Thehomeoffice's Blog

Born in St. Louis to an overworked research biologist and a part-time bounty hunter, Moe Raw’s first love was machines –he worked in a corkboard basement workshop building BMX bikes, skateboards, electric trains, radio controlled airplanes, and go-karts.  As his skills developed , he repaired appliances around the house and for the neighbor with a Sears soldering kit. He read Tom Swift novels and began work on a robot to help his mother with her two full-time jobs…There, under a yellow tungsten-bulb, he transformed his imagination, neighborhood, city, universe into a vast mechanical empire, moving in intervals, sweeping and ticking in steps toward precision, outcome, and mechanization.

A year later he lost all interest in machines…

Then music arrived.  On a Woolworth’ s denim-colored -suitcase phonograph, he heard Kiss on LP, Kansas, and the twangy Hawaiian luau album his grandmother gave him for Christmas.  The conclusions he would draw from music reached beyond his mechanical experiments.

He now worked to create music—fashioning a guitar out of cardboard, broken toys, and fishing line. Banished from practicing in his home, Moe Raw learned to play music on a rooftop, imitating passing traffic.  A fascination with organic melody, found sounds, and with language drove him into exploration, deep into the city, and deeper into understanding and expression.

A high school science wiz and athlete in Olympics of the Mind, he left college at 19.  He lived in a 1972 Cutlass and survived playing music and sharing his unique vision with audiences.  Moe Raw connects asynchronous values into rolling, hypnotic, and digable tracks that flow from the speakers with a special brew of angular lyricism.  Interwoven with insight and street smarts, these tunes are shellacked by toughness and command attention.

I recently put 5 questions to Moe Raw:

1. Why do you create music?
I don’t really have a choice. If I don’t, I’m no fun to be around. I also have a lot of stuff laying around that would go to waste if I didn’t make music.

2. Do you have a guiding creative philosophy or ethic?
Make what I want to hear that nobody is making/challenge myself to push the boundries. General lawlessness. Use equipment incorrectly, play instruments upside down, all that.

3. What film did you watch last?
I saw ‘Black Dynamite’ last night. Beautiful. I love Dolemite and the pioneering Black Cinema era. Great parody without being too modern/campy/over the top. Perfect execution of tone.

4. Who is the most interesting person you’ve ever met?
George Clinton. I’ve had the opportunity to hang with him in a casual, candid way, on a few occasions. He is funky to the core. He chews his food funky. Brilliant mind, immense talent.

5. If you weren’t a musician, what would you be?
I would build custom cars. I have a car fetish that threatens to derail every thought that goes through my mind. I saw a Tesla roadster the other day and almost spilled my milk. I’d much rather wash an old car than go to a strip club. I’m restoring my 1967 Cadillac (slowly). Drool.

For more information about Moe Raw
www.moeraw.com

‘Bubbles’ by The Free Design (1970). *Best with bass turned up to 11.