York Calling Interviewed Dave from Moat Cobra about Their DCxPC Live & Dead Album
I’ve always been a fan of metal, but I’ve been delving into the extreme metal side of things lately, and Florida band Moat Cobra have really caught my attention. They’ve recently released a cool live album called Live & Dead Vol. 1, which sounds really amazing for something not recorded in the studio! I wanted to find out more, so decided to have a chat with guitarist Dave Moreno – find out how we got on below!
By Jane Howkins
You’ve recently released an album titled Live & Dead Vol.1. What can you tell us about the record?
Yeah, this record started out originally intending to be a 7” record of a couple songs recorded live at one of our shows, but after talking to Scott Pasch from DCxPC Live. He wanted to do a 12” but the only problem was there wasn’t enough songs for both sides, so that’s when he said “Hey have you guys ever put your studio album on vinyl?” Since we hadn’t, that’s when the idea was born to do all live tracks on one side and our studio album on the other side. We dubbed it the Live & Dead series, which this album is the first volume of this series. I believe Scott already has the second Live & Dead release lined up aside from all the other live albums that DCxPC have in the works.
This album features a live set that includes a new song we’ve never recorded and the studio (dead) side has the studio recorded versions of all live songs other than the new one. It includes two songs that aren’t on the live side, so both sides have something a little different for the listener.
How has the reception to the album been so far, and where can it be purchased?
Actually, we’ve been quite surprised at the reception we’ve gotten for this album – pretty much all the reviews have been exceptional and it’s been wild to see reviews come in from all around the world. The album can be purchased online through the label website at dcxpclive.com, as well as on their Bandcamp page, as well as at one of our live shows. This release is limited to 200 copies so definitely grab a copy before they’re gone.
Why did you decide to release a live album? Is this something we can expect more of in the future?
Well this is something that Scott and Mike from DCxPC approached us about – the whole concept of their label is to put out live albums like the old VML live albums from the 90’s. Once they mentioned the idea, it seemed like a no brainer. We believed in the whole idea behind the label and Scott and Mike are our buds, so that’s why chose to do the live recording. As far as in the future, I can see us doing a live album again, but it would definitely need to be completely different songs. For now, we’re working on finishing songs for a studio recorded for an EP. I could definitely see us doing another live album, especially if we get someone like Josh Dobbs to do the recording again, since he killed it.
Do you plan to release any singles?
Yes, right now you can stream our single from the live side of this album called Devour. This is also our newest song that we haven’t recorded in a studio setting, it foreshadows and sets the tone for our new material that we’ve been working on and are excited to share with everyone.
Are there any plans to release a studio album or EP soon?
I don’t know how soon it will be since this album just came out but yes, we’ve got about 3 out of 5 songs done. So once we have the 5 done, we’ll get the songs recorded and put together the EP release. Check out our Facebook or Instagram page for updates on that, I’ll be posting a video of one of the other new songs here soon.
Your music has an extreme metal sound. What/who influences you most as artists? What have you been listening to recently?
What influences us can range from art, music, nerd culture and current events, but musically since we do draw from different styles of heavy aggressive music, our influences can range from hardcore punk, death metal, sludge and mathcore. So bands like High on Fire, Trap Them, Botch, Slayer, Black Flag, Converge and Death. Lately I’ve been listening to the new Dead Heat, Outer Heaven, Great Graves, Spy, Bully and Rancid albums.
Do you have anything else exciting coming up?
The next exciting thing we got coming up is our record release show on October 5th, which should be a banger since we’re getting some of the best punk and metal bands in central Florida.
You’re based in Florida, which is known for its death metal. What is the local scene like at the moment?
The scene is alive and kicking here in Orlando, from punk to death metal. We’re lucky to live somewhere that has a thriving underground music scene and community, with great venues that get a lot of local, national and international bands. With Death being from Orlando and being innovators of death metal, their influence can still be felt in the death metal scene here, and there are plenty of bands here churning out awesome old school influenced death metal. Definitely check out these killer death metal bands from Orlando; Blunt Force Trauma, Trash Panda, Intoxicated and Gnarcoossee.
Do you have any tour dates lined up for the UK?
No not currently, but if you know of any promoters that want to book us in the UK we would love to go headbang and pummel your ears haha.
Any last words for the fans?
Yeah, big thank you to all those that have supported us and helped us with this release and thanks to all that have bought copies of the album already. Make sure to follow us on Spotify, Apple Music, Bandcamp, Facebook and Instagram. Oh and thank you York Calling for the interview and the opportunity.
