May 30, 2025

209. MOBY GRAPE’S DON STEVENSON & PETER LEWIS DOUBLE-HEADER (PART 1: SELF-TITLED & WOW) (GRAPE EXPECTATIONS EPISODE 3)

2 hours 17 minutes

Episode 3 of our Grape Expectations Series features two—count ‘em, TWO SEPARATE INTERVIEWS with drummer Don Stevenson and guitarist Peter Lewis, each of whom gives their own Rashomon-like perspective on the fascinating early part of Moby Grape’s career. Disastrous tours, lawsuits, police busts, horribly nefarious managers, a fake touring version of the band, mysterious black magic witches, and drug-induced madness. And, no joke—that’s just within the band’s first two years.

The first episode of my conversations with both Don & Peter features both men discussing their first two records, the self-titled debut and Wow, right up to when Skip had his breakdown.

Here’s just a few of the many things that Don & Peter both separately discuss with Discograffiti in Part 1 of our conversation:

How the band initially coalesced;

The early days finding their sound at The Ark;

How the major label feeding frenzy over the band wound up impacting them;

Don’s infamous front cover middle finger;

An in-depth discussion of their legendary self-titled debut;

The steep downhill slide that began literally on the night of their launch party;

And the time Skip broke down crying in the studio when the reaction to his new song wasn’t as he’d expected.

Then, for good measure, Peter drops a bomb at the end of the whole thing.

Listen: linktr.ee/discograffiti

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If you’re a Moby Grape & Skip Spence superfan like me, The Director’s Cut of this episode is ad-free and features A WHOPPING 52 ADDITIONAL MINUTES of essential material.

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By David Gebroe

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