I chatted with Derek ‘Mo’ Moore about how Nektar formed and the legacy of “Remember The Future.” 

When did you know you wanted to be a musician?

I started playing music when I was seven years old. My sister played classical piano and I used to sit and listen to her. I talked her into teaching me. I found I could hear something and I could play it. I guess you could say that’s a gift. I was about sixteen when I got in my first band. The bass player left; I was playing piano, so I just switched over.

How did Nektar form? 

We had a band called Prophecy. It was me, Ron, Colin Edwards, and Taff. Colin left and we needed a guitarist. We knew Roy, so i sent him a telegram in Sweden. I asked if he wanted to join and he came right down to Hamburg. We got together right away. A few days later I got us a gig. If you didn’t gig, you didn’t eat. It was some kind of social hall and we jammed the whole night. It felt fantastic. We decided that if it did well, we were going to call it Nektar. Obviously the rest is history. 

What is your favorite song to perform and why?

Man..I like all of them for different reasons. When we do a concert it’s very rarely less than two hours. The time just flies because some of the pieces of music are twenty minutes long. 

What is your songwriting process?

We just jam a lot and play music we like. Sometimes we put in solos from jam sessions into our recordings. We were in the middle of a tour when Covid hit. We were on a break and were supposed to pick up on the West Coast April and May 2020 but everything was cancelled. We finally have gotten back on the road and it’s going great.

What do you recall about the recording of the “Remember The Future” album? 

I remember we went to the studio and we had the album concept down but not all the words. We saw the album cover and that’s what gave us the inspiration for the music. We were watching “Frankenstein”; the part where he meets the blind man. He’s not afraid of him because he’s blind. We thought it would be cool to put the bluebird as the guy who would be the mentor and the blind boy doesn’t see him so he’s not afraid of him. He projects into his mind. 

Oh! We arrived in the studio and only had five days to record the album. We used just about every minute of the five days. I think that helped to make it gel. It was so fast..it had synergy. 

Are you excited about your show in Annapolis?

Oh yes. We have a lot of fans out there! 

Nektar headlines Rams Head Annapolis April 27th! Buy tix

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