About Moses Cleveland

The Origins of Moses Cleveland

• Many know Moses Cleaveland as the founder of Cleveland. Few, however, know that he was a prodigy at the violin as a child. As he grew in years his love for music was suppressed by a military career and business endeavors. Tom, a direct descendant of Moses Cleveland, had the violin in his family as an heirloom for generations. One day while at Tom's appartment Paul inquired about the instrument given that he'd never seen Tom play the violin. Tom told Paul of its origin and Paul responded to Tom's suprise that he too was a direct descendant of Mr. Moses Cleveland.

  And the rest is history...

• A couple years back we were driving from Boston to Chicago and stopped for the night in Cleveland. While there we went out to a bar near where Tom and Chris grew up. There was a truck driver at the end of the bar who kept ordering shots of whiskey and slowly sipping them. Everytime the bartender brought him another drink he'd throw up his hands and shout "Holy Moses!" When we came out of the bar at the end of the night he was passed out leaning on the hood of our car. We shouted "Holy Moses" to wake him up and when he asked us where he was we answered "Cleveland."

  And the rest is history...

• One humid and sticky Summer night we all went out for a low key evening to have a couple of drinks and discuss the fate of the band's name. Several hours, multiple shots of vodka and countless Stella Artois later Adam, Chris and Paul decided to leave Tom, who had passed out on Adam's front steps and managed to only be wearing a flip flop (not his) a pair of women's jean shorts (also, not his) and a Burger King crown (even though we had eaten at the bar). After stumbling around the neighborhood for what seemed like an hour (but turned out to 2 and a half) we ended up at a late night bar called Raven's. It was here that Adam caught site of a beautiful young hipster.

  After making multiple attempts to talk to her, Adam finally learned that she was a native Clevelander, and was studying art at De Paul. Later, noticing that the night was coming to a close, Adam knew he had to seal the deal soon or risk losing her forever. Looking to his bandmats and comrades for advice, Paul and Chris unanimously advised him to tell the girl that he wished to lay her down on a bed of roses. Taking both a Jameson straight to the face and his friends' advice seriously, Adam mustered the motor skills to get out of his bar stool and walk up to the girl. However, upon opening his mouth, the exchange went something like this:

  Adam: "Mroses."
  Hipster Girl: "Um, excuse me?"
  Adam: "Mm...mm...Mroses. I wants to lay on breds of Moses"
  Hipster Girl: "You want me to lay on some bread with Moses?"
  Adam: "Yes. With Moses. In Cleveland"
  

  And the rest is history...

• At the time, the band was stuck in gridlock, Chris and Adam wanted the band to be named, "Sell Dance Moves" while Paul and Tom favored the name "Candle Love Mess." Eventually we realized that both could be re-arranged to spell "Moses Cleveland" and the stalemate was broken when all agreed this was a far superior name for the band.

  And the rest is history...

The Band

Adam Rowings

Adam is a mutt.  Since his 1984 birth in Lawrence, Kansas, he has sampled the Midwest and is presently lost roaming the skyscrapers and three-flats of Chicago.  Musically he has tried his hands at a diverse range of instruments -everything from the guitar to the didjiridoo, the piano to the harmonica to the trumpet.  Before developing a taste for more experimental and heavy modern music, he was originally taken in by the "oldies" radio stations playing hits from the likes of Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, and Buddy Holly.  His first "band" was a Bob Dylan cover band where he played harmonica and sang.  As that endeavor fizzled he took up the guitar himself and carried on.  Since that time he has played with many different musicians in all sorts of musical venues.  He is loud, outgoing, and always up for a drink. 

Tom Owen

The elder of the band, Tom Owen claims to hail from Cleveland although he has lived in parts of Indiana, Michigan and elsewhere in Ohio. With two older brothers who introduced him to the heavy metal bands of the eighties, Tom had dreams of being the next Mick Mars or Eddie Van Halen or even better, Angus Young. However, a pair of drumsticks fell into his hands and he would set up his loveseat like a drumset and play along to Chuck Berry and AC/DC records; it wasn't until he turned 18 and was out from under his parents roof that he got his first kit. A self taught drummer, his influences are Mitch Mitchell, Phil Rudd, Steve Perkins and all the early DJ masters creating those old skool hip hop beats.

Chris Adamescu

Hailing from Cleveland, Chris is another product of the Midwest.  Since he was born he's had some form of musical instrument in his hands, most consistently the guitar.  His first taste of the instrument was a relic from his father's garage band days, a 1965 Epiphone Olympic, which he still plays to this day.  His earliest musical influences were from raiding his father's record collection, consisting of many pre and post British invasion bands but, most importantly, The Beatles.  Later in his adolescence he, with a lot of help from his older brother, discovered punk music, listening to bands like Rancid, Operation Ivy, The Sex Pistols, The Ramones and The Mr. T. Experience.  This inspired him to start his first band in the 4th grade, named The Sparks.  Later, in high school, growing tired of the ever-evolving "emo" scene Chris, rather unpunctually, discovered blues and hasn't looked back since, honing his guitar skills in bars and clubs around  Ohio through the rest of high school and all through his college years, culminating in his move to Chicago, where he met Adam, Tom and Paul.

Paul Bork

A Midwesterner like the rest of the band, Paul was born in small-town Iowa, grew up in the suburbs of Minneapolis and finally settled down in Chicago. Paul has been in love with music his whole life, but has taken a less-than-typical route to Rock & Roll. He began playing the euphonium in fifth grade before trading up to a guitar a few years later. His first experience with the bass guitar was when he heard that his high school's Show Choir was looking for a bassist. He borrowed his older brother's bass, went to rehearsal and got the part. Show Choir gave him a chance to try a wide range of music, and also led to him picking up the valve trombone to play in a jazz band as well. After taking some time off from performing after college, Paul met Adam and the rest of the band and quickly fell back into the groove of things. When not playing music Paul can be found nerding it up with some videogames or out having drinks with friends.