MOE & the Lawn, left to right:  Andy Black, Rex Martin, Ellis Moss, Charlie Burrus, Macy Heacock.  Artwork (as well as percussion) by Macy Heacock.

MOE & the Lawn started in April of 1988, when guitarists Charlie Burrus and Jim Heath got bassist Andy Black and vocalist Ellis Moss to join them to try to get a band together.  The first gig was on a Monday at the Last Concert Cafe in Houston, and the drummer was a Korg DDD5 drum machine.  Fortunately, by the end of the week, a real live drummer named John Chupin joined them, and they were gigging every other week or so.  At the time, they were playing a combination of jazz, rock & old R&B tunes.

That summer Jim moved to California, so they picked up Rex Martin to join them.  The jazz tunes pretty quickly faded from the band's repertoire, as they headed more into a rock/R&B with occasional reggae groove.  The band continued with that line-up for about a year.  In the summer of 1989 John moved on and was replaced by Eric Dorris, who drummed with them for about a year or so before leaving town to go to school.  That's when Macy Heacock joined the band, and the lineup stayed intact for the next 5 years.  Actually, Eric returned off and on, so for a while the two drummers would play together.  Meanwhile, Charlie started playing keyboards as well as the guitar, and Ellis started playing blues harp and congas.  They pulled in a horn section occasionally.  Rex started growing grey hair.  Also during that time the band was offered several recording contracts from major labels.  They turned them all down, so they could maintain their independence and artistic integrity.  Or so goes the legend.

They played the Last Concert Cafe about a bazillion times, and also played at the Houston International Festival, Party on the Plaza, Blythe Spirits, Mickey's Mardi Gras, Tortilla's, Adrian's Cantina, the Red Lion, Brennan's New Year's Eve Party, McGonigal's Mucky Duck, and the unforgettable Pearl's Cotton Club.  They played a couple of gigs down in Galveston, but that's about as far as they ever ventured outside of Houston.

By the mid-'90's Charlie, Rex & Andy had all accumulated wives and children, and the combination of devoted Daddy role, day job & evening rock'n'roller was hard to keep up.  Regretfully, the band decided to call it quits. 

But they haven't sold the PA yet.  Maybe when the kids are all grown...

Here are a few tunes from the MOE vault:
What Can I Do?
Maybe When
Taking Out the Trash (coming)
Way Back Home (coming)