Fronted by singer/guitarist Fred Cole, the band also included bassist Toody Cole, and drummer Andrew Loomis. Veterans of Portland's independent rock scene, Dead Moon combined dark and lovelorn themes with punk and country music influences into a stripped-down sound. Fred Cole engineered most of the band's recordings and mastered them on a mono lathe that was used for The Kingsmen's version of "Louie Louie". Their early records, such as In the Graveyard, were released on the Tombstone Records label, named for the musical equipment store Fred and Toody operated at the time. Soon they caught the attention of the German label Music Maniac Records, and toured Europe successfully. Not until the mid-nineties did they tour the United States. Much of their following was in Europe. A U.S. filmmaking team produced a 2004 documentary, Unknown Passage: The Dead Moon Story, which played in independent theaters around the U.S., New Zealand, and at the Melbourne International Film Fest, and was released on DVD in the fall of 2006. Dead Moon has recorded for labels such as Empty Records, but most releases are on Music Maniac worldwide and Tombstone in the U.S. The Tombstone label has also provided cheap mastering and duplication for other bands, serving more as a cooperative than a promotional vehicle. Though Fred and Toody were in their fifties, they showed no signs of slowing down on their 2004 release Dead Ahead, continuing to tour the globe until 2006, which saw the release of the Echoes of the Past compilation. In December 2006, near the end of the Echoes of the Past tour, Dead Moon announced that they were breaking up the band. Their last gig was at the Vera club in Groningen on November 26, 2006. Fred and Toody owned and operated their guitar shop, Tombstone Music, for 30 years and also ran the Tombstone General Store in Clackamas, Oregon for about eight years. Pearl Jam covered the song "It's O.K."; they often segue it with their song "Daughter" in live performances. Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam has also covered "Diamonds in the Rough" and "Running Out of Time" with C-Average. Fred and Toody formed a new band called Pierced Arrows with Portland punk musician Kelly Halliburton, whose father played in a band called "Albatross" with Fred in 1972, of Severed Head of State, Defiance and formerly Murder Disco X. Pierced Arrows played their first show, debuting on May 18, 2007 at Portland’s Ash Street Saloon with the reformed Poison Idea. Andrew Loomis played drums for a band called The Shiny Things from Longview, Washington. Their former drummer, Andrew Loomis, died on March 8, 2016. He was aged 54. Frontman Fred Cole died on November 9, 2017 at the age of 69, from liver disease.
Equipment
Toody is known to play a late-1960s semi-hollow Vox teardrop bass, due to its shorter-scale length and ease of use. She often plays through a V-4 Ampeg and Ampeg SVT bass amp head and has also used an Ampeg 4x12 Speaker Cab live. In Europe, Toody uses a VHT 2-15 Speaker cab. Fred used a 50-watt Marshall Red Head and a Guild Thunderbird Guitar. He also had a 4x12 cab in the US and one in Europe. Fred and Toody both preferred Shure SM58 mics. Andrew used a kick, snare, hat, floor tom, and one ride cymbal mostly.
