ISSUE presents two fiercely independent pillars of DIY rock: R. Stevie Moore and Gary Wilson. Lo-fi trailblazer Moore performs solo and unplugged. Wilson revisits his own avant garde and access TV performance roots with lightly arranged improvisations over abstract displays. Extended versions of his more non-musical hits from You Think You Really Know Me, as well as solo numbers selected from his own catalog and the outsider realms of instrumental warp lounge restaurant classics are performed with guest accompaniments by The Blind Dates.
Improviser, composer, arranger, producer, musical conceptualist, comedy writer, vocal stylist, filmmaker, sketchpad artist, drama example, self-taught instrumentalist and bon vivant, R. Stevie Moore was born 1952 in Nashville, TN to famed Elvis bass player Bob Moore. Considered a seminal pioneer in the DIY ethic, since '66 Moore has recorded nearly 2,000 songs on over 400 very original homemade albums of alarmingly idiosyncratic variety and styles. Remaining virtually unknown, he quietly resided in New Jersey as curator of his own museum. Until now... based back in Tennessee, and touring the planet LOUDLY SHOUTING!
Gary Wilson emerged from New York's DIY movement with 1977's proto-New Wave masterpiece You Think You Really Know Me, an extraordinarily bizarre and personal record which has been known to suck unprepared new listeners in like a drug and never let go. Shortly after its limited release its creator simply vanished. In the 25-year wake before he was found again, Wilson’s small-town opus had spread by word-of-mouth, inspiring a new generation with his bizarre songs and personal musical vision until the re-release You Think You Really Know Me in 2002 brought him back to the public eye. Wilson has continued making music in the years following his "disappearance", chronicling his obsessions and angst in songs equal parts Prince and Pee Wee Herman…Joe Jackson and Charlie Brown. Bursting with electro-funk, synth rock, lounge, soul, and avant-garde jazz, Wilson's songs celebrate our inner ickiness, silliness and grooviness, the romance and randiness of born-losers.