A Popup Interview with Coyote Moon

A Popup Interview with Coyote Moon
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CK:
So, tell me..what exactly, motivates you, the artist to write songs?

Coyote Moon:
I started writing songs in the late sixties as an extension of my poetry. It was just about the only thing I could do that I didn't get criticized for.

CK:
What makes you and your band unique?

Coyote Moon:
Percussion. We started as a string band with drums...a lot of other string bands have gone that direction now, but we took the heat early on from venues.

CK:
Can you name a few of you favorite places on the web for band promotions?

Coyote Moon:
IUMA is where we've had our site for years. They've had a lot of problems lately, but we've stuck it our. We also us Da.ru, the Russian redirect service. If we have a problem with IUMA for any length of time, I just redirect to one of our other sites on Soundclick, StarPolish, GigAmerica, Musician's Registry, Rocky Mountain News...there's a lot of sites I maintain.

CK:
Let us say that you have been just signed by a major label and they say time to move 2500 miles. Now what, would you be able to move?

Coyote Moon:
That's a joke these days. I wall papered a room in my first home with rejection letters from all the majors in the seventies. The strength of the Internet is it breaks down these barriers. You can email a sound file to LA or Nashville. Why leave your fan base and have to fight to re-establish yourself in another market. This has been the last nail in the coffin of so many acts I know.

CK:
Has the internet really been helpful to your promotion?

Coyote Moon:
Internet promotion is a no brainer. You have to have a presence or you will die. Our marketing hasn't been the monster a lot of acts would like to have, but we are still getting a couple hundred hits a month on IUMA alone. Between all of our sites we're getting seen by ten thousand plus people per year. The major labels would have you believe that's nothing, but I don't have an overhead or payroll to maintain, so those are big numbers to me.

CK:
Most people will never know what it feels like to be on stage in front of a crowd, explain to them that feeling:

Coyote Moon:
I lucked out. I got to play with some well known musicians in the seventies and had one act the played to 50,000 people in one night. You play to every audience the same way...you want to touch all of them, but if you touch just one person, you've done something.

CK:
Tell us about your website:

Coyote Moon:
Coyote Moon has been around for a while so we've gone through a few folks. All of them get their due on the website. I've featured everyone of the artists who've worked with us, because I value their contribution. The same with our MP3s...we worked hard as an act to put together material, and I won't let an artist's departure stop him or her from getting their contributions recognized.

CK:
Do you do any recording on your own?

Coyote Moon:
Hell, yeah. I've been working in studios behind the board and as a producer since 1979. I can't imagine not doing the work...what else would I do?

CK:
If you could put on a show anywhere were would it be?

Coyote Moon:
Well, if I could do a time warp, I'd want to do a show at the Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco...in 1966.

CK:
Do you feel that "underground" is just a marketing term like anything else?

Coyote Moon:
Underground is mainstream to me. The major corporate labels are so far from the reality of what the music business is at this point...and its reflected in their declining profits.

CK:
How experienced are you or the band on the stage?

Coyote Moon:
Everyone in this act has worked with or toured with someone regionally or nationally...with the possible exception of Lindsay, our lead vocalist. But she is a world class talent, and still has irons in the fire with several BMI singer/songwriters.

CK:
When did you first start singing, what made you choose music?

Coyote Moon:
I started singing in junior high school...that's 1965. I stayed with music because it means something to me spiritually to connect with other people through music.

CK:
Name and describe your most memorable gig.

Coyote Moon:
Marriott's Great America Theme Park, Santa Clara, California, August 1979... 50,000 people...too much noise. I'm telling you playing a big venue is unnerving for the sheer spectacle.

CK:
If you could talk to anyone in the music business, who would it be?

Coyote Moon:
Music instructors. It's the people that do this work every day that can properly influence where young artists are going. Too many 'professionals' are willing to discount a young musician's enthusiasm and subdue it with their own pessimism. Give everyone the chance to have their day in the sun. Labels, A&R, Producers...their all caught up in the hype of the business. A musician has to feel good about what he or she does...that it makes a difference to the audience.

CK:
Introduce the members in the band:

Coyote Moon:
Doc Richards, that's me of course. I do vocals, rhythm guitar, banjo, a little bass, harmonica, mandolin, some keyboards, lap steel. I've been a GuitarWorld magazine endorsed instructor for guitar for about five years, and am a member of the AFM Local 20-623 and ASCAP. I worked as a sideman for Cliff Jones of Taj Mahal's 60's band, Troy Everett of David Frizzell and Shelly West's Band, and Chuck Quady, Bobby Bare Sr.'s touring lead guitar player. I studied guitar and piano at San Jose State University. I'm a former Folk and Country Music Editor for Briefme.com and a contributing columnist for Riff Magazine. I penned some tunes for Country Joe McDonald and Hoyt Axton. Pat Reynolds was the original drummer in the act, dropped out for a while, then came back as our bass player for a couple of years. Right now he's playing drums, percussion, a little guitar, and still fools around with the bass. Pat the real musician in the group. He received the Ruth Graves National Vocal Scholarship and majored in music at the University of Northern Colorado. Mark Lane is our gifted bass player. Bass Guitar. He's been playing the bass guitar for thirty years with Colorado bands. He's the featured bassist at the Mercury Cafe's Poetry Slam on Sundays in Denver. Mark also with Perfect Strangers, a trio that performs covers of classic and modern rock, blues, R & B, and original tunes. He has a lot of influences ranging from Flea to Ray Brown. Lindsay-Anne is the newest addition to the band. Her talent is lead vocals. Her brother had a band in Denver for a few years and she performed with them. When I found her, she'd been collaborating with songwriters from around the U.S..

CK:
What is your favorite local venue?

Coyote Moon:
Used to be Nedmex in Nederland. We had a special relationship with all the folks up there...We miss you guys. They went out of business last year.

CK:
What made you want to pursue songwriting?

Coyote Moon:
Like I said...it was just another way to support my poetry habit.

CK:
Are there any established artists with whom you would like to collaborate?

Coyote Moon:
As I've gotten older...I'd really like to work with Country Joe McDonald. We been in touch a couple of times over the years...we come from similar backgrounds and philosophies.

CK:
If your band could open for a headlining act, who would it be and why?

Coyote Moon:
Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young...or Niel Young. I just think the contrast would be cool.

CK:
What would you like to change about your city's local music scene?

Coyote Moon:
The brains. Venue owners seem to think that pay to play is a good way to do business. Hey...guys...come on, you don't get your beer for free...my instruments weren't free either!!!

CK:
Have you ever paid for advertising for the band?

Coyote Moon:
Actually part of our performance contract states that if the venue doesn't pay for the advertising, they have the cost of print ads in the local media added to our fee.

CK:
What do you like most about being an INDE artist?

Coyote Moon:
FREEDOM. Nobody is telling me where we can go or what we can play. I record when I want, what I want and support it as I see fit and can afford to do.

CK:
How do you transport your equipment to the gig?

Coyote Moon:
That's a trade secret.

CK:
How big of an impact do you think the underground, indie scene has on the current pop culture?

Coyote Moon:
The impact is too big to measure. The erosion of the major labels influence is incredible. I have independent labels coming after me now...the field is wide open.

CK:
Describe your typical stage show performance. Give us a hint into what we might expect to see are your show.

Coyote Moon:
Man, it could be anything from straight classic country to jazz standards played on anything from a guitar to a banjo to a bazouki.

CK:
Do you have a street or e-team system in place? Want one for your website?

Coyote Moon:
Have one on most of our major websites.

CK:
What you feel is the most important thing about your music?

Coyote Moon:
The energy of performance. You don't know how much energy is involved till you get to the end of the show and you feel like you're going to pass out.

CK:
What are your plans for the future with your band?

Coyote Moon:
That's an open area right now...I've got other people I must consult on that topic.

CK:
What is your favorite song on your current album?

Coyote Moon:
Tijuana...it's a JJ Cale tune we purchased the license to. It's a good tune for introspection on your good American life.

CK:
What genre(s) would you say your music is under?

Coyote Moon:
Mostly folk...folk rock...folk country...folk jazz...folk world...you know, folk.

CK:
Tell us about your worst gig and why it was so bad.

Coyote Moon:
I haven't seen a bad gig with this act. I do remember working with a previous act in 1988. Everyone on stage had been drinking and we had hired someone to come in and record it. I listened to it the next day. I quit the band and burned the tapes...and never drank on stage ever again.

CK:
Give us a run down of your audio equipment:

Coyote Moon:
In the studio, I've got a 32 channel Protracks interfaced through a Lexicon Omega. I'm running through a 24 channel Behringer 2442A board and the effects are coming off my Behringer 9024 Ultra Dyne Pro unit. On the road, we're using a 12 channel Bi-Amp powered board, Yamaha Mains and Peavey Kick Monitors. For big venues, we use a pair of EV 15s with horns, and drive the monitors with an old Sun 6 Channel head.

CK:
Are you looking to get a record deal? Why?

Coyote Moon:
Why? Hey, a 'record deal' would cost me money. Advances are just that...advances. It's like credit card debt, you never get out of it and you alway end up paying more than you get...at some outrageous interest rates. No thanks...I'll pay my own bills up front...no lawyers...no ugly scenes at the end.

CK:
How did you/all learn to play, self or school?

Coyote Moon:
Both. I took guitar and piano in college, but I fiddled around with it for a while before...and after. Pat's done basically the same. Mark, too. Lindsay says she started with the piano.

CK:
Where do you practice as a band and how often?

Coyote Moon:
We have two studios we use, one in Boulder and one in Denver. We trade off locations.

CK:
What is important to you about the music?

Coyote Moon:
That we play it and it gets heard.

CK:
Who is your favorite unsigned Band?

Coyote Moon:
Rapture...a celtic band from Boulder. Next would probably be the Indulgers...but, they've been spending so much time in Vegas lately, their almost big time now.

CK:
How long does it take for an average song to go from a musical idea to a recordable song?

Coyote Moon:
It depends. I had songs come together in nearly complete form in ten minutes. Then others have taken years because I didn't like the melody or the lyrics.

CK:
How many members in the band write music?

Coyote Moon:
Three.

CK:
Who are your biggest influences?

Coyote Moon:
The Beatles...as far as orchestration...the Band as far as practicality.

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