Ears of Maize: I’m Ears of Maize on 90.7 FM KALX Berkeley. I’m sitting down here today with Charles Moothart of Fuzz in anticipation for their upcoming show, January 24th at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco. Charles, knowing that you’re a busy guy, and I see you on a lot of records that I love in the genre, how do you balance your time with respect to– what sort of attitude do you come at with Fuzz as far as the contributions you’re trying to make, or how it’s different from other projects?
Charles Moothart: First of all, we’re not as active as we used to be anymore. Which both makes it, you know, easier in the sense that we can all kind of come at it now as like– it’s just fun to revisit these songs and get back in the room together. I feel lucky that I’ve always been surrounded by– I really like prolific and busy musicians and collaborators and friends. So to me it’s kind of always been second nature to just always stay writing and, you know, playing music together and all that. So I think that I’ve reflected on that more in the last few years as I’ve kind of, you know, gotten a little older and, you know, everyone’s lives have taken different turns and everyone’s kind of started different projects, and I play specific kind of music for sure, but I’ve always liked different types of music and that kind of keeps my brain moving. You know, I’m always kind of working on different songs and wanting to exercise that in different ways, so it kind of feels second nature, I guess, in that way.
Ears of Maize: For sure. Either speaking for yourself or, you know, the greater bandwidth– you and Ty [Segall] and Chad [Ubovich], do you guys enter the Fuzz space with sort of specific intentions or an idea to develop a particular sound or a goal in mind? Or do you welcome crossover from what you’re brewing and other projects? Or is it meant to stay between certain lines?
Charles Moothart: I think a band like Fuzz, the mission statement’s pretty simple. You know, like we’re not trying to reinvent the wheel, but we’re not trying to, you know, keep ourselves limited, even though the music that we’re making is pretty specific. Like, we know we go into it definitely with like– it’s riff, it’s power trio. We want it to feel authentic. You can tell when a band is maybe going super into the like, “We’re a Sabbath worship band!” or “We’re like a stoner metal band!” We want it to feel personal, you know, and not just totally derivative. It’s always good to bring in a personal touch ’cause it’s like we are more complicated people than just, like, dudes picking up drumsticks or guitars, you know? So our other projects I think allow for more of the sensibilities to get in there as well. So I think it’s good to have an outlet that’s kind of like, “This is what we’re doing,” you know? Yeah.
Ears of Maize: And you know, you mentioned sort of this idea of, in your words, the power trio? Music as a trio has always fascinated me, take me inside: is it, is it a “less is more” sort of model? Or is there like more weight for each member to carry? Or is it like, again, the sort of simplification of return to basics? Like, what is the trio sound and the contributions as you see it?
Charles Moothart: Good timing for that question ’cause I just finished a record with another trio that I’m in, which is in a similar vein – power trio- called Primitive Ring. And also, I was just listening to Grass Widow last night, which I hadn’t revisited in a while, which is a totally different version of a trio– one of the best bands. I think that the trio, you know, you inherently have these limitations. And I think from a writing perspective and a recording perspective, that can take on different looks. Like, with the last Fuzz record, III, we tried to lean into the limitations of that. We wanted it to feel more like, “This is what we sound like when we’re just in a room together.” I mean, there’s more going on in that album than just us three playing live takes, you know? Um, whereas with something like Fuzz II we were leaning more into how crazy can we make this sound as just us three. But then you’re, of course, faced with the live limitations of that, which I think is also an important part of that conversation. And, you know, the studio is the studio. You can do what you want in the studio, but when it comes to a live show, you kind of have to then figure out, well, “how are we gonna represent this live?” And sometimes songs don’t work and sometimes they do in a totally different way. I think the live show is where the trio, the whole trio concept, really comes into play because it’s, like, there’s just three people, three voices. That’s all you get, you know? So it’s fun. And for me as a guitar player, I can kind of just go off on my own tangents and not feel like I’m gonna step on anyone’s toes, ’cause you know, we’re all taking up very specific pockets of the sonic and rhythmic range, you know? So as long as we’re playing off each other, you can kind of go wherever you want, whereas when there’s two guitar players or a guitar and a key player, you know, I could do something that totally is dissonant with something that someone else is doing, you know, so there’s a lot more freedom there as well. The freedom comes with, you know– you have to be aware of what your band mates are doing too. Like everyone has to kind of be on the same page, which I think is, you know, really beautiful and really fun, you know.
Ears of Maize: Hearing you talk about sort of the difference of sort of mindset between in-studio versus live on-stage, in the music that you enjoy do you listen to more studio records versus live recordings, or–
Charles Moothart: I would say as a whole, I listen to more studio albums, but I have a whole different perspective on what a live record can mean. So I think I listen to live records now with a different ear, and I really enjoy them. I’m a fan of the Grateful Dead. I like listening to live Grateful Dead, but I also like listening to their studio albums. I’ve gotten really into Les Rallizes Dénudés, and listening to those live recordings is like– that’s a whole different experience. You know, I think that I was not quite ready for that band, like, you know, six or seven years ago, and then now it’s really resonating with me in a new way. I think that also reflects maybe where I’m at with the modern world. You know, the world feels really intense right now. So I think that it’s like these things kind of come and go. I used to be a little more of a purist about certain ideas of what people represent in the studio versus live, like, when I was younger, and then as I kind of grew into my adult musicianship, I was more into the studio. Now I’m trying to find that balance of where they’re just two different counterparts of the same artist or band or entity or whatever. And so they kind of offer a nice look at the other. You know, like, the live approach of a band lets you kind of see what possibly was going on with their studio approach and vice versa, you know?
Ears of Maize: So in your experience in putting out live records, what’s the approach? Is it you actively plan for it, or is it something– “Hey, we got magic in the can and we gotta press this and put it out”?
Charles Moothart: With the live records– when we did the Deforming Lobes record, for instance, with Ty’s band, we really went into it being like, “We’re doing a live album.” We had [Steve] Albini come out to record it. It was three shows booked at the same venue. We had this really long set list, like we– Ty wanted us to learn like a bunch of songs, and then it’s kind of amazing because at first I think we– the idea was that it was gonna be this long double album kind of thing. And then, you know, as we listened back to everything, Ty was kinda like, “Well, I’m just gonna– I wanna just pick like the most exciting versions of these songs.” So then it kind of shrunk back down into a single record that, you know, felt really intentional and there was a lot of purpose behind what we did there and I think that was really beautiful. And then, you know, there’s been other records that have come out where it’s like– there’s a recording of the show and it’s like, “Okay, I guess we’re doing a live record,” like the Live in San Francisco stuff like from back in the day, like the Fuzz one. And um, there was a [undecipherable] one as well. Um, like that was a little more off-the-cuff, like it was just like, the homie set up a 388 in the back room and it was like we just played our set and it was like, “Whatever comes out, comes out.” You know? I think that’s the nice thing about the quote unquote live album too is like, there’s different versions of that, like there are live albums that a band went out purposefully recording as like, “This is going to be a record and we are going to make sure it matches what we need.” And then there’s like the live record that is more of just a document that happened to get put out, you know, and those are also kind of big key differences in how you’re listening to the band.
If they’re going into it thinking that they’re gonna release it, they’re probably bringing a different representation of the band as opposed to letting all the, like, you know, all the mistakes– which sometimes is the most endearing part of a live record is hearing the human experience on stage. You know, it’s like someone missing a note on the guitar or vocals, you know, or a drummer– like the stick click, you know, it’s like, that’s when you remember this is a band playing live, and they’re going to make mistakes at some point in their 45 to two hour long set. You know what I mean? Like, that’s what it’s all about.
Ears of Maize: Exactly. And sounds like one of the things that you like in live records– you get to hear and sort of sometimes see the relationship between the members of the band in live time and it’s engraved on the grooves of that record.
Charles Moothart: Totally.
Ears of Maize: You hear the personality like you sort of mentioned– do you ever consider the fourth member of the band, quote unquote the audience? Is an audience reception or interpretation of that night in that recording, is that something that you look to include when curating a live record?
Charles Moothart: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it’s always about remembering the audiences. There was no audience, there’s no live show. I mean, that’s– we are equally part of the experience that is happening there. And so it’s like, I always want to show as much respect and gratitude towards the crowd as possible and to perform ’cause that’s what people want to see. My version of performing sometimes is, like, I need to go in so that I can let whatever is inside of me come out, you know? Um, whereas, like, you know, I think Ty’s an excellent performer and, um, Chad is an excellent performer. So especially with a band like Fuzz, we’re all feeding off of each other, but I can also watch them feed off the crowd and vice versa. Like, it’s not just a back and forth band to crowd, it’s band to crowd, to band member to crowd, and then back to band members being like, “Oh, are you seeing that person, like, rocking out?” Or, you know, that person that just [undecipherable]? It’s like, all that stuff is like part of the energy that, you know, leads to each set being different. And as we’ve been kind of discussing our set lists for these shows, um, you know, there’s certain songs where like, “Yeah, that song’s fun to play, but like, it really depends on the night,” you know, and it’s like, depending on how people are reacting to a song is how changes how we play it or how it feels. It’s a total– it’s a conversation, you know. It’s a conversation between whoever’s on stage and whoever’s in the crowd and there’s a multitude of ways in which that dialogue is happening, you know, and it’s different for each person, so–
Ears of Maize: I appreciate you sharing it from your side of the stage, because as a fan and an audience member– I mean, you mentioned The Dead and, like, some of my favorite tapes or like the Live in San Francisco series that you mentioned too for a lot of the projects you’ve been in–
Charles Moothart: Yeah.
Ears of Maize: When you know that you’ve been in that room and you were at that show, it’s a buy-in to reliving that experience time and time again. I mean, I can still put those records on and think about the energy that I had in receiving it all. It’s just like canned magic and you’re just like–
Charles Moothart: Oh yeah.
Ears of Maize: –You can go back to that show and relive it so many times. And, again, I don’t know if that experience lives for you as well, where you remember that room that night, but from the audience side of things, it hits just as hard as being there the first time.
Charles Moothart: Oh, totally. I mean, I feel that on both levels too, because, I mean, I’m pretty sure the Fuzz Live in San Francisco show– I think the bill that night was Osees, Total Control and Fuzz at the SF Eagle. And it was just like, you know, this was back when like [John] Dwyer was like always putting on shows at the Eagle and those shows were just like always so fun. And I don’t even think we were supposed to do a– I think the whole point of that show is for Total Control to do a live in San Francisco recording. Since they had the tape and the machine app, they were like, “We’ll record your set too,” you know, like Bauer and, and Dwyer, and we’re like, “Cool!” Now when I like think about that record and that show, I’m like, “It’s a beautiful document,” you know, and sometimes it’s like the cliche of like– it’s like journaling or something like that, where it’s important to document things even if it feels pretentious or whatever, it feels weird at the time. It’s just, like, it’s always good to have these memories locked away, you know? ‘Cause you just never know what they’re gonna unlock later, you know?
Ears of Maize: Totally. And maybe that’s a good segue into– with the band’s latest release, Fuzz’s Fourth Dream that has, you know, singles demos, rarities– what’s that experience of releasing some of that inside stuff in a record, what is that sort of process or how do you relate to records like that?
Charles Moothart: Early on, Ty was a big proponent of– you demo the whole thing in completion before you go in, and that, you know, that still has carried forward to this day. So it’s like, I will always try to, with any band or project I’m in, if I’m doing my own records, demo the whole record beforehand so that I know exactly what I wanna do when it comes to recording time. You know, I think that revisiting a lot of those demos was really interesting ’cause we’ve talked about doing this release for a handful of years, even before Fuzz III I feel like we were talking about doing a singles compilation of some kind. Now with this compilation, you’re seeing the total– the genesis of the band and leading right up to like now. Even the song I Just Want Your Everything– that’s like an unreleased track that is basically like– [chuckling] it feels so different from Fuzz’s music. I get really excited about releasing this kind of stuff because similarly, I do, as a fan, I enjoy hearing demos or seeing how people went through records, you know, and how they got to where they finally ended up. Like, this band has– it’s spanned a very important time of us three musicians, like, our development and our songwriting, and it– while it might not always reflect what each person did, it still is part of the history. To me it’s just exciting to go back and open up those doors, ’cause it’s like, you know, some of those recordings are from when I was like 23 or something like that. To me it feels very much like a core part of my identity.
Ears of Maize: Yeah, to come back to, you know, me as a fan and a listener of this music, like I can still think back to y’all dropping the single or the EP This Time I Got A Reason in the Fuzz’s Fourth Dream.
Charles Moothart: Yeah.
Ears of Maize: –Back in what, 2012? That release had so much energy, it felt like y’all were getting shot out of a cannon for a brand new time. And, again, it had all these elements of things that I knew, or a sound that I recognized, but it just had this energy and enthusiasm that I continue to see you all in sort of your continuous projects just continue to find and to tap into. Take me back to sort of that time and place, knowing that San Francisco used to be sort of home base or ground zero for all of this. What prompted the move to LA and what has sort of the LA transition brought to you since then? And what does it mean now?
Charles Moothart: Yeah. San Francisco was, and continues to be, such an important city. My sister still lives in the city with my nephew and San Francisco will always feel a little bit like home to me. But, um, I feel lucky to have lived there and been working there, like doing music there when, you know, there was just a lot of really incredible energy and incredible music going on. And the move to Los Angeles was, you know– I mean, really, at the end of the day, what it came down to is Ty and his partner, his now wife, they were looking for– just more out of a living space, uh, making a home together. And they, you know, just as far as affording a place to live at the time out of necessity, you know, like– yeah, everyone loved being in San Francisco. It just was like getting to be unsustainable. And my partner, who was also the drummer for a Ty at the time, Emily, like, you know, we– she was from LA and I, you know, I grew up in Orange County, so it’s not like it was too, too far away. But she was kind of ready to go back to LA and Ty was moving there. So it was just, you know– the ship was kind of steering that direction and it took me a minute to accept that. And I love Los Angeles. Like, I love being here now. Like, it’s not, you know, I’m not trying to paint the picture that I am not happy here at all. I mean, I love it. I love this city, but it took me a few years to accept that I had left the Bay Area, like ultimately everyone kind of needed that change. You know, there was this really beautiful thing that was happening there and that was starting to change and outgrow itself too. Like, you know, we were no longer just, you know, ripping shows at the Eagle and like stuff like that. So it’s like, I do think that moving allowed everyone to kind of spread their wings a little bit more too and start to figure out what was next. Instead of feeling like we were all like stuck to some cliché of being like, oh, “The San Francisco psych scene,” or something like that, you know, even though that was like something that we all took so much pride in being part of, you know?
Ears of Maize: As I get older, I realize that nothing is forever, and there are these moments that are just so good and you think that it will last forever and it’s solid and it feels good, but it’s once you have time away from all that the nostalgia kicks in. You go, “Wow, that really was right place, right time, and just magic.” Right? How would you describe sort of the current scene in LA or you know, the sort of collaboration or the community that’s there and what it means to you present day?
Charles Moothart: That’s something that I’m still kind of navigating myself because, like I said, I feel very– I feel like I’m an introvert in a lot of ways and I’ve been lucky to play music mostly with really close friends of mine, and I’ve only recently tried to start kind of branching out of that, but I also love that I’ve been able to kind of stay in my bubble, so to speak in certain ways. Um, there’s more room to spread out in LA and I feel like it’s really “choose your own adventure” and it’s– I’m friends with a lot of musicians here. I know a lot of people. We all roll in a lot of similar circles, but probably not in ways that fans of music might always assume, you know, like, the people you might assume know each other maybe don’t. The people you would never think are friends probably hang out more often than you would guess, you know, like all different kinds of musicians. And I really enjoy that because it makes it so that personal friendships are above music scenes, which kind of also allows for a deeper conversation and growth ’cause it’s all creative people still, you know? So I feel like I’m friends with a lot of people who make different kinds of music, I guess is the simplest way to put that. But there is something I miss about my time in San Francisco and feeling like things were so, like, you could kind of like, walk outta your house or your apartment and, and see someone who’s in a band you love and all that stuff and be like, “What’s up? What are you up to?” Like, take a walk with ’em, you know?
Ears of Maize: We’ve talked Northern California, we’ve talked Southern California. Is there a favorite place for you to tour or to take this music either here, domestically? Or I’m also curious to ask you, how does, um, this music and scene sort of translate to the European audience? I’ve seen you do some UK tours and across Europe.
Charles Moothart: I feel like right now touring in the United States feels really complicated. I feel like you either need to be dialed in with a DIY, like, your crew and like your community, which is kind of the best way to do it right now. And I feel lucky to still have at least some connections on that level. I’ve had the dubious luck of [chuckles] being, of writing both sides of that. Like I’ve played and toured with very, like, established bands and I’ve also– I’ve had to, you know, try to build things up again. And things are tough in the US right now, and I think that the UK feels similar to the US in a lot of ways, it always has as far as touring, but I think there’s a little bit more support there right now for independent artists. Europe has always been very, very receptive to rock and roll music and very supportive of independent musicians and artists, which I think is really important. But you know, that being said, nothing will ever, for me, will ever really be like the feeling of getting tapped into independent DIY spaces within the United States. And I feel like that’s something that’s also disappearing. There’s no support for these kinds of spaces, but that’s also what makes the experience there so visceral and so beautiful. People are so supportive and like, you know, they wanna feed you well, they wanna make sure you have a good time, it’s just like, it’s a beautiful thing. It feels like a lost art in some ways. I love traveling, and I love meeting people and I love playing music. So, for me, you could send me to a new town anywhere and I would– I’ll play a show and have a great time.
Ears of Maize: As far as new records in your collection– what have you been listening to or, sort of up and coming things, or just things to cross your– to really move the needle or shake you?
Charles Moothart: I’ve kind of been revisiting a lot of the Les Rallizes Dénudés, um, live recordings. Um, a friend of mine, Syko Friend. She is based in LA and her last album, Dizzy Magic, is really, really beautiful. Um, I’ve just finally got a copy of that on vinyl. Just been kind of revisiting a lot of Spaceman 3, like, Carlos Montoya, and those are kind of the main ones right now, yeah.
Ears of Maize: Cool. So I’ll just plug it one more time here. Again, Fuzz coming January 24th at the Great American Music Hall here in San Francisco. Again, uh, my conversation with Charles Moothart of Fuzz.
Charles Moothart: I’m really looking forward to the show and I’m just excited to revisit the music and get back out there.
Ears of Maize: We’re excited for you and the band to come to town and I thank you so much for the time. Best luck on the tour and thanks again for all the music.
Charles Moothart: Alright, thank you man. I appreciate you taking the time. This is Charles Moothart from Fuzz, and you are listening to 90.7 FM KALX Berkeley.
