Mo Defoe

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Born in Melbourne, currently living in Sydney, Mohawk is a self taught guitarist/singer/song writer who cant read music, and had never played guitar until age 22 when a friend who played loaned him a twelve string guitar, showed him three chords then told him go away and come back when he could play them.
Returning the guitar a couple of times a week for tuning, and to get some more chords, Mohawk progressed to the point where twelve months later he was playing a four hour gig in a duo at one of the largest pubs in town once a week playing rhythm guitar and doing vocals, when the duo fell apart, Mohawk was doing solo 4 hr sessions...then spending the remainder of the week practicing and learning new tracks...four hours is a big gap to fill when there’s no lead breaks or other input to share the load, a loathing of covers developed as he found it near impossible to get an audience for any music they didn't know, nope, I don’t know Stairway to heaven, House of the rising sun, or me n' Bobby Mcgee..yep, it was gettin' hard to take.
A big change in life found Mohawk living in southern Tasmania and withdrawn from playing in public, the live music scene in Hobart at that time was very small and quiet. Jamming with friends at every opportunity, (most weekends) Mohawk married and played music only for his own enjoyment, 15 years later he was a solo act again after the marriage broke up.
At this point, with no dependents, he again had the time and the material to step back out into the world of music, having gained further skills on other instruments, drum, tenor recorder, dulcimer, etc; he decided to develop his sound and style. Mohawk explained, "playing solo meant having to be the guitar, the bass line, the percussionist, so my music was always very fast with very full sound, this is something I have been conscious of, the big change is the sparseness of most of my music now, more picking interspaced with strumming, lots of room in there for a bass line, a drummer, another guitar perhaps. With "my walls crumbled" I played all the parts, it was a good illustration for me, and a great change in style, but as a solo artist you still live without the input and ideas of others so there is much yet to explore, music really is such an adventure.
Vocally, my voice had matured, had my heart trashed, which helped to give another edge to my voice, laughs, you can’t sing the blues if you have never experienced them. I had always had this big voice inside me, I just never really got it out and used it, the best thing about living by yourself is that you can turn the music up and sing as loud as you like with no one to complain, it was having that space that allowed me to get that voice out and belt it around, I'm still learning about, and finding new ways to use it."
Mohawk still jams with a couple of friends but at this point is heading back out into public solo. My friends play for pleasure...their not committed to it nor do they have the same goals I do he explained. It's a matter of meeting the right people at the right time, and playing in public means meeting other muso's, a good bass and drummer would be fantastic, a means to explore and expand both sound and style. What ever the future brings...Music is all.