Welcome back everybody. It's episode 2 of the Rock and Roll Chicago podcast. I'm Paul Martin.

I'm Ray the Roadie. Thanks to everybody for all your great comments and your emails from our episode 1 with the Dancing Noodles. We really appreciate it.

Let's give a listen now to episode 2 with Five Guys Named Moe. Hey, this is Paul Martin. And it's Ray the Roadie.

We're here in beautiful Crete, Illinois. Meeting up with some of our friends, the Five Guys Named Moe. We've got Jose Rivera.

And we've got Bob Morada. How are you guys doing tonight? Good, good, good. Good to see you.

Good to be seen. Tell us first about how the band got started. When, where, who? Well, it's a little bit of a story.

I always lived in Oak Forest at the time. I was married to my second wife. Our neighbors are producers for a Catholic cabaret benefit fundraiser for their parish.

They had a cabaret night. Every classroom had a theme. In the gymnasium, the big auditorium, they had a big cabaret show where people could volunteer to do a floor show.

What happened was that they were all directors of this cabaret. So, to volunteer, I don't want to be a director. How about if I just took friends together, we'll jam some tunes and just hold a room over.

So, it's a holding room so they could rotate people through that cabaret show. So, I said, okay, we'll do that. So, we learned 12 songs.

I called him, Bob, right away. Got a couple guys, and we ended up having six guys. Still call ourselves Five Guys Named Moe.

It drove people nuts, you know. And the thing was that we learned 12 songs. The thing was, they do 12 songs like it's a little speakeasy type layout.

We even called it the Gaslight Club. Now, I'm a room director. I have to direct the room.

Now, what year was it? It was 87, something like that. 88, okay, 88. And we did the 12 songs, and he said, well, good night.

We'll be on Birthday's Back. But people wouldn't leave, and there were people waiting outside to get in. And the guy says, well, dude, he only knows the 12 songs.

We don't care. Play them again. And so we did, you know, and people wouldn't leave.

We did it for two nights, you know. And at that point, I turned to the guys. I said, boys, I think we got something here, you know.

So, that said, well, here's the deal, you know. We're going to do this, this, this, and this. But either tell me now you can do it, or you don't want to do it.

Because don't tell me your wife don't want you to do it. Don't tell me I have a job. I got a job.

Don't tell me any of this. We all got to have jobs. But don't waste my time, because I'm going to go out there and promote the band.

And I want to book the dates. And so everybody came on board, and one guy backed out, which was Audible. I gave him credit for it.

And we just started playing. And we started playing at, we did St. Christopher's Fiesta. That was a launching pad for us.

The Edge, or Corsi's was a launching pad for us. Corsi's, sure, yeah, yeah. So there were several of those.

You know, Conley's, we were there. You know, Marco's, whatever that was. Corsi's was The Edge, wasn't it? Corsi's, then it was The Edge.

Yeah, yeah. So you're still doing those same 12 songs? We're doing one of the songs out of that group. Yeah, we are, as a matter of fact.

Robert Cray's Nothing But A Woman, because it has the horns in it. And I love Robert Cray, too. So it just kind of works out.

We also recorded it. We have three CDs we recorded over time. So we're in our 32nd year of Unattended Crime.

So it's been great. It's still fun. A little sidebar to this Catholic church gig that we did.

We got taped to it. We saw that it was horrible. We were terrible.

But we had fun. The funny part about it was is that somehow... Somehow, you know, over the course of time, memories have a funny way of bubbling up and changing around. But the way I remember it, again, we played the same 12 songs.

Well, we only had room for maybe 30 people in the room. People started lining up outside our room in order to get in. We served beer.

That was the other thing. We had beer. So it got to the point where three people would leave.

You'd let three people in. People got so hammered up listening to these same 12 songs. In St. Damien's School, in the classrooms, the beams were open.

You know, open beams. People were grabbing on, standing up on the kids' desks and grabbing onto the fans and stuff. That's when I turned around and said, boys, I think we have something.

I thought, wow, that's pretty weird. So we just kept going, and I aggressively pursued booking a band. And it just worked out.

I treated it as a business. It's not that, hey, dude, I got a band. It's not that.

This is what we do. This is what we can offer. This is the songs kind of stuff we do.

And at the time, as you know, we interact with the crowd. We're very animated on stage. We entertain as much as we play the music.

In fact, we all were having so much fun on stage, too. Everybody could see that. So it was a nice gel of all those three elements that really put it together.

I know you guys are one of the hardest working bands around. How often are you playing a month? Well, it depends. We were doing over 110 shows a year at one time.

I backed it down to 100. Now the last two years, it came down to 70, 75, maybe 80 touch. But very selective where we're going now.

It's just because we do this because we have to. It's because we like to. And that's the difference.

I think that makes our longevity. And our fans, the Moheads, continue to come out to see us. I call it Moology.

It's part of Moology. Everything Mo, like we all have our Mo names on stage. So it's just all part of that genre.

When a new guy comes in the band, it's like giving birth. They don't get to pick their own name. We picked their name.

Oh, really? I didn't know that. We had a guy, we called him Lawnmower one time, and he didn't like that. And he actually called the hotline.

We used to have a hotline, and he left a message. Hey, I like you guys. You guys are really good.

Love the band. Band's just smoking hot. But you got to change that guy's name.

Lawnmower, that doesn't work. And I knew who it was. Okay, Charlie, I know that's you.

That kind of thing. So it was all good fun. All part of the fun.

That's funny. I like the name Pokey Mo myself. We've had a lot of guys.

We've had Thermo, Eskimo, Just Plain Mo, Jimmy Mo, Itty Bitty Mo, Little Mo, Wham Mo. You know John Devlin? Yeah. We called him C-No Mo.

And he was cool with it. It was part of all the fun. People went, oh.

After that, it was all cool. That brings me to what the band is now. And who's in the band.

And how you brought it to be. Where it's at right now. With the guys? Yeah, with the guys.

We've had a lot of guys come through the band over the 32 years. But the nucleus has been the same. It's been Bob, myself, and Jerry for the time Jerry Burns when he was Geronimo.

That's been the nucleus of it. Jerry left and did his thing. And we brought a couple other guys in.

Alan was one of them. And as he is now, he's filling in again. Oddly enough for Jerry again.

Jerry's left the band a second time. Alan's come in a second time. So it's deja vu.

And how appropriate it's groundhog day. It is kind of a groundhog day thing. The thing about it is the guys we've had in the band over the years have all worked out.

For one time or another. The problem is that we had turnover because we work so much. And they just can't do all those gigs that we do all the time.

We've been very blessed to be able to do the gigs that I book just because we're able to do it. Because of work schedules and that kind of thing. It makes it tough.

That also shows the love for it. The current lineup you've had for a little while now besides Jerry leaving. You've had Frank, you've had Paul with you for a number of years.

We've had Paul Townsend and Frank Capek Just saying the name Frank Capek alone everybody knows what that means. And what credentials he brings to the band. Both guitar wise and vocally for that matter.

Paul, his credentials a Berklee School of Music guy. I noticed that on your website that he went to Berklee. Played with the Pumpkins for a little bit.

That's awesome. You know who was in his graduating class when he went to Berklee? McCartney's drummer. That big dude from McCartney he went to Berklee.

Very cool. And Frank, we know he came from the Kine. The Kine and Lovecraft.

Lovecraft, right. Who else did he play with? Backstreet? Backstreet, sure. Everybody knows he loves Jerry Dato.

Oh yeah. Moulton City Kings he played with. Great band.

And I see Paul played with J.P. and the Cats. He played with J.P. and the Cats. That was a wacky band.

I know J.P. a long time. As a matter of fact I got an opportunity to play a couple of gigs with him. Oh my god.

He plays a pocket trumpet too. Yes he does. I found his horn one time.

We were at the Key Western and he left his trumpet there. How he did that I don't know. So I knew it was.

So I called him and said, hey you missing something? He goes, what? I got your horn. He goes, oh my god I know I was going nuts. I said it's going to cost you.

Just kidding of course. I got his horn back to him and all was good. But still that's got to be terrifying.

You said he had some CDs. Is it cover material? Is it original material? His first CD was all cover material. With Jerry and before Frank.

It was about 15 tunes or so. Then the second CD was all original. All originals that we wrote and called it Mount Rushmore.

I've got that one. It's all originals. We have our faces on the album cover.

Mount Rushmore. It kind of worked out. Then the last one was with Jerry and the planet that you guys know of.

With everybody. To just promote the band and show the cover tunes we do. Do a little copulation of all those tunes on there.

Just to get a perspective. A couple of people want to hire us. An opportunity to hear what we do.

A little bit. I haven't listened to the whole song. If you want to hear the whole song.

The song is played in the actual copulation. That's worked out really well for us. Didn't you guys just do a song for the Illinois Rock and Roll Museum? We did.

We did with Rob and Ramiro. It was really nice of them to offer us to do that. The thing was.

He put this CD together. I don't know how many bands are on it. Through the Illinois Rock and Roll Museum.

I guess in Joliet. He put a song on there. But it had to have a Chicago tie to it.

With the song that you played on there. Ours was LA Woman. Off our very first album.

That has the Doors connection to it. Ray Manzarek. Did you use that recording to make a new recording? No we actually used that recording.

Because we haven't done this song in a long time. With that said. Now that it's on the CD.

We're going to relearn that tune. And we're going to start putting it back in the repertoire. Let's give that a listen.

It's right for your summers In your blue In your blue I say your land is burning Filled with fire I say I'd never love to Freeway Cops in cars Topless bars Now I saw a woman So alone So alone So alone So alone Mojo money Recommended And decided It's the Mojo I say It's the Mojo I say It's the Mojo I say It's the Mojo I say I say I say I say It's the Mojo I say City of lights City of lights That's not really good. I mean, was that you singing? Yeah. Was that Steve? Yeah, yeah.

Much younger voice. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it is. It is.

But you know, with this band we had, everybody was elite vocalists in their own right, you know. And Bob's got tremendous vocals as well. You know, and people compliment him all the time as much.

And the harmonies, as you guys know, is really big for us. You know, three and four part harmonies is kind of our staple. So how many shows do you see yourselves doing this year? Well, yeah.

Well, I'll tell you what was planned and what we're actually looking at right now. Okay, I was hoping to do like about 65, 70, but it's looking more like 80 is going to happen. Good.

I'm not careful, so. What do you mean you're not careful? No, because we also want to have some time with the families and stuff like that. You know, you need some time with some kind of a group too.

Thank you, thank you, thank you. Five guys and more coming on stage. No pictures, please, no pictures.

No, but I think if I can keep it to that 70, I'll be happy, you know. I'm not sure if I can get there or not. I'm trying to just keep it down and being a little more selective as to where we go.

You know, we're very blessed in that respect that we can pick and choose where we want to play them. And a lot of guys don't have that luxury. We consider ourselves blessed to be able to do that.

We don't take it for granted, trust me. Do you have some favorite places you like? Well, of course, C.D. and me. I love playing there.

You know, that's our favorite. But there's all kinds of great clubs. We play Leroy's in Indiana, which is a lot of good time.

The only problem is there's smoke there, so that's kind of a problem, but still a lot of fun. Chris Pat, just all over the place. Parsons and Tinley Park.

Parsons and Tinley is always a good. I just like to play there because I think we small and we sound really good. It's small, intimate, and you're real close to the people.

Magic happens. The Moheads come out and force. I saw you were just at a Tinley Park magazine.

Yeah, we're in Tinley Live. It's a website that's dedicated to live music within the Tinley Park area. And we're the featured artists this month of February.

Thanks to Mr. Music, who runs that website. And it's tinleylive.org is the actual thing. We've got it listed on our websites and our Facebook sites as well.

That's a very good honor. We're very happy they did that. It's very nice.

Go back to the club scene. What do you see the differences between then and now? That's a loaded question. The club scene now sucks.

It's because Paul's loaned it. It is, but it's not like it was. The bands don't get paid the kind of money they do.

The venues aren't that good. Backing tracks are everywhere on bands. I hate that.

Right. And the venues themselves aren't music-friendly venues or band-friendly venues for lack of a better term. And again, I might get in trouble for this, but the problem is that some of these venues rely solely on the band for a draw.

And that's not how it works. It's a team sport. It's 50-50.

When we go in the club, and I book the club, and we go in and help start talking, oh, you guys would love to have you here. Good to hear from you. I hope you've got a lot of people coming.

I hear that. I know we're in trouble. Right, right.

And my response is, well, my people are coming. They're yours. Yeah.

Okay? Because I promoted the crap out of this gig. Did you? And it's not even on the marquee. I put posters up.

They get torn down. They don't put them back up. They don't tell me they need more.

Promotion doesn't rest. You have to promote. Promotion, promotion, promotion.

I'm with you 100%. Why does Budweiser advertise? Why does Coke advertise? Because they have to. And why don't your band or the venue have to do that? They'll build it, and they will come.

It does not exist. Right. And that's the biggest mistake that these venues make.

We were looking in some of the websites. There was bands at Harlow's and Haywire's. Yeah.

We're talking Thirsty Will. Ginnings. Four, five, seven nights a week.

Yeah. I mean, it's a Monday you see off-Broadway at a club. And you go, whoa.

I blame cell phones. I blame the internet. I blame all that stuff that you can download, Google Tunes, iTunes, all that stuff.

Spotify. And again, it's another generation, guys. The millennials and even the ones before them, Generation X. Right.

I mean, they're in there. Boom-chicka-boom-chicka-boom-chicka-boom-chicka-boom-chicka-boom. They've got club music and stuff.

And I get it. I get that whole thing. But with that said, Chicago being a hub for music, so much of a hub for music and live music, whether it be blues or rock, I think we've lost some of that.

And I think it's only because the people who build these venues put their heart and soul and all their money into it just to get it built but have no way of sustaining a cash flow to sustain it or be able to produce the kind of cash flow to keep it flowing, to keep it going. And again, it comes down to promotion, clientele, and, of course, location, location, location. Exactly.

Exactly. That is the big deal. Guys, this is a business.

I wish it wasn't, but it is. It's like sports or anything else. It's a business.

Absolutely. And that's the sad part. Forget it.

You don't get a dressing room. You don't get a deli tray. Get over yourself.

Get over yourself. Count your blessings. You've got a gig tonight.

You're playing with your friends. To be able to do this continually, especially for as long as we've done it, like the Noodles and Eminem Rush guys, we're very blessed to be able to do it this long. Guys get the right on to do what we're doing on a weekly basis, even the fact that as often as we play.

We don't take that for granted, man. Not one bit. You can't.

Once you take it for granted, you're done. Right. But the dough has gone down, and again, it's just nature of the beast, you know? Right.

But I guess you've got to have your blood in order to keep playing. Oh, for sure. You're doing it right.

Oh, for sure. Which I know both of you do. Absolutely, just like you guys do.

It's not putting food on the table. It's something you enjoy to do when you're willing to do it. For some of us it is.

No, you're right. No, I agree. But that's also part of the deal, you know? It's your job.

You're a professional musician. Right. Okay? That's what goes with that territory, you know? And like you said before, like Carlos with Cheap Trick played.

Those guys did their due. That's what they did, too. Everybody did.

You know? So they did that tour thing, you know, that everybody in the van, and let's go with the trailer, pull it behind you, and, you know. Everybody started pacing in the garage. Pacing in the garage, whatever.

Yeah, you know. So it's all part of that. But I think, again, you've got to come back to culture.

Blessings, man. It's you. Thank God that we can still do this after all these years, and again, to know the rider we have.

And like I said, we could hate. We could recognize. Oh, my God, look at Smoe.

You know, that kind of thing, you know? Yeah. That's pretty funny at some point. It is.

There was a time when it got kind of old, and the family got a little upset about that, you know? Yeah, yeah. I remember a few days. Let's take a picture.

Let's sign this, you know, that kind of thing. Although you appreciate it, but to the family, you know, to your children and your wives and your spouse and relatives, it can get kind of old sometimes, you know? That's true. And that's the other side, too, with family and cutting down the shows.

Now you can do the family functions on weekends, you know, weddings, birthdays, that kind of thing that you missed earlier years. You weren't able to be a part of. So that's also part of why we want to cut it down and make ourselves available and be selective what we pick and who and when we play, right? Now you're doing it with the grandkids.

Now we're doing it with the grandkids, yeah. And that's cool, too, because we go to grandparents' day, I walk in the room, and their teachers are Mohacks. They go, Oh, my God, that's your grandfather? And they go, Yes.

So my grandpa value just skyrocketed then, okay? And then I stand with, like, Superman in the Superman pose, and it's all good, you know? So it makes me feel good, too. So where can people find you on Facebook? We're on Facebook. We've got two sites on Facebook.

You can also catch us at www.5guysnamo.com. And you always got to spell the word 5 out, F-I-V-E. And all Mo is spelled with an E, not just M-O, with an E. So that's the big deal. You'll be amazed how many times we get so many variations on a theme, it's not funny, you know? But, yeah, that's where you can find us.

And the Mohads are always there, and we update it on a regular basis. You know, Roman does our website for us, you know? So it's very nice of him. He does a hell of a job with that, and we're happy about that.

Romo. Romo. It's very nice.

But, you know, we wouldn't be where we are today if it wasn't for what Bob's done also in the band over the years. He's been a staple of calling PAs forever, and we had the big PAs. He did all that crap.

He did all the grunt work back then. You can do it with me, brother. That's what I did for many years.

I'm telling you, man. I hauled the gear. I drove the truck and hauled the gear.

I'm the PR guy, and he's the grunt guy. And that's what it was, you know? And it's good to split. I mean, everybody's still taking it.

You've got to have that. You've got to split up your duties. You've got to have that, you know? Absolutely.

You've got to split up the duties. I've got flyers in my pocket all the time to hand out to people. Hey, don't shoot the show.

All right. Well, thank you, guys. Appreciate it.

No, thank you, guys. Good to see you. And you're sticking around for some songs, right? Yeah, we will.

Yeah, we will. All right. Jose Rivera and Bob Moreta.

I can't do that again. This is right out of my ear. I've got to buy you a beer now.

I've got to change that. Paul Martin. See you next time.

Rock on, y'all. Thank you. Thanks for listening.

I hope you enjoyed our interview with five guys named Mo. Make sure you subscribe and visit us at www.rockandrollchicago.net. You never want to miss an episode. We'll see you next time.

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