Moco

If Moco were from Brooklyn or London they'd already be famous.

"Yeah, but," interjects laconic bassist Nick Highan, "that'd be shit. 'Fuckin' great! Another New York band who're cool 'cos they're from New York.' We're cooler 'cos we're from Wigan."
Debatable, but Moco are certainly the real deal. Debut single 'Where She Goes' (idiot-savant lyrics, casually-great new wave pop) is perfectly executed, and Moco are the most entertaining live band i Britain. Iggy-fearin' young men Nick, Anthony Rigby (guitars) and Simon Misra (drums) have been creating great noise since meeting at college four years ago. The fairy dust arrived soon afterwards in the mutton-chopped shape of frontman Steven 'mobile' Jones. One part Bowie (odd, enigmatic), one part Cocker (crooning, slightly camp) and one part Reeves and Mortimer, Jones has spent every gig since singing atop every available surface except the stage. Dressed in a purple wig or goggles, as he squirts toothpaste from a Plasticine penis or parts the crowd to breakdance, it's brilliant and chaotic and questions the very fundamentals of rock n' roll.

"We wanted a compromise - stupid cool," explains Jones, "and I think we're just about there." Rigby: "Saying that, stupid is cool now."Except that, if Jones was some nu-metal chump, it would be agressive and crap. This is classic outsider catharsis. "I thought I was quite butch," protests Jones. But Nick is clear: "Thats the Englishness of it, it's not American cool." Are you sending up 'cool'? or just yourselves? "It's a backlash," Jones nod, "but we don't take ourselves 100 per cent seriously."

Elbow and The Charlatans are already won over. Faced with such invigorating cleansing energy, the rest of Britain must surely follow. "It's about people going home, pissed, having had a good night out," Nick states, simply.

MOCO: impeccable logic, precious entertainment. - NME

"Wigan is the home of JJB Sports and I single handedly blame them for tracksuiting the entire North-West," spits Moco singer Steve Jones. "Ban all tracksuits. It's like being surrounded by rednecks up here,"

Like all good rock stars before him, Steve Jones' reaction against the "scum-hole" that is his hometown was to form a shit-kicking rock band. Coming together three years ago and hooking up with guitarist Anthony Rigby, bassist Nick Higham and drummer Simon Misra, Moco are intent on interjecting some punk pizzazz into a town most famous for producing over-rated anorak boys The Verve.

"When we first started, the music scene was very different, and lots of my friends were encouraging me to let go of guitar music and move into dance," chuckles a vindicated Jones. "Fortunately, I ignored them, cos all I listened to was garage-punk. So who's laughing now?"

The Moco plan was a simple one: to f**k shit up in style. They've released a couple of low-key singles - the latest of which, 'Where She Goes', transplants '70s NY punk swagger to a townie theme pub - the real buzz on moco is their anything goes live shows, with the vaguely camp and defiantly uninhibited Jones prompting comparisons with everyone from Iggy Pop to '80s comic Kenny Everett.

"People need comparisons and being compared to, say, Iggy is great, but really the idea is that it's me that others will be compared to. I mean. I'm 22 years old, I'm looking great and feeling fine."

And the name? "Moco? It means 'snot' in Spanish. But the actual dictionary definition is 'rodents often found within a ravine', which if you think of Wigan as a ravine, and us as rodents and then consider how we look..." couldn't be further from scallies and tracksuits, then. - Kerrang!

Last month, at a crammed and heated showcase at the dingy Retro Bar venue, in the shadow of UMIST, moco played what was their shortest gig ever - clocking in at less than half a minute. "I think the venue became increasingly aware of our .... erm, violent live reputation," says frontman Steve Jones, picking up the anecdote. "They pulled the plug on us after 25 seconds. But by that point we had already wrecked loads of furniture and equipment anyway. I had to be held back by security in the end!" And the moral of the story? moco might very well be the best live band in the country at the moment, but it could take some while before the rest of the world catches up on their path of wanton rock 'n' roll destruction.

Steve Jones, you see, is something of an annointed figure amongst the manc music fraternity. Less a frontman than a psyched retro loon on smart drugs, picture the missing link between Iggy Pop and Jarvis Cocker who's just as likely to perform a show from the toilets as he is on the stage. And it's fair to say, in no uncertain terms, he is very much the crucial ingredient in making Wigans moco the most invigorating and downright dirty rock 'n' roll prospect to emerge from the North West for a very long while.

But Steve, what does go through your head when you're up on stage? "Just destruction... and a fear for mankind!," he deadpans with an amiable politeness betraying his onstage demeanour. "You can get a lot off your chest when you're up on stage... release all those small town frustrations. You can't afford to think too much about it... the music just takes hold of you. I'd like to think we put on the most spontaneous live show around."

The full moco troupe is made up of Steve Jones (vocals/destruction), Anthony Rigby (guitar/the 'engine'), Nick Higham (bass/virtuous facial hair) and Simon Misra (drums/boyish charm). But as much as moco will forever divide their audiences between drooling praise and cries of 'all bluster, no substance', self-handled debut EP 'Another Day, No Dollars' should go some considerable length to proving their creative mettle. The perfect amalgam of their wired on-stage persona and their crafted retro stylings, from bouncy riffathons like 'Flooky Wonderland' to standout track 'Loaded' it's the perfect introduction to moco's blazed Detroit-style garage punk. And not at all sounding like 'The Strokes' then?

Simon sighs:"It's nothing intentional, The Strokes similarities. We're just coming from the same influences they are."

Steve: "What's worse is that people have already tagged us as the first British post Strokes band. But moco offer something completely different live. We take it as a compliment anyway. The Strokes are a great band."

Nevertheless, it's a cocktail thats worked its charms. Most tellingly you won't find Elbow's Guy Garvey going a whole interview these days without gushing forth on how moco are the greatest saviours of rock 'n' roll since, erm Elbow probably. And he sincerely means it.

Simon beams: "We went to see Elbow's homecoming gig at the University and when Guy mentioned us onstage, we all just creamed our pants. He's been a real help to us from day one, giving us contact numbers and advice on dealing with the music industry. It's a mutual lova affair."

Nick sums it up perfectly: "I think the most satisfying thing is that we've worked hard for all this ourselves. The promotion, the record label, there's been no nepotism involved. It's all pretty exciting at the moment. - City Life

Everyone who has ever seen moco has seen them more than once, and everyone who has ever seen moco has their own favourite moco moment. Bring It On won't forget elasticated frontman Steve Jones performing a track while riding around the venue in a trolley, but such is life with the most animated band on the planet. Imagine a Polar bear with tourette's syndrome fronting the Ramones with half of Slade on guitar. In, like, a modern way. Of course there'll always be miseries and the moco backlash already bemoans a slight anaemia of tunes. Still, that never did the Hives any harm. Watch them wreck the mic. Then watch them wreck the stage. Then join in. moco play the Arts in the Park Festival at Haigh Hall, Wigan on June 19th. - NME : Bring It On!

Moco, It's almost become a cliché amongst Manc muso circles, but the firm alacrity in which Moco have accrued the mantle 'best live band in the country' speaks tenfold. With a retro thrust taken where Detroit punk meets NYC cool via Wigan Town centre, the past year has been one of many a trashed venue, jaw-dropped audience and the most crazed on-stage activity since At the Drive-In packed it in at the first sniff of fame. Their secret weapon? Undoubtedly frontman and cartoon popstar in-the-making Steve Jones, a wired, kinetic Jarvis Cocker-alike with a demonstrative stage manner to give even Iggy Pop the jitters. Best live band in the country? For once, believe the whispers. - Flux