In the Moog

It’s difficult to put your finger on just what it is that makes the Volt Per Octaves special.

It could be their almost religious devotion to the Moog, an analog synthesizer created by Dr. Robert Moog in the 1960s. It could be the fact that they have managed to make their mark on the music world at large—with no label support—from an obscure corner of Northern California. It could be the cute factor: that they’re a husband-and-wife duo whose daughter sometimes joins them onstage. Or it could just be the group’s creative instrumental music, a sci-fi style somewhere between trip-hop and prog-rock that is as playful as it is dark and plodding.

You can choose your own reason: Volt Per Octaves is a compelling band. And the duo is on a quest to make the strange-and-beautiful analog-synth sounds of the Moog a mainstay in music again. (If you think you’ve never heard the instrument, you’re probably wrong.)

So what is it about the Moog that led Nick Montoya to name his band after it (the name refers to the “volt per octave” technology invented by Moog) and its logo tattooed on his arm? “My mom really played a lot of music in the house when I was a kid, and a lot of it had a lot of old Moog synths in it,” he said. “Stuff like Stevie Wonder and Steve Winwood, and other adult contemporary music from the ‘80s.”

Montoya was fascinated by the sounds he heard on those old records, and purchased his first Moog at age 17.

“From there on, I just started collecting them and getting into the whole history of the company. I came to understand that Moog was the original synthesizer. … For a long time in the ‘60s and ‘70s Moog was a synonym for synthesizer, like Hoover for vacuums.”

Montoya played in a number of bands as a youngster but didn’t hit on the all-Moog, all-the-time concept until he and his wife, Anna, decided to join forces on a new project. The couple met in high school and became parents at a young age, and their band’s impetus was as much marital as it was musical.

“My wife and I have always played music, but we never played music together,” Montoya said. “We were actually going through a rough time in our relationship, and I thought that if we started playing music together it would help. We feel like that’s definitely strengthened our relationship.”

Last year, Volt Per Octaves found that it had won a coveted slot: to open the second annual Moogfest in New York City. The duo had applied for the gig almost on a whim, assuming they’d be passed over for someone better known or slicker.

“We submitted it, but it was like the lottery—you can’t win if you don’t play. We really love our Moogs and everything, but we’re not virtuosos on our instruments like Rick Wakeman [of Yes] or Keith Emerson [of ELP],” Montoya said. “When we won, we were just in awe. We were like, ‘We won!?’ When you get that first little taste of recognition, it’s just a great feeling. I had been playing in bands since I was 11 years old. I always had that dream of being in a rock-'n'-roll magazine.”

To the Montoyas’ delight, when they got back from their well-received performance in New York, there was a message on their answering machine from Keyboard Magazine, the premier keyboard and synth publication in the U.S., which ran a feature on Volt Per Octaves earlier this year.

Sure, Volt Per Octaves has a gimmick, but it is not a superficial one: The Montoyas love their Moogs and know how to use them. And they’re looking to spread the word as they gear up for their upcoming West Coast tour and self-release of their first album, Theta Release.

“Not to sound too heady or whatever,” Montoya said, “but we’re kind of the epitome of a Moog band.”

He’s not bragging. It’s just the truth.