UFO Soars Into Anaheim With Saxon In Tow

UFO

UFO play HOB/San Diego Mar. 14, Belasco Theater Mar. 16, Grove of Anaheim Mar. 18; photo James Christopher

For those of you who prefer rock bands to be hard and/or full of hair, you’ll be excited to know that the veteran hard rockers of UFO and Saxon have decided to go on tour together. And as Southern Californians, we’ll have more than enough chances to bang our heads to the pulsing boom of their music. Be sure to catch them at the House of Blues San Diego Mar 14, Belasco Theater Los Angeles Mar 16, or The Grove of Anaheim Mar 18.

Starting out as a space rock band in the early 70’s, UFO has made its way through various forms of rock music, as well as lineups. Amidst all this change however, founding member Phil Mogg has managed to keep at least one thing consistent: the quality of his band’s musical output. To aid in this endeavor, Mogg sought out the mind of Vinnie Moore, who joined the band in 2003 to take up the role of lead songwriter.

Just weeks before he takes several stages all across America, Moore was kind enough to sit down and converse about all things music: how he makes it, how it exists today, and how we’d all be dead without it.

Concert Guide Live: I read on your website that you composed the majority of your latest album, Conspiracy of Stars. Was your input on the band’s music this significant when you first joined the group back in 2003?
Vinnie Moore: Yeah, it was pretty much the same. I think Phil wasn’t necessarily looking for only a guitar player, he knew he needed someone who wrote music. And that’s kinda why I got the gig. Not only for the guitar playing, but for the fact that I was a writer and he needed a partner, like he’d done with other people in the past.

CGL: When you write, do you ever have any specific goals, or, a specific direction you want to take the band? Do you listen to any particular music/artists to inspire your writing?
VM: I don’t really think about it that much, it’s kinda like, you pick up the guitar and start playing and whatever comes out, comes out. And my philosophy is write a bunch of songs and see what sticks. Then I’ll send the demos to Phil and he’ll pick the ones he feels he could do something with and they’ll be the ones we’ll go with.

CGL: I’ve seen videos of you guys playing “Love To Love” in which an acoustic guitar is set up on a waist high stand that enables you to play both electric and acoustic in the same song without taking off one guitar and putting on the other. I think that is just delightfully clever. How did you come to use this technique?
VM: Well, the Gracie Stand has been available for quite some time. But I never really had one until I joined UFO and there was a need for it. And actually – it’s funny – we tour over in Europe a lot, and our manager is really good friends with some of the guys in Scorpions. And when I first joined the band, you couldn’t get one of these Gracie Stands over there in Europe, so he would always borrow Rudolf Schenker’s. We would take it on the road and use it, until one time the Scorpions also needed it, at which point we finally had to get our own. But they were hard to get for a while. It was like, there’s only one in the world and Rudolf Schenker has it.
CGL: Beyond just playing music, I see that you’ve also done a couple of instructional videos. That must feel pretty great, you know, showing people how to access the wonderful world of music.
VM: Yeah, it definitely feels good. When I was a kid playing guitar, if I could have watched somebody’s video or talked to them at a clinic and directly asked a question that would have just been amazing.

CGL: Do you also find yourself diving into that world of instructional YouTube videos?
VM: Oh I’m always learning. I mean, music is endless. You can never stop learning. And yeah, I’ll check things out online, I’ll look into different musicians. Not only guitarists, but horn players, violin – whatever – you can pick up things everywhere.

CGL: Through the Internet and the spread of information and technology, I like to think we’re currently in a musical renaissance of sorts. What are your thoughts on this?
VM: I totally agree, but I think it’s also making people more lazy, too. I can’t tell you how many times people will send me messages on Facebook asking me if I could transcribe one of my songs for them in tablature. And you know, when I was a kid, I put on the record and learned the stuff. It’s really important to do it yourself because your ear gets better by doing it that way.

CGL: How would you describe the importance or function of music? In a general sense, you know, like in the context of a society or our species.
VM: I think people would be dead without music. It’s so important – it provides so much entertainment, so much emotion. I mean – it’s magical. You listen to a song on the radio and it can take you back to when you were a kid. It’s just unbelievably powerful. I’ve been studying it all my life and understand a lot about it, but then, in another way, I don’t understand anything about it. It just hits you very, very deeply. It’s spiritual.