This time on The NAS 10 Question we get to know My Poor Brother, AKA Bill Moores - Vocals, Guitars, Bass, Drums & Percussion, Keyboards, Mandolin.
The track "Waving at Passing Cars" is featured in the New Artist Spotlight Family of Playlists.
Link To New Artist Spotlight Playlists:
1. Tell us a little about where you are from and what you are currently doing.
I live in Sudbury, Ontario where I was born and raised. I work in IT from home, play drums and guitar in a few local bands. I'm married with two kids; I spend quite a bit of time driving to sporting or art events. I'm an avid runner so I am out running 5Ks several times a week. We spend most of the summers at camp on Lake Huron, out on the water by day and playing acoustic guitar around the campfire at night.
2. What inspired you to start playing and making music?
When I was 6, my parents put me in piano lessons for a few years but it wasn't until I was 11, my buddy and I decided to start a band so I started learning guitar and writing songs. We wrote a few and played at a school talent show when we were 12. I've played in many bands since then ranging from rock and blues to many different sub-genres of metal. I started MPB in 2003 as a side project to play acoustic and alternative rock stuff but since then I've added many elements to the project (Country, Folk, Alternative Rock, Dance, Hip Hop, Metal (Death, Hardcore, Black, Grind, Tech). After being in isolation in 2020, I decided to start recording and releasing all my songs to share with the world.
𝟯. Who are your biggest influences?
I really like bands and artists that don't stick a single genre. Mike Patton, Devin Townsend, Iwrestledabearonce, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Between the Buried and Me. I also gravitate towards really angry and/or really sad music, too many bands to list. I'm also influenced by many styles of music from the 90s but mostly alt. rock and grunge.
4. What are your goals in the music industry?
I plan on making a ton of music in many different genres. The floodgates are open now, I'll be putting out at least an album every year for as long as I can. I'd like to collaborate with some artists/bands. I haven't reached out to anyone yet but if anyone is interested, let me know. I have a few albums in the works now but mostly I just want to keep making music and sharing it.
5. Tell us about your creative process when you make new music.
I have a few processes - usually I'll record a few guitar riffs on my phone and listen back a few weeks, months or years later and start piecing things together from that. Other times, I'll start a track in Reaper (drums or keys) and build the song from there. Most often, the lyrics and vocal melodies are the last piece of the song and usually the hardest for me to put together. I enjoy having a vision for a song to start and by the end having something entirely different. It keeps things interesting.
6. What is your all-time favorite song?
Silent Flight Parliament - Between the Buried and Me (so much in one song), Baby's First Coffin - The Dillinger Escape Plan (so intense), Triumph - Wu Tang Clan (so many great raps in one song), The Patient - Tool (sadness and double vocals), Sleeping Sickness - City and Colour (RIP Gord Downie), ask me again tomorrow and I'll give you 5 completely different songs... even though you only asked for one.
7. What is the best advice you have either given or received in terms of music?
Always remember to have fun. Set goals and keep focused but if it's not fun, why are you doing it? I'm going to steal a few of these answers from previous 10 questions because they're quite good: your heart needs to be in it, never mind the haters, and stay humble.
8. Proudest accomplishment?
Still making music after 30 years is a pretty good accomplishment. Thanks to the NAS community, my music is being heard all around the world which is amazing. I've released over 3 albums with My Poor Brother, and 1 album, with Super Kaleidoscope, available on all streaming platforms in the past 3 years. 2 Swampdawgs albums and a Loot N' Burn album available on youtube and quite a few CDs released with previous bands. Every song I'm a part of, whether I build it from the ground up or if I just have a small part in, it's something to be proud of.
9. Just for fun! What's been your most embarrassing moment so far?
Early 2000s, a band I was in, Catharcyst, was playing a show in Toronto that was being recorded. During one song, I was attempting to play a lead and when I stepped on my multi effects pedal to change to a lead tone, it jumped several effects away and switched to acoustic so most of the lead break was me making awful off timing noises instead of a playing a screaming lead break. ...and we have it recorded for all time.
Just for fun, here's another one... playing another show in 90s with another band, State of Aggression, we used to make medleys and three of us would switch guitars to sing. At one point I had forgotten one of the songs in the medley so I handed off my guitar to sing only to realize I still had to play guitar for another part... so I quickly grabbed the guitar back and played AND THEN passed the guitar on so I could sing the next section. eeee!
𝟭0. Tell us about your lowest and highest points in music so far.
For lowest points, I'm sure many metal bands can relate to this, but we (Catharcyst) were opening for a not very well-known black metal band on a weeknight in Sudbury and the place was dead as dead can be. The promoter blamed us for no one showing up, I was pretty mad at the time and I wasn't playing or singing well. At the end of the set, I smashed my guitar on stage in frustration.
Highest points, most shows go much better than that. A few years ago, I played guitar at a friend's wedding in St. Catherines, Ontario on a Saturday and on the Sunday afternoon afterwards, I played drums in my blues rock band, Swampdawgs, in Blind River, 6 hours away. I felt like I was on tour for a few minutes.
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