5 Q&A With Andrew Moore and Hooch
What was the creative process like for this particular song?
The creative process was a transparent one. It was very hard for me to pull my heart out and turn it into words. I wrote this at a time of frustration and sadness. For me to be so open about it, knowing that people would hear my words, even people it might offend, was a tough and hard thing for me to do but I closed my eyes and did it anyway. The fun part of the creative process happened in the studio. The band and I had alot of fun recording this together in the studio live.
Were there any challenges or breakthrough moments during the songwriting process for "Another Ride With You?"
As I stated in my answer to your first question, the challenge was closing my eyes and speaking from my heart in a time of hurt and sadness. It can be very hard to be so open and it really makes you feel vulnerable.
Can you talk about any standout tracks on 'Artists of the Moon' and what makes them special to you?
Every song on our debut album ‘Artists of the Moon’ is so special. For instance "Spaceman" was written for my oldest son Stetson, who has always wanted to be an astronaut. "Hey Dad" was written when my 2nd son Hendrix, first heard his older brother’s song "Spaceman" when we were hanging out at my piano in my living room. He immediately was a little jealous and said, "Hey dad, write a song for me." Hence his sweet little voice opening up the song we wrote immediately when he said that in 15 minutes called "Hey Dad". "We've Got Love" is a song I wrote for my wife when we first got engaged and had our first argument. Every song in this album has a story and is special to me in some way.
Can you tell us more about you as a band?
I started performing on mic and piano around 2015. I was working at a family owned speakeasy in the Adirondack Mountains in upstate NY. There was a void in entertainment so I just sat down and started playing and singing and inviting fellow musicians up to join me and my father. We called the always personnel changing group "Hooch". When I moved back home to my roots in London Ky, I had lost what I had learned to love and be so comfortable with in performing live music. I started writing to fill the void. I started playing solo at some places around the region. Mainly at Jeff Ruby's Steakhouse in Lexington Ky and Cincinnati Oh. I would also make musician friends and go jam with them from time to time because jamming with your buddies is just more fun in my opinion. I jammed with Logan Turner our bassist and we started down a path called Andrew Moore and Hooch. He found a guitar player Gabe Crockett, jamming in a local music store and invited him to our next gig. Then I found Matthew Skaggs (drums) and Jordan Robson (sax) by word of mouth and using social media in the Lexington Ky area. It's insane to think of how lucky and blessed we are to have such a tight group of musicians and now what we consider brothers, who can create such cool music together.
Do you have any memorable on-stage moments or performances that stand out to you?
By far the most memorable on-stage moment performing for us would be in 2022. We were playing at Jeff Ruby's Steakhouse in Lexington Ky. After completing our first set, Jeff Ruby walked up to me and said Toby Keith is here, can we get him up here with you. Of course I was like, are you kidding me? So up walks the late great GOAT Toby and he sang with us backing him up for over an hour at an impromptu Toby Keith concert! It will live in our memories until the day we die, I am sure of it.
