The Moffatt triplets talk ‘music, travel, love’
MANILA, Philippines — Is it “moh-fats” or “muff-ets”?
“Well, a lot of people here call us the ‘moh-fats’ but it’s the ‘muff-ets.’ That’s our last name. I’m Bob Moffatt,” Bob told The STAR in an exclusive interview.
“I’m Clint Moffatt. And that’s Dave. Haha!” added Clint.
The question of how to correctly pronounce their former group name, The Moffatts, stemmed from a discussion among colleagues, who debated the proper pronunciation.
The Moffatt triplets are in the country for their “Music Travel Love” Philippine Tour, which kicked off in Cagayan de Oro City last Friday, in Cebu City today and at the New Frontier Theater on Sunday. The tour was organized by Concert Republic.
Before forming the Music Travel Love duo, Canadian brothers Bob and Clint were part of The Moffatts, together with their brothers Scott and Dave. The music group was known for late-‘90s hits such as If Life Is So Short and Miss You Like Crazy.
The Moffatts broke up in 2001, reconnected for a Christmas show in 2012 and embarked on a “Farewell Tour” in 2017. Bob and Clint then founded Music Travel Love, a project built around performing cover songs around the globe while featuring scenic tourist attractions.
“Actually, I heard that they were going to be here. I live in Indonesia. So, it’s just a really short flight to come over. And I don’t see them that often, so any opportunity I get to see my twin brothers, I’ll take,” Dave told this paper when asked what made him join this year’s “Music Travel Love” tour.
Bob shared that their concert is different from the previous shows they have mounted in the country.
“We’re going to be showing people a little bit more of the experience of what we do live. So, we’re going to have a lot of our videos and stuff like that projected behind us with drones and cool things like that,” he teased.
“But every show is just different. It’s got a different energy. We’re bringing some new guests, some special guests out, and it’ll just be a lot of fun.”
During the interview, the trio generously sang a few bars of a cover of George Benson’s Nothing’s Gonna Change My Love for You and their own song If Life Is So Short. They also talked about fatherhood, brotherhood, music and travel. Read on for the rest of the interview.
How has fatherhood influenced your music and performing?
Clint: “I would think it influenced in a way that, you know, when you sing certain songs, I think what you think about and how you can relate to that specific song has changed now that we have children. I definitely think about the kids a lot while I’m singing certain songs.
“That’s the great thing about music and that’s the thing that’s great about it, is that songs that seem to stand the test of time and live on are songs that can tap into all those emotions. When you’re young and you’re free and you got love and then you have kids and then you’re married and all these things.
“And as you get older, songs like Forever Young just have such meaningful impacts throughout our group and throughout everybody’s journey through life. So, having children has absolutely made an impact on the emotion that goes into (it) sometimes when you sing.”
Bob: “I couldn’t agree more. Being a father is the greatest gift I’ve had in my whole life. So, it’s awesome.”
How has your relationship evolved over the years since you first started making music at a young age?
Bob: “We definitely probably don’t fight as much as we used to. I’m not sure if that just probably has come with age and just realizing that it’s not important. Some of these things are when you’re younger and you’re fighting for your ideas or your thoughts and, you know, you have a lot more ego. And so that’s probably changed a little bit. But we’ve always been really close.
“Even back then with The Moffatts, I would say, if you asked us who our best friends were, they were our brothers. We’re brothers, but we’re also great friends. And so that’s the way it’s always been. Probably, the way it’ll always be.”
Dave: “I think for me personally, being in The Moffatts was a little difficult near the end. Because I felt like we were so, our identity was so intertwined with each other. And personally, I didn’t feel like we had the ability to find out who we really were standing on our own feet.
“I think now that we’re adults and working together with each other, it allows us to be more individuals and appreciate each other as individuals rather than as like kind of this monster of like, you know, of like a high mind, like we were so connected in The Moffatts. But now we can kind of, we have different opinions and we can appreciate that about what we bring to the table, which is nice.”
Having performed around the world, which three destinations stand out most to you?
Bob: “I think that’s a pretty tough question. They’ve all been so amazing… But there’s been so many different standouts. You know, our first trip to the Philippines to do a Music Travel Love video was very special. I think the first video we ever put out was You Are My Sunshine at White Island in Camiguin.
“And that’s probably one of the more memorable experiences we’ve had because of how we shot that video. There were a bunch of people that were from the hotel that came to the island and helped us kind of create that video. Because it was a windy day and it was really challenging to get what we needed. But they’ve all had their own little magic sauce to every single one of them. Some of them have been easier and some of them have been harder. But at the end of the day, they’re all awesome. They’re like our children in every video.”
Dave: “To be honest with you, (my most memorable was) This I Promise You, which was filmed in Cebu with Francis Greg myself, and my brother, Music Travel Love. At the end of the shoot, the sun was going down. And the hike from where we shot the location to the car was like probably an hour.
“It was dark at night and Francis and I, like I was waiting for Francis, (because) Francis walks really slow and he was walking with his girlfriend and then I was like, you know, we couldn’t see where we were going. We were scared. We didn’t know if we were going to make it. That was very memorable.”
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