On air Featured transmission
“The responsibility lies in the love of playing music and trying to play the best music you possibly can.”
This is where the legends actually talk. Rockstars, icons, and loudmouths, in person with Moe Train and King B, guards down and stories out.
Kyle Gass
Tenacious D
“I am saving General Motors from their ultimate collapse.”
Read the interview →Moe Train Pick
MGMT
Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser
“We’re getting more comfortable and we don’t have to think as hard when we’re playing, its kinda getting to be more natural.”
Read the interview →Moe Train Pick
Minus the Bear
Jake Snider
“And I think that that’s what our goal was, to write a record full of songs that we really enjoy playing live…and don’t get sick of.”
Read the interview →
Neil Fallon
Clutch
“Well, we didn’t go into it with any preconceived notions, we kinda just followed our instincts.”
Read the interview →
All 29 sit-downs in full: transcripts, photos and the stories they told nowhere else.
Full A to ZFresh off the wire and turned up loud. The latest drop up top, a gem from the vault underneath.
Foo Fighters headline KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas on December 12 at the Kia Forum, with Weezer, Sublime, Interpol, and The Linda Lindas on the bill. Tickets go on sale October 30.
24 songs in Allentown to open the Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour, closing with Your Song and Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. The long goodbye is officially on.
The word on the street
When you have groups of seasoned journalists watching you do your thing, you know you’re what people aspire to be.
backstage at Lollapalooza, Chicago
Called one of the best interview teams in the business: Moe Train and King B.
Hall of famers, pioneers, and straight-up royalty. They all sat down with the Moe Train, and nobody phoned it in.
Press play and ride. Backstage interviews, festival dispatches, and the loudest seat at the show.
Moe Train catches up with Portugal. The Man backstage at Bonnaroo, talking music, the road, and what the band has cooking. A front-row interview with one of...
The Knux pull up backstage at Bonnaroo for a no-filter interview with Moe Train and King B. New Orleans energy, big laughs, and the story behind the music.
Roots reggae and dub vibes with Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad at Rothbury. Moe Train talks music, touring, and the culture with the band.
What has evolved in hip-hop is that it's super-global.
The more adventure there is in music, the more I think the rewards are.
The drum is the heartbeat, and the bass is the backbone.
I am saving General Motors from their ultimate collapse.
Just walking the walk, you know, just being yourself. Don't try to copy anybody, just be yourself and own it.
I explode. So don't stand directly in front of me.
The responsibility lies in the love of playing music and trying to play the best music you possibly can.
When I coined the word reggae, when I sang the song Do The Reggae, the music was already playing in Jamaica all over but nobody called it reggae.
Well, we didn’t go into it with any preconceived notions, we kinda just followed our instincts.
Going on after Dillinger, not an easy thing to do.
Muck Rack turned the tables and put Moe Train in the interview chair. His answers, in his words, on the record.
I see myself as the connection between the fans and the musicians and celebrities. Social media shortened the distance between the two, and my job is to shorten it more.
Moe Train On how social media is changing news
Email is best. Give me the who and the where, and tell me why they'd be a good conversation. Festivals and concerts are prime ground for me, so those dates always get my attention. I interview in person, and I'm easy to work with. Professional, accessible, and I build rapport fast, with publicists as much as with artists. It's a huge part of why the show works.
Professional, accessible, and I build rapport fast, with publicists as much as with artists.
Moe Train
Email any time. I read pitches in batches and I answer all of them. I'm a busy man with a lot of big projects running, so for festivals and tours, earlier is better. A date six weeks out beats a date six days out, because good conversations take planning. I give every interview its respect and the proper time to prepare for it.
The best pitch I ever got was one I sent. It's a toss up between Ziggy Marley and Aston 'Family Man' Barrett (Bob Marley and The Wailers). Bob Marley is my all-time favorite, and both men are tied straight to him. I never took the common 'let's talk about Bob' approach with either of them. I knew the Bob connections would come on their own. I pitched getting to know each man for his own contributions to music and the interesting details of his own life. That respect is why those conversations worked. They didn't just work. Other journalists have told me they modeled their own approach on them.
The conversations with the legends we have lost since. Bob Weir (The Grateful Dead), Oderus Urungus (Dave Brockie) of GWAR, Aston 'Family Man' Barrett (Bob Marley and The Wailers), Toots Hibbert (Toots and the Maytals). I sat with them in person, got them laughing, got stories nobody else has. Those conversations can never happen again. Every year more listeners find them, and they get to hear their heroes the way I heard them: relaxed, laughing, telling stories. I treat every interview like it matters.
I treat every interview like it matters.
Moe Train
That it's a Q and A. Anyone can do a Q and A. Mine are conversations, in person, at festivals and on tour buses, well researched and a lot of fun. Listeners say it often plays like two new friends hanging out and having a casual conversation. I build rapport fast, and that is exactly why artists open up. The interviews have drawn praise across the industry as some of the best and most engaging out there. Sound bites don't get you 500 million listens. Conversations do.
Sound bites don't get you 500 million listens. Conversations do.
Moe Train
I wanted to approach music and celebrity journalism differently than I had seen it done. I've always been a people person, and I believe in the power of conversation. I wanted to build a platform people could actually FEEL, through my audio, my video, and my writing. After 20 years, I can confidently say I accomplished what I set out to do, and I still look for ways to develop my craft and connect with the public.
It means the person across from you trusts you with their story, and you don't waste it. You do the homework, you listen harder than you talk, and you get out of the way when the good stuff starts rolling.
My approach is part of the change. I go into every interview looking for a fun, authentic, genuine, and engaging conversation with someone most fans will never get the chance to talk to. I see myself as the connection between the fans and the musicians and celebrities. Social media shortened the distance between the two, and my job is to shorten it more. A fan should finish one of my interviews feeling like they were sitting right there with us.
My first job was my own show. Moe Train's Tracks covered one of the biggest festivals in the world, and we were the first podcast to ever cover it. Twenty years later, I have interviewed people some journalists only dream of.
Howard Stern. I've listened to him since the '80s. He's changed a lot over the years, but he has always been an influence on my interview style: do the homework, get the guest comfortable, and the real conversation shows up. The man wrote the playbook for turning an interview into an event. I would love for him to hear one of mine and know the form is alive and well, with my own spin on it.
The man wrote the playbook for turning an interview into an event.
Moe Train On Howard Stern
Learn the art of conversation. Anyone can do a Q and A. It takes no skill at all. Practice your public speaking. Learn to listen, and not just listen: take a genuine interest in who you are covering and interviewing. Be genuine, authentic, and relatable in everything you do. Connect with people. Keep a perpetual learning mindset. Get comfortable being uncomfortable. Believe in yourself. Never be afraid to walk into an unknown space. Hold your head high, trust yourself, and DOMINATE.
Hold your head high, trust yourself, and DOMINATE.
Moe Train
A Sony ZV-E10 with Sigma primes does the shooting. Røde and Shure mics take the audio, softboxes light the room, and a DJI Ronin keeps the moving shots smooth. The shows go out through Spotify for Creators and Podbean. The list stays short on purpose. The conversation is the show, the tools just have to keep up.
It's a toss up between Facebook and TikTok. Facebook is the classic, where I keep up with friends and family. TikTok is a great collection of fantastic content, the kind you can (and do) get lost in for hours. Instagram is right there with them: besides my podcasts, it is my largest following, and I have awesome contacts on there.
I know this is NSFW, but how did this ever happen? #susanalbumparty. Somebody on Susan Boyle's team launched her album with that and nobody read it out loud first. Read it again slowly. I'll wait. Funniest own goal in PR history, a legend of legends in the hashtag world, and proof you should say every hashtag out loud before it ships.
New records, honest scores. If it lands here, it earned the spin.
Scored 9.3/10. Industrial, abrasive, and impossible to ignore.
Moe TrainApproved
Scored 9.5/10. Ragtime revival done right, front-porch soul with a wink.
Moe TrainApprovedThe artists sat down with Moe Train and King B, now spinning in one place. Thirteen tracks, zero skips.
Straight out of his own library. Ska, punk, metal, and everything he actually listens to.
Moe Train’s Tracks
The backstage pass to the biggest names in music.
Anyone can do a Q&A. But the magic happens when the Tracks hosts take the mic and truly vibe with their guests.
Moe Train
