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If you’re looking for something fun to do on Halloween weekend, The Library is lending its stage to MoJiles on the 29th, 30th, and 31st of October, and if singing along to 80s rock or country classics is your thing, you’re pretty much guaranteed to have a good time. Not to mention there is a $500 prize for the best costume on Halloween night. Can’t make it that weekend? Mojiles will also be at the Library on the 5th of November. I had a chance to speak with Jon Kott, the singer of MoJiles, about the band’s success.
How did the band start?
MoJiles started about eight years ago from a guy who’s not even in the band anymore, it was his brain child. His name’s Mike Jenks, and he started the band out of Pensacola. I joined the band, and we immediately got picked up by a booking agency out of Birmingham called Music Garden. They just started putting us in the college circuits around the southeast, and all the SEC schools, and it really just started snowballing from there. There have been so many variations of this band. I’m the only consistent member who’s been here through the eight years.
What members are in the band presently?
There’s myself, Jon Kott. I’m a singer. Tim Stephens, our newest acquisition, is a guitar player from the band EMF, with the number one hit “You’re Unbelievable.” Justin Smegelski is the bass player, Justin Rogers is our other guitar player, and Chris “Winky” Winskey is our drummer.
What genres do y’all focus on?
Everything from country to rock to southern rock to 80s. We try to gear our shows towards high energy. In this whole southeast area, people like this saying that up north, country people don’t like rock, and rock people don’t like country, but down here, it usually crosses over.
When did you first start coming to The Library?
We’ve been coming here about a year. The owner Johnny found us down at the Hangout in the Gulf Shores. There’s definitely a group of 50 or 60 people, we see their same faces all the time. Which kind of helps build that crowd. It takes a few people to come up to the front to get the other people comfortable enough to come out.
So what are some of the favorite songs here in Oxford?
We have been finding that Oxford really enjoys Eric Church. The country stuff and the 80s stuff. We have a lot of love for the 80s — we’ll play Journey, Def Leopard, Bon Jovi.
Do y’all have original content as well?
We do. All of us have come from different original backgrounds. We’ve had so many requests from people at this point that want to hear our original stuff. Tim and I have been working on rehashing and pulling out some new, original stuff, that should hopefully be coming to fruition soon. But since we pulled Tim over from the UK, things have just been filling up. We’re gonna be up to like 240 shows booked next year.
What would you attribute to y’all’s success?
I think it’s just the hard work, man. We don’t stop, and we constantly keep evolving. We keep things fresh. A lot of the bands we see in the circuit, they’re playing the exact same show from end to end. And we just keep adding stuff and trying to evolve, and hit new markets, and stretch out.
What’s the most difficult part about being in a cover band?
Being in a cover band.
What do you mean by that?
There’s not a lot of respect from all of our peers. Some people respect the crap out of what we do, and are envious and flattering. We all came from original bands, but there’s always that stigma of cover bands not having original stuff. But there’s really no downside to it. We get to play for a really great crowd, who are really into it. It’s a bummer that we’re not getting to share our songs and they’re not singing our words, but it’s still entertaining, and it makes you feel alive. 
