Moore

A musical democracy that wants more – Welcome to the world of moore – by Mel in Toronto

There is a certain contentment which emanates from people who know what they want in life. In always aiming high to succeed, moore exemplifies this notion. This five-piece band is known for their fun and engaging live performances and their accessibility to fans. Their alternative rock music is intoxicating, melodic, and catchy, accompanied by lyrics that are equally moving!

Based in Toronto, moore is comprised of Jason Giblen (lead vocals), Sean Morgan (lead guitar, vocals), Igor Boros (lead guitar, vocals), Andrew Bugeja (bass), and Marco Mazzaferro (drums). The band has been together in this formation for two and a half years. Jason, with a big smile on his face, says: "Marco has been in my life for about five years, would not leave me alone in Montreal, insisted on playing in my band, in fact broke up my last band, he was so insistent on playing with us. Then I moved to Toronto, and Marco followed me back here. And said: ‘you know, we have to put together a band because we are destined to rock-stardom' and that's kind of our goal."

And there are good reasons for moore to thrive for this goal. With each band member having between fifteen and twenty years experience in playing music and singing respectively, while having fun doing it, their strong will to reach their goal is manifested in the professionalism and precision each member brings to the band.

Not only extremely catchy alternative rock music, but also significant lyrics define moore's music. While Jason often takes the lead in writing the lyrics and Sean in writing the music, Jason says "we decided earlier on in this band's existence that this was going to be a musical democracy where the majority rules. So everyone gets a say, everyone has an opportunity to add their parts to the songs." The strength in the band's songwriting process is, as Sean puts it, "we listen to each other." Igor adds that "being able to have a different perspective on other people's parts is great, because I, as guitar player, may be stuck in my own little guitar player world, while Marco, as a drummer, has a completely different outside view on that and he is able to take me out of my own little world and maybe shows me something else that really really fits the song."

In one of moore's songs, the band takes us to BANGKOK, which was "a situation where I actually traveled to Bangkok," Jason says. The song is basically about "losing a girl" he continues, "it had been so romantic as to travel half across the world, almost die [in a bus accident] and then still, it wasn't enough." The song NOT FADE was written by Jason "at a time I was living in Amsterdam," he says, a "politically based song and I almost want to grab people by their shoulders and shake them and say to them: you have a voice and use your voice!" Igor, who is originally from Serbia, adds "Don't allow yourself to fade away, you can't be complacent, you have to stand up, you have to wave the fist in the air." Jason wrote PUDDLES for his mother. "It's a song about the strength that my mom portrayed, because, unfortunately, I lost my father to cancer." Marco adds "it's for the forgotten ones, remembering the forgotten ones; everybody mourns for the ones who die, how about mourning for the ones who had to live through that?"

Taking moore up on their offer to interview them in their rehearsal space, was a great opportunity to see how the band works together. Even though their self-titled debut album including nine outstanding songs was just released in July 2007, the sneak peek of their new material was enough to already look forward to their new album.

Taking their music from the studio to the stage is great to watch. "To play live is a stage of euphoria, it's what I believe that I am put on this earth to do," Jason says, "just a feeling of immense peace and clarity." The band happily engages the audience and as Igor puts it "when I am on stage with these guys, everybody has a big grin on their face and that's absolutely amazing." Andrew adds "The best part, I really appreciate the fans and friends that come out to see us, to see them there having a good time is awesome, it just rocks." For Marco it's plain and simple like this "when we walk up on stage, all headaches go away."

The future looks bright for moore. The band just has been nominated for the Toronto Independent Music Award as Best Alternative Rock Group, and next year the band might play at the Exit festival in Petrovaradin fortress of Novi Sad, Serbia.

For a guaranteed good time, for those of you, who live in Toronto, moore will be playing and having their video release party at the Legendary Horseshoe Tavern this Friday, September 07, 2007. If you'd like a sneak peek of what to expect, make sure to check out moore's video. It is a great introduction to the band and also to find out what they are all about. Enjoy!

"In your own words" – ONE on ONE with Mel and moore

Mel: How did you come up with your band name and what is the meaning of it?

Jason: Moore is actually my mother's maiden name, that's how we thought of it and that's why we are moore.

Igor: We tried to change the band's name for about a year and a half, but we are not allowed to, so we are kind of stuck with it (laughs).

Mel: What would you like to achieve with your music?

moore: World domination! (laugh)

Jason: Essentially, what we want to accomplish through our music is reaching out to as many people as possible with music as our vehicle. I think that in this band there are a lot of different personalities, and as you can see in our video on indieSolo, we are just normal guys having a great time, really loving what it is that we do.

Marco: I want to be on Extra!, that's where I would like to see this going. I like the whole paparazzi following me.

Igor: (laughs) Exactly what Jay said. That's probably the goal, it's to be able to dedicate your whole life to what you love to do, which is music for all of us and there is utterly nothing we would love to do more other than create music, play music, and share it with as many people as we possibly can.

Mel: Which opportunities do you see with indieSolo?

Jason: Hopefully with the exposure, I think, it will make our music available to a lot of people that we would not have reached without using your service. I just hope that a lot of people get to hear it and dig what we are doing.

Mel: Where do you get your inspiration from?

Jason: For me personally, I get my inspiration from the things that my eyes have seen. … Aside for the 40 hours a week that we are working, music is our life.

Marco: My inspiration? I love performing live, I love making people happy, I love being on stage. I love being out and hearing people say ‘I love the CD'. I like to be out there, playing live.

Igor: I just would like to echo Marco. For me it's two fold, one side of things is exactly what Marco said, once you are on stage, all of a sudden you are in a different world and the amount of adrenaline that rushes through your body, I don't think there is anything else that can really match it. And as far as writing songs and inspiration for writing songs, music wise I don't know, I think I just play guitar and all of a sudden something comes up. But lyric wise, just as Jay says, I think it is important to write music that matters, it's important to write music that is an observation on the world and life around you. Those who write music that matters, that's the music that stays.

Sean: Inspiration would probably be Nickelback (laughs), I am joking. It's exactly what Igor and Marco said and for the most part just the love for writing and playing music is my inspiration. - Melanie Schade