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The Moffatts Grow Up
Calgary Sun
October 18, 2000



Shirley Temple, Gary Coleman, Archie Andrews, Robert Downey Jr. -- there are, it appears, some people who the world just won't let grow up.


Luckily, The Moffatts don't have that problem.


For the past decade, the four Canadian brothers (eldest Moffatt Scott, 17, and the triplets Clint, Dave and Bob, 16) have been recording and performing together as a musical act.


And from their golly-gosh country band beginning, when they played county fairs and toured with the likes of The Osmonds, to their recent facial-haired incarnation as pop rock heartthrobs, their fans have followed.


"The great thing is on our last album (Chapter 1: A New Beginning) our fans were the same age as the four of us. So you can only expect them to grow," says Bob.


The Moffatts' latest CD, Submodalities, which features the already massive hit single Bang Bang Boom, takes the new pop sound they dallied with on 1998's Chapter 1 -- which subsequently sold two million copies worldwide -- and adds an extra rock oomph to it.


Or maybe that should be an extra Bob Rock oomph to it. Most of Submodalities was recorded during a two-month session at the Hawaiian studio of Rock, the producer who helmed the board for everyone from Metallica to Bryan Adams.


And even though Rock co-wrote three of the songs on the album (the brothers wrote or co-wrote the majority, excluding the first single), The Moffatts are adamant the new direction they're headed in is one of their own choosing.


That's not to say Rock's fingerprints aren't all over the new Moffatt sound.


"Of course, sonically, he was a massive part of it. When you're still young musicians who are constantly learning, you need to take advice from someone who's been in the business for 20 years," Bob Moffatt says.


"We all would have definitely gotten to our sound -- we all know where we want to go. But I think Bob Rock helped us get there faster than we would have by ourselves."


Of course, the change in musical directions has not been without its problems.


Just as they've had to update their wardrobes (oh, the trials and tribulations of fame) so too have they had to dip into their back catalogue of songs and rework them to fit in with what they're now doing.


"You have success and you're proud of what helped you have success. On the other hand, you know you have to change it in order to succeed with the new material," Bob says.


"For us to get the point across that we've matured musically and as songwriters, we have to do what it takes."


That also includes, one would assume, changing what they're singing about.


True, for the most part, Submodalities features terrifically vapid love songs that are vague enough to mean something to anyone under the age of 18, but there is one track that hints at a darker, and yes, more mature side to The Moffatts -- I Don't Want You to Love Me, which talks about the world of one-night stands.


"(It's) basically a good example of what we go through on the road," says Bob, admitting that not much time is spent in Calgary, which they currently call home.


"When you're four guys in a band, you don't get to have the same relationships that guys going to high school or college get to have.


"So you've got to find ways, and that's usually how musicians deal with it on the road."


"We don't have any girlfriends or relationships with anyone serious right now," says Dave. "But I guess we need someone.


"We're not that bad. It's not like every night a new girl."