There’s a cool show this Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Pickle Barrel, and that’s moe. stly, which is Rob Derhak (bass/vocals) and Al Schnier (guitar/vocals) from the band moe. This will be an acoustic show, a rarity from moe.
moe.stly started out of Covid. Al started doing a live show out of his house. Rob said, “It was a subscription thing, almost like a Zoom meeting. It was a house party, as we called it. He showed me how to do it, and then I started doing it. We did a couple of songs together, going back and forth since we were all isolated. Covid messed a lot of things up; everybody had to readjust and figure stuff out. When that was over, we wanted to try and actually do this together. We did a couple shows and really enjoyed them. It’s like in-between a storyteller thing and a live show.”
Rob will play an acoustic bass or something similar, and Al will play an acoustic guitar. Rob said, “We’ll play moe. songs, some new covers, and some stuff we don’t play with moe. We’ll play a couple songs, joke around and talk with people. Next thing we know we’re off in a full on moe. jam on a song you wouldn’t think would be acoustic. It’s fun because it’s intimate. We’re on stools; it’s a nice intimate vibe, and people seem to like it. For Al and I, we’re just doing our thing and having a little fun.”
Courtesy moe.org/band
moe.
Al is an obsessive skier, and Rob does it when he can. When they played snoe.down in Killington back in 2013, they basically skied right to the stage. Rob performed part of Set 1 in his ski boots. They did a breakfast show at the Wobbly Barn on Sunday, which Rob said was “awesome.” When I spoke with Rob, they were out in Bend, Oregon, as part of moe.’s West Coast tour, and Al was skiing before the show. They started in San Diego and went right up the coast, playing cities along the way, and they’ll end in Seattle.
They don’t do snoe.down any more but this winter they’re doing a mini tour of ski resorts in the Rockies. Rob said, “It’s 3 weeks of playing ski mountains and ski bars.”
They hail from Utica, New York, where Al currently resides, but Rob has been living in Maine since 1997. Rob grew up in Utica, having gone to high school there. moe. started at the University of Buffalo. Rob met Chuck Garvey (guitar/vocals), who was on his floor. He said, “We started playing together. I didn’t really play much at the time, but he let me borrow his guitar and learn how to play some stuff on his electric, and then I switched to bass. I was friends with Al’s girlfriend. He didn’t go to school there, but after he graduated from Oneonta, he moved in with her. We had already started playing together before, but Al ended up joining up, and it made the lineup what it is now.” moe. is going on 34 years now. They wanted to call themselves “5 Guys Named Moe” but found out there were already some bands named that, so they just shortened it to moe. The period is just a design thing.
Growing up, Rob had older brothers (he was the youngest), and he’d listen to their record collection. Rob said, “They were always playing Little Feat, Steely Dan, Frank Zappa, and stuff like that. To this day, it’s kind of ingrained in my head. I ended up playing bass because I heard the Red Hot Chili Peppers and ’80s and ’90s funk music. That’s what got me into the bass.”
This is a short tour. After the Pickle Barrel, they play Stowe Cider, and then up to Portland, Maine to the Portland House of Music, near where Rob lives. You can find them on their website at moe.org and on all the social media platforms.
Rob has such a strong friendship with the guys. Thirty-four years together is impressive. Rob ended with saying, “I get to do this with my friends. I’m 55, and the older you get as a grown man or woman, how many friends do you keep? I’ve been friends with a lot of these dudes since college. I get to go around and play with them play with my friends, like I’m a kid. That’s pretty cool.”
By Paul Citone
moe. a band that icludes members Rob Derhak and Al Schnier, will perform “moe.stly,”an acoustic show at the Pickle Barrel on Thursday. The inception of moe.stly traces back to the COVID era, with Al initiating live shows from his residence.
