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"Can we, as a country, all
agree
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xmag.com
: October
2004: Dead
Moon For President
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DEAD
MOON FOR PRESIDENT
"I DON'T KNOW IF I'D WANT THAT JOB!"
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Fred
Cole, lead singer of Dead
Moon,
relaxes on the groady couch in the Ash Street's
cave-like green room. "Fuckin' ridiculous,
gettin' this old. Just fuckin' ridiculous."
"Who would've thought," seconds Toody, his
pistol-hot wife of almost forty years and
grandmother of his seven grandchildren.
They're headlining the closing night of Music
Fest  Northwest,
playing their last Portland show before they
jet off to Europe. Drummer Andrew Loomis pops
in briefly, resplendent in a red and black
pimp ensemble, to score coveted VIP passes
for his lovely wife and mother. The rest of
the extended family--all of Portland--waits
downstairs.
Dead Moon is Portland. No other band has influenced
the Portland scene as much, no Portland band's
influence reaches further, no Portland band
is as hard working. Or hard rocking.
Dead Moon shows are always packed with the
faithful--old
Portland
rock luminaries brush up against slumming
hipsters trip over pretty newbies get photographed
by Stephen Malkmus. Penniless street punks
hang out outside, listening to the quintessential
sound of Portland. It's a rebel yell.
Fred and Toody are fifty-seven years old.
On average they play ONE HUNDRED shows a
year. Every year they play more shows to
bigger audiences. Europe can't get enough
of them. They are, in a word, primal. The
otherworldly wail of Fred's guitar and voice,
Toody's Patti-Smith-like incantations and
her cover of "Paint It Black," her loud
throbbing bass and Loomis's brutal drumming...
these are among the most beautiful sounds
I know. Sounds like home.
Fred Cole started penning seminal songs
in his late teens; forty years later he
knows what the fuck
he's doing.
VIVA:
You're all from the Northwest, Fred's from
Tacoma...
Toody:
And Andrew and I are both from Portland.
VIVA:
What do you think is special about this
area? What  inspires
you here?
Fred:
The wilderness of it all. You can go five
minutes out of the city and really visualize
what it was like for Lewis and Clark to
come through and see Oregon for the first
time, all the fuckin' trees and shit. Being
this close to Mt. Hood and the national
forests and all the rivers we have, it really
gives you the perspective of a pioneer.
Toody:
There's nothing like it. The other thing
that always hits me, besides the pioneer
thing, is that Portland, ever since I can
remember, back in high school, has had such
a great, viable music scene. I took it for
granted until I went other places and realized
just how special it is. And the fact that
Oregon has always been an incredibly independent
state.
Fred:
It's got a creative feel to it. Everyone
here is really creative. It's amazing. I
don't know if it's in the water or the air
or the rain or nature....
VIVA:
It's stubbornly creative. And I see Portland
now as being very inspired by you. At your
shows you see old people, young people,
fuck ups, straights, everybody. I feel that
Dead Moon, as citizens, have given tirelessly
of yourselves and your time and that you
should run for President.
Toody:
Well, this town has given us so
much
it's unbelievable, too. This is home.
We've traveled everywhere and there's
no place like home. This is it.
VIVA:
I guess we should know your platform.
You seem pretty pro-family values, having
been married almost forty years...
VIVA:
What do you think about gay marriage?
Toody:
I think that relationships are enough
of a bitch; if you find your soul mate,
that's great! It's such a small percentage
of the population that ever do and it's
something that everybody's looking for.
Fred:
I have never been able to understand why,
when people aren't hurting somebody else,
they have to get fucked with. It's so
hard for people to be happy, and I don't
really give a fuck whether it's smoking
or whatever. They say that second-hand
smoke is killing people, but I doubt it.
If people don't like it, don't go to bars!
They should have bars that are smoker
bars and bars that are non-smoking bars.
If you're not into being gay, then don't
be gay! If you are, fuck! Who cares?
Toody:
It's like pick your poison! No matter
how much Americans want to believe that
they're not gonna die, we all are. So,
just make the journey as enjoyable as
possible and do what works for you! And
what works for me isn't necessarily gonna
work for you or Joe Blow down the block.
As long as you don't force what works
for you on me, I'm fine with it.
VIVA:
What are your poisons?
Fred:
We joke all the time about what gamblers
we are, but we
play penny Keno machines and we never
get hurt by it. Sometimes we end up making
a lot of money, but it all evens out.
Toody:
Usually it's just entertainment and you
lose your shorts... We're cheapskates!
VIVA:
Good! That's how you keep rock'n'rolling
and surviving.
Fred:
We've never been into drugs. We drink.
Sometimes when we come home from tour
we drink too much but after we drink too
much for two weeks we dry out. We go to
Reno and when we're gambling we never
drink. We have our coffee but we never
have any booze, even though they bring
it to us for free. That's our thing.
VIVA:
Dead Moon's platform. Do you think voting
is important and will you be voting in
November?
Fred:
Yeah! I think it's real important and
I'm gonna be voting for George Bush and
everyone thinks I'm crazy. I already know
what to expect from him. I don't really
feel like change is gonna make that much
difference. At least we know where George
Bush is at. I'd really hate to vote for
somebody and have them come into office
and then all of a sudden a whole lot of
stuff really does change majorly. That
to me is even more scary than knowing
what to expect.
Toody:
At this point for the last--oh, shit--fifteen,
twenty years we've been really disgusted
with what choice there is. I can completely
understand why everyone's so apathetic.
We're old enough to be cynical. At this
point the President doesn't really run
the country anyway. To me it's like a
big corporation.
VIVA:
It is a big corporation. I almost feel
like the terrorists are the only revolutionaries
really making a statement. How can you
make your voice heard other than screaming
onstage?
Toody:
We grew up in the sixties when everybody
was totally idealistic about everything,
us included. This much time goes by and
nothing--no matter what anybody sacrificed,
did, whatever--has changed... You just
make ripples and change a few people in
your own little pond. That's more important
to me.
VIVA:
Admirable females in rock'n'roll are few
and far between. When you were raising
your kids, did you turn them on to any
certain ladies?
Toody:
I was always a big fan of Janis Joplin.
Not her lifestyle, per se, but her singing
just totally killed me, and I think she
was an incredibly strong woman. I've been
really blessed to have incredibly strong
women in my life and in my family. Those
were always a bigger influence, my mother
especially. I tried to be that for my
daughter Amanda. Kate Hepburn, too, was
a big idol of mine when I was a kid. I
really appreciate it when anyone younger
than me gets that from me. It's like passing
it on, and all of us need to do that.
VIVA:
Do you ever go to strip bars in town?
VIVA:
Then you haven't had the pleasure of--well,
Fred, you must have seen a stripper strip
to your songs at some point.
Fred:
Yeah. In Vegas. I was just out of high
school. We got hired to play at the Colonial
Inn, which at the time was right on the
strip. I was nervous about playing anyway.
I got onstage
and
there were all these go-go girls. They
came out with this star spangled shit.
One gal turns around and drops her bra
and comes around in front of me with
these huge boobs.... Fuck! I was sixteen
years old! I was so nervous. I couldn't
even handle it. We played there about
a month and it took me two weeks to
get it together enough to play. The
whole time it was just like, "Oh God!"
And she thought it was funnier than
shit. She knew I was just blowin' it.
Back then you could be onstage under
twenty-one, but as soon as your set
was over you had to go back in the kitchen
or outside. The only time I could be
in the joint I'd be on stage and there
was that girl and Oh My God!
VIVA:
What makes music sexy?
Toody:
To me it's a combination of sight, sound,
feel, when it hits all your senses,
when you feel the bass going through
you and the treble goes to your head.
If the songs are great and there's passion
there it's actually like a sexual experience
between the band and the audience.
Fred:
Seeing a band just running through the
motions is totally unsexy. If I see
a band and it looks like it's rehearsed,
to me that's like a dude coming into
a bar with a line. "Oh, wow! Love your
hair! What's your sign?" It isn't real.
It doesn't turn you on. It doesn't really
matter to me what kind of music it is.
There's bands in every vein that turn
me on, that I like, and in every vein
that I look at 'em and I think, "Aww
fuck you. What are you going to be into
next week?"
Toody:
The other thing that kills me is great
vocals, where you can tell that somebody
is really baring their soul to you,
which is a very difficult thing to do.
That's why it has such an emotional
impact on people. It's happening to
you right then and there. It's a voyeurism.
You're letting them in on a side that
usually
you wouldn't show anybody.
VIVA:
I interviewed the Lucky 13's last
month and asked them who the sexiest
singer was and one of them said Fred
Cole. It's a primal thing; you've
got it. [He laughs.]
Toody
[to Fred]: Well, I think you're hot!
VIVA:
Hee! Alright. Sexiest song of all
time?
Toody:
Willie Nelson's "Angel Flying Too
Close to the Ground." That particular
one just nails the man-woman thing
for me.
Fred:
"Stand By Your Man." "Always On My
Mind." Love songs are sexy for me.
"My Baby Does the Hanky Panky" is
not my idea of a fucking turn-on,
ok? "Wild Horses" by the Stones just
kills me.
VIVA:
Sexiest guitar sound of all time?
Fred:
AC/DC. I love the rhythm those guys
come up with. Keith Richards.
Toody:
To me it's the rhythm and bluesy stuff.
I'd have to say Keith.
VIVA:
Best Stones song ever?
Fred:
They've got a million of them. I'd
have to say "Time Waits for No One."
[Fred leaves to check out the opener.]
Toody:
The two that kill me the most are
"Sympathy for the Devil" and "Gimme
Shelter."
Toody:
Blonde on Blonde. And I especially
loved how much shit everyone gave
him for going electric and how terrible
that was, 'cause I think that's the
best thing he's ever done.
VIVA:
Sexiest city in the world?
VIVA:
What's sexy about your husband?
Toody:
Oh, everything. Everything. He's the
complete package. There's a creative
side, a responsible, financial security
side, an incredibly sensitive side,
a very hard side, independent and
vulnerable, you name it.
VIVA:
Wow... You lucked out, huh?
VIVA:
Would you rather go bowhunting with
the Nuge or drink til ya puke with
Lemmy?
Toody:
Lemmy! I'm dying to meet him. Let
me talk to that asshole.
VIVA:
What color panties are you wearing
and how long have you been wearing
them?
Toody:
White and probably three days. I'm
lazy and I use whatever--plain old
cotton shit, nothing fancy. I'm not
a girl girl.
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