Sax ‘n Drums + Creativity & Talent = Moon Hooch

Sax ‘n Drums

About 13 years ago, on a cold and sunny winter’s day in New Brunswick, we left Fredericton and drove 40 minutes through the snowy countryside to visit my partner’s colleague. I took my tenor with me on the trip, because I was going to jam with the woman’s husband. He was a rock drummer, and used to play with a touring band. His kit nearly took up an entire room of their farmhouse in rural NB.

I had never jammed with a drummer like that before, and I must admit, I was rather overwhelmed by the size and volume of this fellow’s kit. (Despite the fact that he did try to play on the quiet side of the spectrum.)

The two hours we played together was incredibly interesting, and I learned a lot during our 120 minute jam session. Perhaps the biggest-single lesson I learned was that we’d need another instrument to pull off something that other people might want to listen to.

Sax ‘n Drums + Creativity & Talent = Moon Hooch

Source: wikipedia. org

Fast forward to yesterday, when I happened across a young group from New York City called Moon Hooch.

Moon Hooch is a trio comprised of drums and two sax players. (Sometimes one or the other of the saxes gets switched out for a contrabass clarinet or an EWI.) The group got its start by busking on some of NY’s subway platforms. The result: impromptu raves, which resulted in the NYPD banning the group from performing there.

As a musician you gotta’ admit that’s pretty impressive. How many of us can say that our music caused such a fan reaction to have the police prevent us from performing in any venue? I would hazard a guess and say that has happened to very few of us.

How the three met gives us a hint of the talent that one will hear behind the obvious. Horn players Mike Wilbur and Wenzl McGowen, as well as drummer James Muschler, met while students at The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in NYC.

Moon Hooch describes the music they play as Cave Music:

[Cave Music] refers to the term Moon Hooch coined to describe their unique sound: like house music, but more primitive and jagged and raw. Horn players Mike Wilbur and Wenzl McGowen do this by utilizing unique tonguing methods, or adding objects — cardboard or PVC tubes, traffic cones, whatever’s handy — to the bells of their horns to alter their sound. Not to be outdone, drummer James Muschler gets swelling, shimmering sounds from his cymbals, and covers the head of his snare with a stack of splash cymbals to emulate the sound of a Roland TR-808 drum machine’s clap.

Source: The Band: Moon Hooch

There are videos all over YouTube of what this sax ‘n drums trio sounds like, but here are a couple of my favourites. The first an NPR Tiny Desk Concert. Even if you don’t like the style of music that they’re playing, listen to the skill level of players. What they are doing in relation to each other is really interesting.

I’m always been accused of “chicken choking” whenever I make sounds like this in our house. I always thought that having another player to bounce ideas like this off of would be freakin’ awesome!

The second video I really liked is actually the official video for “EWI”, which is from the Moon Hooch’s second album titled, This Is Cave Music.

According to the band:

This Is Cave Music takes their cave music hybrid further into electronic and pop music realms with synthesizers, post-production work, and even singing added to the mix. “We aren’t trying to do it for the sake of reaching a wider audience,” McGowen points out. “We are doing it because it’s where our passion has evolved to. This album is a culmination of that.”

Source: Music: Moon Hooch

Yah, “EWI” might ruffle the sensibilities of some, but art has been known to be edgy.

Oh, and of course the vintage horn lover in me can’t help but notice that this sax n’ drums trio uses vintage saxophones. I also can’t say that I’m surprised by their choice of horns.

The 10M I have is among the most malleable in its tone, and allows for some of the greatest tonal alterations of any of my tenors. I do believe that in this case their horns aid them in playing outside the normal saxophone tonal envelope.