Lets start with MoBoogie’s history. Can you tell us how this all got started and who is the founder?
I started the company over three years ago. I took some film classes and moved to LA to study screenwriting and instead of joining the Hollywood rat race, I decided to take my love of music and film to start a website that films bands and connects fans with bands to help discover new music.
MoBoogie is always promoting a lot of the bands that we at MusicBailout.net cover. There seems to be more videos (especially lately) with the bands of this scene. Is this a new direction?
We started out by doing all kinds of music from jam bands and funk to reggae. Now Reggae Rock is the most popular genre and is now around 70% of our over all traffic. The high school and college kids are great supporters of their bands and MoBoogie so we are trying to give them what they want.
Do bands schedule an extra day out there so that they can make time for their recording in the MoBoogie loft or how does it work?
We usually try to get the bands to come in before they hit the venue for sound check.
Can you explain a typical day at the loft when a band comes in to record?
Before the band show up, Justin, our audio/video guru comes in early to set up lights, cameras, mikes the piano, set’s the mike stands and tunes our house guitars. It’s a real simple process after that. The bands come in, do a quick set up and we do a little soundcheck and than they do anywhere from two to four tunes. Some like to do a few takes and some nail it on the first take. It’s pretty laid back at the MoBoogie Loft; the bands can make themselves at home. Some of the guys take showers, sleep on a bed of T-shirts, drink, eat, etc….. After they leave we break down, unless we have another band coming in.
What band in the Reggae Rock scene has been the most memorable in the loft and why?
Damn, there have been so many………..It’s really hard, but if I had to pin point one in the Reggae Rock scene, it would have to be Eric Rachmany and Jacob Hemphill. First Eric did something like three tunes solo and than Jake sat in and did a Rebelution tune(Suffering) and than they did a couple SOJA tunes that are unreleased(“Changes” and “Wait”). The reason why I loved that so much was that I am a big fan of collaborations. It’s something that you hear a lot on Reggae Rock albums with bands like Stoopid and The Expendables to name a few, but that is something that we have really lacked on the MoBoogie sessions and as a result, the first video we posted from that session was a big hit! It spread like a wild fire amongst the fans. The tunes were great and those two were born to play with each other. They both have tremendous respect for each other’s abilities and love to play. It was just one of those magical moments at the Loft that Justin LaMascus(Audio/Video Guru) and I will always remember.
If you could invite anyone (living or dead) into the MoBoogie studio, who would it be?
That’s another tough one. Dead, no pun intended, would be Jerry Garcia and Jim Morrison………Living would be Widespread Panic, Phish and Slightly Stoopid, who I have interviewed a few times and shot their live shows, but have yet to get into the loft.
Any upcoming surprises we can look forward to seeing soon on MoBoogie?
A new site design! Its’ so much better and a lot more user friendly than what we have now with some more bells and whistles. Expect that to be out in June.
Can you share any crazy stories that have happened in the MoBoogie studio with us?
No, what happens at the Loft, stays in the Loft unless we care to share it on film. Ha! Just kidding……..I’ve got tons of stories over the last three years. I lived in the Loft for about two years and the old MoBoogie Loft was in the heart of downtown Denver, so you can probably imagine what used go on up in there after hours. We had some fun-I’ll just leave it at that.