The REBEL STORM Official Website-SRA Interview with Billy

Southern Rock Archive interview with Billy Moss

By Micheal Knippschild

Micheal:

Place of birth?

Billy:

I was born in Chehalis Washington. State that is. My father was up here at Fort Lewis during the cold war and hooked up with my Ma. Started him a family. Shortly after I was born the family headed to my fathers home state of Alabama. My Mother being from Washington state. My first memories are of the south though. I am a southern son.

Micheal:

First musical instrument you picked up?

Billy:

Actually I was a drummer before I was a teenager and moved to guitar and ukulele. Never really took any of it seriously until all of us Moss boys got into the guitar as teenagers in Alabama. Jeff took it up first, and soon we were all into it, and it was another thing we could all do together.

Micheal:

First band you've played in, sang with.

Billy:

The Moss Brothers Band... Myself on guitar and vocals, Jeff Moss on guitar and vocals, and Troy Moss on Bass guitar and vocals and J.D. Poach on Drums. The first of Many Moss Brothers Bands.

As a matter of fact the current line up of the Moss Brothers Band is the first one I have not participated in. They did ask me to join, but I was just not ready to play with another band at the time but ended up recording on "Collard Greens", and later Mixing the new C.D. Royal Orleans with my brother Jeff, and Vadim Nuniyants. So I guess I still do participate to a point. I played with them at their C.D. release party a bit too.

Micheal:

Can you remember the first PAID gig you played? If YES, what year, where, how much pay, with which band?

Billy:

Yes, I can still remember that far back ! It was in Puyallup, Washington in August 1980 With the Moss Brothers, for a hundred bucks, all the beer we could drink, and all the pussy we could eat! That was a year after we all moved to Washington right after hurricane Frederick in 79. We were all still in high school.

Micheal:

Name 3-5 musical influences as a writer/singer/guitarist

Billy:

Greg Allman was and still is the man. The Skynyrd boys were great songwriters and have had a huge impact on me. Jeff and Troy Moss are great songwriters and of course have influenced me. I used to be way into being a blues guy and I have done some playing with some local guitar monsters Jerry Miller and Joe Blennis. Rebel Storm guitarist Mark Baker is an influence, but I play with him all the time. I cant wait for Ya'll to hear him. He is My favorite guitarist of all the ones we've played with in Rebel Storm. Other than kinfolk that is.

Micheal:

name up to 5 musicians (dead or alive) that would be your your pick for the "perfect" rock' n' roll band

Billy:

Well, Elvis Presley and Roy Orbison on vocals. Jacco Patorius on bass with Keef Richards on rhythm and John Bonham on drums. That would really kick some ass! I wonder if I could keep up cause of course I wanna play lead guitar !

Micheal:

Name your 5 personal "desert island discs", CDs you'd always take with you on vacation, or on tour.

Billy:

Anything from The Moss Brothers, W.I.N.D., and Flatman. A little Champagne Jam and some Rock Island line,

with a little bit of Agents of Fortune and some Aces High, and some Jessica to tuck me in at night! My absolute favorite song of all time is "Ain't Wastin' Time No More" by Greg Allman on the Allman Brothers "Eat a Peach" album.

Micheal:

Best gig you've ever played with Rebel Storm, headliner or support?

Billy:

Man that's tough. We've played some cool gigs. A couple that would stand out would be playing with Little Feat, Elvin Bishop, and Delbert McClinton at a classic rock festival. I guess some others would be when we played some gigs in 2003 with W.I.N.D. and I sat in and played with them. I have a lot of respect for those guys they are a great band. And any gig played with Flatman is going to be a fun gig!

Micheal:

Favorite club Rebel Storm/you always enjoys to play?

Billy:

I'm not much for clubs, but back when Rebel Storm was still calling themselves "The Moss Brothers" before we recorded "Stormin South" we used to just KILL a club called "Barbie's" down on the south side of Tacoma. That was fun. We've played some clubs around here but for the most part I'm really not into that. In Germany I would play in any club! we've always loved Freddy and the "Rainbow" in the Black Forest!

Great folks there. Lots of friends.

Micheal:

Complete this: "Rock n' Roll is......"

Billy:

Rock and Roll is like a Hurricane. Its the calm before the storm, and the calm in the eye of the storm that you live a normal life, and the rest is 140 miles a hour! And yes I've been in a hurricane.

Micheal:

What will you / Rebel Storm be doing ten years from now?

Billy:

Who Knows.. If I'm not pushing up daisies I could still be the same as I am now. Rebel Storm could still be playing. I'll still be hunting and fishing and playing.

Micheal:

What's the status of the new band / new CD by now? Members/ possible release date of CD?

Billy:

Man Micheal, I'm really into the new lineup. Me and Mark Baker on guitars, Phil Suggs on bass, and Bobby Nesbitt on drums who is doing great by the way. And we wanna say hi to Bobby's Mamma Noreen right now! Me and Lips {Phil Suggs} are doing the singing. We grabbed our favorite Engineer Vadim Nuniyants and went on down to House of Sound to see our buddy Joe Riggio, and recorded us a bunch of basic tracks. Seven of them. We've been doing overdubs at the Mojo Dojo, that's Vadim's studio. We are going back into the rehearsal studio at My ranch now to woodshed us up another batch. Maybe we'll have us a new release by the end of the summer or so but we are making a studio record. Ya'll are just going to love it! We are pulling out all the stops. we'll be having some friends of ours playing with us here and there throughout the disc as well. We are having fun. I think the people who like Rebel Storms music are going to be very surprised.

Micheal:

Any chance to see Rebel Storm touring Europe this/next year?

Billy:

Probably not in '07, but I'd like to see us come back over again in '08 for a tour. Maybe we'll bring my brothers with us. I like Europe in general, but I have pretty much fallen in love with Germany and I have many friends there so I think it would be cool to just come to Germany and play 8 or 10 shows.

Micheal:

How does it feel to be re releasing "The Hardway" C.D. ?

Billy:

I am very proud of "The Hardway" and I think it was a great accomplishment. My brother Troy played all of the guitars with me and that was really cool too, and my brother Jeff helped mix and produce it, and Bobby is such an old friend, it was a fun album to make.

I think the disc has held up really well and I've always known it was going to be hard to beat. Actually it was supposed to be Mark Baker on that album. It was basically done live in the studio. We fixed some guitars and overdubbed all the vocals but we wanted it to have the live feel that it does. I have a lot of live solo's on that album, that were recorded at the same time as when we did the rhythm tracks. We wanted it to sound like a Rebel Storm show, and I think we nailed it. We wanted it to sound like a 70's southern rock album and we Recorded on 24 track analog tape like on our first album. You sure can do a lot more stuff on digital though, and so we've finally made the jump to the present.

I've always wanted to do an album with Mark Baker, and we are doing one now. Bobby and Phil are a dream rhythm section. Now we definitely are the tightest and most in the pocket we have ever been. But "The Hardway" is what it is. Its only rock and roll, but I like it.

Micheal:

Is there anything you'd like to say on closing?

Billy:

I want to say thank you Micheal, and Southern Rock Archives for all the support over the years.

I want to say hello to all the Rebel Storm friends and fans out there, and I want them to know that we are trying to come back, and that we are working hard and recording a new C.D. right now!


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