Truly Fine Citizen

One of the most talentedyet least lucky bands to emerge from the 1960s San Francisco music scene was Moby Grape. The group’s powerhouse lineup consisted of guitarists Peter Lewis, Jerry Miller, and Skip Spence, along with bassist Bob Mosley and drummer Don Stevenson. Forming in 1966, they attracted lots of attention as one of the hottest bands in town. After signing with Columbia Records, they released what some consider one of the finest debut albums of all time.

That’s where it began to go wrong. For starters, the promotional staff at Columbia decided to release FIVE different singles at one time to promote the album.  Record labels tend to focus on a particular single in order to get national exposure. As a result of Columbia’s actions, no particular track was picked up nationally by radio for airplay. By not having a Top 40 hit, neither the group nor their album got the exposure that was deserved. 

The Grape continued to make fine albums and put on legendary shows, only to face further setbacks. Member Skip Spence left the group due to psychiatric reasons; some time later, Bob Mosley left the group to join the Marines. As 1969 came and went, the trio that remained released the fourth Moby Grape album and then called it a day. 

Reunions of various sorts have occurred since then, but the band has never received the national exposure they deserve. Columbia/Legacy has recently released Listen My Friends! The Best of Moby Grape, a single disc anthology of some, but nowhere near all, of the Grape’s highlights during their turbulent Columbia years. Jerry Miller was very kind in recently taking some time to talk to Knoxville Voice about Moby Grape.

How did Moby Grape come together?

I was playing with a band called the Frantics in California, and I was on my way home from Hunter’s Inn in Santa Maria. We stopped at a place called the In Room in Belmont, Calif., where the Warlocks were playing. I bumped into Jerry Garcia, who said “Aw, you guys don’t wanna go home!” So we ended up staying with friends of theirs. 

Don Stevenson was with me in the Frantics. We hung out down there, and bumped into Bob Mosley who became the bass player. We eventually played at the Dragon A Go-Go in San Francisco, and we were all dressed up in suits and stuff, played Rolling Stones, Beatles [songs], 10 sets a night. We noticed what was going on at the Avalon, the festivals and stuff…this was probably early ’66, I guess. So we said to ourselves “Now that’s something we could be creative at.”

We decided not to do the clubs. Bob went down to L.A. and bumped into Peter Lewis. They wanted a guitar player and a drummer, so they called me and Don. We got together up in San Francisco where we met Skippy Spence and commenced to play, and it was Moby Grape!

While listening to the new compilation, it hit me that there is a wide variety of styles there: pop, blues, hard rock and country.  What musical influences were brought into Moby Grape?

Well, I have an L5 guitar myself, that I got because I wanted whatever Wes Montgomery played. Of course B.B. King, Albert King, Freddie King and Duane Eddy were influences for me. There were also some good bands up here [in Washington], such as the Wailers and the Blue Notes. Pete liked Joe Maphis, Chet Atkins…finger picking people. Skippy, he could actually play some really neat Doc Watson stuff…he came from a folk background. He was a folk hippie. He could play some solid rhythm, but he could also play some nice fingerpicking.  

There were three guitar players in Moby Grape, but it worked out really well. Skippy could play really good rhythm, and Peter could fingerpick, and I could play blues licks or whatever I could come up with to put the frosting on the top…some new chords for rock and roll.

Don could play the bad shuffle on drums; he came from an organ trio piece with guitar and bass. Bob, there’s a thumping bass player there. That was a delight when we bumped into him. He was playing with a trio in San Jose, and me and Don said “We have to have Mosley.”

It seems like Moby Grape is often lumped in with the San Francisco sound, like the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, etc. with the whole political thing or extended jams.  Listen My Friends reminds me that you guys had a tight, straight-up kind of sound.  Did you purposely try to stray away from what everybody else was doing at the time?

Actually, we came from a club atmosphere, where we had to play those structured songs. It just came naturally, where the others came in more from a rock and roll perspective. We were doing just basically one song [“Dark Magic”] that was spaced out, and on “Come in the Morning” we would do a long jam sometimes, but we did the long jams too, just not on the record. 

We took our best songs and wanted to give the people that. We had probably 20 good original ones to start out with, and then 30 or 40 covers like Bobby Bland, B.B. King, Howlin’ Wolf…basic blues.  The Grateful Dead were doing that at the time. Janis was ripping those tunes, too. We were all together over at the Ark in Sausalito, along with Buffalo Springfield, Lee Michaels, and the Sons of Champlin.

Do you guys still get together and play?

Moby Grape’s a strange one. You never can tell. Bob and Pete usually come in and play with my band. As far as the Moby Grape band, that hasn’t happened in quite a while. But they come in and play with me when I’m down in Santa Cruz. That works out pretty good because that makes a strong rhythm section, and we kick butt! It’s a lot of fun.



Listen My Friends! is now available. Go get a copy and treat yourself to some fine tunes. Then maybe write Columbia and see if they’ll re-release the actual albums. It’s long overdue.