When Ben Wilcox got the urge to put together a new band after No Say No(a fantastic band in it's own right) fell into disrepair, he didn't know what he was about to unleash upon the unsuspecting. Mind you, he may not have known what exactly what he wanted, but he did know what he didn't want!
Being influenced by the same early 60's Rawk and Roll that bands like The Fleshtones and The Lyres were playing in other parts of the US, Ben had a rough idea of what kind of music he wanted to play.
Ben needed rawk-n-roll supermen to complete his mission. He already had Steve Dover, a powerhouse drummin' madman beatin' the skins...he also knew thump-master bassist Marlow Matherne from his barnstorming days of old...now all they needed was a front person.
Calling upon old friend and ex-Surf King Lewis Bailey, Ben had found the man who could carry the torch-flame of rawk-n-roll for The Moguls!
But while being the wild man on stage Lewis sadly lacked the nimble fingers befitting a Guitar God. Knowing this, Ben and Lewis called upon the services of a man who shared the same THREE CHORD RAWK-N-ROLL CHROMOSOME as Del Shannon, Mr. Bob Anthony!
This original
version of the Moguls shook many a Tallahassee dance floor before time
and new interests took a toll. First
Bob Anthony left the band to take a job in St. Petersburg. He was
replaced by Louisiana madman Dave Mason on lead guitar and the secretive
and enigmatic Chazz on vocals. Lewis Bailey was the next to betray the trust that the band
placed in him. He left the group to return to his true love of surf
music and form a new band called
Stingray International. Shaken to the core by these defections, little
did the band know that the worst was yet to come. Founding member and
skin pounder Steve Dover
shocked the group when he moved to Clearwater to sell air conditioners.
Super Rock Drummer Dave Pierce joined the Moguls and helped the band record it's first CD. On June 30th, 2001, after more than a year of indentured servitude, Dave Pierce was awarded a certificate stating that he had successfully completed the rock and roll requirements of the Moguls. Shortly thereafter, Pierce moved to Hot Lanta to seek treatment for a ganglion cyst and continue playing with another great R&R band called Believe in Toledo.www.believeintoledo.com. Without missing a beat, The Moguls enlisted
Brian "GOOB" Crum as the new master of the dancing beat and a new era of Mogulization was started!
This lineup lasted for less than a year when Chazz and Marlow decided to leave. Marlow cited a new baby, and the fact that we had moved the beer refrigerator by his amplifier. Chazz left to pursue an art career with the Pelican Fun Place Gallery.
Tony Buzone soon came aboard to play bass. Then Lisa Pippin joined as the new singer. After a number of gigs that nobody came to, Tony and Brian left the band. Brian left to have a baby and Tony left to form a Neil Young cover band.
After moving into a new rehearsal space courtesy of Dickie Vagt, The Moguls added Ben's longtime friend and ex-Slut Boy Don Crenshaw as drummer and CBGB legend Keith Brown on bass. Don had a run in with the law and as they say "the law won" and he had to quit the band. Dave Mason left to focus on his day job at Mason's School of Music and was replaced by Danny Foster (No Say N0). Shortly after Lisa was transferred to a new job in the Louisiana boonies.
For any other band, the loss of the singer and the drummer might have spelled "The End." But not The Moguls. They found a great new drummer (Nils Mann) AND they added a great new singer - soul man Shane Weaver. With the departure of Danny Foster, once a Mogul always a Mogul Dave Mason returned to the band. The group's current lineup continues the Mogul tradition of hard rockin fun in the face of ever constant adversity!!!
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