Gimme some Moe.!

Here we have a band that has not only taken part in more music festivals than most bands on the planet, but has started multiple yearly festivals of their own. "moe." is an american jam band that pushes the envelope with a style that fuses an almost country/bluegrass/folk sound with the driving styles of progressive rock. Moe. was formed in 1990 at the University of Buffalo by Rob Derhak (bass/vocals, Al Schnier (guitar/vocals/keyboards), Chuck Garvey (guitar/vocals), Vinnie Amico (drums), and Jim Loughlin (percussion). In the words of moe.'s own Al Schnier, he describes moe. as, "an amalgamation of a wide variety of the history of rock, all regurgitated and recycled through the eyes, ears, hands, whatever of the guys in our band and all of that with a sense of adventure, a sense of humor, also a constant desire to push the envelope. All in this arena of taking chances, improvising live, and making things up on the spot." As I mentioned earlier, moe. has started multiple festivals of their own, most notably a festival called "moe.down". This began in 2000 at the Snow Ridge Ski Area in Turin, NY. The first year alone, the festival attracted three thousand people, while this past year at the ninth annual installment of moe.down almost ten thousand traveled to this wonderful fest. Another annual event that although moe. is not technically attributed with starting, everyone who attends knows and loves that it is moe.'s festival, is Summer Camp. Having attended Summer Camp for four consecutive years, it would have been impossible to prevent moe. from growing to be one of my obsessions. At Summer Camp, where there are dozens of the most notable names in jam band music, moe. is still reserved 3 nights in a row on the main stage at the main time slot (2008 was the first year moe. was actually given only 2 nights at the main time slot/main stage). Other non-annual events moe. has hosted was the snoe.down, the moe.-lennium, and moe.cruise. A particularly interesting event was the snoe.down, where moe. and friends held a three day festival at the outdoor venue of the Olympic Center in Lake Placid, New York. Here there were three days of ten to fifteen degree weather where over two thousand fans huddled for warmth through the sets of moe. and others. That is what I would call a dedicated fan base, which hilariously enough is a fan base that has been known to call themselves the "moe.rons". From 1992-2008 moe. released a staggering fourteen studio albums! Added on top of this is a six live album series titled the "Warts & All" series. The concerts for the Warts & All releases are chosen by the band and include an entire show without edits or overdubs. Unfortunately after this past summer, moe. has decided to take a short hiatus from their touring to pursue various side projects, and to take some much needed time off to spend with friends and family. Not to fear though, it is definitely not a break up, just a short break. Moe. is expected to play at various festivals and shows this summer, and let me speak for moe. fans everywhere, I can not wait.