Every School of Rock classroom ought to have mural on the wall quoting AC/DC: It’s a long way to the top if you wanna rock and roll.
The Black Moods — a good-time, power-rock trio out of Tempe — know the journey well. Singer and guitarist Josh Kennedy and drummer Chico Diaz (who also performs the duties of general manager) crank out a brand of familiar-sounding rock with intoxicating signature sound. They’ve garnered longtime fans here in Arizona as well as FM station support in Wisconsin, Indiana and Colorado with their decidedly radio-ready vibe.
In the coming weeks they're criss-crossing Arizona — playing shows April 8 at Frashers Tavern in Scottsdale; April 12 at the Rock in Tucson; and May 9 at Santan Gardens in Chandler — before they catapult onto a summer tour that will take them heavily through Mexico and the Midwest.
Arizona fans will be watching the band not only warm up for a tour, but also break in a new bass player. The Black Moods' recent shows have not included bassist Jordan Hoffman, who decided to leave the group after seven years of performing and recording with the band. Kennedy and Diaz say he simply had a change of priorities. “It's just one of those things,” Kennedy says. “Nirvana had several drummers before they got Dave Grohl."
Filling in at bass for the summer tour is Brenden McBride. Locals know him from performances with bands such as Wyves, Jay Allan & The Uncommon Good, and Dayweather, as well as with singer Gail Lichtenstein.
“We’re in the courting stage, so to speak,” Diaz says. “Playing is 3 percent of it while living with someone on the road is the other 97 percent.”
Diaz says the band’s records are guidelines, not prescriptions, upon which McBride can make his distinctive mark. “We want him to add what makes him unique as a player,” the drummer says. “We’ve played songs for so many years, it is refreshing to chisel them out again and adjust to a different musician.”
The excitement includes the band’s new release that the weekend celebration is all about. “Passion” is a new EP from the band, the first of two with the second being entitled “Blood.” The band intends to release an album on vinyl which will combine the two EPs as a full album.
The band has also recently come up with the idea of offering a subscription that would grant fans exclusive goodies such as discounted merch and unreleased demos. They regret to inform you as well that there may be short-form video. “Today, it’s a necessary evil,” Kennedy says. “Not only do you have to write songs, record, and tour, but you now have to jump on TikTok and then [Instagram] and all these different platforms.”
This is the long way to the top AC/DC warned you about. Diaz says he’d probably be an entrepreneur if he wasn’t the drummer and GM of this band. And Kennedy says he’d still be playing guitar somewhere, even if it was a coffee shop because he was practically born into a musician's life. “My dad was playing a gig," he says of his birthday, laughing, "and my mom’s water broke!"
A star is born?
“Well, hopefully one of these days …"
