Q&A with Moustache Yourself! guitarist Joe Terrett

In anticipation of the Best of the City celebration, we caught up with Moustache Yourself! guitarist Joe Terrett to find out more about the band.

How did the band first come about?

Jeremy and I were both teaching at a local music school. We shared a room and one day Jeremy put up an image of Django Rienhardt. I had been very interested in Django's music for some time, so I asked about it. Jeremy was the first guitarist I had met who was equally interested in this kind of music. We started talking and decided to prepare some tunes for an upcoming faculty recital. We both enjoyed it so much we pursued playing elsewhere. We then added Tim on bass and more recently Denny on fiddle.

What do you love most about Akron?

That's hard. I think it is the rich artist spirit that is so present. We have a lot of great artist/musicians of all types. I get excited to see so much art being made.

How did you guys come up with the band name?

The idea for our name comes out of seeing old videos and pictures of gypsy players. They all seemed to have massive moustaches. We found this both humorous and representative of the whole style.Their moustaches seemed to sum up this incredibly intense and sometimes over the top way of playing. Our name is an invitation to our listeners to come take part in this wonderful music and hopefully laugh a little too.

What has the band been up to lately?

We have been trying to play as often as people will listen. Also, we are in the beginning stages of getting an album out.

How has Akron influenced the band?

I believe that your place should and does affect your work. In that way, we sound like a band playing hot club music from Akron, as opposed to anywhere else.

What can attendees expect this Saturday?

Hopefully music that makes you feel good. Lots of toe tapping, some good laughs, great fiddle playing thanks to Denny Jones.  We do improvise a great deal (something we share with other styles of jazz) so we will have to see what the day holds.

Check out Moustache Yourself! this Saturday when the band plays the Best of the City celebration.