Adrenaline Mob's John Moyer: 'I'm a Rock and Metal Guy Forever'

Posted on Mar 14th 2012 2:30PM by Carlos Ramirez Comments

Kellie Hoeke

This week, 'Omertá,' the highly anticipated debut album from Adrenaline Mob, finally hit stores everywhere. A super talented lot, the group features the dream team of drummer Mike Portnoy (Flying Colors, ex-Dream Theater), vocalist Russell Allen (Symphony X), guitarist Mike Orlando and Disturbed bassist John Moyer.

Moyer is the last piece of the puzzle, officially joining Adrenaline Mob in early 2012 after original bassist Paul DiLeo (Fozzy) couldn't commit to the band. "With Disturbed taking an extended hiatus, I decided I needed something to keep my creative juices flowing and keep working. After all these years, I still love performing on stage and I needed to fulfill that. So after talking to the other guys in Disturbed and making sure it was cool with them, I made the mental commitment that I would try and find another musical project to get busy on," Moyer, 38, tells Noisecreep.

"It's funny, but about a week after that, Mike Portnoy called me. I had only told a few friends were my intentions were in the business, but Mike quickly found out about it. We became friends when Disturbed played on the Uproar! Tour when Mike was playing drums in Avenged Sevenfold.

"So anyway, he calls me up and tells me about Adrenaline Mob and then sends me some tracks to check out. I wasn't sure how it was all going to sound with Russell Allen from Symphony X and Mike playing in it, but I was amazed on how inline it was with what I wanted to do musically. I expected it to be more of a progressive rock kind of thing and that would have been a bit foreign for me, but I was wrong. It's a great record that I fell in love with right away," says Moyer.

Watch Adrenaline Mob's 'Undaunted' Video

Noisecreep wanted to know if Moyer felt any intimidation before he headed into the rehearsal room with Portnoy and company for the first time: "You know, you would think so, but Mike is such a gracious musician. When he gets behind the kit, there's no judging from him. There's none of that "Can you keep up with this?" kind of crap. I don't think a lot of people know that about him. Stylistically, he can do anything. It's effortless for him. I did come in knowing the material ahead of time, so I was ready. But in terms of the intimidation factor with Mike and the other guys, it just wasn't there once we started playing together."

A gifted bassist in his own right, Moyer prefers sticking to his roots when it comes to his musical projects: "I love playing rock and heavy metal. I've never had the desire to play in a funk band or something like that. I love what I do. I'm a rock and metal guy forever. I don't care to jump into other genres. Adrenaline Mob is the perfect band for me to play in right now. I'm having such a great time with these guys."

Adrenaline Mob's 'Omertà' is available now.

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