When the good news arrived that Chop Suey (sadly, the name had to stay, but feel free to refer to it as Chop) would reopen its doors with a renewed commitment to a community stung by its (brief) absence, it wasn't hard to know what to say: Fuck. Yes.
But for the even better news that the grand reopening would be headlined by a reunited Dead Moon, words were a little harder to come by. Not that we weren't thrilled—who better to ring in the new era of an old haunt? But what else is there to say about a band that has been so important to so many people for so long? A lot, as it turns out. —Ed.
• Fred Cole (born August 28, 1948) started his musical career in Las Vegas at the age of 15 with a project called Deep Soul Cole (billed as the "White Stevie Wonder") and a band called the Lords, which recorded a single, "Ain't Got No Self Respect," before disbanding in 1964. Cole then joined the Weeds in 1966.
• While on their way north, the Weeds ran out of gas in Portland, Oregon. Fred met Kathleen "Toody" Conner (born December 30, 1948) at a local bar called the Folk Singer, where she was working at the time.
• It was love at first sight. Well, love after Toody decided Fred wasn't the "arrogant frontman" she initially thought he was. They were secretly married in June of 1967.
• The Weeds changed their name to the more bubblegum-marketable the Lollipop Shoppe, which also avoided rhyming with the Seeds (the bands shared a manager). They played with the Doors, Big Brother and the Holding Company with Janis Joplin, Buffalo Springfield, Love, and other greats before dissolving in 1968. Their psych/garage jam "You Must Be a Witch" can be found on the first Nuggets compilation.
• In 1970, as the Vietnam War raged, Toody and Fred moved with their two small children to the Yukon in Canada to live off the land (and dodge the draft). After a brief visit to the US, the Coles were denied access back into Canada. They returned to Portland and never saw their homestead again.
• Now raising three small children—Amanda, Weeden, and Shane—the Coles opened a music store in Portland called Captain Whizeagle's, which served as a hangout for start-up bands or kids in need of music advice or generous credit.
• After his early-'70s band Albatross folded, Fred formed Zipper, a Zeppelinesque project whose self-titled 1975 album was the inaugural release on the Coles' own Whizeagle record label. Whizeagle's second release was a 7-inch by yet another of Fred's bands, King Bee, in 1978.
• Frustrated with short-lived projects and the struggle to find committed bandmates, Fred to urged Toody to pick up the bass. They formed the Rats together in 1980 and self-released three albums, but broke up in 1984 after their third drummer quit.
• Around 1984, the Coles moved operations to Clackamas, Washington, and opened Tombstone Music.
• Fred formed the cowpunk band the Western Front in 1985—they self-released two singles before disbanding in 1986.
• In 1986, Fred and Toody had grown sick of what punk had become, so they reunited musically as the Range Rats, another country-leaning band, aided this time by a drum machine. Tiring of country within a year, they decided to start something a little more powerful...
• In 1987, Fred convinced Portland bartender Andrew Loomis to drum for the Coles' new band, Dead Moon.
• Fred and Toody started Tombstone Records ("Music too tough to die") in 1988. Tombstone would release most of Dead Moon's discography. Fred cut the master lacquers on the vintage monophonic lathe that Toody gave him for his 39th birthday. It was the very same lathe, incidentally, that had been used to cut the original release of the Kingsmen's "Louie, Louie."
• For nearly 20 years, Dead Moon aggressively toured the United States and Europe while writing, recording, and releasing a new full-length album every one to three years. The band members are known to shake hands or "throw down" before their live shows and use an empty bottle of Jack Daniel's as a candleholder to set the mood for their sets. They are also known to be numerically superstitious.
• The Dead Moon skull/moon logo was designed by Kelly Manahan. Fred has a tattoo of the logo on the right side of his face. Toody has a slightly different version on her right arm. They got the tattoos in 1988 as a gift for playing a tattoo-shop benefit.
• In 2006, after a particularly rough European tour, Dead Moon broke up. The Coles intended to "take a few years off," but within four months, they had formed their current band, Pierced Arrows, with drummer Kelly Halliburton (whose father played with Fred in Albatross). Andrew Loomis now drums for Longview band the Shiny Things.
• Dead Moon began playing select reunion shows in 2014 in Europe and the United States.
• In March of 2014, it was announced that Fred would need emergency open-heart surgery for blocked arteries. The surgery was successful, and Weeden announced that his father was "recovering faster than expected."
• Fred and Toody played an "unplugged" set in Portland on Halloween of 2014, their first show after his recovery.
• Fred's advice for a long and happy marriage (from a 2000 interview with Scram magazine): "Do everything together! Work together, play together. If you can't stand to be with somebody 24 hours a day, you got the wrong person. Seriously." 
