Moorea Dickason (Vocals) and Tarik Ragab (Bassist) for Progressive Rock group MoeTar from Oakland, California. MoeTar Interview March 9, 2012.
MoeTar Interview
1. Could you tell me about the recording details of the MoeTar album From These Small Seeds?
Moorea Dickason: The album was recorded over almost a year, at 3 different professional studios plus 2 of the band members home studios. We paid for the whole thing ourselves so it took time. We are really happy with how it turned out, had a great time making it and having complete creative control was a big part of that.
Tarik Ragab: Wow where to begin! From start to finish it was unlike any record I have ever done. For starts, on all the tunes I wrote I made charts for the individual instruments in order to facilitate quicker learning and intricacies. In past groups I just showed the parts to everyone on their respective instruments. Writing out the parts first, I was really able to flesh out the arrangements and orchestration ahead of time. I also did home demos with Moorea for a lot of them to give the rest of the band an idea of the over all feel of the tunes. Some time had lapsed from the inception of the band and our earliest tunes and some of the newer songs we sort of learned in the studio. We did drum tracks with just a guide vocal and scratch bass, which I thought at first was not going to work and might not sound like a band. As the process moved along with over dubs I was quickly proven wrong and the end result was even better then I had imagined.
2. Where did most of the writing for the MoeTar album From These Small Seeds happen on the road or at home?
Moorea Dickason: All of the writing happened on the home front. MoeTar hasn’t toured yet other then a couple of dates here and there in Southern and Northern California.
Tarik Ragab: I write at home but often on hikes in nature. The endorphin’s mixed with natural beauty usually get my creative juices following. Most of the song ideas start in my head and then on piano as simple songs.
3. What are your current endorsements?
Moorea Dickason: Endorsements would be cool but no endorsements yet. Bring them on.
4. What’s your vision on Social Media as a tool to promote and get your music out?
Moorea Dickason: It’s great in that we can communicate with our fans easily and daily. We’re able to talk with anyone at anytime who wants to contact us or who we want to reach out to.
Tarik Ragab: I think it’s a mixed bag. I think it has been a real boon in some ways and in other ways it has facilitated access to free music which doesn’t always translate into big bucks for someone starting out. Its great to get heard but musicians as a whole do not make very much money and end up having to spend tons to create a product that then goes out to the world virtually for free. I still think that people will always enjoy a physical object like a CD and artwork etc., and to that end I think we just need to be a little more creative in how we package our product – make it more special in the physical world somehow. Popup art maybe? Diorama’s?
5. Do you keep up to date on the internet?
Moorea Dickason: We try. Not as much as we could or maybe should but we do try. For me (both of us, really) it’s more satisfying, fun and we’re often more productive when away from the computer so we struggle a bit to be on top of our digital existence. However, since we were signed to Magna Carta Records, they have an amazing publicist who has been doing a lot for us with our online presence so THANK YOU Magna Carta and Barbara Lysiak.
6. How is the current Music Scene in your area?
Moorea Dickason: Good question. You could ask 100 musicians here and get 100 different answers. I feel like there is a lot going, you can definitely find tons of live music on any given night, on but it’s pretty fragmented with many different of niche scenes. I feel a real binding together of the creative and progressive music scene right now. It has strong roots in the EastBay and San Francisco and right now it’s building and strengthening and it’s exciting a part of that!
Tarik Ragab: Again the music scene in the Bay Area is a mixed bag. If you play in a cover band or dance band you might say its great. The recession has had a pretty negative impact though and a lot of musicians are not working as much as they used to. In a way though, that has led to what I am seeing as a lot of interesting “side projects” coming to fruition. Maybe it’s a case of more time on their hands but a lot of the people I know who are in the trenches have been doing a lot more of original stuff lately. I see that as a trend and maybe a good unintended consequence of a bad economy.
7. Could you tell us about your main influences?
Tarik Ragab: That’s easy: the Beatles, Weather Report, Jaco, Sly and Family Stone, XTC, James Brown, Queen, Hermeto Pascoal, Frank Zappa, Duke Ellington, Strawinski, Genesis, Yes… just to name a few of the main ones. I remember my kindergarten teacher played piano and sang and every morning she would play Rogers and Hammerstein’s “Oh What a Beautiful Morning” and that chord that was played on “I’ve got a beautiful FEE-LING” Would always make my heart melt. Ever since I’ve been a sucker for tri-tones and dominant chords.
Moorea Dickason: In my impressionable youth I was really inspired by Ella Fitzgerald for her agility and playfulness, Janis Joplin for her biting, gritty, bad ass rockin style, Aretha Franklin for her strength and ability to sound at ease singing the S*#@ out of something, Mariah Carey for her crazy range and melismas for days, Stevie Wonder for more then I have time to write about, Bobby McFerrin and Nina Simone for doing something completely different with the voice then just singing. I’m sure there’s plenty more but these were some of the big ones for me.
8. What could we find interesting in your Music collection?
Moorea Dickason: Interesting? I supposed that Otis Redding, Eliot Smith, Peru Negro, Black Sabbath, Billie Holiday, and Beethoven are all on the same shelf.
Tarik Ragab: Lately I have really been digging this early Brazilian composer Pinche Gina (sp?) This stuff was recorded in 1911 and is so vibrant and bursting with creativity. Charles Ives Piano Rag pieces are perhaps some of greatest music ever written and I have been enjoying that too.
9. Could you describe what goes on in a day in your life as a musician?
Tarik Ragab: I have my little hand held recorder with me all the time. I find that the detachment from actually playing the sketch of a song as opposed to listening to myself playing it from a recording device changes how I conceptualize certain aspects of the tune. It creates a space for me to be the observer of my own creation. So I write a lot and practice a bit and pretty much obsess on several tunes at once during the course of the day.
Moorea Dickason: On an ideal day I get to do a studio session singing for hire, teach a voice lesson or two and work on MoeTar music or rehearse. I do work outside of music too so not all days look like this but I love when they do.
10. Will there be a MoeTar tour?
Moorea Dickason: Most definitely. We’re working on learning new music so that we can get in the studio and record our second album this summer but after that it’s all about the live shows and touring.
Tarik Ragab: Tour yes I hope so. We would love some help in booking one if you know anyone who can.
11. Are there any products or projects we can see from MoeTar in the future?
Tarik Ragab: I have a lot of on going projects that I hope will be products in the future. Things that involve kinetic art, zoetropes, strobe-a-trope animation and other things like that. I would like to incorporate them into our live act eventually too. I have some prototypes built for some of my inventions. I am a little late getting into Photoshop but have been having a blast learning and creating with that too.
Moorea Dickason: Ya, Tarik is always working on visual art along side the music. We’ll have a second album out by the end of 2012 which we’re working hard on right now (learning and writing the music). We have so SO many ideas, we’re never short on ideas, it’s just a matter of which ones stick and we’ll all just have to wait and see on that one.
12. Any advice for musicians that are starting in the music industry?
Moorea Dickason: For me, the music comes first, very closely followed by having healthy relationships. My motto is “serve the music” which always seems to steer me in the right direction. Being a good communicator takes you a long way as well; asking for what you need and not bottling up things that bother you can make a huge difference. It will free you up for just making the best musical creations that you can, un addressed resentment is toxic. Also, not taking every opportunity that comes along for fear that you’ll miss out on something is important. You have to really follow your heart and ask, is this the right thing for me? All that plus ALWAYS do your best live, no matter how many people are in the audience. We got signed after a friend of the head of our label saw us, unannounced, at a small show in Marin County. It happens.
Tarik Ragab: Music comes first but don’t think that that will carry you to everything you want. Learn about the business so that you don’t get eaten alive by it. A lot of these reality shows and viral videos now-a-days make it seem like you can have it all over night and for some maybe that has been true but only in a shallow sense .They have missed out on a lot of the character building aspects of humble beginnings, having to work for everything you’ve got. Don’t expect the world to just embrace you on face value. You have to earn it and you have to have an undying love for what you do whether it makes you rich or not. If you don’t feel rich doing it already then you shouldn’t be doing it.
Check out MoeTar Online http://www.moetar.com/