Toody Cole & Her Band NZ Tour - Dead Moon Tributes by Andrew Tolley, Liz Matthews, Mookie + More

Cult heroes and defiantly rawkin' DIY role models, the legend of Portland, Oregon's Dead Moon will endure through the ages. Co-founder of Dead Moon with husband Fred Cole (who passed in 2017) and drummer Andrew Loomis (who died in 2016), Toody Cole and her band are hitting Aotearoa New Zealand next week for a nationwide tour with fellow Portlanders Jenny Don't & The Spurs — Cole is also playing The Others Way festival on 29th November — and attendance is mandatory. For the second of a three-part feature series celebrating Cole's tour, Clean Dirt invited a selection of friends and fans to share their love for, and memories of Dead Moon.

UnderTheRadar proudly presents...

TOODY COLE & HER BAND
with special guests Jenny Don't & The Spurs

Tuesday 25th November - Whammy Bar, Tāmaki Makaurau w/ Bloodbags (under 18s admitted with parent or legal guardian)
Wednesday 26th November - Valhalla, Pōneke
Thursday 27th November - Space Academy, Ōtautahi
Friday 28th November - Harbour View Hotel, Whāingaroa w/ C.O.F.F.I.N*

Tickets on sale HERE via UTR
*Whāingaroa tickets on sale HERE via UTR

I wrote an email to Toody once, it was around the time the Dead Moon book came out. I told her that Matt and I always thought of her and Fred as our rock 'n' roll parents. She signed the reply email with 'Yer Rock & Roll Mom, Toody.'

Fred & Toody, always an inspiration, in life, and in music. Dead Moon, one of my all time favourite bands.

Karin Canzek, Reb Fountain Band, and RnR bad arse

Dateline 1993 Estrus Records Garageshock, Bellingham, Washington, USA. Three day fest of the supreme grit, guts & craziness that the garage punk world at the time had to offer. Guitar Wolf, Teengenerate, 5,6,7,8's, Man or ASTROMAN? And Dead Moon! Thought I was the only NZer in the room til I clocked a young John Baker across the room. Got some up close & personal photos of the Dead Moon crew — Mr & Mrs Cole & Andrew Loomis.

Andrew Tolley, Bloodbags, Warm Leather, Heavy Flow, Smokin' Daggers and RnR bad arse 

I've always loved Dead Moon. That raw, direct music and the rock 'n' roll universe Fred & Toody created. When my band The Jackets played with Pierced Arrows in our early days, meeting them was an unforgettable and very cool encounter. Toody was so warm and effortlessly cool, completely herself. Seeing her play at the recent Funtastic Festival was amazing and emotional, you could feel how she touched the whole room. Her presence, authenticity, energy, and aura are something special. She shows what it looks like to live your own path , and that's why she means a lot to me.

Jackie Brutsche, The Jackets (Switzerland) and RnR bad arse

Anyone who had the privilege to see Dead Moon live was hooked. Toody's mesmerising rhythm would pull you in and make you feel alive. Toody is a gentle lady with an infectious laugh. Not forgetting she's a lady with balls, a bloody legend.

Amanda Reid , Leather (bag, Lady) Maker ...TOTAL RnR bad arse

Where were you in '92? Who cares, let's talk about 1999 — I was primed and ready for the wild sonic alchemy of Dead Moon LIVE AND LOUD at the King's Arms alongside every other weirdo, pinhead punk and denim-clad dirtbag in Akl City! I jumped the fence (underage and no fake ID), accidentally bummed a beer off Andrew Loomis and crashed my way up front for the mind-melting Dead Moon experience — they were locked in, fuzzed out and playing like it was the last night on earth! Fred, Toody and Andrew were a shamanic, hypnotic force and no one at that show would ever forget it. We're lucky to have Toody as the last Dead Moon troubadour on this plane of existence back in Aotearoa to remind us how the fuck it's done.

Mookie, Chemchain and RnR bad arse

My first real gig was when I was 15. Dead Moon were playing Mount Maunganui's infamously awful Brewers bar. Despite my lack of age, knowing only '54/40 Or Fight' from the documentary Hype! and having no one to go with, I snuck in and had my life turned upside down. Fred wailed. Toody destroyed, and Andrew spent all night telling me to go and get a beer. BUT, I wasn't leaving my dark corner hiding spot for fear of missing a thing. That night set me straight. Music would become my life. Thanks Toody, and the Moon for setting me free.

Austin Cunningham, Threat.Meet.Protocol, and future RnR bad arse Mayor of Tauranga

I first heard 'It’s OK' at a friend’s house in Dunedin as a teen and was hooked. I taped the 7” onto a cassette and would add it to mix tapes, obsessed with how cool the music was, mixed with these sensitive as lyrics. Pretty soon they (surprisingly) came to Aotearoa, and I got to see them at Java Jive, which I guess was a kind of open mic jazz club in Ponsonby which later became a $2 shop. They played on the floor, and fuck, Toody, where have you been all my life?! Dressed in black jeans and cutoff t-shirt, messy as hell hair, she was Patti Smith but cooler and more rock 'n' roll?! I barely knew them then, but I was so excited about getting more Dead Moon in my little rock n roll life. God, I’d only just heard Black Sabbath at 19, this was too much. They made me wanna embrace my dark side and play hard hard hard!!

Cut to me in 2005, when I ended up staying for a month on a fold-out couch at Andrew Loomis’ place in Portland. My boyfriend (and favourite person) at the time claimed to “know Dead Moon”, so we caught a ride share from Oakland to Portland (with a guy who highly regretted his choices as we used to style our hair with beer) so I could see them on my birthday. I didn’t believe Roddy at all. He would tell so many jokes with massive straight-faced wind-ups that I just went along with whatever he said, not really caring about the truth, cause his jokes were really good. But yeah it turned out he was a driver for their infamous 1992 NZ tour and they were all happy to see him! We got cowboy boots and had Thanksgiving dinner at the Hungry Tiger, a dive bar in Portland that played Nip/Tuck on TV for everyone, and Andrew gave me the greatest gift I've ever received, he taught me how to open a beer bottle with a drum stick.

Dead Moon were the perfect mix of danger, hope and rebellion. They brought together a worldwide community of misfits, all of us connected through the power of rock ‘n’ roll. Fred, Toody and Loomis fearlessly travelled into the unknown passages of our souls, pulling our secrets out of the dark and into whisky-smoke air. Saying “Fuck yeah, I know how ya feel!”

Every time I saw them play, it felt like my blood and guts were yanked out and that bloody mess was righteous! Even though I was a little shit most of my life. First time I met Fred and Toody I was drinking something called vanilla whiskey and coke, and halfway through my life story, politely leaned over to vomit in what I remember as a kind of bar gutter. They didn’t even flinch, “So how’d ya end up in Portland?”

Beloved Dead Moon drumsticks that live in my cymbal bag, keeps Loomis’ spirit close to me and makes me bash the hell out of my drums, keeping a sense of humour and love as I spit out anger and ghosts in whatever band I’m playing in. Dead Moon are my punga, my anchor and navigation.

Dead Moon Night we had in Wellington after Loomis died. The first and only time I’ve ever been on stage singing with no drums.

Fred Cole in my 2018 Rock ‘n’ Roll Moon Calendar. “Fred Cole representing Leo and the tarot card of strength, demonstrating the perfect balance found by mixing a wild whiskey drinking rock ‘n’ roller with a righteous Grandfather who can scream and smoke for months on end and make it look like a graceful dance.

My Dead Moon Witch tattoo by Sera Helen.

Liz Matthews, O/PUS, Stay Trashy calendar