Wednesday nights at Bertoglios Pizza in Yelm are alive with the sound of music from a variety of local artists. The headliner for the open mic night each week is Hogue & Moore Band, a local trio who grab the crowd’s attention with their covers of popular rock songs and catchy original tunes.
Singer Geoff Moore’s vocals are echoed by customers, who marvel at guitarist Darrin Hogue’s rhythms from his acoustic guitar and nod their heads at percussionist Jason Johnson’s beats on the cajon. They perform songs like The Beatles’ “Come Together,” Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” 4 Non Blondes’ “What’s Up?” and their own original “Tequila Sunrise,” a crowd favorite.
The trio has hosted the open mic nights at Bertoglios for nearly two years. Hogue and Johnson are from Yelm, while Moore resides in Centralia, but the band performs all over the West Coast. This summer, they completed a nearly three-week tour that took them to Oregon, California and Nevada. Overall, they’ve performed more than 100 shows in 2023, not counting the weekly Wednesdays at Bertoglios.
The group originally started as a duo in January of 2019, with Hogue and Moore performing as No Names for three years before changing their name to Hogue & Moore Band. Around that time, Johnson joined the group, playing the cajon and the tambourine.
In the early days, No Names performed at open mics at Doggers Bar and Grill, now known as Quarter Mile Bar & Grill.
“We just loved doing open mics and people kept asking us to do shows and so we did,” Moore said. “I learned a lot from doing open mics and having all these musicians in my life.”
Music was always a hobby for each of them. Moore served in the United States Army, Hogue worked at a fiberglass plant in Yelm for nearly 30 years, and Johnson worked as a cook and in information technology. Hogue and Johnson have played instruments since adolescence, but Moore didn’t join the music scene until his mid-30s. He enjoyed singing to his children every night, but when they got older, he sang at open mics and karaoke, where friends began to recognize his vocal talent.
“People kept saying, ‘Man, you’re really good. You should sing on The Voice and sing on this and that,’ and I was like, ‘Yeah, whatever.’ But they told me enough times that I finally decided to sing with my friends that had guitars and jam with them,” Moore said.
Hogue joined a variety of bands, but they often fell apart, and he fell out of music for a long time. Hogue has participated in the Hogue & Moore Band the longest, and he believes they will stick around for a while longer. He said the spark for him was a 2020 show that No Names performed at Infernos Brick Oven Pizza in Lacey, where more than 350 people attended.
“They had to turn people away because there were too many people showing up. That was kind of the spark of wanting to do music professionally because we had so many people there,” he said.
Johnson’s addition to the band in 2022 was “a match made in heaven,” Hogue said, and Moore agreed with that sentiment.
“As soon as I learned that he could play songs I knew, I started jamming with him immediately. I made a list and I was like, ‘Dude, we got to jam these songs every time I see you,’ ” Moore said.
Johnson quit his job at a restaurant to tour with Hogue & Moore Band, a testament to his love of being on stage and his belief in the band.
“I have never been more happy than when I am on stage. My family tells me so, my friends tell me so, and my therapist tells me so,” Johnson said. “It’s fun. I wouldn’t do it if it weren’t.”
While they are mainstays in the Yelm music scene, Hogue & Moore Band doesn’t have specific goals of being famous and living the rockstar lifestyle.
“We’re not trying to be famous. We just want to be loved. That’s all,” Moore said. “I want to make music and do the s---out of it. Luckily, I got these guys to rock and roll with.”
They hope to continue performing locally, engaging with the community and traveling with their friends. The trio also aims to record their original songs and continue to get their name out there.
“I think they should be a lot bigger than they really are. But I think they enjoy what they do, just doing small towns,” Katrina Caruthers, Hogue’s girlfriend, said. “They all get along great. They all play so well together.”
For now, the band is content with bringing small-town crowds to their feet with covers and originals. They feed off of the crowd’s energy, Hogue said, whether it be singing along, tapping their feet or getting up to dance.
“That’s what makes us feel good, is when we see that interaction. We’ve had some shows where we get everybody in the whole place singing, and it’s a euphoria and a great feeling,” Hogue said.
Yelm is home for the trio, as they said their crowds outside of the city often don’t compare. They are thankful for the Yelm community embracing them and making them a staple in the city every Wednesday night.
“It means everything. We have so many of our friends and other musicians that travel from Centralia, Lacey and Olympia just to come to Bertoglios every Wednesday to come hang out with us and play with us,” Johnson said. “It means the world.”
Hogue & Moore Band hosts the open mic night from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. every Wednesday at Bertoglios Pizza. To learn more about the band and their upcoming shows, visit https://www.facebook.com/hoguemooreband/.
