Thursday, April 8, 1999
By ELISSA BARNARD -- Halifax Herald
The all-brother band The Moffatts have two
definite plans for their first trip to Halifax next week.
Their step-mother Sheila is taking them out for lobster and they
will visit with their dad's sister, the four brothers' aunt, whom
Dave calls "Auntie Burn."
"We're really close," says Dave. As for the other plan,
"I think lobster's great," but his secret passion is
Chinese fast food.
Dave, 15, is one of the triplets in The Moffatts who with 16-year-old
brother Scott have seen their album Chapter 1: A New Beginning go
platinum in Canada. Their new song, Until You Loved Me, is on the
soundtrack for Drew Barrymore's new movie, Never Been Kissed. (It
was the first song Capitol Records chose for the soundtrack.)
Of course, the main reason The Moffatts are coming to Halifax is
to perform a sold-out concert at the Cohn Wednesday and to greet
fans at a one-hour, in-store autographing session at the Penhorn
Wal-Mart Wednesday, 4 p.m.
Those can get pretty wild, says Dave, nicknamed Big D because at
birth he was the biggest triplet.
At the Hamilton Wal-Mart instore, 6,000 people showed up. "They
didn't expect that many and it was crazy but the people at Wal-Mart
handled it really well and it was the day of our birthday (March
8) so they sang Happy Birthday."
Teen girls who have crushes on the pop-rock siblings throw
letters, necklaces, even bras up on stage.
"A lot of people think some people are in the music business
for the money," says keyboardist Dave, on the phone before a
concert in London, Ont. "We're in the music business to make
people happy and to see the fans' faces when we walk on stage
makes us feel really good. It's definitely an honour to see the
fans' reaction and think you're making these people happy."
The Moffatts were "quite shocked" and pleased to win
the best new pop adult category at this year's Canadian Radio
Music Awards. They don't see themselves specifically as a teen
band, and Dave's goals for The Moffatts are to do a world tour,
taking in North America, Southeast Asia and Europe, record more
albums and play stadiums.
The band is already successful, with their hit singles Miss You
Like Crazy, I'll Be There For You and Girl of My Dreams, written
by the four brothers who all sing and play instruments.
As Dave says, the brothers' have gotten where they are through
"a lot of work."
The four first appeared on stage in 1990 as a country act. Two
years later they moved to Nashville, did a tour with the Osmonds,
had a seven-month engagement in the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas,
made over 200 TV appearances, recorded a country album and had a
novely hit, Caterpillar Crawl.
Their mother, Darlana, still lives in Nashville where she works
for The Moffatts fan club. However, the boys have left country
music far behind with Chapter 1: A New Beginning.
"My favourite music would be rock/pop," says Dave.
"I consider Aerosmith my favourite band and also the Beatles.
We have a lot of influences from the Beatles."
Dave's favourite Beatles album is The White Album. "It's an
incredible album, it's so diversifed from one thing to the other.
It has country, it has grunge, rock, everything." Dave's
favourite song is The Beatles' Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da.
"I think it's great if you're diversified. We don't want to
be labelled. That's good for all bands."
Each Moffatt has a business role to play in the band. Dave is
responsible for videos and endorsements.
The four are home-schooled by their father Frank. Dave's
favourite subject, apart from music, is English and poetry in
particular. "Yesterday we did a lot of school work right
before the show. Right before the show, an hour before, we just
think about what we need to do "
The next Canadian single will be Until You Loved Me, which is the
first U.S. single. "After we're done the Canadian tour, we
go into America to start promoting the album."
Step-mom Sheila Moffatt is a big part of The Moffatts. She co-wrote
Dave's favourite song on the Chapter 1 album, If Life is So
Short, and she helps keep everything organized.
"Since she's been on the road everything's been perfect,"
says Dave. "She carries the schedule; she makes it really
easy for us. She does our laundry which is a very big job!"
(Original text: http://www.canoe.ca/AllPop-Moffatts/990408_debut.html )