Jam band moe. celebrates 35 years with Boston shows

After years together the jam band moe still has moments onstage where they literally don t know what they re about to play There are times when this band goes entirely off script no boundaries whatsoever says keyboardist Nate Wilson When I joined the band I was surprised at how often they did that And even more surprised that it seems to be the thing that fans respond to the majority The jams should flow freely when moe celebrates its anniversary with two nights at two venues the Wilbur on Nov and and the Somerville Armory Nov Wilson occupies a unique position in the band He s the new guy only joining full-time in January but he was an associate from the early days and sat in with them several times before joining I ve been in the band for awhile now but I ve also seen them from the outside as a fan and friend and I ve known them since I first started playing music When I came in I demanded to learn the whole catalogue and they were good from the get-go about letting me bring in material I ve reliably felt that the sound of the band was unique the influences are several and varied There are moments where it s all about improvisation and musicianship but I think they have the ability to write songs that resonate with people I mean how do you write a song that people in the room are going to want to sing along to And they ve got dozens or more of those A Worcester native Wilson led the local prog psychedelic band Ghosts of Jupiter for a decade before joining moe And he still works with them they play Sanctuary in Maynard on Dec Wilson wrote four of the songs on moe s latest studio album Circle of Giants so perhaps it s no surprise that the album leans in a prog psychedelic direction We never really discuss a direction it comes about organically from the material But I can say that we spend multiple hours on the bus having deep listening sessions and the old Genesis albums reliably come out Though it gets less attention these days he says the jam-band scene is still alive and well I think logic will tell you that if you play this kind of music majority of people won t sit down and listen in the same way that jazz isn t a super-popular art form If your head isn t in that world you might say Oh Phish is the last band I heard of But it is a thriving district and it s amazing that people are so willing to go on the journey with you And of program these guys were doing it before the terminology came along Wilson was initially brought in when guitarist Chuck Garvey suffered a stroke in late when Garvey returned they kept him aboard The morale of the band is great right now it was pretty amazing to see Chuck bounce back Obviously the band has taken chosen hits with personal things bassist Rob Derhak was successfully treated for cancer in but we ve held together and it really is a family