Episodes

  • Portugal. The Man Interview at Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival - Classic Moe Train's Tracks

    Portugal. The Man Interview at Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival - Classic Moe Train's Tracks
    May 3 2020

    Classic interview with Portugal. The Man while backstage in the semi-luxurious confines at Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival.

    Portugal. The Man is an American rock band from Wasilla, Alaska, currently residing in Portland, Oregon. The group consists of lead singer John Baldwin Gourley, Zach Carothers, Kyle O'Quin, Jason Sechrist, Eric Howk and background singer Zoe Manville. Gourley and Carothers met and began playing music together in 2001 at Wasilla High School in Wasilla.
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    12 mins
  • The Knux Interview at Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival - Classic Moe Train's Tracks

    The Knux Interview at Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival - Classic Moe Train's Tracks
    May 3 2020
    Interview with The Knux on Moe Train’s Tracks Krispy Kream, Rah Al Millio, Brian Kracyla, Monty Wiradilaga Manchester, TN – Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival 2009 B: Standing back here with Krispy Kream and Rah Al Millio, the Knux, the duo out of New Orleans that is currently in L.A… No strangers to the festival scene… R: No strangers, love these festivals. B: But probably new to the Bonnaroonians.. R: Yeah, no doubt. K: I like that! Bonnaroonians, I like that. R: That’s dope.B: So what can they expect to see for your show today? R: The show today, man, all you can expect is some explosive, ego-flying action. Getting crazy. K: Releasing the eagle, like he says. R: Releasing the eagle tonight! B: Now I like that. K: Getting crazy. We’re flying like an eagle today. B: It’s cathartic for you guys to get out there and let it out? R: Yeah, just let it out. It’s a musical orgasm on stage. K: I explode. So don’t stand directly in front of me. B: The first album, Remind Me In 3 Days, was super-nova hot. R: Thanks man. B: What are you gonna do on this next album, you’ve got one coming out soon, right? R: We’re in the process of recording the next album. We got crazy songs done and right now we’re just kinda going through what we’re gonna use on the album. We got some features on there this time. I know everybody was like, “Yo, why the Knux don’t feature?!” We had to put ourselves out there first. K: We wanted everybody to get to know us. R: So we got some little features, some unexpected features. And, you know, can’t really say the names… Lupe is on the remix of Fire!, so look out for that. K: In about ten days it’ll be out. See, it had been delayed, man, had to be delayed. You know, some industry blah-blah-blah, but now we’re ready to release it. So the Fire! remix gonna be out this week for ya’ll, a summertime jam, so you got to have that. Lupe, the Knux, Currency, you know what I mean!? Bow! R: Getting crazy. On this record you can expect a lot more of the same thing; sex, drugs, and rock-and-roll. K: But way more sex. R: No, I think it was more drugs on this. K: Yo, this is about us destroying our lives. People will say, like if you didn’t know me and you looked at those Say No to Drugs commercials and all the safe-sex shit, I mean, honestly, we’re destroying our lives on this album! Destroying it! You guys are witnessing the destruction and reconstruction of The Knux. B: So, basically, the first album was that you had to dip your toe in the water and the second album is just a straight cannonball! R: Yeah, it’s just straight cannonball. It’s like if Iggy Pop rapped or something, you know what I mean, it’s just raw. K: I liken it to ZZ Top in that most sexual, late 70’s, coke rush. I liken it to that. B: Yeah, you guys need to start spinning the guitars. R: Yeah! But, it gets a little deeper as far as bending the genres, we didn’t fall off of that. We didn’t go backwards, it’s only forward. K: The hip-hop’s harder, the rock’s harder, the electronic is harder… R: It’s all harder. K: It’s like everything now but boosted up. We had our fans who were really into our rock stuff, and we kinda gave them something. And we had our fans who were really into our hip-hop stuff, we kinda gave them something. And our electronic fans who like up-tempo, they were like, “Yeah, The Knux do all these remixes, yeah…” And we gave them something too on the last album. But this album is like hard-ass rock, hard rock, like Stones in the 70’s. You got straight up just fuckin hard-ass boom-bap, this is like hard spitting. You gonna hear some blistering breaks, some treacherous… R: Rhymes! K: Your about to hear some Euro-techno-ridiculousness. R: Exactly. K: And we’re gonna rip your fuckin heads off. R: Exactly! B: So, I’m the oldest of five brothers and I don’t know how you guys can do it on a day-to-day basis. What’s the dynamic? Isn’t your youngest brother your tour manager as well? How do you guys do it without ripping each other’s heads off? K: I do rip heads off. R: Yeah, that’s what I was about to say. There’s a lot of fist fights, a lot of brother issues. Eventually, at the end of the day, we’re all trying to make money. So we’re like, “Whatever, I can stick it out with this asshole.” That’s how we see it. We’re kinda like the Bee-Gees, you know. K: Yo, my girl said the same thing! She just trying to make some money so she’s gonna stick it out with this asshole. Damn, that’s a universal thing with me! R: He sucks. Just talentless, terrible. But we get through it somehow. K: I’m just a leech. B: I read somewhere that Nas’ second album was one of the most influential albums for you guys… R: Yeah, It Was Written. B: That was one...
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    7 mins
  • Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad Interview at Rothbury Music Festival - Classic Moe Train's Tracks

    Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad Interview at Rothbury Music Festival - Classic Moe Train's Tracks
    May 3 2020
    A big welcome to all you rastas and reggae heads. We’re headed back to the vaults for an interview with Matthew O’Brian, the former lead vocals and guitars for the roots reggae and dub outfit called Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad. Although Matthew and the band have parted ways, this interview gives a great insight into the mind of one who has created a thriving and perpetually touring band. Have a listen as we discuss the vibe of their band, brushes with the great Toots of Toots and the Maytals, and their green stance. We wish both Matthew and Giant Panda the best in the future, so be sure to check them both out when they hit your area! So from the vaults, the Tracks bring to you… Matthew O’Brian, former vocals and guitars for Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad (giantpandadub.com). Interview with Matthew O’Brian (Formerly of Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad) Brian Kracyla and Monty Wiradilaga (Moe Train’s Tracks) Moe (MTT): We’re sitting back here with Matt from Giant Panda. What’s going on, man?! How are ya? Matt: Very well. Nice to see ya, Monty! MTT: Awesome, great set today. M: Thanks. MTT: How is the Rothbury experience compared to your other festival experiences? M: We’ve gotten to experience it since Thursday night, we had a whole day and a half of anticipation for our own set. Everything has been super-exceptional, super-clean, and the vibe is real strong. The experience with the set was great. We played first so we got an excellent soundcheck full. We were ready to go, all dialed in before we hit the stage. That’s better than most festivals where you’re rushed to get on. MTT: Your music draws from the roots, dub, but you guys also mix in improvisation. How important is it for the band to take the listeners on a musical journey? M: It fulfills our own musical desires and our own creative desires to be able to take those risks in the live setting and really feel like we are pushing our selves and challenging ourselves. For very many people, it’s apparently one of their favorite things they get to experience at the Giant Panda shows as well, the improvisation. It’s been openly confirmed recently that we really want to bring that to every show. We really want to have that experience of not knowing what’s going to happen next, no plan. MTT: So, you feel that your live show is really the bread and butter of your music? Or do you feel it’s your recordings? M: We tour and do 180 shows a year. Our live shows are our bread and butter. The history of reggae is a studio history. A lot of the sweet reggae we have heard over the years is all produced in the studio and rarer live. We’ve sought to bring true roots-sound and that real vibration to the live scene as much as we can, that’s our contribution. MTT: Speaking of which, you’ve shared the stage with some legends. How have they really influenced your sound? Do you have any stories with the classics? M: Their sound influenced us for our whole upbringing. Lee Scratch Perry was influencing our sound before we knew what recordings he had influenced so much. You listen to the old Bob Marley and that was all black art, that was the finest Lee Perry productions. Toots sets a wonderful example because Toots’ music is some of the most uplifting and positive of that roots era. His voice is so rich, but he also is so positive and so giving of his own energy to his audiences. He’s very, very musically disciplined and his band is one of the sharpest. He really lives up to his reputation. MTT: Do you have any stories with him? M: We lived down on State Street in Rochester, NY and he was staying at the Crowne Plaza, directly across the street from our apartment. We played with Toots at one of the biggest shows we’d ever done at the time, in Rochester, at a big outdoors jazz-fest thing. Toots headlined and at the end of the festival blew it out in the street, and we got to open for him and then we were heading to Bonnaroo that night, the minute we were done with the set. We were running late, running around, and we found ourselves back at our house getting our last things together as Toots was pulling into his hotel. Dylan, our guitar player who’s met Toots before, ran over and said “Hey man, nice to play with you. It was a great honor.” And he turned to us with both of his hands in the air and just like (pumping both hand in the air), all the way as we were driving away he was pounding two hands in the air! He gave us the best energy we could get to hit the road with. We were just proud to be there with him, let alone the fact that he acknowledged us like that. MTT: Speaking about legends, we’re doing a show on Michael Jackson. How has Michael Jackson influenced you personally or musically? M: Michael, to me, means quality, top quality from the time the public was aware of him. He was five years old and making ...
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    7 mins
  • O.A.R. Interview with Chris Culos at Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival - Classic Moe Train's Tracks

    O.A.R. Interview with Chris Culos at Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival - Classic Moe Train's Tracks
    May 3 2020
    Chris Culos (O.A.R.) Interview on Moe Train’s Tracks Chris Culos, Monty Wiradilaga and Brian Kracyla Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival – Manchester, TN June 15, 2008 Moe: We’re back stage here with Chris of O.A.R. How’s it going man? Chris: It’s going good man. We just got here, I’m really excited. We’ve got some gorgeous weather out here. Moe: Oh, it’s beautiful out. Chris: Yeah. Moe: It’s the first day of your new tour, is today the first day? Chris: We just started our new tour today. So excited about it… A big summer. M: Supporting the new album that comes out next month. C: It comes out July 15th, yes, and actually our single is called Shattered. And we’re actually getting some radio play already, which is exciting. It officially goes to radio tomorrow and fans can get it online. They can get it starting June 16th on iTunes and stuff like that, exciting. M: How’s this album compare to your others? C: It’s a little bit of everything. I think by calling it all-sides, it really is capturing the all encompassing thing of O.A.R. It’s got the rock, the lighter stuff, it’s got the reggae, it’s got a little bit of everything. I think the song writing is really strong. I’m really proud of all the guys in the band, our song writers… You can really see their growth. But also the musicianship side of stuff, we feel really comfortable in the studio. That was always the thing. I think our audience really gravitated to our live stuff, and they liked the studio stuff, but they didn’t think it compared to that energy. It’s was only natural. We’ve played a couple of hundred shows a year but only made a handful of CDs. It’s still a lot of time in the studio, but for us we’re still learning. M: Is that why you guys have encouraged the taping of your live shows? C: Absolutely. But not just that reason alone. We’re proud all our stuff that we do in studio but as far as our live shows, that’s our bread and butter. That really is what we do best, and where we feel the most comfortable. I think by encouraging taping of the shows it creates more of a community interaction, you know for people who wanna come out and see us multiple times. It keeps us on our toes to create new set lists, and change the arrangements, and jam-out, and have fun. It’s also fun for the audience because it gives them something to talk about. It’s not the same show every night, not the same version of the same song every night. It’s a lot of great things. M: Talking about live shows, how’d it feel standing on the stage at Madison Square Garden, at a sold-out arena, at one of the most important influential venues in the whole world? C: Yeah, it was pretty much the highlight of our career. I can’t lie. It’s just weird because when we started this band, god, we started it 12 years ago in my basement, you could never imagine, you could never think of playing Madison Square Garden. I mean, all the things you could dream about, that’s just ridiculous to think that. So, to be standing on stage, it was so surreal. To be honest, it’s the only time I’ve ever been nervous playing. M: Really? C: Yeah, we’re really comfortable with what we do. Every night we go on stage, we get really excited about before we go on, and walk on, and that’s just what we do best, we’re comfortable. Going on in Madison Square Garden man, it was a whole other thing. It was a whole other ballgame man, I can’t lie. M: I saw that. You could see the vibe in the place, it was just awesome. C: Yeah. But, as soon as we started, yeah, we felt comfortable again. But it was the only time I’ve been nervous. M: So what was the most memorable part of that performance? Anything stand out in your mind? C: You know… It flew by. Most of the shows, some nights take a little longer than others, but that night flew by. I remember it being a little more lit up inside, just because we were filming it for DVD. You could see people. We can always usually see the front row, a couple rows back, but now look at and actually get a gauge of just how many people were there, and it was freaky. No, it was cool, ‘cause you could look out, we had a lot of our family there. I could look out and see my parents, my grandparents, and aunts and uncles, and cousins, and friends, and all these people who traveled from all over the country to watch us in New York. That was the coolest part. M: Yeah, it had to be amazing for sure. So, with the new album, I know that you’re with a major label now; you were with an independent label before. Are we go to be seeing the independent O.A.R.? Or are we going to see a new incarnation? C: We’re always independent O.A.R., man! No, see, here’s our deal. We started as a basement band, you know, when we were in high school. We went to college to really try to make it. We went to the biggest school in the country at the time, Ohio State University, and we went for four years. Not everybody graduated, ...
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    12 mins
  • Rothbury Music Festival Ticket Contest - Classic Moe Train's Tracks

    Rothbury Music Festival Ticket Contest - Classic Moe Train's Tracks
    May 2 2020

    Before attending the Rothbury Music Festival, General Motors sent the Moe Train's Tracks crew a pair of complimentary tickets to give out on the show. We took the show out to the bar, and one of our lucky listeners (named Renee Legal) came away with the grand prize!

    Have a listen to the ridiculousness on this classic episode of Moe Train's Tracks!

    MoeTrainShow.com

    MoeTrainEats.com
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    7 mins
  • Tenacious D Interview (Kyle Gass) at Rothbury Music Festival on Moe Train's Tracks

    Tenacious D Interview (Kyle Gass) at Rothbury Music Festival on Moe Train's Tracks
    May 2 2020
    Kyle Gass Interview Kyle Gass (Tenacious D) Interview on Moe Train’s Tracks Kyle Gass, Monty Wiradilaga, Brian Kracyla Rothbury, MI – Rothbury Festival M: We’re here with Kyle from Tenacious D also working with General Motors. K: I am saving General Motors from their ultimate collapse. M: How close are they? K: Obviously, General Motors, they’ve had a bad couple of decades. Why? The cars haven’t been up to snuff. They’re ugly and they don’t get good gas mileage. So I called them and I said, ‘Dudes, what the hell are you guys up to? Has anyone been to Japan? Let’s see what they’re doing over there. They are making a superior product.’ They said, “What?! Tell us more!” So I said, ‘Alright, listen to me. If you send me around the world to various rock festivals and I interview bands, I’m pretty sure I can save the company.’ They said, “Whatever. Whatever you need, whatever you want.” I said, ‘I need an eight-ball and some Thai hookers.’ M: (laughs) How many eight-balls have you gone through today? K: Well, I usually only go through one per festival. I try to keep it real, because I’m working. M: Tough lifestyle, huh, living the festival life. K: It is. Working the festivals, saving a multi-national corporation, that’s how I be. That’s how I roll. M: Are they gonna make a car in your honor or what? K: They are. They’re coming out with the Cage Mobile. Interesting enough, it only has three wheels. It’s not safe. It’s just meant to drive around your neighborhood. It’s like a golf cart. But it’s pimped out, yo! It’s f’in pimped out. M: It’s got 22’s? K: Oh yeah, the rims, it’s all about the spinners. I gots to have Spreewells on all my golf carts. M: That’s right. Iced out. K: (laughs) Totally. M: So I guess you’re seeing a little different side of the music biz, doing the journalism thing. K: I have. I’ve always hated interviews. Not this one! You guys are cool. But being on the other end of it, I don’t really care about anyone else but you know when you do an interview you have to pretend. It’s like, ‘Uh, so, when’s your next album? What are you…” No, actually it’s been cool. Actually, I’ve been doing a lot of jamming with the bands. M: With who? K: Yesterday we did Perpetual Groove and the Disco Biscuits. M: How was that? K: Do you like the Biscuits? M: Oh yeah. Did you see their set? K: No I didn’t see it. M: I was solid. K: They actually invited me out. I should’ve gone. But they were going on at like 11:30. M: What, that’s past your bedtime now? K: Ha, yeah, it was past my bedtime. But that would have been fun. What was their set like, was it good? M: Aw yeah, it was great. The light show, the whole scene, was awesome. They were actually having a glow stick war. Everyone was throwing tons of glow sticks, hitting everybody in the head. It was raining down. K: Nice! M: It was definitely a very trippy experience, which was cool, half the people were tripping anyway. K: Yeah, it seems like that kind of festival. M: So you’re going around to the different festivals. You’re hitting Lollapalooza in a couple weeks? K: We’re doing Lollapalooza. We did Rock On The Range earlier. We did Pinkpop in the Netherlands and I just got back from Germany last week. M: And you’re opening for Metallica?! K: Yes. M; Who’s the better shredder, you or Hetfield? K: Oh, I’ll take Hetfield down any day. M: Oh yeah?! K: Oh yeah. M: We gonna see proof of this or what? K: I could burn up both my arms and be better than Hetfield. No, those guys are good. They’re gonna have a tough time following us. We’re gonna blaze up the stage. And it’s gonna be an inferno. B: If they come with the pyrotechnics, you’re gonna have to bust something out that’s… K: They’re gonna need ‘um. We might steal them. We’re actually planning on maybe doing their whole set before…(all laugh) We going to definitely do Sandman, just to steal their thunder. M: Ha, they’re going to walk on stage all pissed off.. K: (singing) Say your prayers, little one. Don’t forget, my son, to include everyone!! Brah Brah Bruh, Arruh! The all you gotta do to be Hetfield, just end everything in a Arruh! M: They just played Bonnaroo, we saw them there. K: Oh, did you see them there? M: It was great. They’re tight as ever. K: Well, Lars is dropping the beat sometimes. Let’s be honest. He’s not always on it, he’s dragging. Sometimes he speeds it up, it’s like, ‘Lars, come on. What, you got some triggers on there? What do ya got?’ M: You’ve got the Grohl hook-up. How’d that happen? K: Dave, we were playing the Viper room, a friend of his was working there and he kept saying, “you gotta check these guys out, you ...
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    8 mins