About Me
What's Happenin'? My name is Jim Loughlin and I'm the percussionist/multi-instrumentalist for the band moe.. I've had a deep love and interest in music since I was a small child. When I was really young I used to sing to my mom and walk around the house with a pair of drumsticks banging on anything that I was allowed to bang on, and a few things that I wasn't. My pursuit of music as a career started the summer before I went into eighth grade. I started as a bass player in a garage band covering songs by Def Leppard, Judas Priest, AC/DC, Iron Maiden and the like. I started on the bass because of the way it sounded in church. The bass player for the church band played a white B.C. Rich Bitch bass that looked so freakin' cool and sounded awesome. Another reason I started as a bass player is because there was already a drummer, guitar player and singer. What was I to do? After about a year on the bass I became interested in the drums. I started playing to records in my room on a makeshift kit that consisted of a drum pad as a snare, several books as toms, to lamps for a high-hat and ride cymbal, and a rubber-maid garbage can with my friends old bass drum pedal connected to it. In high school there was no electric bass in the band but there was a drum teacher so I started taking drum lessons in school and playing in the band, I had already been taking private bass lessons for about a year. After several months of lessons on a drum pad my parents bought me a drum set. I continued to drum to records, only now in my basement, and playing bass in several garage bands. I studied both instruments throughout high school. In my senior year of high school I attended The Cultural Arts Center in Syosset. I spent a year studying both classical and jazz music as well as composition, theory, music history and performance. My ears were now open and I developed a love for artists like Mozart, Liszt, Beethoven, Miles, Dizzy, Ellington, Basie, and so on. I started playing a lot of jazz bass, mostly in small combos in school. After graduating high school I took a year off before I went to college. In college I continued to play bass but now it was mostly in big bands. I spent the next several years as the bass player for the Nassau Community College then the University of Buffalo big bands. While in Buffalo I also played in a couple other big bands that weren't involved with the school. All the while I was still playing drums to records, or CDs after a while. I didn't start drumming in a band until 1991, when I auditioned for moe.. I got the gig with drumming with moe. and while we were still a local Buffalo band I continued to play bass in big bands. After a while moe. was getting a lot of gigs and starting to tour the north east. I had to put the bass down for a while. I didn't stop playing completely but I did stop gigging on the bass. In the years between 91 and 94 moe. did extensive touring and recorded the album Headseed. During 93 and 94 I spent most of my time on the road either in a cramped, smelly van or on a stage playing. I continued to play drums with moe. until 1994 when I left the band to play drums for a Binghamton based band called Yolk. With Yolk I continued the grueling touring schedule in vans and then eventually a school bus. When we weren't on the road playing we were in a rehearsal space writing and rehearsing. During that time we also recorded the album Individually Twisted. In '97 I left Yolk to pursue a "normal" life. I got a job and got married to my girlfriend and fellow musician Cris Noel. I couldn't really just stop playing and soon Cris and I were doing occasional gigs around Binghamton but our work schedule kept the gigs to a minimum. Cris and I were soon divorced, not a bad thing though, she still remains one of my best friends. In 1998 I did a few tours as the bass player for Al and the Trans-Americans that resulted in an invite to rejoin moe. for a few tours in 1999 as a percussionist. My spot in moe. became a permanent one after about a year of touring. I've been a member of the band since then. During that time I've gone from being just a percussionist to being a multi-instumentalist. Along with traditional Latin percussion instruments, congas, timbales, bongos,etc., I've added mallet percussion, piccolo bass, acoustic guitar and a couple other instruments that come and go, like the flute, EWI and such. Now I live in Massachusetts and try to record and practice in my spare time. I also play in a couple side projects which include F.A.L.L., Ruha, Dexter Grove(the DGB version), Lynch, Small Appliances and The Willie Walman Project. In my time playing I've had the pleasure and honor of sharing the stage with many talented artists including Robert Plant, Les Claypool, Tim Alexander, Jon Popper, Dickey Betz, Rick Nielson, Bob Wier, Rob Wasserman, Jon Aviula, Tony Franklin, Steven Perkins, Warren Haynes, Trey Anastasio, Page McConnel, Jon Fishman, Mike Gordon, and many many others. I am very grateful for my life, and even though at times it's very difficult and trying, I wouldn't change it for the world. Well I guess thats it, at least thats all that I can think of. If I missed anything or stated anything incorrectly I apologize. It's early in the morning and my memory of certain things is a little hazy.
