The Brown Sound
My first Moog arrived at the Val Air Ballroom in central Iowa in 2005, as I had just been invited to become a part of the Moog family. I felt like running out onto the stage and doing my best Howard Dean “Hee-yeeeaaaaah!!!!!” impression. Having spent some time with Jake’s Moog Taurus II pedals I knew a bit about what a Moog keyboard could do for us, and once I dug into it, I understood perfectly why preserving and continuing Robert Moog’s vision is so crucial.
First things first, Bob Moog’s last name rhymes with rogue, not coug’. He was an engineer, a toolmaker for musicians but different from most engineers in that he had so much heart and spirit infused into his ideas. Moog started his company by producing the Theremin, which he did as early as 1949. The Theremin is known as the first real source of electronic music.
A classic theremin twist on a childhood staple:
While developing new technologies, and his patent list is impressive, his company produced the Minimoog D synthesizer, a monophonic instrument that delivered its tone via voltage. The tones are created in the same way today, voltage passing through a number of oscillators, filters and other optional onboard effects, with the voltage increasing a volt at a time for each octave. There have been many variations on the original since it was issued, and the Minimoog Voyager is currently the apex of the Moog synthesizer catalog: it is an amazing innovation of both analog and digital technology. The analog components preserve the richness of the tones while the digital interface allows for many advantages technology has to offer. The digital interface offers over 750 different sounds created by other notable Moog keyboardists. The musician can then manipulate sounds, or start from scratch with a non-preset sound. The Voyager also features an X/Y touch pad, where the user can assign parameters from a multitude of choices. The instrument provides for a truly wide array of sonic beds from which you can create and manipulate sounds both live and in the studio. I think it’s safe to say that the Minimoog Voyager and Jake’s (and now Ryan’s) Moog Taurus II pedals have found their home as part of the Umphrey’s McGee sound. For me, playing and experimenting with the instrument at every show is the best way I’ve found to honor the legacy of such a great man and inventor*.
The Taurus II:
Bach Rach:
Although Bob passed away in the summer of 2005, those at the helm of his company have remained stalwart advocates of his vision and spirit. It was in this spirit that they created the Bob Moog Foundation. The foundation’s goals are to encourage creative innovation, scholarship, the continued development of electronic music and finally, to build a Bob Moog Museum where people can connect with his life work.
Umphrey’s McGee has the honor of headlining this year’s MoogFest in New York City on Monday, October 13th, the proceeds of which will benefit the Bob Moog Foundation. We will be joined by the Eric McFadden Trio, Bernie Worrell (P-funk, Talking Heads), and Prison Shank, a band composed of Aron Magner (The Disco Biscuits), Jamie Shields (New Deal), Ryan Stasik (no vocals) and Sir Joe Russo. Join us for what will undoubtedly be a night of memorable music. You can contribute to Bob’s legacy by attending MoogFest, tickets available through
Ticketmaster.com. If you can’t attend the concert, you can also donate directly by visiting
www.moogfoundation.org.
Looking back to the beginning of our relationship with Moog, it all started when I saw a friend’s band in South Bend with these crazy sounding pedals. As it turns out, that friend is Jake, and he had worked out a trade of a DAT recorder for the Moog Taurus II pedals in the early days of Ali Baba’s Tahini. We’ve often laughed about how it must have been one of the ultimate analog-for-digital deals to ever go down. On many of the Umphrey’s McGee recordings from 2000 – 2003, you can hear Jake playing the Moog Taurus II pedals. Ryan also occasionally plays with them now, and has for a few years. Unfortunately Jake’s pedals have been beaten up by years on the road, and are no longer road worthy. Fortunately, we’ve found that they function better as a studio tool.
It was sometime in 2003 when we were first invited to come check out the Moog headquarters and factory outside of Asheville, North Carolilna.After walking through Bob Moog’s playground, I could see that everyone on the Moog team loved what they were creating. As we were touring the facility at an early hour, our friend Lee Gentry offered us coffee. I poured myself a cup into a coffee mug I grabbed from the cabinet, upon which Lee remarked, “Oh wow….you chose Bob’s mug. Please don’t break it. He’ll kill me.” While I never got to meet Bob, I can certainly say that it was a pretty special occasion to drink coffee out of his mug. Thanks for the tremendous sounds, ideas and the caffeine, Bob. You’re still the man.
*He also created the very first keytar. We’ve jokingly renamed it the git – board to freshen up its image. But when we pitch our idea for “Keytar Hero,” we’ve gotta go back to the original nomenclature AND make sure its fully stocked with the best Moog sounds.