fight

Fight Cover

It would be pretty impossible to adequately describe the influence The Cure has had on me. It seems so obvious. As a teenager, some of my most fraught emotional moments were soundtracked by the band. In moments of desperate emotional turmoil (as adolescent years are often rife with), the music saw me through and stabilized me. However alone or marginalized or disconnected I felt, they were there. So today, 30+ years later, they are being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. In honor of the occasion, I am releasing our cover of “Fight.”

As is my custom when releasing a cover, I will donate any proceeds generated by the song, this time to The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline – 1-800-273-TALK (8255). The song is not a call for violence, but rather a call to maintain your spirit when it feels like all the world is against you. To fight back against the pressure to succumb. As a kid, this song served that function to me, so I am singing it for others.

On this track, bass is provided by my longtime collaborator Bryan Leighty. Cover photography by Areej Adel. Both are dear friends.

Gone Down

Gone Down Cover
New single, “Gone Down” is now available on all services and online stores. For best sound quality, I recommend Bandcamp.

Call On Your Stars

Call On Your Stars Cover

New single, “Call on Your Stars” is now available on all services and online stores. For best sound quality, I recommend Bandcamp.

Under the God

Under the God Cover

“That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons of history.” -Aldous Huxley

Though it is hardly a unique sentiment, those who know me personally, know what a profound influence David Bowie was on me. I have spent the last year trying to determine the best way to pay tribute to the artist. There are certainly songs I love more than “Under the God” but few that feel more bleedingly relevant in the current political climate. I am confident this isn’t the last time I will cover him, but it is the song I am releasing on his birthday today.

This song will be released EVERYWHERE (except Bandcamp – long story) this week. You’ll be able to listen on streaming services. You’ll be able to purchase it, stream it, shuffle it. All the stuff. Once it is widely available, the Soundcloud link will be deleted. But it’s his birthday so the song is here to be heard. All proceeds from all methods of purchase, etc will go to The Southern Poverty Law Center.

To be noted: the first musician I ever collaborated with on mrmoth was Bryan Leighty. We shared a common love of Bowie, and curiously enough, we both really love the Tin Machine album (which isn’t that common among Bowie fans). Bryan plays bass on this song and indeed, in recording it, the thing didn’t really come together until I got Bryan’s part on it.

The cover art is by Areej Adel. She’s a brilliant Saudi artist and my friend.

Enough with the nostalgia

Now that we’re all done with parading out the past, am thinking now on the future. Much in motion. Don’t leave me just yet. “The tears still fall and my heart still beats.”

The Ether Re-Released

The Ether cover

This is the final reissue in the series of releases that sees the entire, out-of-print catalog by mrmoth made available for those who missed them the first time around. This is the first album, The Ether from 1999. Warts and all.

The album was recorded track by track, overdubbing each instrument digitally. I had been recording music in this way on 4 and 8 track cassette systems for quite a while before this. I handled the keys and the bulkload of guitars, but was helped along by Bryan Leighty and Shawn McBride, who provided additional bass and guitar bits respectively.

I have been tempted over the years to re-cut certain parts, and indeed may one day do that, but I’m happy to own its faults. It is an ambitious album made by someone naive enough to try something outside his skillset. While I do indeed cringe at some of it, it’s worth noting that everyone starts somewhere and I had to fail a lot to get better. This record is the sound of me trying hard to push through my initial shortcomings. It doesn’t sound like anything anyone’s ever done before or since and in that way, is probably the purest thing I’ve ever made. Its most brilliant moments are still some of my favorite things I’ve done.

While I don’t like most modern remastering, I did do some minor remastering to this record, in that I completely resequenced the album digitally from the original, individual master recordings. Also, it was originally intended to be listened to in a single sitting (like Prince’s Lovesexy), but due to the limitations of the way it was released, It was broken into four chapters instead. Of course, no one would tolerate a single unbroken album anymore – least of all me – so it is broken into individual songs here for the first time. This is also the first time this record has been released in lossless format (for those of you who know what that means).

Resurrected Re-Released

Resurrected cover
Week three of the re-release series. Today, 2000’s Resurrected, is re-released in digital format via bandcamp.com. This is the third week in an ongoing series of releases that will see the entire, out-of-print catalog by mrmoth made available for those who missed them the first time around.

Everybody Wants to Fuck E.P. Re-Released

Everybody Wants to Fuck E.P. cover

Week three of the re-release series. Today, the 2001, Everybody Wants to Fuck EP, is re-released in digital format via bandcamp.com. This is the third week in an ongoing series of releases that will see the entire, out-of-print catalog by mrmoth made available for those who missed them the first time around.

Among the Swarm Re-Released

Among the Swarm cover
Week two of the re-release series. Today, the 2001’s Among the Swarm, is re-released in digital format via bandcamp.com. This is the second in an ongoing series of releases that will see the entire, out-of-print catalog by mrmoth made available for those who missed them the first time around.

Leonard Cohen

The very first song I ever covered as mrmoth was “Dress Rehearsal Rag.” The first public interest I ever received in this band was from Leonard Cohen fans who were seeking out the cover and despite mine being a very unusual style, they were generous and accepting. There’s something about being in the cult of Cohen that unifies people who normally wouldn’t ever find each other. I mean, he was a folk artist and this band is this one. So already it’s unusual to string those disparate elements together. But such was his voice.

There’s remarkably little I can write originally about the legacy of Leonard Cohen but I can tell you that I have a very dog-eared copy of Stranger Music and a thick anthology songbook that have been my compasses as a songwriter. I, like so many musicians, wouldn’t be who I am without him. To say he will be missed is a woefully inadequate expression of the thought.