THE BROTHERS MOORE

Recently, our own photographer/writer Ania Hoefer, and lead writer Shaughnessy Hoefer had the opportunity to sit down with Oklahoma rock band, The Brothers Moore at The Vanguard in Tulsa. The country-tinted rock band creates a classic, almost nostalgic feel in their sound. Their music is so raw, even someone who has never listened to rock before would nod along. They have gained monumental popularity in the local Tulsa music scene, gaining a Thursday- night residency at The Vanguard. They have opened for Dolly Parton, and are expected to open for more iconic artists.

The Brothers Moore has undeniable talent, creativity, and passion that cannot be ignored. Their concerts are nothing if not electric as it fills your soul with energetic rock ‘n roll. This band of brothers are one to tune your eyes and ears onto as they find their way into the world of rock ‘n roll.

Shaughnessy: What are your names and what do you play?

Billy: I’m Billy Moore, I play guitar and sing.

Bobby: I’m Bobby Moore and I play bass and sing.

Shaughn: How did ‘The Brothers Moore’ come to be?

Billy: The short end of it is, I was playing in a band in 2010 while Bobby was still in college. We had seen several other bass players kind of come and go in that current band. And then I just asked him, I was like “Hey, do you wanna get a bass?”. And he actually had seen us perform this show at Big Splash opening for Big Time Rush… but that was enough to get him kind of inspired to go get a bass. And then we started doing Skype lessons, and then he just took it from there and ran with it.

And then he and I just said, if we’re going to be brothers and play music anyway, it should just be us. Do the things we want to do with it as opposed to too many cooks in the kitchen.

It’s really hard to get strong-willed creative people to share a vision on something. If you’re creative, you wear it on your sleeve and it’s really easy to get your feelings hurt. But thankfully being brothers, we’ve kind of gotten through all that, through growing up together. So that’s kind of how it started. But then we had our first release in 2017.

Shaughn: We totally get that. I mean, [me and Ania] we’re siblings too. Going along with that, what first got you into music?

Bobby: Well, my answer would probably be Billy. We grew up next door to the Hansen Brothers and were good family friends with them. And our parents would take us to their performances-

Billy: When they play at Mayfest.

Bobby: So we’d go watch them and get to go backstage and be on that side. They kind of encouraged Billy into liking music and then he started listening to more bands. I saw him playing a lot of music but I was more an athlete. But then I went to a Kings of Leon concert, because he was covering a bunch of their songs at the time. And I was like ‘Uh, what is this? This is crazy! This is some really cool stuff’. So then I was like man I think that A. My brother could really do this, and B. I kind of want to do it too.

Billy: For me, like what was said with the Hansen bit. There was this guy named Carl Hutto. He was a kid in my youth group and I just thought he was so cool. And he listened to bands like Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Rage Against the Machine. That was all in my wheelhouse as an 11 year old. My dad had me mow lawns for weeks and I bought a guitar from Carl. He taught me my first two songs which were ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ and ‘Come as You Are’. At 12 years old. And that’s when I was like, I’m either going to be a professional baseball player or a musician.

Shaughn: Okay, two very different things! I love that! Now a fun question, if you could describe your music in two words, what would it be?

Bobby: Motorcycle Rock.

Billy: That’s fair.

Shaughn: Yeah! That’s really good. I like that answer! From what I’ve listened to, I feel like that fits very well.

Ania: So you previously have opened for Dolly Parton yes? What was your experience with that?

Bobby: Everything was to the 10th degree of cool. Seeing all her rollers, the casters… The production side of it was almost like the Grammys were going on behind stage. We got to meet her and hang out and obviously the crowd and the venue was incredible. It was something we’ll never, ever forget. The way I look at the music thing is no matter what comes from this, we can tell our kids and our grandkids and their grandkids that we got to do that. And we got a picture to prove it. We’re very proud of it for sure.

Billy: It’s awesome. It was like a milestone thing for sure. It’s crazy because you work so hard to try to do stuff in this industry and you hit a lot of walls and hear a lot of ‘nos’. But getting her seal of approval was awesome. Getting to meet and visit with her and just being a part of her crew has been legendary.

Shaughn: Yeah, she’s an icon.

Bobby: Soundcheck to me was the most special part of it. Watching her soundcheck was one of the coolest experiences I’ve ever had in a band and doing music. She was just so cool and she would just improv so much. It was just adorable and so professional and just gangster watching her control all of it. She really commanded the whole room and we’re just out there like ‘I can’t believe we’re watching this’. Borderline in tears watching this master of her craft.We were huddled at the side stage when she walked off.

Our manager Danny is her manager. So he escorts her off and she’s just like a floating, glowing angel coming right past us.

Shaughn: That is such an out of body experience!

Billy: I felt like a floating body.

Bobby: The best way I can explain it, it was almost like a beautiful storm. Wherever Dolly goes, it’s going to rumble the place. When she is on her way you can feel the energy.

Billy: Got on stage, had a good cry, and then started drinking to enjoy the Dolly show. *laughter*

Ania: Going along with that, what is another big dream artist you would want to open for?

Bobby: I mean, mine’s gotta be Kings of Leon just because they’re kind of in our same wheelhouse as sound and vibe. They’re kind of Oklahoma. I feel like we would connect a lot on just conversation, let alone taste of music and their crowds are huge and they were one of the big catalysts to make me want to play music.

Billy: Yeah, they seem like really cool dudes. My top five of all time would have to be like Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Queens of the Stone Age, the Strokes, and Kings of Leon. They have just been huge in shaping me and us as artists. There’s not a lot of frill. It’s all in the music and their presence.

Shaughn: It’s very raw.

Billy: Yeah, it’s visceral. With those bands I have felt an immediate and long lasting draw. So I would love to open for any of those five. Although Nirvana is off the table.

Shaughn: Do you know when you will be releasing new music?

Billy: It’s hard to say. We’re in the process of shopping some songs and procure a distribution deal. We’re signed with Dolly’s management, and we’re trying to get a record label to handle the physical distribution and marketing and so on. It’s kind of up in the air.

Bobby: It’s undetermined, but it will happen. We’ve got a bunch of material. We have a ton of just raw demos. Those will start trickling out on TikTok and things like that. There should be new stuff dropping weekly on there. We’re always writing.

Shaughn: Speaking of that, do you have a specific creative process when you write your own music? Does it start with a riff or lyrics or both?

Billy: Interesting question. So we had the opportunity to work with Linda Perry. She was a singer for 4 Non Blondes, and she’s written songs for tons of pole. And typically I like to start with part writing and laying out a sketch. But, Linda Perry told me to go back to singer-songwriter. Which is interesting because that was the very first initial process which got us into a room with her. Having someone of her prowess just tell you to strip it down gave me a whole new presence of mind about songwriting.

Shaughn: Stripping it back to the basics just helps it clear the mind a bit.

Billy: There is just something so cool about the irrefutability of having an acoustic guitar and a piano and a vocal to take everything from start to finish. That’s a song. I’m not taking away from the production stuff, but I’ve had a lot of fun just sitting down with my brother with a cup of coffee and a joint and just being like ‘ooh this sounds cool’.

Bobby: I grew up more hip hop and loving to rap and free styling with my buddies. Honestly, that’s how I like to do something. Just picking up a guitar and almost free styling. But my Oklahoma roots kept coming back with country songs. And then Billy is a genius at creating melodies and so is my wife. And then I can turn that good melody into words.

Billy: It’s never really just one way. We have a lot of creative input between the band and our wives, everyone’s just on that wavelength.

Follow The Brothers Moore here! You can find them on Apple Music & Spotify.

THE FALLING SKY - GRETA VAN FLEET

UNKNOWN / NTH - HOZIER