If you grew up in the 90’s/early 2000’s in Canada, you will probably have musical memories of The Moffatts. Collectively over their careers, brothers, Scott, Dave, Bob and Clint sold over six million records worldwide. They started performing all while under the age of five and went onto host The JUNO Awards as teenagers: “We were pretty young at the time,” Clint recalled, “but I do remember our dad talking with someone at CBC and they said they wanted to have The JUNOS at the SkyDome (now known as Rogers Centre) and they figured if we hosted, they could sell it out. [It’s] crazy to look back at that, and what a wild ride it was with The Moffatts. Now instead of kids screaming at our music, we're a parent's best friend helping to put their kids to sleep. Now that's a 180!” He laughed.
Although The Moffatts eventually stopped performing, Bob and Clint continued to carve their own path as “Music Travel Love” (MTL). As Clint explained, “After The Moffatts, Bob and I ventured out on our own. We had a couple of record deals, and sold a few records, but it wasn't who we needed to be. We were who the record company wanted us to be, and maybe more so who we thought we were supposed to be. But we never gave up and kept plugging away day after day, and kept making music. We knew that one day we would discover who we were and with that, the music would just naturally come. We never gave up and today we feel it's all come together.”
Music Travel Love gained millions of views on YouTube, Facebook and other social media platforms as the brothers began uploading cover songs and original material. Each of their songs were accompanied by cinematic footage of the world around them, whether it was at home in Nashville or somewhere on the other side of the planet.
“For the most part,” said Bob, “Music Travel Love videos are a blend of peaceful music, beautiful outdoor settings, and familiar love songs from the past. Our music is melodic and filled with harmonies that provide people with an opportunity to rest, relax and recharge and – if just for a minute or two—get away from today's chaotic world.”
Clint added, “In today's world, there is so much talent out there, you need something to help you pop out in the crowd. We just decided that if we were going to stay in music we wanted to do the three things we loved the most. Music, traveling and family equals love. Once we saw the visuals from the drone, we thought, ‘Wow’. So we kind of were [amazed] at just how beautiful the world really is.”
In the early days, The Moffatts were known as a country band that shifted into a pop group. However, Bob explained that just because the pair lives in Nashville now, it doesn’t mean that they have had a full-circle moment as performers: “We love country music! It definitely is our roots and it played a big part in our harmonies with influences like Diamond Rio, Blackhawk, Alabama and Nitty Gritty Dirt Band—but we love all music of the 50's 60's, 70's and 80's, with acts like Elvis, The Beatles, Tom Petty, and The Eagles to name a few…. I just think we've just learned to appreciate great music regardless of the genres, but Garth Brooks, Dwight Yoakam and George Strait are still pretty high on our list.” Alongside The Beatles and Elvis Presley, Bob and Clint would also like to cover The Everly Brothers one day.
MTL has not been without its challenges, both online and in the physical world, especially with COVID-19, which has taken the “Travel” out of Music Travel Love:
“The problem that we face is which song to cover. There are so many incredible songs out there. That said, YouTube does play a part in the songs we select as everything has to work within the YouTube algorithm.” Bob continued. “I wouldn't say COVID has affected our creativity, but it has impacted our ability to travel. A lot of our video expenses are covered by tourism in different countries and sadly we had to postpone trips to Northern India, Vietnam, Nepal, New Caledonia, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Balkans, the list goes on and on. Hopefully at the end of this year we can get back out there and make things happen…. I think we are just like everyone else and looking forward to an end to all this COVID insanity so we can travel. You never really appreciate freedom until you don't have it.”
Additionally, Clint said that (when possible) they love going home to Canada, “but for places to hang out and chill, Bali, Thailand, Mexico and Hawaii stand out. Sand and sun seems to be right at the top of our list.”
Finally, when Music Travel Love was asked for career advice, Clint replied, “There is no easy path to success, and the path gets harder and harder once you get a taste of success. If you are going to invest your time into establishing a career of any sort, make sure that it's something that ignites your passion, because when the s - - t hits the fan, you need that passion to get up and get going the next day.”
For more information, please visit www.musictravellove.com.
Photo courtesy of Music Travel Love.
If you liked this story, please consider making a donation here.
