Describing Thee Moot presents us here at Garagerocktopia with a bit of a special problem. While an airtight fit as far as the kinds of music we chronicle here at this humble little blog, really pinpointing that sound is a bit tougher.
The best way we can describe the band is bouncy power pop, with definite notes of mod and pop, with the faintest garage rock aftertaste. Guitarist DC isn't very worried that the band’s sound is so hard to home in on.
“If we try to describe it, it limits us,” DC remarked, talking to Garagerocktopia by telephone from his home in London. “We've got elements of power pop -- I love the late 1970s to early 80s power pop, so some of that works into the music. We do have a mod audience, but we're not really a mod band. We're a bit broader than that.”
Perhaps the best thing to do is not to worry about an exact description, but just listen for yourself. That broad-based sound is evident for all to hear on the band’s latest release, Peel It To Reveal It, Thee Moot's first full length album. It’s a mostly upbeat, rollicking collection of songs jam-packed full of stellar hooks, pleasing beats and clever lyrics. If there is any justice in the music biz, the album should considerably boost the clout of the London-based band.
The band cites the usual British rock royalty as influences -- the Beatles, the Kinks, the Who, as well as first-wave punk bands like the Sex Pistols and the Buzzcocks. But that still doesn’t give you much of a reference point.
“We like to cover a lot of territory,” said DC. “The audiences we play for are really starting to get what we do, and we don't want to be in a pigeonhole. we just wanted to be the most wide-ranging band we can be.”
If there’s one thing you notice about Thee Moot right away, it’s that the band has no shortage at all of catchy hooks, fun riffs and wondrous melodies. The phrase “insanely catchy” is one of the most cliche in music journalism, but for Thee Moot, there’s simply no other way to describe their sound.
DC credits that to lead singer Nick Stone, who is also the band’s chief songwriter. Stone, along with bassist Mark Leech, formed The Moot in 2016. Recently, “The” was changed to “Thee” to avoid confusion with a Scottish folk duo who had already laid claim to that moniker.
Drummer Freezer Pinch rounds out the band's personnel.
Both Stone and Leech were alumni of the band The Onlookers, who performed a strain of New wave-tinged Power Pop in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. While The Onlookers music was anything but dour, Stone’s songs with Thee Moot are more upbeat and far more punchy.
“I think it really comes from the fact that Nick is really a songwriter,” said DC. “After The Onlookers broke up in the early 80s, he just kept writing songs. He's a real tune guy. He works on the melodies, and he's really a special songwriter.”
Plenty of collaboration takes place, however, before the final cut of the song is recorded.
“Usually, Nick will have a demo ready,” DC revealed. “Nick is the driving force, but we kick the songs around a bit, and then give our ideas. He’ll fling it our way and from there, we're generally pretty quick to work on it. but it's all based on Nick's work. Some of the songs, like ‘Don't Push Me,’ was kind of my idea. I had a guitar part ready and Nick added words.”
Much as the instrumentation is upbeat, generally, too are the lyrics. In this day and age, when a lot of younger bands make Pink Floyd sound like Howard Jones, Thee Moot, while not altogether giddy, do have many upbeat lyrical touches.
“We're not the total happiness band like the Beach Boys,” advised DC. “but we do have a little more life experience then some of the younger bands, so we're a little more optimistic.”
Perhaps the best thing to do is not to worry about an exact description, but just listen for yourself. That broad-based sound is evident for all to hear on the band’s latest release, Peel It To Reveal It, Thee Moot's first full length album. It’s a mostly upbeat, rollicking collection of songs jam-packed full of stellar hooks, pleasing beats and clever lyrics. If there is any justice in the music biz, the album should considerably boost the clout of the London-based band.
The band cites the usual British rock royalty as influences -- the Beatles, the Kinks, the Who, as well as first-wave punk bands like the Sex Pistols and the Buzzcocks. But that still doesn’t give you much of a reference point.
“We like to cover a lot of territory,” said DC. “The audiences we play for are really starting to get what we do, and we don't want to be in a pigeonhole. we just wanted to be the most wide-ranging band we can be.”
If there’s one thing you notice about Thee Moot right away, it’s that the band has no shortage at all of catchy hooks, fun riffs and wondrous melodies. The phrase “insanely catchy” is one of the most cliche in music journalism, but for Thee Moot, there’s simply no other way to describe their sound.
DC credits that to lead singer Nick Stone, who is also the band’s chief songwriter. Stone, along with bassist Mark Leech, formed The Moot in 2016. Recently, “The” was changed to “Thee” to avoid confusion with a Scottish folk duo who had already laid claim to that moniker.
Drummer Freezer Pinch rounds out the band's personnel.
Both Stone and Leech were alumni of the band The Onlookers, who performed a strain of New wave-tinged Power Pop in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. While The Onlookers music was anything but dour, Stone’s songs with Thee Moot are more upbeat and far more punchy.
“I think it really comes from the fact that Nick is really a songwriter,” said DC. “After The Onlookers broke up in the early 80s, he just kept writing songs. He's a real tune guy. He works on the melodies, and he's really a special songwriter.”
Plenty of collaboration takes place, however, before the final cut of the song is recorded.
“Usually, Nick will have a demo ready,” DC revealed. “Nick is the driving force, but we kick the songs around a bit, and then give our ideas. He’ll fling it our way and from there, we're generally pretty quick to work on it. but it's all based on Nick's work. Some of the songs, like ‘Don't Push Me,’ was kind of my idea. I had a guitar part ready and Nick added words.”
Much as the instrumentation is upbeat, generally, too are the lyrics. In this day and age, when a lot of younger bands make Pink Floyd sound like Howard Jones, Thee Moot, while not altogether giddy, do have many upbeat lyrical touches.
“We're not the total happiness band like the Beach Boys,” advised DC. “but we do have a little more life experience then some of the younger bands, so we're a little more optimistic.”
One of the best cuts on the new album is “Let Your Hair Down,” which considerably ramps up the guitar and borders on straight-up mod. .
“The original idea, the original groove, came from Mark,” said DC. “Nick quickly put down some lyrics, verses and choruses, and from the demo, I looked to see what the guitar should do. We wanted to have that one harder-driving song, and ‘Let Your Hair Down’ was an opportunity to rock out. it's not Black Sabbath or anything like that, it was a chance to get pedals out and make some noise, to be a little bit grungy and a little bit dirty.”
If you feel like Peel It to Reveal It echoes some of the great rock and roll of Britain's past, that is not your imagination. DC took particular joy in talking about one song.
“‘Don't Push Me,’ is my personal favorite said DC. “I just think it has all the elements that the music of a guitar-based band should have. It's a little bit Who-ey,” noted DC in an interview done, fittingly enough, on Pete Townshend’s birthday.
“We told Freezer Pinch to keep it real tight,” recalled DC, “and then go full Keith Moon on the chorus. Also, on this song I used my favorite guitar, a 1964 Fender Jaguar.”
But the classic-ness of the song, and the album, didn’t stop with influences and gear.
“This album was made in the Gizzard Analogue Studio in London,” said DC. “The whole studio is vintage recording material. It's all direct to tape, no digital gear at all. A lot of the studio stuff came from the BBC, who threw out all the analog equipment when they went digital. It connects us back to that classic time.”
If you feel like Peel It to Reveal It echoes some of the great rock and roll of Britain's past, that is not your imagination. DC took particular joy in talking about one song.
“‘Don't Push Me,’ is my personal favorite said DC. “I just think it has all the elements that the music of a guitar-based band should have. It's a little bit Who-ey,” noted DC in an interview done, fittingly enough, on Pete Townshend’s birthday.
“We told Freezer Pinch to keep it real tight,” recalled DC, “and then go full Keith Moon on the chorus. Also, on this song I used my favorite guitar, a 1964 Fender Jaguar.”
But the classic-ness of the song, and the album, didn’t stop with influences and gear.
“This album was made in the Gizzard Analogue Studio in London,” said DC. “The whole studio is vintage recording material. It's all direct to tape, no digital gear at all. A lot of the studio stuff came from the BBC, who threw out all the analog equipment when they went digital. It connects us back to that classic time.”
Still a fairly new band, Thee Moot is still staking out their musical territory, which at this point is mostly clubs and small venues around London. The band has also garnered some airplay, most noticeably on Glory Boy Mod Radio Show as well as being featured on podcasts like Ice Cream Man Power Pop
“We do need to be a bit more ardent with promotion,” admitted DC. “We're not the greatest self-promoters. Our attitude is let's play as much as we can and pick up as many people as we can.”
Though Peel It to Reveal It has only been out a couple of weeks, DC says the band already has enough songs for their next album. He hinted that a slight course change may be apparent.
“The new songs might be a little more garage-y, a little more trashy,” revealed DC. “But we don't think so much about style when we play our songs. We just do it.”
We have some other features already in the works here at Garagerocktopia. Artists have been sending us some very cool stuff. As always, we don’t make any guarantees in stone but we’re happy to say we’ve gotten a lot of very promising music sent to us, and we’re always happy to spread the word about about bands that are playing the way-out kinds of music we profile here. Send us a line and we’ll talk.
Also, we do have a Facebook page for this blog. We don’t put personal stuff on it – no pictures of grandkids or our dinners or politics or anything like that. What we do post are announcements about upcoming features, maybe extra stuff about the bands, and any cool music, movies or TV Shows we stumble across that might have even the most tangential connection with the music featured here. While we don't spend all day thinking about it, we do like "likes" if you're so inclined ...
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