An interview with Kevin Moore
By Tommy Hash

His name is synonymous with the world of metal, rock, and “musician’s musician” world, having co-founded the band that rekindled the prog-metal movement, Dream Theater, then departing to go upon solo directions under the moniker Chroma Key, only to rejoin one of his Dream Theater bandmates to record 2003’s critically acclaimed release O.S.I., Office of Strategic Influence, which included Theaters Mike Portnoy and Fates Warning’s Jim Matheos. In recent years, the keyboardist has moved away from his Dream Theater past and into a more moody soundscape, combining dark sound effect layering with more avant-garde Phillip Glass related material. On his latest work, Graveyard Mountain Home, Moore takes a turn for more cinematic takes, which is not surprising, since earlier this year he released a soundtrack to the Turkish film Okul, titled Ghost Book, under the Moore solo moniker.
               
Riding off the heals of his latest release, the Hashman had the chance to chat with Moore, on one of Moore’s visits to the states, and first off, what was the inspiration behind this recording, well Moore insists it was simply the film from the 50’s, titled Age 13, a dark and depressing film about a kid trying to cope with his mothers’ death.

 “I enjoyed the process of writing for film, ” says Moore referring to Okul, for which he started writing the soundtrack for it as soon as he got to Istanbul, after the author of that particular book that inspired the movie, quoted Dream Theater lyrics, “I thought it would be cool to do the next Chroma Key CD in that way; find an old film I could use, which was really the main inspiration for the record.”

When referring to his particular choice of films to use for the “background,” not only was the story’s concept or content taken into consideration, Moore hints that there was something else in mind when it came to using a particular film, especially since he wanted to bypass any licensing headaches, so he could not only gives us the music, but show us the film as well as he explains, “I just wanted to pick a film that was first of all, free to use, because I didn’t want to worry about getting the rights to use the film, because since there are many DVDs that come with CDs. So I set out to find a public domain film, I came across an archive called, well actually a foundation called the Calendar Archives, and I went to their website. They are basically a foundation that collects public domain films, and there are thousands of films to choose from and they actually digitize the films, keep them in inventory, you can download or stream the films and check them out, and if you want to use them, you can download them in a high quality format. At this point, I just started looking around in the archives a little until I found something that matched the kind of mood that I wanted to match the Chroma Key album. Age 13 was one of the first ones I found, not taking me long at all to find the right film.”

Hearing the album at first, the concept might be hard to grasp prior to seeing the film included with Graveyard Mountain Home, the film itself creates an evolution upon the understanding for the different directions the records seems, Moore explains the different themes of the film that created the moods for the different musical passages. “At the beginning of the film, the kid is at his mother’s funeral, and the rest of the film is about how he is not adjusting well, trying to live a new life with his stepfather, his stepfather’s girlfriend, and bringing a gun to school, “ explains Moore, “all the shots from the film are beautiful, very well shot in the photography sense. It’s also kind of surreal, in the way the whole story is presented with very strange stuff, but it worked out very well.”

Getting on track with the musical style, Moore is in a sense way past the styles that he played while in Dream Theater, the record, which is filled with Mellotrons, Rhodes/electric pianos, marimbas, sound effects, radio noise, and just about any other natural and bizarre ambience that only Moore can do, It becomes clear that Moore was behind the dark moodiness that provided OSI with obstructive, but yet melodic madness. Like any musician who makes his own records, Moore does have his own recording studio, as he explains his setup, “all the sounds you hear are digital, the only things that I have are modern machines,” states Moore, “the rest of the stuff is “soft synths” and samples, stuff like that, I program the stuff myself. I have a pretty compact setup, I like it compact so I can move around as much as I can.” Like anybody with a recording studio, he uses it to his advantage, “I’m constantly recording, maybe, 30-second ideas, play around with sounds that I am working on, things like that,” referring to the recording process for Graveyard Mountain Home, “I would place (the ideas) inside a theme in the film, just sort of audition things that might work, and something would click and I would develop the idea. Mostly it is me working alone, and then after that I have a drummer come in, and he would play electronic drums. None of it is really quantasized or anything; I then had a guitar player and a vocalist. Most of it was just gruntwork.”

Like his former bandmates, Moore did study classical music (in New York, not Berklee), he states that his educational background didn’t only come from the classroom, “I studied, but only for a year, most of my musical education has come from the outside, growing up in high school, practicing classical stuff, and playing in bands,” says Moore, now referring to his evolution as a musician, which has involved many stages, “I think in the beginning I was interested more in the technique, trying to get my fingers to play whatever was thrown at them, the whole practicing ordeal, but now I am more focused on the songwriting, well, I actually am focused producing I guess, not that I have spent much time doing that right now, but I do a lot of work getting sounds together and getting to work on my songs.”

Like just about all of his bandmates, Moore is signed to Inside Out Records, where they not only have released the latest effort by Chroma Key, but the Ghost Book record as well, his past work has been released through European metal giant, Massacre Records. “I’m signed to Inside Out worldwide for Graveyard Mountain Home, You Go Now is still on Massacre, and the first few were also on my own label,” explains Moore, “I signed with Inside Out because the offered to sign me (laughing), there wasn’t a big battle or anything like that. They’ve been really great supporting this; they sent me out to Turkey when I told them I wanted to record out there, basically supporting the whole process. They are a progressive label, and I’m not really doing progressive material anymore.”

Well it gets to the point now where Moore is asked, will there be a follow up to the OSI album, (some of you may need to get the Vaseline ready for this one), he simply states, YES, the word that we all have been waiting for and anticipate in excitement. As for now, it might be a little too early to really predict what the record will sound like, but as usual, our expectations will remain high and the outcome will be satisfying for us who have waited for the follow up. As for other collaborations and what direction he will take the next Chroma Key record (cinematic, concept, or collection of songs), Moore is not sure at this point. “The near-future is mainly the new OSI record and the Chroma Key tour,” as Moore speaks of future plans, “I have no idea what the next Chroma Key album will be like, but I wouldn’t mind working like this again.”

In the end, Moore has again created his music on his own terms, particularly indefinable with comparisons being far stretched from his days as the synth-meister in Dream Theater, where his ivory work had made it’s mark on classics such as Pull Me Under and Innocence Faded, among many other personal favorites from fans. Kevin Moore is now in a category alone, almost hard to believe that one guy performed all this different material, proving that his diversity is what makes his sound unique. Until the next time…

Tommy Hash

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