Hey, this is Jim Laughlin from Moe. I'm back
on My Weekly Mixtape with Brian Coburn, and we're
talking about Moe's 35th anniversary and the
release of our new record, Circle of Giants.
Welcome to My Weekly Mixtape, a podcast that
takes the classic mixtape approach to building
a modern playlist. I'm your host, Brian Colburn.
Tonight, I'm excited to welcome back Jim Laughlin
of Moe to the show. Jim, thanks for joining me
once again. Oh, absolutely. Thanks for having
me, man. Well, tonight, our focus is an album
dive into Moe's 14th studio album, Circle of
Giants, which drops this week. But along with
the new album, 2025 is a monumental year for
the band, as it also marks Moe's 35th anniversary.
So let's start by diving into what you consider
to be some of the key factors to Moe's longevity
over the years. First of all, we have an amazing
fan base. Our fans have supported us through,
well, thick and thin, you know, everything that's
happened to us over the years. They've been incredibly
supportive and they show up, they come out, they
love the band and they keep us going. the other
thing i would be saying we just we we get along
that we don't have um there's no infighting there
really never has been if there are disagreements
they get settled graciously and we just get along
we're well six now really good friends and that's
that's been really the most important thing because
everything that you go through as a touring band
especially in the beginning when You're touring
in cars and you have five guys to a hotel room
and all that ridiculous stuff. If you don't get
along, it's not going to go very far. I know.
And similar to an experience at a Mo concert,
at least for me. The music is continually evolving.
And I think the same could be said about the
band's music in general over the last 35 years.
How would you describe the evolution of the band's
sound over the last three and a half decades?
Well, in the beginning, the evolution came from
us honestly learning how to play, learning our
instruments, learning where they fit in, what
works. instrumentally for each person and just
how to play our own instruments. Then the next
part of it, like in the 2000s and stuff, was
probably really just listening. Listening to
what each other have to say, both on the stage
and off the stage. Mo never really said that
we have a specific sound. Um, there was never
any kind of rules as to, you know, well, that
doesn't sound like a most, that's not, you know,
anything was kind of open and it led to some
weird things that we don't necessarily do anymore,
but it also enabled us to grow and, and, you
know, to constantly sort of push our music in,
in, and take it where we wanted it to be and
try not to listen to all the outside noises to.
what kind of band we were supposed to be or despite
Genre and and all that stuff. We kind of always
just did What we enjoyed what we felt comfortable
playing what we like to play and how we like
to play it Well, now, before we pivot into Circle
of Giants, if you'd like to hear some stories
about songs from the last 13 Mo albums, be sure
to check out episode 35, the Ultimate Mo playlist,
where Jim and I talked about a ton of classic
Mo jams. I'll post a link to that show in the
show notes, as well as on the episode page at
myweeklymixtape .com. So now let's dive into
the brand new Mo album, Circle of Giants. It's
no secret to any of the super morons, the fans
listening that this band's been through a lot
of trials, tribulations and changes over the
last couple of years, including Chuck's recovery
from a stroke, Rob's personal family matters,
and then the addition of Nate Wilson on keys.
So with all of those things happening around
the band's camp, when did the wheels get set
in motion for this album? Probably really once.
chuck settled in you know after chuck settled
back in and and you know his recovery was unbelievable
first of all um the fact that he can even play
at all is still amazes me but once he he really
got settled in and proved to not you know mostly
to himself really than to any of us that he could
still continue on and still do this and still
play to a level that that he wanted to. For us,
I don't know that we were all too concerned.
Regardless of anything, Chuck would always be
our guitar player or one of our guitar players.
We'd accept what he could do and what he couldn't,
but his own personal drive would not accept him
taking backward steps. Once that and we started
playing, Nate started falling into the fold a
lot better, and we knew how that was going to
work. Because when we first played with Nate,
we had Souk on guitar, and then bringing Chuck
back makes everything a little bit different.
At that point, Rob had a bunch of songs previously
written. Nate started to bring his own original
stuff to the band. Some of them were older songs
that he had written, and then some were... songs
that he wrote either with rob or with al or you
know however it went and that's when it was like
all right well we it's been a long time since
we've recorded a record we needed to start to
focus on on getting this new iteration of the
band recorded you know that was definitely very
important to have something with nate on it something
that was you know mostly newer songs And to get
that done and get it out. And when was the timeframe
of the recording? When did you guys actually,
when were you in the studio for this? It was
last summer. I'm trying to think of exactly when
it, when it was. I want to say June. It was sometime
in June. I think that we went in and actually
got all the recording and stuff done because
it had to have been before the long July run.
our summer run with Daniel and all that stuff.
It was either before it or right after it. Now
I can't last year was, I mean, it's hard to last
year. It was very difficult for me to index it.
It is just way too much. It happens from a personal
level. I could say, I completely understand that
sentiment. I had the chance to catch your summer
shows last year when you played at the music
fest cafe in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. And that
night you guys debuted, at least for me personally,
a song that I hadn't heard before. And that ended
up being the lead single from Circle of Giants
entitled Ups and Downs, which I'll play a clip
of now. It smells like gin. Now Jim, Moe's been
known to road test songs before committing them
to a studio album. But you've also done the opposite,
like on 2008's Sticks and Stones, where the majority
was written kind of for the record. Overall,
how much of Circle of Giants did you guys road
test before hitting the studio? A good chunk
of it. I mean, Yellow Tigers was played a lot.
In Stride was played a lot. Backcountry and Ups
and Downs were played. Ups and Downs probably
was the newest one that probably got played the
least out of the songs on the record. But most
of it, I don't know that there's... Band in the
Sky might be the only song that we only played
live like twice maybe. And I think that was actually
after we recorded it. Spinning, floating by.
You can see the silver lines if you try. Learning
how far, how to fly. Learning how far, how to
fly. I was still just spinning, floating. The
second part, the missing, the hardest part. The
second part, the missing, the hardest part. Obviously,
Living Again was an old song that we brought
back, but a lot of times it doesn't matter how
many times you play these songs live when you
get into the studio and start to work on them.
they're gonna change you know throughout the
times of us playing in stride and even ups and
downs there was always these big drum parts that
i heard in my head that i didn't have the gear
to play live so those got flown in you know when
we did the recordings and stuff just sort of
gets added uh we had played um I was so bad at
song titles. Don't you know? Don't you know?
Okay. Yeah, that song completely changed. The
song is 100 % different than anything that we
played live on it. At Giants as well, which we,
Giants, we had only played, again, maybe twice
live. And it was because we were working on it
in soundchecks and we got this kind of skeletal
outline of it. And we didn't, Giants, we didn't
even actually record in the original session.
When we got done with the original session, we
had now come to a point where we played Giants
a couple times in July and really working on
it in July. And then there was that and a couple
songs that we still had to finish because we
didn't actually finish all the recording we wanted
to before we went on tour and everything. So
those guys actually went up, since they're all
in the Northeast, they went up to Rob's house
and he's got a barn now. They recorded Giants
in the barn. And I was going to do all the overdub
stuff in my basement here. When they sent me
the track, I was like, this is not even the same
song. It starts out the same and the verse sections
are the same, but then there was this whole other
part of it that was added to it. And I was like,
oh my God. what do y 'all want me to do okay
i thought i had the song you know like i thought
i was like i have the song down i could do it
no problem then i listened to it i'm like all
right this is this whole other half of the song
is i what's going on so i had to kind of just
record a bunch of stuff and send it to them and
be like just use what you want and don't use
what you don't want like here's a bunch of crap
do it what you will Well, giants is, dare I use
the words, kind of a psychedelic trip of a song.
And I'll play a clip of that now. Giants clocks
in at eight minutes and 21 seconds, and it's
not even the longest song on the album, which
speaks to my jam band heart when I say that.
That award goes to Band in the Sky, which clocks
in at 12 minutes long. When Mo plays live, you
guys obviously open up the songs for jamming
and improvisation. However, when you're in the
studio, it's a different animal in a sense. So
how do you guys decide, okay, this is the sweet
spot. in terms of a studio length song? We don't
have any hard and fast rules. Generally speaking,
if a song is really long live and the only reason
it's long live is because of a solo, guitar solo,
vibraphone solo, keyboard solo, whatever it is,
we will cut that down in the studio because it
just becomes unnecessary. There's reasons to
do it live. necessarily reasons to do it in a
studio because those parts don't they don't evolve
the same way if you're in this kind of enclosed
no fan no energy environment or low energy environment
i should say but if like the ending of band in
the sky or the whole last four minutes of giants
there was you know a roadmap for how that was
going to evolve the same thing with the end of
living again You know, it was discussed and like,
this is what, you know, the author, the writer
of the song wanted to happen with this part.
You know, so some of those needed to be kind
of that length to have it evolve, to go from
where it started in that instrumental section
to where it ends. And that's the only thing we
can do in the studio is, like I said, taking
a solo and trying to make it, it's just not the
same as if you have this sort of roadmapped.
semi -improv feely section that you just kind
of want to build so there's a level of when we're
playing it in the studio because we play all
together you can get it to that peak and feel
it you know and know that this is where the out
is but you're sort of directed as to how to get
there the amount of time is whatever happens
you know if we had stopped playing and band in
the sky ended up being 20 minutes because the
end was Like we would have been like, yeah, they
might want to kind of reduce that. Well, as we
talked about on episode 35, the band has always
taken kind of unique approaches to recording
albums. As you mentioned, kind of that live energy
like that you captured on 2003's Wormwood and
2007's The Conk. Those are studio albums that
were tracked live in front of an audience and
then finalized in the studio. And then you also
recorded albums live in the studio like 2010's
Smash Hits Volume 1, the re -recordings album.
I haven't listened to Circle of Giants several
times in a row now. I have to assume that a lot
of this album was tracked live because there's
an energy and spirit in these songs that I think
might get lost if they were tracked each instrument
separately. Either that or you guys are just
so damn good in the studio that you fooled the
hell out of me. Can you talk about the recording
sessions for this album? Yeah, it was all tracked
live. I mean, there's overdubs on it. There's
minor fixes and punches and stuff that exists.
any studio album, really. Of course, yeah. But
it was all completely tracked live. Pretty much
any record we've ever done starts off with us
all playing the song live in the studio. And
then we take what's good and use it. It used
to be our mentality was we're tracking live just
to make sure that we get the drum part. Through
playing together for decades, it's come to a
point where most of the stuff that we track live
is usable on the record. Chuck and Al get their
sounds before we start. Rob gets his sound before
we start. So that's never an issue. We're usually
very solid on the songs and we play well together.
So for Circle of Giants, I couldn't even see
them. a floor below them in an isolation room.
I couldn't see him at all and just playing along,
you know, but most of the percussion stuff that
like a lot of the conga parts and all that are
from the original take. And then if there was,
you know, cause I can't obviously play everything
at the same time. If I wanted some Bali part
and stuff that would overdub that, but almost
everything is, is as it was. All the vibraphone
are living again is just, the right off the original
take like i said 90 of the conga parts are right
off the original take and that again that's just
purely because we have played together for so
long and we know what what we want to hear um
those guys know how they want their instruments
to sound everything you know as long as everything's
sounding good going to tape usually the playing
is is not the problem you know and Sometimes
solos, most of the solos end up getting overdubbed.
You'll hear on a couple songs, there's Nate's
playing organ, Rhodes, and like Mellotron or
whatever. So those other parts have to be overdubbed.
But these days, this is not, we are not normal.
Most of that is live in the studio. This was
live in the studio. I mean, even going back as
far as Sticks and Stones, most of that is live
in the studio. over the years have just tried
to eliminate overdubs entirely you know if they
need to fix like this bridge section i kind of
screwed up let's punch in you know 12 bars of
that that's one thing but as far as going back
and being like i want you to do the whole guitar
track again that just doesn't happen anymore
Now, is this a situation like the Beatles where
10 years from now, when you're going to do the
10th anniversary of Circle of Giants, you're
going to have like take seven of Yellow Tigers
and take four of. Did you guys record multiple
versions of every song? Yeah. Oh, yeah. All that's
I mean, for pretty much all our albums, there
are tons of studio takes. We've had some problems
with. storage spaces like katrina storage space
got flooded so we're not really sure how much
stuff we as far as master tapes and tracks we've
lost in there when we were recording to tape
that's we just couldn't afford to you know you
go back and just go over yes what you just did
um unless someone was adamant like i can use
this part save this take but the tape used to
be so expensive um But with digital, yeah, we
have, I mean, we'll do a take. Everyone will
talk about, you know, let's do it again. Let's
do it again. Let's do it again. So each song
is probably, I'd say, minimum played four times,
four or five times. And most of that stuff was
kept. Ben just lets the, since it's digital,
just let it run. So back to back to back to back
takes of the song. Ben Collette was the engineer
and, you know, helped us produce the record.
And the guy is just gifted inside a studio. So
he pulls from everywhere. Like he just constantly
is aware of what's happening and he can do some
things, edits and stuff at a speed that I've
just never seen before and just slot things in.
And you're like, oh my God. All right. That actually
sounds amazing. And we're not really sure where
he pulled that. you know, four bars of the bass
from which take. And he, the guys, yeah, he's
an unbelievable engineer and, and he mixer, uh,
all that. He's just a pleasure to work with.
So there are definitely outtakes of everything.
So is there ever a universe where we'll see a
Moe outtakes, maybe a vault that people could
hear some of these versions? I mean, I would
love to do it. there's some of them are hilarious
um some of them are you know just kind of just
weird stuff would happen in a song some of them
are just different interpretations of you know
of that song it is faster slower the solo changed
in this part someone tried something different
for this part so it would be really cool that
it the problem is the the only problem is logistics
and having someone because there's so much of
it at this point So either for us to go through
it all or for someone else to go through all
of it and be like, you know, you guys should
hear this. That is, it was a lot. It would be
a lot, a lot of work. Just send them my way.
I'll take the bullet. Because, I mean, we also
have like tons of just jams when we're first
starting out in the studio and they're just rolling
tape and we're just playing. and it's not a song
it's not anything it's just us warming up and
the engineer getting sounds you know making sure
the drums sound good making sure everything sounds
good in the booth and we have just played for
15 or 20 minutes straight just rolling and so
we have a bunch of that stuff yeah that it's
mountains and mountains of music to sort through
there's a lot of opportunities there i'm just
saying from a fan perspective Now, back on episode
35, you and I talked about the songwriting process
for the band and how each member contributes
their songs to the mix. How did this album balance
out in terms of the writing contributions? This
particular album is mostly just Rob, Al, and
Nate as far as the starts of the songs. And a
lot on this record, those guys knew already what
they really wanted to hear. And a lot of those
songs, since we had been playing, There was a
very, I don't want to say strict, but there was
a strong idea of what they wanted. So it was
kind of easy in that respect as far as no one
was really trying to come up with how are we
going to arrange this? What am I going to play?
And that kind of thing. That was already kind
of solidified for the most part. The only song
I can think of was in Don't You Know, there was
some... a bunch of stuff since it changed so
much and rob wanted a completely kind of different
look on the song or sound from the song and we
had been doing there was a couple arrangement
things that we had to do there was a lot of listening
back to that song and saying well actually in
this part you know you can do this or like the
vocals actually need to do this there needs to
be a stop like stuff like that But for the most
part, everything was fairly solidified before
we went in to actually record. Now, earlier,
you and I talked about Nate Wilson joining the
band. And as you mentioned, he wasted no time
bringing his songwriting into the fold as he
contributed two tracks on this album, including
the album opener Yellow Tigers, which I'll play
a clip of now. How would you describe Nate's
songwriting style in comparison to the other
members of the band? It's funny. He's a monster
player. He studied the instrument. He majored
in music in college. He's studied with amazing
teachers in the Massachusetts area where he's
from. But when he writes songs, they're... way
more accessible and simpler than you would think.
If you were just to listen to him solo, you would
think that this guy is just over the head of
many people. Like his knowledge and interpretation
of harmonies and melodies and chord changes and
substitutions, he can play modally, he can play
in keys, he's just... so well versed in it and
if you were just to hear him solo you'd think
that like a song that he would write would have
you know 15 different chords in it and all these
different inversions and key changes and all
this stuff but it's not it's very straightforward
like he's a he's a big fan of well he's a fan
of a lot of music but Honestly, if you look at
him and look at how he dresses and all that stuff,
you can kind of see what kind of song he's going
to write. He hits that 70s kind of psychedelica.
He likes a lot of sort of the heavier aspects
of it. When he plays organ, it's very dirty.
And even the roads, he's not always clean on
the roads. He likes a lot of that kind of dirt
and thick. thick sounds and he likes a lot of
journey stuff like not the band but stuff that
sort of takes you from point a to point b but
most of it is really like yellow tiger is this
incredibly straightforward rock song even in
stride which is borderline ballady but once it
gets into the verse then it just has that that
feel At first, I thought these things were, you
know, he was going to introduce a lot of complexity
to the band, but he really did. He really just
kind of found his sweet spot and writes kind
of simple, straightforward songs. And, you know,
the only contrast is to some of the kind of like
epic anthemic songs that we've written, like
Rebubula and Billy Goat and that have all these
changes in it and like section, section, section.
And, you know, he's like, no, verse, chorus,
bridge, you know, and that's how we're going
to roll. Like, all right. Like, it was interesting
to see the stuff that he churned out as opposed
to what, you know, I might have been thinking
in the beginning. Well, you mentioned 70s rock.
So I'm going to play a clip of Bat Country now,
and then we're going to talk about this. The
first thing that caught my attention about this
song was Nate's use of a flute in the song, which
certainly sets the song apart from the other
nine songs on this album. And let's be honest,
it also sets itself apart from a lot of Moe's
catalog. Because when you hear flute, you automatically
get drawn to band names like Jethro Tull, Genesis,
Heart, Moody Blues, Marshall Tucker Band. How
did that get introduced into this track? Well,
from when he first started playing with us, he
had been playing flute in certain songs. I played
it for a while live and it's really difficult,
especially if it's not your main instrument.
Basically, what happens is you have a handful
of keys that you're well -versed in and everything
else you're just not even going to touch with
a 10 -foot pole because trying to play the full
range of the instrument and be in tune and everything
in a weird off -key is just really difficult,
like I said, unless it's your main instrument.
So in a lot of the E minor songs, D, G, those
are fairly accessible to play in and to play
in tune, more importantly. He had been taking
some solos, been doubling the lines in the pit,
stuff like that. It just fit because the intro
is just me playing Aguero, Rob playing the bass
line, and Vin playing a super simple drum line.
There needed to be something over that to kick
the song off. So it just made sense, instead
of having him play like an organ part of something
that was like really big over the top of this,
to have just the flute float right over the top.
It works perfectly. And the song always reminds
me of a war song, just that it has enough of
a Latin feel. Almost like spill the wine. Yeah,
exactly. Like that kind of feel at the top. And
the flute just always works well if you're in
sort of that Latin -y. And then up until the
chorus, that's kind of the feel that it is. And
then the chorus kicks in and then you have this
straight cowbell bonking through the chorus and
everything sort of locks together. But then you
get back into the solo section and we're back
into kind of that Latin -y kind of feel, which
is, the solo section more takes me into like
a Santana vibe than, because war stuff is all
slower and laid back and, you know, easy rider
kind of thing. And the solo section just jumps
at, you know, it's a whole different part. As
far as that and then the re -intro of the song,
the flute just works, man. And it leaves a lot
of space. It's an instrument that doesn't congest
everything. It sort of floats over the top, you
know? So it's really nice to go back and forth
between that feel, the intro, then the verse,
and the re -intro, then another verse. It just
worked out really well. And something I noticed
across the entire album to kind of jump off what
you're saying there, there's a lot of space in
these songs. And I don't mean space as in the
sound of the recording. I mean, separation between
the instruments. Everybody's giving each other
breathing room and you could really kind of hone
in on each of the different instruments. When
you're playing that live, is that something?
Because you said you were tucked away, not even
looking at. people in the room. How do you guys
judge? Okay. I got to back off here to kind of
let Rob float through this part of the song or
let Al's part kind of shine through. It's, I
mean, you get used to in the writing of the songs
and the development of the songs and then playing
the songs live, you get used to what sort of
needs to be heard. Like what is the main instrument
that's driving this part? You know, what really
needs to pop. And if it's not you, take a step
back like almost stop i mean there there's you
know doing a lot of these songs live like i am
like i said in in the intro to in the verse parts
of back country i'm just playing the guiro in
a lot of the choruses and sections of in stride
i'm just playing a tambourine like then just
doesn't need to be anything else everything else
is covered You know, so you kind of, and for
us, having started as a four piece, then advanced
to five and now six, it's a huge learning curve.
You know, when we were a four piece, everybody
play all the time as fast as you can, as much
as you can. You know, like you listen to the
old songs off of Fatboy and Headseed and that's
just all it is. It's just us going, you know,
as hard as we can at it. and throwing out as
much as we knew. And just over the years, after
playing, and then when I came back in, and there
was a whole other thing. Now Vin has to pay attention
to what I'm doing. People have to pay attention
to a new element that's introduced into the band.
Then the vibraphone came in, and that was another
melodic thing now that Chuck and Al and Rob had
to listen to. And then now we have Nate. And
with the keys, I mean... He can either dominate
a song or he can just sort of not really do much.
And if you watch him throughout a night, you
know, you'll see him just take his hands off
the keyboard. He'll get a drink. He'll sit there
and literally do nothing. And between him and
I, that's the biggest part. Like, I feel like
me and Nate have to know when to just stop, like
not even. like do something soft like literally
just stop and get out we started playing no quarter
which granted is a cover song and stuff but the
first like three or four times playing it i'm
i'm like trying to figure out what the hell to
do as a percussionist in a zeppelin song and
now and now i just sit down i don't play in the
song at all like i just i sit down and listen
to a really good version of a led zeppelin song
You know, so you just kind of got to eventually,
you know, when when that is, you know, Miles
Davis always used to talk about you just take
the instrument away from your mouth. Like there
are times where you don't have to do anything.
And we're learning that and learning how much
more important it is now than when we were a
four piece or even a five piece. Like it's completely
different. Well, Circle of Giants clocks in at
just over 68 minutes long. So it leads me to
wonder, were there any songs that you guys tracked
for this album that didn't make the final cut?
Actually, no, because like I said, we didn't
finish what we wanted to in the actual studio.
So we came out of Tank when we left Tank's recording
studios and went back and looked at how the...
album was going to lay out, how the tracks were
going to be and stuff. We actually realized we
needed more. We didn't get enough done. So there
was two or three songs that they went up and
did in Rob's barn and I did all my stuff at home.
And which ones were those? I know you had said
Giants was one of them. Yes. Giants was one of
them. Beautiful Mess and Bear Song were three
songs that we went and recorded afterwards. Bear
song seemed kind of like an odd man out. So I
don't think it got included on the final album.
And I'm not sure if Beautiful Mess did, although
I think it did. Beautiful Mess is on there. Yeah.
That was another song that it's funny when Rob
did his solo record over COVID at home, that
was one of the songs that I loved off that album.
And I had no idea that they were going to record
it. The goal was, i'm pretty sure was just to
get giants and bear song and rob just showed
them all the song there and so again when i got
emailed the tracks i was like what what is that
what and then i'm like oh my god that's i realized
everything clicked like what it what song it
was and i'm like okay so that was another one
though that i had never played never you know
I mean, obviously I heard the song enough to
be semi -familiar with it, but the version that
we did is slightly different than what Rob recorded.
And again, I was just like, I am just going to
record a bunch of stuff and y 'all just pick
what is going to work and what isn't. Because
I don't know what to do and I'm here in my basement
by myself with no direction, like nobody in the
booth being like, hey, can you actually try this?
It was just do everything and let them sort it
out. Well, you guys recorded a version of bear
song. You recorded living again, which is a 20
year old song. You guys have been playing it
since the early two thousands. I know I asked
this on episode 35, but I'm going to hound you.
And I'm going to ask again, there are songs from
the Mo catalog, like George Johnny lineup that
have only kind of lived in the live universe.
Is there ever going to be a, maybe an album that
you do that is strictly. the songs that were
usually on the stage kind of done in the studio
form? It's always a possibility. A lot of the
songs for us that only live on the stage, like
Meat, and I know there's a recording of Meat,
but it's like Johnny Line Up. Those songs, we
would never do them justice in the studio. It
would almost be like castrating the song. because
everybody is so familiar with these songs, with
the energy that these songs have live, with how
they're performed live. Like Johnny Lineup, we
never know how long it's going to be. We don't
know who's going to solo in it. We don't know
how long that solo is going to be. We don't know.
It's just we start playing, someone starts soloing.
That person plays for however long they're comfortable
playing, stops. everybody says johnny line up
sings that one part then the next solo starts
and whatever happens happens the song doesn't
end until vin decides it's done and which sometimes
is like a surprise like all of a sudden he'll
just cue the end and we'll stop and be like if
you listen to versions of it live versions of
it you'll hear someone else start soloing and
then like oh okay we're done like we don't really
exactly know so Like a song like George can definitely
be done in the studio and justice can be brought
to that song in the studio. It's hard as a band
that's continually trying to move forward to
look backwards. I understand that. Yeah. So it's
not even a matter of desire or want to do these
things. Usually it's just a matter of, oh, fuck,
we forgot again. You know, we have this stuff
that we're just kind of like, ah, all right,
well, maybe we'll do it next record. but then
by that point we have this many more songs that
we really want to record and that we're psyched
about and you know then you go on stage and and
play a song like judging like oh yeah we've never
recorded this did we and which is kind of what
happened with with bear song and why it even
got brought up because that bear song is a 30
year old song when we've been playing it consistently
for that i mean we played that song when i was
drumming in the band It took this long to record
it, you know? And it's gone through these different
evolutions, too. And it's weird because, like
I said, it started as a four -piece song. Then
we continued to play it when I came back. And
then the marimba got added. And then now there's
an organ and Rhodes part in it. Oh, my God. I
got a few. Is there any chance this will be released
as a single at some point? Yeah. We're planning
on releasing it. I'm not sure how. when it's
going to be done or whatever. We had thought
about doing a 12 -inch record with that and something
else on the other side. Again, it was a lot of
time constraints. We thought it was going to
be on the record and then listening to it against
the rest of the songs, the decision was like,
it doesn't really fit, so we'll save it for later.
I'm picturing a bear shaped vinyl. That's going
to get put out for record store day. I don't
know why I'm just, that's something that comes
to mind, right? How cool would that be? Yeah.
I can't think of the, I mean, we've never done
a shape vinyl and I can't think of the last one
that I've seen. I mean, I have a dozen of them,
but yeah, ZZ war did an incredible guitar picked
one this past year for record store day. That
was really wild. It would be something of that
nature. Awesome. Awesome. Well, we also talked
about album titles on episode 35. I know I keep
plugging that, but if you're a Mo fan listening
to this one, you want to go back and check out
episode 35, but we talked about the album name,
what happened to the Lala's and this album is
called circle of giants, but there's a track
on the album called giants. Is there a story
behind the name of the album? Yeah. I mean, it,
it came out of kind of really everything. we
experienced during the year a lot of the album
title is is very personal to rob and everything
that he went through and that's mostly what it
is i don't think and this i'm not positive of
i don't think nate had an absolute name for the
song like i can't remember if it was always called
giants or not but the album title is not specifically
connected to that song in in any way It was a
title that Rob wanted to use for specific reasons
and it was very personal to him. He's the one
who really titled the album. There was a couple
other different things that he had thrown around
in his own head and that's what he came up with.
Well, the band is going to have a very busy 2025,
both in celebration of the 35th anniversary of
the band, as well as the circle of giants. Can
you talk about what the morons have to look forward
to for the rest of this year? I mean, yeah, it's
a big year because in kind of what we wanted
to do in 2020, I mean, you know, we had. We had
the plans to record the record. We had stuff
to do. It was our 30th anniversary then, which,
you know, should have been a big deal. And then,
you know, the wheels fell off of the world. And
then, you know, of course, we kept getting kicked
while we were down. So this year, I mean, it's
just going to be exciting to actually get to
celebrate one of our anniversaries with a new
record. and everything is finally looking up
for us. I hope we look forward to a lot of smiles
on the stage for once and just a really solid
year of touring, of trying to bring the fans
back into the fold and just get as much work
done as we can. We'd like to do something like
we did with Daniel, a package tour. at some point
in the summer because the shows we did with Daniel
was just awesome. There was just a lot of fun.
They were. We'd like to get back to do something
like that with another band that we don't just
get along with musically, that we actually get
along with personally. We hung out with those
guys a lot. I went golfing with Bronco. We just
spent time together. Not necessarily on the stage,
like off the stage and got to know each other
pretty well. So something like that, where you
see like a really good level of energy between
two or three bands that just get along and can
just have a lot of fun. So that's, that's really
our goal is to just play as much as we can and
enjoy it and just not have something hanging
over our heads again. Well, Jim, it is always
a pleasure talking music with you. Congratulations
on 35 years of amazing Mojams. And I look forward
to personally seeing you guys at some of your
New Jersey, New York shows this year so we can
celebrate properly. Absolutely. And this time,
get in touch with me and we'll be able to hang
out, actually. Oh, dude, I'd love that. Thank
you. January 31st, you can find Circle of Giants
on all of your favorite streaming providers,
but more importantly, it's available on vinyl
and CD at your favorite indie record stores,
as well as all of the upcoming Mo shows. So be
sure to pick up a copy. I promise you won't be
disappointed. And to all the mixtapers listening,
you can connect with my weekly mixtape on almost
all the social media haunts at... My Weekly Mixtape.
You can also head to myweeklymixtape .com to
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for listening. And until next time, enjoy the
tunes.