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 INTERVIEW | |
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Moogis 2010 by John Lynskey | |
Allman Brothers Band drummer Butch Trucks spoke to Hittin' the Note about his plans for Moogis 2010, as Butch's innovative live web broadcast program moves into its second year, this time from the United Palace.
Hittin' the Note: Looking back to 2009, what was your overall assessment of Moogis' first year? Butch Trucks: I was absolutely blown away. We put so much work into this thing, and we were pretty sure about what we were doing, but you just don't know. That first night when I came back from opening night at the Beacon and I put Moogis up on my computer, I'm sure everyone at the hotel heard me! It looked so good and it sounded so good. Like I said, we went there pretty convinced that we could pull this off, but you don't know until you see it. It just got better and better as the shows went by, and we were able to figure all the camera angles. By the end of the run, everything was just dead-on; the angles, the mix - I was concerned about the mix, because the mixing guy was right up underneath the stage. You know, the bass and the bass drum are just honking away, and the really tough part about mixing is that low end - stopping bass waves is a difficult thing to do, but he just did a marvelous job. The camera work was amazing; I was so proud of what we were able to pull off, and I'm so proud of what I am able to leave behind for posterity. The Beacon Run of 2009 was one very, very special run, and I don't think that is ever going to be duplicated. We will never do that again, and we've got it all. There were seven cameras, and we saved each camera to a hard drive, so if we want to, we can go back and edit and put together a magnificent thing. Now, what we've got already is fantastic; every night is very organic in nature. You know, we played over 100 different songs and had over 60 guests join us, so every night was different, and Moogis was able to capture that. Now, we gearing up for this year, and when you log on to www.moogis.com, you're going to see a completely new website. We have upgraded all the way around; I mean, the technology has increased drastically, while the cost has dropped tremendously. We are moving up to the United Palace, and we are going to have the capability of putting this year's run out in Hi-Def. Last year we were close, but the cameras we had were 750i; Hi-Def is 1080i, and at the Palace, all seven cameras will be shooting at 1080i. Another thing is the budget we're looking at this year is 25% of what it cost last year, so this is what I saw coming several years ago. In hindsight, I guess the luckiest thing for me was that five or six years ago I didn't get the project funded, because the technology definitely wasn't there. I believe that last year may have been the first year that the technology was around to do this, but now not only is it around, the price is down as well. It has become affordable enough for a little start-up company like us to come in and do this. Now, we did lose money last year, but we think that we are going to do quite well this year. We are on our way, and we're going to kick this thing into high gear - Moogis is going to be more than just the Allman Brothers. Tell us about the United Palace. We went up there a couple of weeks ago, and I'll tell you, the people there have been trying to get the Allman Brothers to play the Palace for several years now. We played the Beacon for less money than we could have made at the United Palace over the last couple of years, under the assumption that the Beacon is where this all started and we needed to stay there. Finally, the people at Beacon made the choice for us; they decided that Cirque du Soleil with clowns on stage was better for them than the Allman Brothers, so we're going to move on up to the United Palace. The theatre is incredible; it is the same type of theatre as the Beacon; one of those very ornate theatres from the '20s and '30s. It's slightly bigger - 400 more seats - so we're doing 13 shows, which is about comparable to 15 shows at the Beacon. Ticket sales are going extremely well; we were concerned about moving from the Beacon, but they are doing quite well. The way it's looking, we may be starting a new tradition at the United Palace - I'm not sure we want to go back to the Beacon. They pulled the plug on us, and it just may be that we go up to the Palace and find out that we don't want to go back to the Beacon. That's my feeling right now; unless something goes drastically wrong, we've found a new home. Does the Palace pose any special problems in terms of camera settings, mixing, etc? There are a couple of areas where the Palace is actually better for Moogis than the Beacon was. It is about six feet from the front row to the stage; last year, we really had problems with the fire marshal, because the front row of the Beacon is supposed to be a fire exit, and our camera was right there in that row. Also, we had to purchase seats every night for our two cameramen so that they could set up in front of the stage. Now, with that six feet, we're not blocking anybody, so that really helps. It also helps that the United Palace has one big balcony instead of two small ones, so it doesn't bounce up and down when the people are jumping around. We had to worry about the camera bouncing around at the Beacon last year, but that won't be a problem at the Palace. Plus, there is a heck of a lot more room on the stage for our cameras. This year, we're only going to have three cameramen for our seven cameras; the other four will be remote-controlled. That helps to keeps the cost down, but we will still have all the angles and all the shots. In a lot of ways, the Palace is better for Moogis than the Beacon was. Now, at first we were a little concerned about connectivity, because up there, it's not right in the middle of the city. Last year, we went from a VH-1 line directly to fiber within a few blocks of where we were. We found out later it was overkill; we didn't need all that. We're going at it a different way this year, and we've got everything we need. I was a little concerned before I got there, because people were saying that there were not a lot of restaurants in that area, and that's just not true. The neighborhood is full of very cool-looking restaurants; there is an Irish pub right across the street from the Palace that I'm sure is going to do some really good business during March! The only thing that is lacking is hotels, but the simple solution is to do what people have always done; stay at the Beacon Hotel or the Milburn and jump on the A Train. Going up, the A Train is an express, and it's a 15-minute ride to the Palace. Let's talk about the other aspects of Moogis; people know you can watch the shows, but www.moogis.com offers a lot more than that. One of the cool things we have is a chat room; last year, that turned into one of the most interesting aspects of what we were doing. I think the chat room is going to grow and grow and grow. Last year, people would log-in to the chat room about 30 minutes before the show every night and start telling jokes and make predictions on the set lists and guests. A lot of these people are fans who have been around for years and know us inside and out; they know when we tend to do things, when mistakes might happen, and I had several of those people tell me that those where the best Allman Brothers' shows they had ever seen, and that the chat room really added to the experience - the chat room is just a blast. I still think the best way to see the Allman Brothers - or any good music - is live, but if you can't make it to the show, the chat room adds an element to watching it live that is unique. I mean, you can't sit there at the show and talk with 200 or 300 people and toss around comments, but you can do it on Moogis. Our fans are a family; that is a very real thing. Last year, after the show was over, a lot of people would stay in the chat room and talk about what happened. Now they've had a year to go back and watch those shows over and over again, and the chat room experience was so successful that after the run was over, we did a thing called “Moogis Mondays,” where every Monday we would broadcast one show so everyone could watch it at once. We did that for 15 weeks, and we did very well with that; people really enjoyed it. There also are the Forums, where people can go in and post what they like or don't like. The good news was that complaints were almost non-existent; there were a few people who had technical problems, but that is just unavoidable. The one thing we do know is that none of the technical problems came from us; it was absolutely glitch-free from our end. The number of problems was miniscule, and we were able to resolve almost every single one of them. I got page-after-page of emails from people telling us how incredible the Moogis experience was; there were no negative vibes at all. Fill us in on the expansion of Moogis beyond the Allman Brothers Band. It has always been my plan to make Moogis a jamband website, and include the entire jamband scene. Basically, what I want to do is wire six of the top jamband clubs around the country with multiple cameras, and then every night of the week you'll be able to log-on and see a live concert from somewhere in the country. We'll also have a mobile unit that will move around the country and two or three times a month we'll get groups like Gov't Mule or Widespread Panic or Dave Matthews, who are playing larger venues, and we'll send our mobile unit in and put them up on Moogis. We really want to expand on the content of Moogis; we're going to compile hundreds and hundreds of videos on every jamband out there, and that way you'll get to know the band and their music. If you've heard something about a band, you can log-on to Moogis and check them out. My goal is to get to the point where we have about 300,000 subscribers, and we'll be able to bring the cost way, way down. Not only that, we'll be able to pay these bands fees that are way beyond their wildest dreams. We want to eventually offer clubs around the country a commercial subscription, because their biggest fear is a dark night, when they don't have any music on stage. The next best thing to live music would be for the club to put up a big screen, and they'll have a live band on stage; it will just happen to be from another city, via Moogis. This will really help young bands, because it will allow them to get their music out. Right now, their options are limited; radio is gone, so it is damn-near impossible for a new band to get national exposure. What I'm hoping that we can build Moogis into is a place where musicians can go to get their music out, and people who love music can go to hear and see what's new. This is coming; I just want to be the one who does it. I think we've got the right model and the right philosophy, and we're going to make it work. Are you satisfied with where Moogis is at right now? I'm never satisfied; of course not - you know that. Last year, I was disappointed with the number of subscribers we had. The bottom line was that we just didn't have enough money to market it, and we didn't really get properly funded until six weeks before the run started. It was too short of a time and not enough of an advertising budget to get the word out. There are still Allman Brothers' fans out there - die-hard Allman Brothers' fans - who still don't know about Moogis. We're trying some different things this year to get the word out; we have a solid marketing plan in place. The people who did sign up last year are back again, and I expect that they will bring some friends with them. Just by getting everyone back from last year will make us profitable; what we need to do is expand that base, which will get us to where I want Moogis to be. It is time to take this to the next level. (www.moogis.com) 
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