word for it. Go, and see them live. They are on a whirlwind tour across the US in 2009. In the meantime, here's a clip of a recent show in Felton, CA:
Artwork by Chris Shaw
Video by Guitar Vibe
