Almost 12 years ago, I wrote a small article for a paper called Moogsters of the Week that featured The Volt Per Octaves. The husband-and-wife band of Nick and Anna Montoya were infatuated with the Moog synthesizer, an electronic music machine built in the 1960s by Robert Moog that had somewhat faded into obscurity by the 1990s.
To them, the Moog was the analog antidote to the laptop-powered digital music scene of the 2000s, so they, eventually along with their daughter/bandmate, Eva, championed its cause loudly, playing around town and then across the country at Moogfest in New York City. Five albums and national publicity in Keyboard magazine ensued, as did collaborations with such luminaries as the late Bernie Worrell of Talking Heads.
The Tea Fire of 2008 forced them out of their home in Santa Barbara, so they moved to Portland and then to Asheville, North Carolina, where Nick said they’re both “living the dream” by working for a revitalized Moog Music, Inc., specifically in charge of building the coveted Moog Modular. Eva is now 18 and ready to embark on her adult life in Los Angeles, so The Volt Per Octaves will be stopping by Santa Barbara for a one-night-only engagement on Saturday, October 22, 8:30 p.m. at Elsie’s, 117 West De la Guerra Street. The show is free.