Moe-Z's road from rap to rock

By Lisa Sorg

His first records were Jackson 5 singles he cut from the back of Alpha-Bits cereal boxes. His first band had an 'X' and two 'Z's in its name.

Twenty years later, those cardboard 45s have disintegrated, but Moe-Z's moniker is credited on three major label CDs. Xzzotic Persuasion seems like a lifetime ago, while his latest band has two 'L's and two 'M's in its name. From Highway 61 to Long Beach to America's Heartland, Moe's musical travels have been as far-flung as his geography. As strange as it might seem, the keyboardist and programmer for John Mellencamp's band arrived at rock 'n' roll via West Coast rap.

Before Moe's loops and keyboard riffs infiltrated Mellencamp's 1996 full-length Mr. Happy Go-Lucky, his instinctive melodic and rhythmic prowess strutted on the Panther soundtrack alongside rappers Tupac Shakur and Yo-Yo; plus he earned a spot on Tales From the Hood album which featured Spice-One.

But Moe's next career move would catapult him from his Los Angeles 'hood and to Bloomington's east side.

"My publisher had an office across the hall from Mellencamp's manager," explains Moe, whose buoyant personality bounces through the phone line. "And he was looking for Dr. Dre's number to do some drum programming, but my publisher suggested me."

Shortly afterward, Moe flew to Indiana for the session at Belmont, an experience he remembers as being very low-key. "They put us up in a hotel and John's like 'Hey, nice to meet you. If this doesn't work out, no big deal.'"

Compared to hip-hop's heavy breakbeats, Mellencamp's material "was really, really folk-like," Moe says, adding he was initially thrown by the stylistic differences.

"I think, 'How am I supposed to loop this? I have to put stuff on the drummer can play along with.' And then it finally came along."

"It" evolved into the keyboard and background vocal arrangements on "This May Not Be the End of the World," a song whose infectious melody is very Mellencamp and whose rhythmic oddities are very Moe.

Born in the belly of the blues, Clarksdale, Miss., Moe began performing in talent shows - imitating Michael Jackson - at age four. "I had a little Afro and I sang and talked like Michael Jackson," he recalls. But Moe's fondness for his eccentric idol faded in the 1980s. "After the Thriller album, I thought 'This guy is weird.'"

At his father's urging and to 10-year-old Moe's initial chagrin, the family moved to California in 1977. "At the time I was singing and my father thought it would be a good idea to get me famous," he says. "We took everything and moved out there. I pitched a fit all the way."

But once Moe settled in to his new Long Beach environs, it became apparent his father's hunch was on the money. The family became involved in gospel music at a local Baptist church; meanwhile Moe's dad financed the budding musician's habit by buying him a guitar and drum set from the Sears catalog, plus a piano for Moe's sister. "She didn't care diddley squat about it," Moe says. "Then I started messing around with toy piano."

Soon Moe switched to bass, by taking two strings off his beige guitar. Later he began recording songs using a two tape decks - a cassette and an 8-track cartridge player. In effect, he was multi-tracking songs, layering instruments and building towers of sound.

"My father is like, 'Whoa! What did you do?' He bought me a little four-track after that."

At 17, Moe started his first group, a cover band called Xzzotic Persuasion that played "gospel-funk-rock inspired by Prince." When Moe decided to write originals, he pinched from the Prince, his new inspiration. "I would take scraps of Prince's songs and make my own. Of course they sounded like his," Moe laughs.

After Xzzotic Persuasion disbanded in 1987, Moe delved into hip-hop music - on a dare. "A guy I went to high school with played trombone in marching band. He was getting into rapping and I said I could do the music. He bet me I couldn't."

But Moe could - and did - becoming the "Mad Doctor - Moe-Z M.D." and joining a burgeoning rap scene that included Heavy-D, Cool Moe D, LL Cool J and Compton's N.W.A.

But Los Angeles started wearing on Moe and Mellencamp's invitation to join his band came none too soon. "I was considering giving up music," Moe says. "It was too sheisty and not fun for me. When I was a kid, music was fun. This was something new I needed."

And apparently, Moe was something new Mellencamp needed. "Last month we were recording the acoustic greatest hits record and John says, 'Man why don't you write a song for me?'"

Later that week, Moe dabbled with samples, drum sounds and "pieces of stuff," when, he says, "all of a sudden I made a little pattern. I started dancing around the room with a little tape recorder and I got the melody and the words to it."

The result of that 45-minute workout was "Break Me Off Some" a song to appear on Mellencamp's next album.

Moe moved to Bloomington after working on the Happy-Go-Lucky, a geographical and spiritual transition that was easier than his trip from Mississippi to California two decades ago. "When I saw how it was here I thought, 'Yeah, I want to live here,'" he says. "It's quiet and peaceful. And it's best if I'm somewhere I can focus on music."

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