Mom’s Best performs at Eddie’s Attic and the Buckhead Theatre this weekend. (Images courtesy of the band)
The band, which has been performing for the reason that early Seventies, performs exhibits in two very totally different venues this weekend.
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Mom’s Best rose to worldwide prominence practically a half-century in the past. However the self-described “funk-rock” band has an unimaginable historical past that precedes the tumultuous ’70s.
The venerable group has survived the Vietnam Period, the Nixon years, the following Watergate scandal, ’70s acid rock and punk, ’80s new wave, ’90s grunge, the cultural mashup of the 2000s and the Covid-19 epidemic — and continues to rock on because the instability of the newest Trump administration unfolds.
When reminded of the act’s uncommon perseverance, co-founder Glenn “Doc” Murdock succinctly attributed the group’s longevity to “self-defense.”
Throughout a prolonged telephone interview with ArtsATL, the metro Atlanta resident expounded on the band’s survival. “I actually do assume our story is all about self-defense,” he stated. “We maintain puttin’ it on the market, and we maintain working as a result of we need to and since we actually have to! I feel that’s what’s led us from one period to a different for all these years.”
Murdock stated the members of Mom’s Best had thought the tip was close to on just a few totally different events throughout their spectacular tenure. “However fairly quickly, it’s at all times like, ‘Properly, let’s go forward and do some new stuff anyway.’ I feel we may be a glutton for it, as a result of we simply need to carry on enjoying. It places meals on the desk, however I feel the very best half is, we nonetheless have enjoyable doing it.”
Together with co-founder Joyce “Child Jean” Kennedy, Murdock has been a working musician for the reason that late ’60s. They met in Chicago, Murdock’s hometown. The stage antics and powerhouse vocals of Mississippi-born Kennedy shortly grew to become the focus of their revue-style exhibits.
“We labored wherever and in all places we may,” Murdock defined. “USO exhibits, membership gigs, it didn’t matter to us as a result of we simply wished to play our music.” The duo traveled the show-band circuit, crisscrossing the Midwest and East Coast. “It was a whole lot of arduous work, low pay and excessive mileage!”
By the point the musicians reached Miami in early 1970, popular culture and musical tastes have been altering, whereas more durable rock and soul bands like Sly Stone and the Household Stone (Stone died earlier this week on the age of 82) have been gaining reputation. “By then, I feel we have been changing into what we’d been type of dreaming about. However it certain took a very long time.”
With the addition of Jerry “Wyzard” Seay and Gary “Moses Mo” Moore, the core of the band started to take form. In 1972, the band recorded a self-titled debut LP for RCA. The consequence was a sonic disappointment for the band. “They’d added strings and stuff. It wasn’t something we wished — in any respect. However being gluttons, we didn’t cease, we simply saved on enjoying and writing,” laughed Murdock.
The fruits of their appreciable labor ripened just a few years later when producer Tom Werman (Blue Öyster Cult, Low cost Trick, Motley Crüe) noticed the band play dwell in a membership in Atlanta. Quickly, they have been signed to Epic, a serious subsidiary of Columbia Information. The consequence was their second self-titled launch in 1976.
“Oh man, when that album got here out,” Murdock defined, “I feel the whole lot modified. We’d minimize this actually cool report; it was so natural, and it was simply what we wished. Individuals have been saying they thought we have been gonna be greater than Led Zeppelin at that time. However what acquired in the way in which was Boston. Our report acquired buried below Boston. However you already know what? Like at all times, we simply carried on anyway.”
One of many extra controversial points of the primary MF Epic launch was the sarcastic “Niggizz Can’t Sang Rock ‘n’ Roll.” Murdock stated it’s nonetheless one in all his favourite songs from the band’s catalog.
“I prefer it as a result of it has a whole lot of shock worth,” he stated. “I actually went into an area to try this one. Individuals like George Clinton and all these guys, they’ve a really particular option to convey the meanings of that exact phrase. They’ll get away with it with out being too graphic. However we did it and we have been express. That’s from the streets of Chicago for me, you already know? It was uncooked, it was asphalt, it was a part of the world I got here from. Plus, at the moment, it was largely remedy.”
Murdock stated the message of the track weighed closely on him because the ’70s progressed. “I used to be very apprehensive about shifting south, particularly after they stated, ‘Let’s go to Atlanta.’ Issues have been so brutal then, however, by placing that track out, I feel it was good for us and for our followers.”
“I really loved when individuals would ask for it,” he chuckled. “I imply, white guys would come as much as me and say, ‘Hey, if you gonna sing that track, man?’ I’d say, ‘Oh yeah? Properly, what track is that?’ Then it might set up a dialogue.”
By the point One other Mom Additional arrived in 1977, Mom’s Best have been laying down the legislation that they weren’t an R&B band. “They tried to label us as that, and even [Epic labelmates] Earth, Wind and Hearth have been upset we didn’t match into that mildew. However we have been very comfy with the entire ‘rock music’ factor. That’s the place we got here from, and we weren’t about to alter at that time.”
To drive the purpose residence, Murdock and firm got here up with one in all their greatest hits. “Piece Of The Rock” grew to become a staple of arduous rock radio playlists, together with at Atlanta’s 96 Rock.
“We would have liked to say that we wished a bit of that rock ‘n’ roll,” he continued. “As a result of once in a while, we had been denied that entry.” He stated the band rose to the problem.
“Again then, you have been both rock or funk or R&B. You had to decide on. We didn’t need to select. We cherished all these genres, and we’d performed all these issues. We really nonetheless do, however that track type of grew to become an anthem to say we wished to simply be seen as ourselves. It grew to become a little bit of a rally cry.”
The band’s fight tactic labored, and the identical album skillfully featured the extra simple soul monitor, “Child Love.”
“That was a track that folks may type of tolerate on each side of the fence,” stated Murdock. “However, once more, it has parts of funk, R&B and rock, too. And I have to say, 96 Rock have been massive supporters of us. They’d play the entire album, throughout. Then these songs took us — not simply all around the States, however to Europe after which all around the world.”
European audiences proceed to be amenable to the band’s mind-set. “We’ll go over there thrice this 12 months as a result of the audiences there nonetheless get it. They decide you by the music, and there’s no type of racial factor. It’s simply, is it good or is it dangerous? I feel the true cause why we acquired well-liked over there within the first place is as a result of they understood what actual funk is about. It’s a complete acceptance of what we’re doing.”
Acceptance continues to gas the band. “The beauty of all of it is, we nonetheless wouldn’t have modified our methods — and even now, we nonetheless received’t change the way in which we do issues. I don’t know if it’s as a result of we’re simply hardheaded or what.”
This week, Atlanta followers have two uncommon alternatives to see the band’s incendiary dwell present at two decidedly totally different venues. The MF one-two punch begins on the usually staid listening room at Eddie’s Attic on Friday and continues to the large stage on the Buckhead Theatre on Saturday evening.
At Eddie’s, the band might be flanked by the venue’s iconic banners that warn listeners to remain quiet and listen. Does this imply Mom’s Best is planning to decrease their quantity and ship an intimate acoustic set?
“Hell no,” replied Murdock. “We are able to’t try this! It’s embarrassing, man. We’ve tried it, however the very best we are able to do is attempt to play just a bit bit quieter. That’s about it. We even tried it with acoustic devices, and that didn’t work both. So the Eddie’s present is just about the identical actual rock present because the Buckhead Theatre. It may be much more intense as a result of everybody is correct up there with us in that room.”
Murdock stated each exhibits will function him and Joyce Kennedy on vocals, joined by Jerry “Wyzard” Seay (bass), Gary “Moses Mo” Moore and John “Crimson Satan” Hayes (guitars) — and his son Dion Derek Murdock on drums.
“Generally Dion is a ache within the ass, and generally he’s one of many heaviest drummers we’ve ever had,” concluded Murdock. “He’s carrying it on, identical to the remainder of us. He realized all of it by being there — however, then, so did we! We’re nonetheless right here and we’re all greater than able to rock.”
The place & When
Mom’s Best. 9 p.m. Friday, June 13, $56.18-$68.70, Eddie’s Attic, 515-B N. McDonough St., Decatur. 404-377-4976, eddiesattic.com; and eight p.m. Saturday, June 14, $37-$123, Buckhead Theatre, 3110 Roswell Highway NW, Atlanta. 404- 843-2825, thebuckheadtheatre.com.
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Lee Valentine Smith is an Atlanta-born artist, author and musician. At present an everyday contributor to The Atlanta Journal-Structure, his work has been syndicated internationally. He has appeared at Music Midtown, on CBS Radio and on Air America. He additionally served as artwork director, marketing consultant and archivist for initiatives with ’80s hitmakers The Go-Go’s.