Musical Chairs: Mooch's Basement

With a wealth of live music being played in and around Media, Patch will highlight its local talent in the new feature Musical Chairs. We'll start things off with a homegrown Delaware County quintet of 50-somethings who have an older sound but write all new songs.

Band Name: Mooch's Basement

Band Members/Instruments: Jim "Mooch" Elliott (lead vocals, guitar); Mark McLaughlin (keyboard, vocals); Bob Byrnes (lead guitar); Duncan Smith (bass, vocals); Marty McGee (drums)

Year Created: 2006

Hometown: Delaware County

Q: What brought the group together?

Mooch's Basement has a convoluted history that dates back to when Jim and Mark first started playing together in grade school. Later in high school, Mark teamed up with Bob, but without Jim. When the three men were in their early 20's, they started playing as a trio and soon met Duncan (through a relative of Jim's) and Marty (who had a mutual friend with Duncan). For the next couple of decades, others came and went, bands were renamed, reformed, but the chemistry just wasn't right.

In 2006, all five men were in attendance for the wedding of Mark's oldest son, and it became an impromptu reunion for them. The began to play together in Jim's basement because Jim wanted to record some songs just for posterity, but they soon realized that they had finally found the magic they'd been looking for, and started thinking, 'Why couldn't we try and take this on the road and field test it a little?' And that's exactly what they began to do, and haven't looked back since.

Q: Where was the first place you played?

Seven Stones in Media

Q: What's your favorite place you played?

The band unanimously agrees on the , although Duncan says, "Honestly, I don't think the best has come yet."

Q: What's the best part of playing in a band?

Mark: The camaraderie, the creative environment.

Bob: That feeling...I can't really describe it in words. It's just that thing where he's playing one thing, and somebody else chimes in with his part, and I add mine, and we just share that look at one point, like...yeah. It's hard to describe, but it's great when it happens.

Q: What's your favorite song to play?

Bob: Falling on Purpose

Jim: It Only Hurts When I Laugh

Mark: Winter Forgive Me

Duncan: It Turns My Head

Marty: On a Night Like This

Q: What's your all-time favorite band (other than you)?

Jim: The Beatles

Bob: Yes

Marty: Sigur Ros

Duncan: Squeeze

Mark: XTC

Q: Have you ever played for/with any celebrities?

When Mooch's Basement (minus Mooch) were called "Press", they played on the TV show Dancin' On Air, whose cast at the time included Kelly Ripa.

Q: What's Your Greatest On-Stage Moment?

The band uniformly agreed that last summer's show at the Media Theatre was their high point so far. "We were completely ready for the show," said Bob, "technically, mentally, everything. To use Marty's phrase, we just laid back and sparkled. The acoustics of the place are fantastic, the crowd vibe was great, it just all really came together that night."

Q: What band or musician would you most like to meet right now?

Marty: David Bowie

Duncan: Karen Anderson, aka Fever Ray

Mark: Burt Bacharach

Bob: Eric Clapton

Jim: Elvis Costello

Q: What impact has playing music had on your life?

Duncan: Music has always turned up at pivotal points in my life to be my foundation.

Mark: Not to get too weird, but music has a sort of healing property. It's something we keep being drawn to, like something we need to have in our lives.

Jim: It's like a great fairy tale...I'm still in love with it, and my friends are in it. It's the best drug there is.

The newest EP from Mooch's Basement (see the cover image in the photo section) is available for purchase on iTunes. Check out their You Tube video (underneath the photo section) of a live Media Theatre performance, too. They have upcoming shows on Aug. 27 at the Media Theatre and Sept. 14 at the Landsdowne Farmers' Market.

If you know of a band you'd like to see featured on Media Patch please contact editor Courtney Elko at courtney.elko@patch.com.