Mike Moore and Vic Koons have rocked through the years
 SUBMITTED PHOTOS Mike Moore is the keyboardist for Tastes Like Chicken, which is one of Indiana’s top bands |  Vic Koons, like bandmate Moore, has had a passion for music since he was a child. |
By Sherri Coner
Managing editor
Sixth-grade teachers only assumed that Mike Moore and Vic Koons were paying attention.
“We were probably not spending class time the way we should have,” Moore said with a laugh. “We were both thinking about all the instruments we should have in our band.”
As it turns out, that daydreaming was never a waste of time.
For 21 years these Center Grove High School graduates have been the driving force behind Tastes Like Chicken, one of the top bands in Indiana and 2016’s No. 1 wedding band.
Moore grew up under a musical roof. His mom sang in a choir and his dad played guitar and piano.
Like Koons, who has had instruments in his hands since age 6, Moore knew as a child that music was his passion.
When they put their love for music together, a band was born.
They named the venture Argosy.
And soon after that, guys old enough to drive cars hauled speakers, guitars and drum sets down the basement stairs of the Moore home to jam with two very talented seventh-graders.
During the rest of junior high and all of their high school years, the members of Argosy played every gig they could get, from friends’ parties to providing the entertainment at a Sadie Hawkins dance in New Palestine.
“I think we got paid a little bit of money for playing at the school there,” Moore said. “And that was a big deal.”
After graduating high school in 1978, both men attended Purdue University.
That’s when life got in the way of the dream.
Adult-bound responsibilities like attending classes, studying and preparing for careers, forced a focus shift.
For the first time since they were kids, the beloved instruments were often dusty.
Two decades and a year ago, Moore, the diehard key board player who is also known for making a harmonica wail and Koons, a bass guitarist with an equal love for rocking a crowd with his mandolin… well, they proved that dreams can be resurrected.
Though Moore works in engineering management and Koons is in national sales, they balance careers and families so music is again consistently part of their lives.
“We average 35 to 40 shows a year,” Koons said. “But we have gone as high as 60.”
Though they have made up funny answers for years about how the band got its name, Koons confesses that the band was chriatened with its name because of a running joke about an old drive-through restaurant commercial.
“It was so dumb that it stuck,” Koons said with a laugh.
The other thing that has managed to stick for all these years is the friendship between two guys who daydreamed their way right onto the stage.
“It’s sort of like glue,” Moore said. “It’s more than a handshake, the friendship with someone you have performed with for all of these years.”
Managing editor
Sixth-grade teachers only assumed that Mike Moore and Vic Koons were paying attention.
“We were probably not spending class time the way we should have,” Moore said with a laugh. “We were both thinking about all the instruments we should have in our band.”
As it turns out, that daydreaming was never a waste of time.
For 21 years these Center Grove High School graduates have been the driving force behind Tastes Like Chicken, one of the top bands in Indiana and 2016’s No. 1 wedding band.
Moore grew up under a musical roof. His mom sang in a choir and his dad played guitar and piano.
Like Koons, who has had instruments in his hands since age 6, Moore knew as a child that music was his passion.
When they put their love for music together, a band was born.
They named the venture Argosy.
And soon after that, guys old enough to drive cars hauled speakers, guitars and drum sets down the basement stairs of the Moore home to jam with two very talented seventh-graders.
During the rest of junior high and all of their high school years, the members of Argosy played every gig they could get, from friends’ parties to providing the entertainment at a Sadie Hawkins dance in New Palestine.
“I think we got paid a little bit of money for playing at the school there,” Moore said. “And that was a big deal.”
After graduating high school in 1978, both men attended Purdue University.
That’s when life got in the way of the dream.
Adult-bound responsibilities like attending classes, studying and preparing for careers, forced a focus shift.
For the first time since they were kids, the beloved instruments were often dusty.
Two decades and a year ago, Moore, the diehard key board player who is also known for making a harmonica wail and Koons, a bass guitarist with an equal love for rocking a crowd with his mandolin… well, they proved that dreams can be resurrected.
Though Moore works in engineering management and Koons is in national sales, they balance careers and families so music is again consistently part of their lives.
“We average 35 to 40 shows a year,” Koons said. “But we have gone as high as 60.”
Though they have made up funny answers for years about how the band got its name, Koons confesses that the band was chriatened with its name because of a running joke about an old drive-through restaurant commercial.
“It was so dumb that it stuck,” Koons said with a laugh.
The other thing that has managed to stick for all these years is the friendship between two guys who daydreamed their way right onto the stage.
“It’s sort of like glue,” Moore said. “It’s more than a handshake, the friendship with someone you have performed with for all of these years.”
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