moseskane

Thursday, March 13, 2008 Story last updated at 3/13/2008 - 12:00 am

Bob Cole hits the road with Moses Kane
By Teri Tibbett | FOR THE JUNEAU EMPIRE
Bob Cole started playing music when he was 15 and landed his first professional gig at the Biliken Bar in Douglas at 16. That was 30 years ago.

Next month, he's hitting the road on a U.S. tour to promote his new album and fulfill a lifelong dream.

"Bob's been working at this a long time," said Tag Eckles, a fellow band member and co-producer of Cole's recently released CD, "Moses Kane DLDS" (an acronym for "day late, dollar short).

"I'm not so sure he was ever appreciated here as he will be in the birthplace of southern rock. He's a great player, and he writes great songs. And I think there's a place for him," Eckles said.

Moses Kane, the band, has been around for about seven years. It features Cole on lead vocals and rhythm guitar, Dave Downey on lead guitar, Brad Imboden on bass and Todd C. Vierra on drums. The group has played every major club in Juneau, plus many more throughout southeast Alaska.

"What's going on now is, the rest of my band can't go on tour, so what I've done is put a road band together," Cole said. "We're getting ready to go on the road, and I'm leaving April 1."

The band will stay a month in Idaho before heading east, where the band plans to perform in clubs and at music festivals there.

Cole's road band includes Cole, Jeff Campbell on lead guitar, Luke Nuxoll on rhythm/lead guitar, Randy Helms on bass, Chris Mcquaid on drums and Sean Tracey on harmonica. Eckles will join the band in September.

After Cole's first gig with Rockin' Horse in the late 1970s, he later formed the Cole-Younger Band, playing mostly southern-rock songs.

Cole-Younger headlined in Juneau for several years, but when the lead guitar player, and Cole's best friend, died, the band effectively disbanded and Cole stopped playing music. He then turned his attention to doing lights and sound for rock bands across the United States. He stayed away for about 10 years.

"I bounced back and forth to different bands. I was just kind of a nomad," Cole said.

It was the urging of a friend back in Juneau that got Cole to pick up a guitar again. Eventually, he met up with other Juneau musicians and formed the band, Brotherhood Bridge.

"That was a pretty successful band for a little while," he said.

In another twist of fate, Cole learned he had two siblings he never knew about, one of whom was a rock 'n' roll drummer. The long story short is Cole's "new" brother moved to Juneau and the two formed Moses Kane.

Cole describes the music of Moses Kane as "southern blues, with a country-rock flare."

His favorite song is, "West Virginia Blues," which he wrote about his father's life. He wrote "Margo's Song" for his wife when he didn't have enough money to buy her a gift.

"I gave it to her for a Christmas present, and she loves it," he said.

Besides belonging to the music culture of Juneau, Cole is a motorcycle rider and belongs to the Southeast Alaska Panhandlers Motorcycle Club where he hangs out, rides and performs for many of its events.

"They're a big inspiration in my life towards my music," Cole said. "They've always been behind me 100 percent, as a family and as brothers," he said.

When Cole leaves on his tour next month, he'll be taking 30 years of performing experience with him. He may be leaving Juneau behind temporarily, but he'll be on the road knowing that he has the support of his friends and his music.

"I live both lifestyles to their fullest," he said. "I put them together, and it works out great."

• Teri Tibbett is a writer and musician living in Juneau. She can be reached at www.tibbett.com.

- JUNEAU EMPIRE

Web posted December 21, 2006

An album as old as Moses
Juneau band delivers on 15-year-old promise

By KORRY KEEKER
JUNEAU EMPIRE


Courtesy of Moses Kane
Ready to party: Moses Kane guitarists Bob Cole, left, and "Diamond" Dave Downey trade cues during a show at Louie's. The band will celebrate the release of its first CD on Dec. 23.

Juneau musician Bob Cole has been promising people for 15 years that he was going to make an album.


"And that's about all they got out of me, a promise," Cole said.

Finally, Moses Kane, his band of the last 10 years, is set to release its debut disc.

"Moses Kane, DLDS" will be introduced Saturday, Dec. 23, with a party from 5-8 p.m. at the Alaskan Hotel and Bar.

Cole wrote all 10 songs, a few of which are 20 years old or more. Cole, 45, has lived in Juneau since 1972 and previously played in Brotherhood Bridge, Fyne Lyne, 101 North, Rockin' Horse, Cole Younger Band and Trouble Maker.

"Now that it's done, it's a day (D) late (L) and I'm a dollar (D) short (S)," Cole said. "These songs have been in my mind for forever and a day. I just wanted to get them out."

Moses Kane formed in 1996, and the core of the band has been together for most of the past decade. The group takes its name from a chalk painting that one of Cole's friend owns.

Cole looked up at it one day and said, "That guy looks like Moses," to which McQuaid added, "Kane."

The band includes: Cole, rhythm and vocals; "Diamond" Dave Downey, guitars; Todd Vierra, drums; Brad Imboden, bass; and Tag Eckles, piano. Chris McQuaid, Cole's brother, plays drums and percussion and sings background vocals.

"They brought up the beat from where (these songs used to be)," Cole said. "They put their heart and soul into it, and did a hell of a fine job.

"My songs, I always felt like they were kind of timeless," he said. "They don't really grow old on you. If anything they're fine wine, they get better with age. And the stories are the same, just different faces."

Moses Kane started working on the album project almost seven years ago. They built two studios - one in the Marine View Apartments and another out by Willie's Marine on Industrial Boulevard - before scrapping both.

Vierra built up their latest headquarters, downtown's Gold Street Studio. It's completely digital and uses the recording program Sonar 5.

Cole did most of the engineering, with loads of help from Vierra and Mark Alton.

"It was one big hairy mess in the beginning, but it all seemed to work in the end," Cole said. "There were times when I almost threw my hands up and started pulling out my hair and screaming. Then I'd get a phone call from my brother. He pretty much booted me in the butt. Otherwise, I probably would have quit a long time ago."

Cole's influences include country-rock such as David Allan Coe, Charlie Daniels Band, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Merle Haggard.

"My father (Alex) was very into country music," Cole said. "He was the kind of the guy that if you put your Beatles record on top of his record, you wouldn't find it. It would be shattered in a million pieces over in the corner.

"I got into country rock, and he could tolerate it because it had fiddles and dobros and things like that," he said. "He let that stuff slide, but he was into Buck Owens, Charlie Pride, Porter Wagner, all that stuff."

Moses Kane has been getting airplay on KTOO, KSUP and TAKU 105. Saturday's CD release party is the only show Moses Kane has scheduled. Cole hopes to fly to Hawaii in spring 2007 and join piano player Eckles for a short promotional tour of the Aloha State. Eckles is in Hawaii, working on organizing the tour.

"That's the only offer I have so far," Cole said. "I think the album's got legs. Let's see if it can walk. Hopefully it will run, but it won't stumble too far."
- JUNEAU EMPIRE