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Ken Moore - Rock musician, avant-gardist, synthesist
Ken
Moore is something at an enigma for an American musician, not being bothered
with trends or fashion, he has forged his own musical channel over the past
15 years, with a collection of over 20 inventive and varied cassettes. Maybe
you haven’t heard of Ken before, it’s quite likely. Unless you were tempted
to investigate his music by the mentions given in Eurock a few years back,
the only other promotion he’s gained is via C.L.E.M., the cassette TO COME
INTO BEING that Chris Furse (of Face Out -Ed.) passed around to a few friends
circa 1981, or the track included on our own A CAGE WENT IN SEARCH OF A BIRD
compilation. Anyone that’s heard these two examples of his work may be
surprised by Ken’s other releases, as they are hardly typical of his music.
interview extract...
How did you and David Wayne Myers get together?
‘About three years ago, my long time friend Mark Chance
called me and said he was getting together with a drummer and guitarist and
they needed a keyboardist. Knowing how I felt about playing with guitarists,
they were surprised when I showed up that night with my mini-Moog. I sat on
the floor and we jammed on some originals that Mark Mulvey (drummer) and
Wayne Myers (guitar) had worked up. After that, I showed up with another
keyboard every week and the original Kameleon was formed with the four of us.
We stayed an instrumental band for a year and decided that in order to be the
main act, as opposed to opening up for other bands, we needed vocals to
appeal to the Baltimore audiences. That’s when we added Jimmy Lehman to the
group. (We also changed the name of the band to Runner because of the
Chameleons in England, there was a local band here called Chameleons too). In
addition to a P.A. system, he had a small Casio keyboard and played some
harmonica. (Jimmy sang on my CHESS KINGDOM song My Unanswered Prayer). After
about another year of compromising with a vocalist who didn’t like
instrumentals (we played half and half by then), Wayne and I got frustrated
with the band not learning enough music fast enough for us. Also, I convinced
Wayne that I could get just as good a recording at my place as we were
getting from local studios with sound men who just didn’t know how to record
us (keyboards being more dominant than guitar at some times). So he came over
and we recorded a song of Wayne’s called What Next, where I played the organ
and Moog with the guitar, and then added drums later. He liked the result,
and soon afterwards quit the band and we began working on REACHING BEYOND THE
SPHERE.’
How do you work together? Who composes etc.?
‘Most of the music, I have to say, belongs to Wayne,
because he comes over to the studio with ideas or pieces of songs that he
plays on his guitar. I love his style and method of execution. There isn’t
anything he comes up with that I don’t like or can’t work with. Since the
song, Midnight, I always record the drums with guitar on the initial take.
That’s how we work the songs out: Wayne plays chords, melodies, leads, and I
contribute the rhythm and changes - together we arrange and complete the
music. Being a keyboardist, I can offer musical ideas for him to play or key
changes when we’re stuck on a progression. He likes what I do on the drums,
and always approves of all the keyboard tracks I add between practice
sessions. Until recently, I have had to learn how to play the synth like a
bass guitar. I got pretty good at it by Second Wind, Flames Within The
Morning and Undivided Attention. Now we are working with the bassist, John
Schneider, who helped us on Quarter Star and Midnight last year. We enjoy the
switch from synthesized bass to an electric string bass guitar. No matter how
I play the Moog, I’ll never get the twang and popping action from plucking
and thumbing real strings.’
REACHING BEYOND THE SPHERE is indeed a brilliant album,
scarcely have I heard rock powered with such emotion and energy without the
need for being avant-garde or weird. Myers is indeed an exceptionally
talented guitarist too, I thought such impeccable guitaring had been lost
back in the 70's, but not so. Totally instrumental, this is what bands like
Camel in their early days could only hint at, being tied down by record
contracts undoubtedly does restrict creativity. The closest comparisons that
come to mind here are Shylock’s LP GIALOGUES and occasionally Sensations
Fix’s PORTABLE MADNESS, full throttle with guitars and synths doing overtime,
Ken has certainly become an adept drummer too. In fact this music is so good,
that actual words to describe it fail me.
From Audion #5, page 8. Article by Alan Freeman.
Still
a classic, if you ask me, all these years on the cassette still sells at a slow
trickle, but as most people buy CDs these days a remastered version on CDR
was inevitable. But, what happened to Ken? Even David didn't know as they
long lost touch, and it was his suggestion that prompted me to do a reissue
so that it's not lost in obscurity. In fact, lots of other Ken Moore releases
should have been available. He was an innovator. He should be well-known, and
those few in the know relish his eclectic music. In answer to my question on
this web-site "Ken - where are you?" - several years on: October
2010 actually, I got an email from Ken, pleased that his music was still out
there preserved. And, to our surprise, he was still active in music and also
had a CD out of his experimental music: Convictions From My
Extraction. Since then Ken also established a Bandcamp page for
his music and has been busy, as well as having an archive LP box set issued
by Vinyl On Demand. Look on Discogs for more about his solo output.
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