“I will carry on ...”

This may be a single off of the soon-to-be-released EP, "Strange Days", but

it’s a theme that captures the storied career of Seattle based

musician,

Since his arrival as a solo artist in 1993, with his self-titled debut on Capricorn

Records, Moore’s journey has been one of perpetual forward motion and

constant change. The record included the hits, “Satisfied” and “Blue Sky”, and

even featured the track, “Harlem”, in which he made a video with rap icon,

Ice Cube. Coming out of Austin, Texas, growing up sharing the stage with the

likes of Joe Ely, Willie Nelson, Albert King, Doug Sahm, Townes Van Zandt,

Stevie Ray Vaughan, Charlie Sexton, and Doyle Bramhall II, his first three

major label efforts placed him in the blues rock lane that over time and that

label didn’t sit entirely well with an artist with such vast influences and

creative ideas. Internally, Austin was open-minded and filled with big ideas,

but outside of town people had a monochromatic view, and all musical roads

led to Stevie Ray Vaughan at that point in time. 

 “Charlie, Doyle, and I were all tossed into the next Stevie Ray mixer, and it

blunted some unique voices that were developing. My band and I were trying

to take the blues rock and soul that was part of our sound and mix it with

psychedelic music, gothic imagery, power pop,"mind soul" (Stevie Wonder's

mid-70's stuff), and even psychedelic funk (Funkadelic; Sly Stone).

Unfortunately there was no infrastructure in place for what we were doing.

There was no underground scene for rootsier music this like there was a few

years later when bands like Gomez started to break. We were way too weird

for mainstream culture and didn't have the right uniform for the unfolding

indie culture that was championing more Anglicized bands like Pavement and

MBV.” - Ian Moore

Moore recorded his second record with Mark Howard (Daniel Lanois’ engineer)

and had Daniel was around for much of the making of the record. David

Hickey of Art in America declared it one of the great art moments of '96.

“I don't consider Modernday Folklore to be a great record, but i do consider it

to be really ambitious and ahead of its time. If you really give it a close listen

you can see the breadth of what we were trying to do. We got a lot of flak

from the record label and took a lot of heat from fans and music industry

folks that thought we were losing our way.” - Ian Moore

“I’m sorry if I sound like my life’s unfair; sometimes I find it hard

just to persevere …”

Moore supported The Rolling Stones on the Steel Wheels tour of North

America, played two tours with Bob Dylan, and a tour with ZZ Top.

“I feel like the period around this record was the strongest musically for my

first band, but the pressure of all the negativity around the release

precipitated the breakup of the 'Ian Moore Band' and really made me double

down on my effort to continue to refine what I wanted to say. I realized that I

needed to make a really big statement of purpose at that point, and that led

to putting down the electric guitar for a number of years and doing an

extreme about face, leading to a very song oriented, psychedelic folk phase

that garnered a new fan base. I like to think that while I was walking through

the wilderness I was also doing a lot of homework, diving deeply into the

catalogs of Harry Nilsson, Big Star, Emitt Rhodes, etc., while also falling in

love with a lot of interesting contemporary underground rock. I lost track of

what all the guitar players were doing, and lived in a world that was all songs

and creative production.” - Ian Moore

“I will carry on ...”

It was in 2000 that Moore picked up his old friend, that electric guitar once

again, and embraced psychedelic rock and roll. This journey evolved through

the years to the forming of Ian Moore & The Lossy Coils, and even time

playing in Roky Erickson’s band and supporting Paul Weller.

Moore states, “The lineage of modern pop culture is rich and long, and people

that speak in terms of 'vintage' and 'contemporary' are myopic in view. There

is a vast array of culture to pick from, much like thrift stores, pre-EBay. You

can basically find the things that turn you on and go from there.” 

Some things that turn Moore on:

Flannery O’Conner, Spiritualized, Vietnamese food, Dylan, Rivers, Social

trends, the hope and ambition of the late 60's, Faulkner, cookbooks, hiking,

B-movie magazines, Neutral Milk Hotel, long-term friendships, the architecture

of ideas, psychedelic soul, Borges, city planning, every wave of British Rock,

underdogs, Joyce, Texas, tacos, Nick Fucking Lowe!, compassion, Big Sur,

connection, vintage guitars, Peter Sellers,  Aaron Neville, great old record

labels, anachronisms, wordplay, Maxfield Parrish, outmoded electronics,

Mohammed Ali, Murakami, my family, Jimi!!!, Sly!!!, Curtis!!!, Stevie!!!,

seasons, ambition, late nights

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