The Incredible Moses Leroy Speaks Out
Part 1 of an interview conducted by WRCU DJ Rich Crandall in March of 2000
Part 2 will appear in the next issue of (Insert Title Here)
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Listen: high speedRich: How are you Moses?
Moses: I'm doing very good. How are you?
R: I'm alright. The name of your band is "The Incredible Moses Leroy" right? And before people get to thinking that you have this lofty head, let me explain that it came from your great grandfather
M: Right, Moses Leroy was my great grandfather, my name is Moses Fountainberry so just by alone that eliminates me from saying that I am incredible. But really, the truth is that I grew up in the circus and I used to walk the tightrope and that was my name, "The Incredible Moses Leroy"
R: Really?
M: No
R: (laughs) Because I read that it has to do with you having a thing for comic books and superheros...
M: Yeah well when I was a kid I was really into, I used to try and draw and I was really into comics and you know every comic book is like fantastic four, or the incredible hulk, and so I thought I'd just take something like that and just mash it my grandfather's name and so that's kind of the product of that.
R: Sweet. So my first question is, in comparing yourself with a superhero - every superhero has a strength that defines them- what is your strength?
M: Hmm, what is my strength?
R: It doesn't have to be musically it just can be your personality.
M: No, no, I think my strength is in my taste for shoes.
R: (laugh) Ok.
M: I have really good footwear.
R: Really? Alright, that's great. What do you think your weakness is?
M: Um, My weakness is probably...women that don't treat me very well.
R: Um, I can feel for you there. I know how that is. That's rough. Just in listening to "Growing UP Clean in America", the EP that you have out right now, there are so many different directions that your music could be heading, I mean, "Zap" and "I had you" emphasized by sampling I would say, "The 4a" is a sweet sweet love ballad. Basically what I want to know this next LP you're working on, is it going to be a collage of these different types of styles or is it headed in a specific direction?
M: It's going to be the same thing. It's not an intentional thing. I mean, most people if you ask them, I'm sure you're probably like this yourself, like lots of kinds of music. I don't want to listen Limp Bizkit all day, but I may enjoy a Limp Bizkit song but I may also want to hear something by, I don't know, Whitney Housten or TLC, I may want to listen to something like Supergrass, or Super Furry Animals or the Zombies or the Beatles and I think most people have ecclectic taste in music and I write the way I write, but I try not to let myself fall into that 'Oh, I'm an alternative guy so it has to be alternative'. If it's a good song, it's a good song, and I try just to get it out.
R: Speaking of "alternative" and what the kids call the "modern rock" music- what direction do you see that genre heading in? Does that really affect you? Does that really concern you?
M: Well I think that there's modern rock, and indie rock and I think those things are kind of together, and I think that what gets put out into the mainstream aren't always representative of what's going on. For example, to use Limp Bizkit again, a band I really don't like...
R: I don't either.
M: But I may hear a song every now and again and may bump my head a little bit, "they did it all for the nookie" and everything. But I guess for every band like that that kind of steals the spotlight in a category there's tons of bands like the Get Up kids that, they don't occupy the same space musically but just for lack of other terms they just get lumped into the same category I guess, and hopefully bands like that will come up and change, I mean all the stuff that's going on right now will not last forever. I try and keep that in mind and even though I swear all that Korn, or whatever has been going on for too long, I'm ready for something new.
R: Yeah, I was thinking about this the other night. That, all different kinds of genres, be it the country or the adult contemporary, they have their perenial allstars, or superstars who sell the most records and who are always the top hits, whereas for indie or alternative, there really isn't that role model right now.
M: Right right.
R: I don't know why that is, I don't know if it's going to be a problem, but it's like no one really kept up with it you know what I'm saying?
M: well I think a lot of it is kids buying the music and the state of radio right now, and it's hard for bands to break out when they don't get played on radio, like mainstream. Just by listening to the songs you had already played on radio, that to me is what radio should be like- it should be completely diverse. You listen to most stations and no matter how alternative they may claim to be, if you really listen you'll hear the same songs over and over and a lot of the songs that you're hearing aren't even that new and there is so much new music out there that it's sad that it's not getting heard.
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