Tell us about Moog:
Right now we are the biggest indie act in Hungary, and now we’re planning to set foot on the other side of the Atlantic. We are a band of five young boys from the one big town in the country, Budapest, with great expectations of the world. We’ll have to live up to the task, ‘cause a year ago we wouldn’t even have dreamt about the things happening to us: an indie label, record, touring, radio, interviews; but we’re enjoying it: we play pop music and it’s fun.
Where did the band name come from?
We got our name thanks the best party we attended in 2003, when we were on holiday in Barcelona, Spain. Three of us were already in a band together then. One day lying on the beach we got invitations to a party that night, the flyer said ‘80s synth pop and disco. Even though this isn’t exactly our taste (well it might be closer to our singer, Tonyo, actually than to me). But anyway we had nothing better to do that night so we went to this party. The bar didn’t look so inviting with the progressive house music booming downstairs, but we discovered a small staircase leading up to a very small room with a dancefloor, all lit in red and Dead Or Alive blasting at full volume. There were some dancers; but what really made the evening for us was the DJ. He wore tight leather boots, tight pants, a hint of a shirt; his blonde hair was short in the front but very long in the back (a mullet!), typical Eurotrash look. And he was holding a small mirror in his right hand, in which he was looking at himself, adjusting his hairdo to the rhythm of the music. And then he started spinning around, with the mirror in hand, then he took a comb, combed his hair, and when he finally was pleased by his looks, he started stroking himself. It was just gorgeous, thrash beauty. So this bar was called Moog.
How long have you been together?
The band has been performing since the beginning of 2004.
Tonyo, Adi and I were highschool classmates from ‘96 to ‘02, but we played in different bands back then. While they were doing Placebo and HIM covers in Adi’s garage and recording it to tapes (unfortunately lost), later moving on to playing Blur and Starsailor, I played in yet another cover band starting off with Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin covers, but towards the end of high school the set mostly consisted of Nirvana songs. So eventually after finishing high school, all three of us found our way back to pop music, and by that time the garage rock revival reached Hungary: the songs of The Hives, The White Stripes, BRMC, The Raveonettes and of course The Strokes we had downloaded from the net and burned to crappy sounding cds. We were waiting for exactly that type of music then: in the beginning of our first year at college, 2002, I joined their acoustic duo on drums, so then formed the core of The Moog.
We never got to be a serious band though, until we met Csabi in the summer of 2003; he joined the band later that year, and then things sped up: demo recording at the end of the year, first show in March 2004, and so on.
Band Website and Myspace Profile:
http://www.moog.hu is our official website, designed by our greatest fan and good friend, Xenka.
Our myspace url is http://www.myspace.com/moogband
MySpace - Blessing or Curse?
It is a blessing certainly, since our label, MuSick Records from California found us on MySpace. Also we have an ever growing amount of fans there, keeping in touch with us. I certainly see MySpace as the means by which our music can reach every garage/indie fan; this wouldn’t be possible through the older establishments of the music industry.
Sound best described as:
An engine knock! It is fast, loud, dynamic. At the same time, the pop tunes and sensitivity makes it kind of sweet and fascinating. I would say what we play is mainly pop music, it is pure fun to listen to, and to play as well. Though it’s got punk overtones as well, especially live, and some theatrical glam in our slower songs (Anyone, Xanax Youth) Of course that’s not so serious: it is always entertaining playing with different genres in our songs. We have a disco song (Never Hide), we got Sixties-beat songs (Your Sweet Neck, I Don’t Want You Now), straightforward indie pop (If I Died, Like You), and also bit more NY-style pop (Goodbye).
Influences:
We all would mention The Kinks, The Sonics, Ramones and maybe The Beatles as well as Nirvana, Blur, and newer bands like The Strokes, Mando Diao and perhaps The Hives. As far as individual band members’ taste goes, well, that’s quite a wide variety. If we added that up, it would range from Sebadoh to the Smiths, from Jesus and Mary Chain to Danzig, from Mando Diao to Velvet Undergound, from Blondie to Sonic Youth. So quite a mess. Or an exciting mixture, depending on the way you look at it.
Ultimate Goal as a Band?
To be rock dinosaurs one day.
Best Gig?
In a Hungarian village near Budapest, in a very small basement club, still with a hundred-or-so strong audience. The drinks were cheap, the people friendly and even thankful we came to play. We played all of our songs twice as fast as the original tempo; in the end we had to play some of our songs twice. But skinheads, punks and grungeboys of the village pogoed together to our songs. It was such a kind scene to watch.
Worst Gig?
In another country village, actually a town, when we were appearing with quite a famous act in the country, but no audience appeared. At all. And Adi broke guitar strings one after the other so Csabi and I had to entertain ourselves by playing a ten-minute long drum and bass jingle.
Upcoming Gigs:
We are touring the USA this spring for six weeks. The dates are going to be posted soon on our MySpace profile. There is a European tour coming up too, that’s gonna take place in May. We’ll keep you informed through MySpace, and also our official homepage, http://www.moog.hu
Funniest thing that’s ever happened to you on the road?
Well we haven’t been ‘on the road’ yet, just playing some shows abroad. Actually we are looking forward for things to happen on our first tour in the USA. Anyway… funniest thing? Perhaps our driver’s endless stream of talk and old jokes. That’s why I sleep long drives in the van and don’t notice funny things.
If you could tour with any band, who would you pick?
I would pick my favourite band at the moment, Sonic Youth, just to see them live as many times as I can. Anyway. I think it would be great to tour with The Raveonettes for example. Or The International Noise Conspiracy. Naah. I think our pick would be Motorhead, the nightliners and all.
What sets you apart from other bands of today?
I think it’s the fact that the band members are able to put their personalities and personal tastes through. We aren’t writing songs to be indie-rock or garage-pop songs; of course the basic mentality is given. But still, punk is there coming from Csabi and me, britpop is there in it from Adi, straight rock’n’roll from Miguel, and a more relaxed singing style of Tonyo altogether makes it very The Moog like. Yeah, I think, it’s the many layers the songs have that make us what we are.
Parting words/message to the fans?
We hope to see you all soon, on one of our forthcoming tours! We’d love to meet everyone, play to everyone and have fun! cheers,
Gergo
Love this band!