Musical career
Growing up in Tumbler Ridge and later Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, The Moffatts learned singing early in their lives and singing country music with their mother, Darlana and father, Frank Moffatt, first appearing on-stage in 1990. In 1992, after performing at large-scale country music festivals, the group was nominated for five awards by the British Columbia Country Music Association.
In 1992, the Moffatt family moved to Branson, Missouri where they performed at the Osmonds theatre. In March 1993 they moved to Nashville, Tennessee were they became regulars on TNN's Nashville Now with Ralph Emery. In October, they joined the cast of the Country Tonite show at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas. In 1994 Country Tonite opened a new theatre in Branson and the Moffatts became a part of that cast. In June 1995 they released their first country album, titled The Moffatts. In 1996, the brothers' parents divorced and the boys lived primarily with their father, who also managed the group until their 2001 break up.
In their teens, the group dropped out of the country music genre and recorded a new album, Chapter One: A New Beginning, and began singing pop/rock music. Prior to their teens the band would only sparingly perform their own instruments and had a back-up band, but now chose to go it alone with Scott on lead guitar, Clint on bass guitar, Dave on keyboards and Bob on drums. Lead vocals on the album were shared between Scott and Dave, however live they all took their turns. Chapter One sold more than two million copies worldwide and almost went double platinum in their native Canada. It was produced in part by the Berman Brothers (who also worked for Hanson and Real McCoy) in New York and Toronto. One single on the US version, the Glen Ballard-produced "Until You Loved Me," appeared in the Drew Barrymore film, Never Been Kissed. "Misery" in Chapter 1: A New Beginning (US Version) is on the soundtrack of the movie Teaching Mrs. Tingle starring Katie Holmes. Chapter One was also very popular in Europe, which allowed the group to write and record a song with German teen idol Gil Ofarim.
Following the success of Chapter One, the group stated publicly that they would be working with Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters on their next album, in an attempt to break away from their boy-band image. Grohl, however, was quoted on MuchMusic.com as saying that he had never heard of the band and did not intend to work with them. Truth be told Dave spoke with the band at a Juno aftershow party and stated he was interested in producing the band. However, later, his manager felt it wasn't the right mix.
The follow-up album Submodalities was released in October 2000, and contained a more classic/harder edged rock flavor than typical "boy band" fare. The transition between the bubblegum pop of their prior album and the harder edge of the new was captured in the 2001 documentary, Moffatts: Closing of Chapter One. The Moffatts wrote or co-wrote almost all of the album songs. Bob Rock, who has produced albums for such superstars as Metallica and Bon Jovi, produced Submodalities. The album was also certified platinum by the CRIA selling over 100,000 copies. The first single, "Bang Bang Boom" at that time was the fastest rising single to #1 in Canadian music history and topped the retail singles chart in Canada.
[edit] TV appearances
Throughout the nineties, The Moffatts made hundreds of live performances and hundreds of television appearances worldwide. In addition to these performances and interviews, the band also appeared as themselves on the NBC TV show Hang Time in 1999, performing the song "Girl of My Dreams" for the school. In 2000, they again played themselves on the Disney Channel show So Weird in the episode "Destiny". Fiona Phillips, the lead character in the show, was an obsessed fan on the show, while her mom Molly Phillips, played by Mackenzie Phillips, was performing with The Moffatts. During the same year, the group appeared in the documentary, The Closing of Chapter One, detailing their move from pop to rock.
They performed "Guns of Love" on Good Morning America in July 1995.
In 1999, the Moffats also did an episode of TV show Campbell Scramble, a show that Calgary's CTV sports newscaster Glenn Campbell made. His three daughters, Kate, Madeline, and Amy appeared on this episode as well.
Break-up
In August 2001, the group broke up following their concert in London, Ontario. Scott Moffatt had enough of the comparisons to boy-bands and felt that the band wasn't receiving the credit they deserved as both musicians and entertainers, and now that he had completed his five year commitment to the band, chose to quit. Dave Moffatt recently appeared on Canadian TV program, Entertainment Tonight Canada, where it was stated that the band broke up because his father was not able to accept his sexuality. It was also stated that "The Moffatts" was his father's dream, and that he had pushed himself and his brothers into it.
Frank's take on these comments were - "The Moffatts break up had nothing to do with Dave's sexuality, but it does make for good press." As for The Moffatts being Frank's dream, he stated that the dream originally was Scott's, however he does admit to pushing the band once the ball was in motion. "You can't be the best young band (Backstreet Boys & NSYNC were also vocal boy-band groups) in the world without consistency and hard work, but granted there may have been a better way of me doing things." He then commented, "I'll be the first one to admit I wasn't the perfect father, but we all have good relationships now and I'm working on improving my parenting skills daily." Frank also commented, "I think the fact that they are all still active in music answers a lot of questions in itself."
After the break-up, two of the triplets, Bob and Clint Moffatt, briefly joined a group called Pusch and performed at the 2002 Winter Olympics. The band was later renamed Hidell [1], and lasted slightly over a year and released one album. Bob relocated to Ban Phe, Thailand, where he began working on an English singing contest with an educational organization called TEFL International. Bob convinced Clint to join him in Thailand and start a band called Same Same under the Thailand label. Same Same had chart-topping hits in Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines.
Scott Moffatt resurfaced in an Ontario-based band The Boston Post, named after the old New England newspaper. The original lineup included Shawn Everett on drums, Jon Gant on guitar and Neal Gupta on bass. They released an EP titled It's 99PM in 2003. A video interview with Scott Moffatt from the Holiday Train show in Sparwood, BC on December 13, 2005 confirmed that he planned to go solo and was recording in LA. On April 10, 2006, song previews from the upcoming independent release The Allegory of the City were put up on his music page along with the promise of a limited edition version soon being available for pre order. The new songs are all acoustic and reveal a folk rock/pop vibe. He played all instruments and did all vocals on the record, as well as produced it. The CD will be available worldwide but tour dates have not been determined. The album is available at www.myspace.com/scottmoffattmusic. Scott is currently in Thailand producing a rock band called Slot Machine.
Dave Moffatt eventually relocated to Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, at first with aspirations of attending the University of Winnipeg and then deciding to launch an acting and modeling career. In addition to hosting karaoke nights at a local gay bar (including Calgary's Twisted Element), Dave also appeared in a 2005 Winnipeg production of Miss Saigon and was a contestant on Canadian Idol, making it into the top 32 before being eliminated.
In 2004, the Canadian Pacific Railway announced in a press release that Bob and Clint were "reunited" and appeared under the name "The Moffatts" for the railway's Holiday Train program, a mobile fundraiser for community food banks. In 2005, Scott also joined the tour (see this photograph (Clint to the far left, Scott and Bob to the far right).
Although the group has shut down its main website, the Moffatts remain popular in Europe; its German fansite, linked below, is quite active.
Scott Moffatt is currently in Bangkok, Thailand working with rock bands for record company Sony BMG. Clint and Bob Moffatt moved to Thailand in 2006 and formed Same Same. They now reside in Nashville, Tennessee and perform country music under the name Two Bullet Parade. They also participated in the Task Force Afghanistan Show Tour in December 2008 to entertain the Canadian troops. Dave Moffatt was in a Toronto-based band called Lights Out Love. He still lives in Canada and eventually started a career as a yoga instructor.
Reunions
The Moffatts reunited for the first time in over ten years for an online Christmas show on Stageit on December 22, 2012. The set list included Christmas carols and songs picked by fans from the entire Moffatts' catalog, including solo records and Like Strangers/Same Same.
In 2016, Clint, Scott, and Bob reformed The Moffats without Dave to embark on a farewell tour. The tour kicked off in February 2017 and hit stops in Indonesia, Singapore, and the Philippines. In May 2017, Dave came out of retirement to hold a farewell concert of his own in Manila. By the end of 2017, the Moffats' farewell turned into a complete reunion, as Dave rejoined the band to work on new music. A 6 track EP "Chapter II" was released in November 2018 and was followed by The Reunion Tour 2018.
Full names
* Scott Andrew Moffatt (Scott Moffatt) - Lead vocals, Guitars
* Clinton Thomas John Moffatt (Clint Moffatt) - Lead vocals, Bass, Percussion
* Robert Franklin Peter Moffatt (Bob Moffatt) - Lead vocals, Drums
* David William Michael Moffatt (Dave Moffatt) - Lead vocals, Keyboards
California
The Moffatts Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
To see her face
In a daze we engaged
Tonight I slept about an hour
To fill her needs and desires
One more night in California
One more night with you
But she's alright [she's alright]
One more night [yeah]
One more night in California
Dom dom dom baby one more night
Dom dom dom baby one more night
I need to catch a ride
To the south side
I grabbed a patty and a shake
I felt the earthquake
I jumped in the cab for LAX
I flipped him a tip
Hey man!
Then I split
One more night in California
One more night with you
One more night
But she's alright
She's alright
One more night [yeah]
One more night in California
Night in California
Night in California
Night in California
Dom dom dom baby one more night
Dom dom baby one more night
I opened my eyes to see her face
But she's alright
She's alright
One more night [yeah]
One night in California
She's alright
She's alright
One more night, yeahhh
One more night in California
Night in California
Night in California
Night in California
The Moffatts' song "California" is a upbeat pop-rock tune about a romantic encounter the singer had while in California. The song opens with the singer waking up next to his lover and feeling dazed from the night of passion they just had together. Despite only getting an hour of sleep, he is willing to do whatever it takes to fulfill her needs and desires. The chorus is a repetitive plea for one more night in California with this woman, whom the singer clearly feels a strong connection to. He wants to spend more time with her before he has to leave town.
The second verse talks about the singer trying to leave California and head to the south side, but experiencing an earthquake before he can make it out of town. He jumps in a cab to head to LAX and leave town, but not before tipping the driver and saying goodbye to the city one last time. The chorus then repeats, emphasizing the singer's desire for one more night in California before he has to leave for good.
Overall, the song is a catchy, upbeat tune about young love and the desire for one more night with the person that you care about. It captures the excitement and passion that comes with a new romance, while also acknowledging the inevitability of having to say goodbye when the time comes.
Line by Line Meaning
I open my eyes
The singer is waking up and becoming aware of his surroundings.
To see her face
The singer sees the face of someone he cares about.
In a daze we engaged
The singer and the person he cares about interacted with each other while feeling disconnected from their surroundings.
Tonight I slept about an hour
The artist did not sleep well, only getting about an hour's worth of rest.
To fill her needs and desires
The artist prioritized the needs and wants of the person he cares about.
One more night in California
The singer is spending another night in California, implying he has stayed there before.
One more night with you
The singer is spending another night with the person he cares about.
But she's alright [she's alright]
Despite being away from this person, the artist knows that she is doing well.
One more night [yeah]
The artist is excited to spend another night with the person he cares about.
Dom dom dom baby one more night
A repeated phrase intended to evoke excitement and enthusiasm.
I need to catch a ride
The singer needs to find transportation to get somewhere.
To the south side
The artist needs to go to the southern part of wherever they are.
I grabbed a patty and a shake
The singer got some food from somewhere.
I felt the earthquake
The singer experienced an earthquake, which can be a common occurrence in California.
I jumped in the cab for LAX
The singer got into a taxi to go to the airport.
I flipped him a tip
The artist gave the taxi driver a tip for his services.
Hey man!
An exclamation used to get someone's attention or express excitement.
Then I split
The singer left quickly, likely to catch his flight.
She's alright
The singer reiterates that the person he cares about is doing well.
Dom dom baby one more night
A repeated phrase intended to evoke excitement and enthusiasm.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: BOB MOFFATT, CLINT MOFFATT, DAVE MOFFATT, FRANK MOFFATT, ROBERT ROCK, SCOTT MOFFATT, SHEILA MOFFATT
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind