Stanton Moore drummer from Galactic, with Will Bernard (guitar), and Wil Blades (keyboards)

Born and raised in New Orleans (and living there still, when he’s not on the road), Stanton Moore is very much a product of geography, culture and creative networking. He grew up in the thriving music scene of his hometown that included Professor Longhair, Doctor John, the Meters and countless other Big Easy mainstays.

In the early ‘90s, Moore hooked up with guitarist Jeff Raines, bassist Robert Mercurio and keyboardist Rich Vogel and saxophonist Ben Ellman to form the New Orleans-based “steam-roller” funk band known as Galactic. After receiving his bachelor’s degree in music and business from Loyola University, Moore and the band made their first record (the widely acclaimed Coolin’ Off) and hit the road to do nearly 200 gigs a year for the first ten years of Galactic’s existence. The band has since released five more albums since Coolin’ Off, and continues to amass a worldwide audience via recording and touring globally.

Moore has also been keeping busy with numerous side projects, including new albums with Galactic and Garage a Trois. He’s also working on his second book/DVD project, Groove Alchemy, an instructional package focusing on groove drumming (Groove Alchemy is the followup to a similar instructional package in 2005 that focused on New Orleans drumming styles).

He stays very involved in education, constantly teaching private lessons in New Orleans and on the road. He was a contributing writer for Drum! magazine and is currently a regular writer for Modern Drummer, which featured him on their April 2004 cover. Showing a rare versatility, he appeared (within the same year) on Heavy Metal Grammy nominees Corrosion of Conformity’s In the Arms of God, Irma Thomas’ After the Rain and Robert Walter’s Super Heavy Organ. In 2005, he launched a signature line of cymbals with Bosphorus Cymbals and a signature drum stick with the Vic Firth stick company.

Despite some severe property damage and other personal setbacks in the aftermath of Katrina, Moore was quick to lend a hand to other drummers in New Orleans by donating cymbals and other gear to musicians whose equipment was damaged by the storm. He has also played a number of benefit concerts in the past year to help raise money for Katrina victims. He recently spearheaded the Tipitina’s Music Workshop to work with young and developing musicians in the New Orleans area. The workshop focused on the preservation of New Orleans music and culture and with a rotating cast of well known local and national musicians. He continues to play dates throughout the Big Easy as well as globally with an ever-evolving cast of musicians: John Scofield; Karl Denson; George Porter, Jr., and Leo Nocentelli (of the Meters); Charlie Hunter; Warren Haynes; John Medeski and John Wood (of Medeski, Martin and Wood); Donald Harrison Jr.; Robert Walter; the New Orleans Klezmer All-Stars; the Preservation Hall Jazz Band; Corrosion of Conformity; and Irma Thomas to name a few.