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Don't Call Them The Moffatts
Members of the former boy band are ready to move on
October 15, 2004

Written By: Sheri Block
Source: The Ottawa Citizen

Meeting the Moffatts at a busy downtown Calgary patio would have been a much different scene three years ago.

As Canada's so-called answer to the boy-band craze, the four brothers from Victoria wouldn't have been able to walk down the street, let alone sit outside and have lunch, without being swarmed by screaming teenage girls.

While members Bob and Clint did receive a few second glances as they were being photographed, it appears fans of the now defunct pop band have grown up.

But so have the Moffatts.

After pursuing a number of individual projects since their split in 2001, three of the four brothers -- the aforementioned two triplets, 20, and older brother Scott, 21, -- have reunited to pursue a new musical direction. Remaining triplet, Dave, is doing his own thing, attending school in Winnipeg.

Now living in Calgary, the three Moffatts have officially been back together since May and have already written some new songs for an upcoming album.

Bob and Clint are candid about the group's split and say it's the best thing that could have happened.

"I think we all are on the same page for the first time in our careers with where we want to go with it. I don't think we'd be doing this right now, working together again, if we hadn't branched off and done different things," says Clint.

"In the Moffatts, everybody was thinking about their own thing. I don't think it was like a group effort. It was like everybody had their own ego."

Starting out as a country band south of the border in 1994, the Moffatts rose to popularity overseas and in Canada with the release of their sugary sweet pop album Chapter 1: A New Beginning in 1998. It spawned the hit singles I'll Be There For You and Miss You Like Crazy and went multi-platinum around the world. It also secured their status as a "boy band."

But 2001's Submodalities, the Moffatts' last release as a group, had a harder edge, thanks in part to legendary producer Bob Rock who has worked with acts like Metallica and the Cult.

Despite the critical acclaim the album received, the Moffatts called it quits later that year because Dave was itching to travel and the rest of the group wasn't on the same musical page.

In attempts to shake the boy band image, Bob and Clint formed power pop band Hidell (formerly Pusch) with two other guitarists, and even scored a recording contract with EMI. Scott completely distanced himself from the Moffatts' sound and image, by joining emo-esque band the Boston Post and sporting a mohawk.

"Sometimes you have to do certain things to try and break that barrier of where you're at. You have to sometimes go to the max extreme to get people to pay attention and notice," says Clint of Scott's about-face.

Despite modest success, all three Moffatts left their side projects in order to work together again. They haven't yet picked a name for the new group, which also includes Boston Post percussionist Steve Hotchkiss, but it definitely won't be 'the Moffatts'.

"It's not the Moffatts. It's not all four of us, it's not the same thing as it used to be, and I don't think Dave would appreciate the fact if we would come out and be the Moffatts without him," says Clint. "And also, it's a new project, it's a new thing in our lives so we don't need to rehash on the past."

Clint describes their new sound as "Joy Division meets Cheap Trick" with influences from the Cure.

They've already laid down a few tracks at the Banff Centre's recording studio and hope to have enough for an album in the next few months.

Neither Moffatt is worried about how it will be received.

"We're still young, we're still 20," says Bob. "Even if people don't want to buy the records ... sooner or later, I think some people will take notice and maybe enjoy it."