A band puts on a concert – Hairball puts on an event!

If you are going to a Hairball show expecting any old cover band, then prepare to be blown away.

A Hairball concert is a full production complete with spot-on costumes, a large video wall, light shields, crates full of pyrotechnics and three performers on rotation (vocalists Joe Dandy, Kris Vox and Dave Moody) along with lead guitarist Happy, bassist Brian HBK and drummer Billy.

As a celebration of all things from the 70s and 80s rock world, Hairball takes its audience back in time to see all their favorite rock stars in their prime and shock their system while they’re at it.

“We’re there to burn your eyes out of your head and make your eardrums bleed, leaving you sticky, broken and confused,” Moody said. “You bring the beer, we’ll bring the hits, and we’re all gonna have a great time.”

And that’s just what they did. Hairball performed in Des Moines at the Jacobsen Center on Feb. 4 and will return to Iowa twice more on their current tour, heading to Sioux City on Feb. 17 and Clear Lake on Feb. 18.

“Iowa is a rock ‘n’ roll cornerstone of America,” Moody said. “Not many people know that, but we do. Rock ‘n’ roll is a religion in Iowa. The people there are some of the best fans that I’ve ever had the opportunity of meeting and conversing with. They’re very knowledgeable about rock ‘n’ roll, they’re very passionate about rock ‘n’ roll, and they love Hairball. And we love them. We fawn over them, and they fawn over us, so what’s better than that?”

Well, maybe getting to portray your childhood heroes as your career.

“I went to all these shows. I grew up on these videos; that was part of my life,” Moody said. “They were my nanny if you will. Instead of watching Sesame Street, I watched Alice Cooper. It was very ingrained in me, their movements, their mannerism, the way they perform. All of this stuff has just been typed into my DNA.”

Moody would spend hours in his room as a kid, listening to Kiss records and singing in the mirror. And, for him, it never grows old.

“This stuff is masterpiece theater for me,” Moody said. “I mean, you’re talking about Kiss ‘Destroyer’ and Kiss ‘Alive!’, Twisted Sister’s ‘You Can’t Stop Rock ‘N’ Roll’ and ‘Stay Hungry.’ All of those albums are phenomenal, and you pick any AC/DC record, and you’re listening to solid gold. Alice Cooper’s the same way. All these characters have just amazing careers, and the songs and the library that they have is just wonderful.”

But just because you live and breathe rock ‘n’ roll doesn’t mean you can’t appreciate music outside of the genre just as much.

“I find the same intensity in a Loretta Lynn song that I do in a Slayer song,” Moody said. “I can listen to Frank Sinatra and Cannibal Corpse, one right after the other. I could listen to just about anything and get the intensity as long as it’s delivering that attitude. I love it.”

Performing music has always been Moody’s dream, and he “thank[s] Jesus every day for it.”

“You could go work at Ford, which is an admirable job, and punch the clock all you want, or you can wear lipstick and blow fire. I chose lipstick and blowing fire,” Moody said with a laugh. “What better way to spend your life than entertaining people and making them happy.”

And he did indeed blow fire during the concert. Dressed as Gene Simmons and with a mouthful of fuel, Moody brought out a sword with a flaming hilt and created a ball of fire before slamming the blade into the stage, sharp end first.

It was an immediate hit with the audience.

“I’m very grateful and very thankful for every moment that I have up on that stage and on the road because this is an opportunity that is not afforded to a lot of folks,” Moody said. “And the fact that I get to be in that half of one percentile that does this for a living, I’m so grateful for it, and I never don’t have my eye on it.”

Moody has been in other bands before, namely as a bass player for Billy Ray Cyrus and in an  AC/DC Cover Band, ‘Thunderstruck,’ but Hairball is where he feels the most at home.

“There’s not a bad part of it,” he said. “I get to be my heroes from the time that I was a child growing up. I get to blow fire, and I get to be Dee Snyder, I get to be Alice Cooper, I get to be Gene Simmons. It doesn’t suck.”

But how do you portray such legendary characters with just as much feeling as they do?

“The costume really helps,” Moody said. “Once you put that costume on, you have a good idea of what they were thinking whenever they did it. It’s hard not to feel what they felt, especially when you put the Gene makeup on and when you put the boots on and when you put on the leather and armor and all of that. You feel what they felt. So, when you look in the mirror, you go, ‘okay, I see exactly what’s going on.’ And you just kind of turned into that character.”

The three vocalists wear about four costumes each in a single concert, alternating performers as they move through their setlist so the other two can change outfits, makeup, and shoes.

“The amount of detail and work that goes in behind the scenes,” Moody said. “People just don’t see it because they see the polished product, but there’s a lot of work that goes into making the shows happen. Not necessarily just performers but also from the road crew and technicians that set everything up, the riggers, the people that load in and load out, those are the most important people.”

Them, and the fans that are there to trip on nostalgia at the show.

Hairball is very mindful of their audience and want to put on a great show for everyone, whether they’re 10 or 100.

“It’s always a fresh new night with fresh new faces who’ve never seen the show,” Mood said. “So, you go into that knowing when you look out, there’s new faces, and new eyes on you, and you want to deliver that product the way that you remember and, more importantly, the way that they remember it.”

Find out more about Hairball and its members at hairballonline.com

See a full gallery from the show here.