Moxie give trad music a multi-cultural edge
Groovetube with Jimi McDonnell – [email protected]
Putting a rhythmic, energetic twist on a trad sound, Moxie come to Monroe’s Live next Thursday, October 8. Formed in 2011, the band are Ted Kelly (tenor banjo/guitar), Jos Kelly (accordion/keyboard), Cillian Doheny (tenor banjo/steel string guitar), Darren Roche (accordion) and Paddy Hazelton (percussion).
When they take the call for this interview, brothers Jos and Ted are driving from Dublin to Carlow to get an accordion fixed.
“Actually two accordions!” says Jos. “We’ve an Irish tour coming and they badly need a servicing. We’re on the way to a fella called Martin Quinn. It’s just a few tuning issues and a few loose reeds. He’s reliable and he’s good.”
Moxie first met each other over the course of a hectic few days at the Willie Clancy Festival in Milltown Malbay, Co Clare. Sligo natives Jos, Ted and Paddy bumped into Limerick lads Darren and Cillian, and devilment and plenty of music ensued.
“We were playing sessions and stuff, and there was so much energy between us that we were going off into little areas of the night, playing when everyone else had left. Ten o’clock in the morning, and we just kept playing!” says Ted.
Four years on, and Moxie are creating something that is truly exciting. Propulsive rhythms and synths fuse with accordion and banjo, making for a vibrant sound. Did Moxie sound like this from the get-go, or has their sound developed?
“It was more of an evolution that naturally happened,” Ted says. “Everyone in the band started to choose their instrument. It’s even changed so much since. Darren has started playing the glockenspiel and I’m playing the electric guitar. Joss has a synth keyboards with a lot of different sounds, and Paddy has added a lot to his percussion kit.”
Synthesisers in a trad band are not the norm, so Moxie must surely ruffle some feathers with their sound.
“When we were playing the Fleadh, there was lot of negativity about where we were taking the music,” Ted says. “It’s just people who are purist, traditional, and they’re afraid of us changing the tradition, or ruining what they protect.
“We do respect them; they collect tunes and do loads of great thing for Irish music. But we also play a form of Irish music, and what we’re doing is taking it to a different world. It’s happened naturally, and we’re playing the music we want to play.”
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.