With superhero and sci-fi imagery, Peter Prince's
Moon Boot Lover was one of the early entries to the northeast's jam bands scene of the early '90s. Delivering a
Jimi Hendrix-influenced funk, the rotating lineup fronted by
Prince has managed to retain their sound, mostly thanks to the force of
Prince's leadership.
Founded in Albany in 1990, the initial lineup of
Moon Boot Lover featured guitarist and frontman
Prince alongside brothers
Neal and Alan Evans on organ and drums, respectively. Bass players rotated, but the most constant was soon Jon Hawes. This version of the band recorded two self-released albums -- Outer Space Action (1994) and Live Deep Down (1995) -- each featuring comic book-style cover art drawn by
Prince. The band achieved some success on the jam bands circuit with contemporaries like moe., Schleigho, and others. In fall of 1996, they played a short Rock the Vote tour with moe.,
the Ominous Seapods, and Yolk, which featured a large amount of cross-pollination between the groups.
Soon after, though,
Hawes and the
Evans brothers left to pursue other projects.
Hawes toured for a time with New Hampshire-based Latin-influenced jam band Percy Hill. Alan Evans played for a while in
Karl Denson's jazz-funk unit, Tiny Universe, before reuniting with brother
Neal and founding the wildly successful Soulive with former Lettuce guitarist
Eric Krasno.
Prince, meanwhile, participated in two collaborative acoustic tours with singer/songwriter
David Gans, members of moe., and others titled the Merry Danksters, before putting together a new lineup of
Moon Boot Lover.
With the transience of the lineup established,
Prince firmly became the group's center of attention. His frenetic guitar playing on his trademark Flying V guitar, coupled with his maniacally comic stage persona and deeply soulful voice was simultaneously visually entertaining and exhilarating. Now touring as an elder of the jam band scene, the new lineup of Moon Boot also featured Andy Herrick on drums (formerly of Harpoon) along with Jeff Merrow on vocals. Soon,
Hawes was back in the fold, too, as Percy Hill struggled with a high turnover rate.
The new lineup recorded Back on Earth in 2000, a well-balanced collection of funk, rock, and soul originals. Yet another lineup of the band soon took to the road -- this one featuring Nate Edgar on bass and Mike Dunkle on drums -- in support of the disc, with
Hawes and Herrick signing on for selected dates. In the spring of 2001,
Prince also undertook a solo acoustic tour playing colleges and theaters, opening for longtime
Dave Matthews collaborator
Tim Reynolds. ~ Jesse Jarnow