JUNE 2008 - Sitting in for Dr. Raj this Month is Bill Tuli (Member in Good Standing of the P-Mooj)

Greetings, Mooj-Heads! As many of you know Dr. Raj has been absent from his duties as President of our Fan Club for a few months. We thought he got deported but it turns out he has taken a temporary assignment for the Department of Defense, working on a secret project at the Yucca Mountain Proving Grounds. He assures us that he will resume his duties as editor and chief of the Newsletter when his nuclear engineering duties are completed. 

To catch up I want to begin by thanking all those who regularly attend our shows. We have begun using an e-mail service to notify our fans about upcoming shows and that has proven to be very effective. If you would like to added to our mailing list, contact our Official Website. We assure you that you will never be spammed and will only receive band-related announcements. 

Before I proceed with this newsletter, the other members of the band and I would like to thank Kristine Hermansen. She took fantastic photos of us during our March 22nd Marquee Theater show. She is quite a legend in the Valley and if you would like to check out her work click here. We will use these photos on our next album cover. Many have already been used in promotional posters and on our various websites.

Since January The P-Mooj has been performing before bigger and bigger audiences. Richard has worked tirelessly managing the band and has landed some incredible shows, including a gig opening for Big Head Todd and the Monsters and sharing the bill with local heroes Steve Larson and Roger Clyne for a Sunday Night Healers show. In pervious years we were lucky to do a show once a month. Now it seems like we're averaging about a show a week. I'm sure the other band members will agree that this has been an exciting time for us.  

It has been truly amazing how our live show has evolved over these last few months. Something interesting happened once we began recording our shows for free downloads. For one thing I actually listen to how we play now. On stage I more or less just let my guitar take me where it wants to go and do my best to stay in the right key and phrase and texture everything as tastefully as I can. But to be honest most of the time I’m up there trying to remember lyrics. I have to think when I sing. I don’t have to think at all when I play guitar. Thus, I never know for sure if what we're doing sounds good. Now I can hear what worked and what didn't.

As of today we have done approximately 75 shows. These shows have been performed before audiences as vast as the sold out Marquee Theater or as vapid as the completely empty Gig bar in Scottsdale, where only the bartender heard us. The last dozen of these shows were recorded (six of which are now available for free download). I think I have finally figured out the P-Mooj sound. And it is evolving with every show we do. I thought, perhaps, for this newsletter I would share some idle thoughts about these (recorded) shows.   

As a young man I amassed a huge vinyl collection and the LPs that got the most play were live albums. I skipped over the short carbon copy versions of popular songs and instead immersed myself in the 15 to 30 minute jams that took me to different places within the familiar boundaries of the song. It was always my goal to get the P-Mooj “there.” 

I won’t lie to you. The P-Mooj was always meant to be a live band. We have two studio albums, which are good, some say. But to me they cannot compare to what we do in front of an audience. We interact and react to each other on stage and that just can't be copied in the studio when many of our parts are recorded separately. On stage we also seem to venture beyond the bounds of comfort and safety. When I listen to our live recordings I am amazed at some of the things that happened that I wasn't even aware of when they happened. Richard's rhythms are constantly changing and weaving into new songs and Dave and Chris are, simply stated, rock solid and totally driving the songs. I have it so easy. All I have to do is solo and sing across this magnificent landscape. Up close I don't see the big picture. Far away (when listened to with fresh ears) I can see it as it was meant to be.   

HOLLYWOOD ALLEY, NOV 7, 2007

The first show we recorded in its entirety was our Hollywood Alley gig. We did this primarily so we could get a good recording of our seasonal “Lead-Free Christmas.” We played it twice; hoping one would work. The second one, a shorter and more to the point version, worked. This is the one that appears on the download. This song is such a band favorite that we now play it as often as we can, even in summer.

The Hollywood Alley gig was an odd night. We were one of three bands scheduled to play that night. The opening band never arrived so we took the stage early. The third band arrived when we were on stage and refused to go on after us. True, there were only about ten people in the house so it wasn’t really worth the effort to break down and set up. But it was more than that. After hearing what we did that night I know they didn’t have the guts to follow us. In their defense the small crowd was also pretty vocal about keeping us on stage for another set.  

My favorite cut from this show is Steal My Heart. This was a song that we played often in the old days. It was one of our favorite songs on the first album. The song was basically shelved as we began doing material for the second album. It was brought out of retirement because we needed a lot of material for the Hollywood Alley show.

While we were playing it I just did my thing. I recall focusing on problems I was having that night with equipment, [i.e., my wah wah wasn’t sounding right (later I found that it was set wrong and had a weak battery) and my choralflanger tone seemed different (later I found out later that the speed delay was set too fast)]. When I heard it played back I was floored by how good it sounded. Richard's guitar work was remarkable. He took control of the song and kept it moving along in overdrive. I also love how we slow and explode dynamically in the latter vocal interludes. In my opinion we never came close to doing this song this well ever again. I am often guilty of trying to 'do the same thing that I did at Hollywood Alley' and miss the mark by a considerable amount.  

CHASERS, JAN 4, 2008

Some nights we play to an almost empty bar and other times we play to huge crowds. It certainly affects how we play. As luck would have it we were sharing the bill with Fred Green, Fat Rhabit and Yesterday’s Fatigue. The place was packed! We were so excited to have a roomful of people that we went crazy. That's the best way to describe this show. This was the P-Mooj showing the crowd that we came to play. You can hear this show has much more energy than the Hollywood Alley show. We really stepped it up a notch. In some respects I don't like this show as much as Hollywood Alley because we sacrificed texture for intensity. Dave, Chris and Richard disagree and thought this show was better than Hollywood Alley.     

My favorite cut from this show was Mondo-Mooj.  We hadn't played that song live in almost a year and deviated from the set list to add it when we knew we were in the right frame of mind to play it the way it was intended to be played. This was also the first show where I used my Fulltone OCD instead of the Tone Bone Classic. (Compare my tone with Hollywood Alley). I was so happy with how the OCD sounded that I haven’t used the Tone Bone since. This was also the first show that Richard used his Fulltone Octa-Fuzz. As you can hear he wasn't really sure how to use it yet and it kind of comes across as Jefferson Airplane meets Big Brother and The Holding Company. It actually made Stearling Sea of Roses sound the way it was meant to sound. I could never listen to the studio version of that song again without thinking we should have done more with it.        

MARQUEE THEATRE, MARCH 22, 2008

We love the way we sound at the Marquee Theatre and so we couldn’t wait to get a good recording there. The engineer plugged my Microtrack II Recorder directly into the mixer and Richard later edited the output file. The Hollywood Alley and Chasers shows had been burned real time as WAV files by the soundman.  All shows from this point on would be recorded on the Microtrack II.  

This show was basically a faster tempo version of our standard 30-minute set. When we were on stage I didn’t realize that we were playing everything that fast. We were just hyped and having a blast. For this show I used my Fulltone Clyde Wah Wah, OCD and Choralflanger. I loved the tone I got and, thus, now use the Clyde all the time. Recording our shows helped me finally zero in on the tone I was looking for. In the old days I used different combinations depending on how much time I had to set up. The longer the set up time the more pedals I used. Now I only use the Clyde and OCD.    

Your ears are not deceiving you. Yes, we somehow forgot to play the last verse of Who’s Gonna Love Ya and inadvertently extended Nothing Can be Found because I skipped a vocal verse and Richard played extra verses unsure if I was going to try and stick it back in. The bridge was also moved to the rear of the song. My favorite cut from this show was Knocking on Your Door. This is our favorite song to play at the Marquee. It basically thunders across that big hall and we feel like latter-day Led Zeppelinites.  

FEEL MY BLUES FESTIVAL at CLUB RED, APRIL 12, 2008    

We love Club Red and jumped at the chance to appear there for their Feel My Blues festival. We were a last minute addition to the bill when another band pulled out. We “planned” to only play blues but, as you can hear, we went into Mooj land. It was totally unintentional. I simply forgot to print a set list so we had to wing it. We did, however, remember to play Rock the Rhythm Room, one of our more bluesy songs. Afterwards I asked Richard, “Hey, how come we never play that one live anymore?” This show, in my opinion, put us on the Club Red circuit because we basically tore the place up. I was so happy that we captured the show on my Microtrack II.  

The highlight of our set was our 10-minute version of Oh Yeah, where we transgressed into some totally off the wall ‘swamp’ thing. I made the lyrics up on the spot and when I heard the song on the recording I was stunned by how powerful it was. We have (and probably will for awhile) played this song in every show since.

Richard was totally on this night. Listen to his fills and solos at the end of I know and '74. I'm not sure how he had his octafuzz set but it sounds great. I also love how he kept the solos short and sweet and was very deliberate with his phrasing.  

LIVE AT JAMZONA, CLUB RED, MAY 16, 2008

Within a month we were asked back at Club Red for Jamzona 2008. The promoter heard us at Feel My Blues and thought we'd be perfect for Jamzona. We were put in a more desirable time slot so the joint was jumping by the time we took the stage. In my opinion this was our best show ever. We were absolutely and positively in the zone that night and knew then and there (while on stage) that no one was going to top us that night. We left the audience hurting for more. We also gave away almost a full box of T-Shirts. It was just one of those nights.

Our version of Spirit of 74 that night was probably the best one we ever played. I tried lots of new things and they seemed to fit perfectly. The highlight of this set in my opinion was I Know. This was my favorite version we’ve ever done. This is also the first free show download to feature Gainesville Bride. We’ve done this song many times in past shows but it finally had a name so it was included on a download. I was a tad sloppy on it but it still sounded good enough to put on the download. Can you hear I miss the first note I slid up to? 

LIVE AT MARQUEE THEATRE, MAY 28, 2008

As luck would have it Big Head Todd came to town and the Marquee Theatre needed a supporting act. You cannot imagine how honored we felt being the local band they considered most worthy to fill that slot. This was a fantastic night and you can hear how excited we are in this recording. I was a bit sloppy at times (I can count six mess ups) but overall we were on and the crowd loved us. There is no way to adequately describe what it is like to perform on a big stage in front of thousands of people and know that the crowd is enjoying what they hear. They don’t make drugs that make a person feel that good. When you listen to this show some of that 'joy' shows.

For the first time we decided to go outside the box for a Marquee Theater show. Normally we are very conservative and stay with safe material. When we saw that we were to be given 45 minutes instead of 30 minutes we decided to use the first half of our set to slam out three-minute rock songs and then use the last 20 minutes to deviate into P-Mooj phase space. The crowd didn’t seem to mind.

Home | Official P'Mooj Site | Official Mooj Site | Last Newsletter