ScrapbookScrapbookPROGRESS: "Moom's live performance confirmed that I wasn't daydreaming about the quality of the tunes offered on their latest release... If anything, on stage the lads are even more daring as they effortlessly rock it out, quickly change into boppier time signatures to then slow down to more melodic climates. Goodness knows what they could do at full stretch!
DeliveranceQ. How long have moom existed?
A. Since 1992. Gregg, Andy and Jim were playing around Northampton with a mainly instrumental band called Medicinal Compound. I returned after living in Birmingham for a year, and began writing songs for my old friends. I joined the band and we changed the name to Moom.
Q. Are you pleased with the album and have you been surprised by the 'good' reactions to it?
A. Toot represents our first year hanging out and playing together. Although in some parts it is musically undeveloped and limited in performances, it remains a warm and interesting album... It's also a beautiful recording. Since Toot our skills both individually and jointly have grown.
Q. Does Toot differ much from it's original cassette only releas in 1993?
A. The Crocodillian Suite was left off the vinyl version for space. It was a case of lose one long song or two short ones. We went for musical diversity. The CD has the entire album on it.
Q. Do you mind being compared to bands such as Caravan and Hatfield and The North, and have any of these bands influenced you?
A. I think we are compared to Caravan because of the similarlty between the sound of Toot, and the fact that my first attempt at vocals coincidentally sounds like Sinclair or whoever in accent. Non of us listen to Caravan or Hatfield, and we certainly don't sound like Caravan anymore.
Q. You all appear to be really competent musicians. Have you had any formal training or are you self taught?
A. We are all self taught. We have invented our own musical language, this gives us our sense of adventure. As we think of new places to go we must push ourselves to learn how to get there. It is this which keeps us travelling through music and prevents us from becoming predictable and one tracked.
Q. Do you enjoy playing live?
A. We love playing live. Every time we play we do a different set and embelish old songs through improvising. We promise a unique performance at every gig.
Q. Will you be venturing out of Northampton now?
A. We have played all over the country at festivals, pubs and venues. We have played numerous private parties and freak-outs. We have supported bands like Here And Now and Merle Saunders. We've probably played more in London than anywhere else.
Do you have any new music ready for future release?
A. We have enough material for at least two albums, we should be recording one of these very soon. Perhaps a live album would also be good.
Brum BeatMOOM - The Jug Of Ale, Moseley
Moom were hampered by both flat vocals and a slow start (for which they later apologised). Neither were they helped by a sound engineer so interested in chatting to mates that members of the audience had to point out to him from the stage What Moom did have in their favour, promising future glory, were the extended instrumental improvisations (they weren't sufficiently self-indulgent to be dismissed as mere jams) which feature on their recent album, Toot. A little work on presentation and a more focused opening to their set should soon see them blossom. (Andy Mabbett)
DeliveranceThe Roadmender, Northampton
I had never come across this band before tonight. In fact, I hadn't even heard of them, but I came away greatly impressed. Enough so, that I had to put pen to paper and let the world know of their existence. I hate comparing one group against another but my lack of command of the English language inhibits me in giving an apt description of how they sound by the music alone. So I can only say that they came across as a "Caravan" meets the "Grateful Dead". Long jazzy tunes with terrific guitar and keyboard work including that Hammond organ sound. All this being quite remarkable because I later learned that they themselves were not that familiar with these bands. I'm not sure if any of the material played tonight will be included on their forthcoming debut album, which was apparently recorded during 1993, but I for one am certainly looking forward to hearing them on vinyl.
ProgressMOOM and THE ENID Live At Kingston green fair, 30 May
Live music on a warm Saturday afternoon; What more can you ask for if you're a
music lover? to many of our overseas readers this might not be too much to ask and yet those
of us who are unfortunately aware of the inclemency of the British weather are also very
grateful for the odd sunny day - dry grass instead of mud-bath, basically ! mind you both
MOOM and THE ENID are good enough to make you forget even the worst storm in year,
should it occur during a performance by either band
MOOM, as a matter of fact, are a collective of such a sunny disposition that I don't
think it could ever rain when they perform.I always thought that it is still feasible to enjoy good
music totally free of commercial implications at fairs and open-air festivals.
You can call it pure nostalgia or quite simply travelling back in time; but it is great to
feel, even if only just a whiff of what was the unrestrained world of rock in the late-60's. A
feeling of old, dutifully shared by MOOM who quite openly revel in the free and totally
unrestrained.
Shame that only 45 minutes were given to the band as, like THE GRATEFUL DEAD,
they could easily roll on forever and ever, much to everyone's content. Given the the poor PA
system, MOOM did actually rather well to put their music across to the punters, slightly less so
with the vocals penalised by microphones that had seen far too many events over the years.
MOOM's live performance confirmed that I wasn't daydreaming about the quality of
the tunes offered on their latest release, "Helicopter Tortoise Collection". If anything, on stage
the lads are even more daring as they effortlessly rock it out, quickly change into boppier time
signatures to then slow down to more melodic climates. Goodness knows what they could do
at full stretch!
Later on in the evening, and many bands later, expectations were growing as THE
ENID were about to take to the stage. Knowing the complex nature of THE ENID's equipment,
or better Robert John Godfrey's elaborate set of keyboards, we were wondering how it could
all fit under the small tent, let alone on top of the minute stage with RJG facing the band and
sitting very close to the crowd.
Despite technical worries, THE ENID this time were pushing on all four cylinders, with
a strong sense of purpose and clarity. 1993 was very much a year of coming back and re-
adjusting the ENID sound, but '94 has seen them coming out with a vengeance. the band, now
a quartet with Nick May, that most excellent dude, back on his beloved guitars, is finally on
course. THE ENID is leaner and more determined to succeed.
Old favourites like "In The Region..." or "Something Wicked...", just to name a couple,
were eagerly taken over by the new material due to appear on album during November. The
new compositions heard, "Tripping The Light Fantastic", "The Gate" and the wonderfully
hypnotic "Dark Hydrolics", show that Robert John Godfrey has struck a new vein of gold. But
the vital elements of THE ENID's live performance lies in the careful direction of the band by
him, and the precise reading of swings of mood and direction by Nick May, who cleverly
carves out a substantial niche for his guitar.
In the end we come away with the sad but true thought that nobody in the UK, apart
from THE ENID, is capable of such grand symphonic gestures, such sweeping moments of
decadent glory and such memorable music. (Charles Imperator.)
Moom could easily be from Canterbury but they're not. They're from Northampton. They could also easily have been influenced by Caravan, Kevin Ayers, Help Yourself, Egg and a whole host of 70s bands. They are not... but, like some strange cosmic twin, they certainly plough the same groove here and now in the 90s.. "Toot" contains stunning keyboard and guitar work that is underpinned by a jazzy flowing rhythm section and together they enfold some of the sunniest, spaciest songs this side of the Land of Grey and Pink. Golden Autumn music for the Summertime.
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