Jam rockers moe. are gearing up for the second installment of Snoe.down, March 17th through the 19th in Lake Placid, New York. The winter festival, to be held at the Olympic Center 1980 Rink Herb Brooks Arena, will feature two headlining moe. shows, as well as performances by other bands against the backdrop of the Northeast's largest vertical, Whiteface Mountain.

"It's a destination event," says moe. guitarist Al Schnier. "At the last one [held at Maine's Sugarloaf Mountain in 2002], everybody did some skiing and riding during the day and raged all night -- then did it all over again the next day."

"Lake Placid is such a cool town -- there are so many things to do there besides ski," he adds, mentioning the Olympic Village's luge and bobsled tracks. "We are talking with restaurants, bars, even the movie theater about including the whole town in the event somehow." Along with the opportunity to cut fresh tracks on Whiteface throughout the weekend, the Arena's ice rink will also be open to fans during moe.'s live sets.

The announcement of the winter festival follows the band's annual Labor Day weekend moe.down -- Snoe.down's summer prototype, held in upstate New York -- which drew a crowd of 8,000 and featured bands such as alt-blues rockers North Mississippi Allstars, dub-reggae artist Matisyahu and veteran indie-folk rockers Violent Femmes. The line-up for Snoe.down will be announced within the week.

Moe. are currently working on the follow-up album to 2003's Wormwood, which earned the band a Jammy for Best Studio Album. Using Worm's recording concept -- where live tracks serve as the framework of the songs, and are later tweaked and built upon in the studio -- moe. have compiled enough material for two albums. "We are going to do companion albums," says Schnier. "We're thinking of names that go hand in hand: 'Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,' 'Six of One...Half a Dozen of the Other.' We already have all the basic live tracks -- we just need to go in and finish them in the studio."

The band is aiming to release the first part of the two-part collection in late January, and will hit the road this October, co-headlining a West Coast tour with Gov't Mule and playing at Halloween weekend's Vegoose festival in Las Vegas.

moe. tour dates:

10/12: Portland, OR, Roseland Theatre
10/13: Portland, OR, Roseland Theatre
10/14: Seattle, The Showbox
10/15: Seattle, The Showbox
10/16: Vancouver, Commodore Ballroom
10/17: Eugene, OR, McDonald Theatre
10/19: Stateline, NV, Caesars Showroom
10/20: Santa Cruz, CA, The Catalyst
10/21: San Francisco, Warfield
10/22: San Francisco, Warfield
10/23: Santa Barbara, Arlington Theatre
10/25: Anaheim, CA, The Grove
10/26: San Diego, House of Blues
10/27: San Diego, House of Blues
10/29: Las Vegas, Vegoose
10/30: Las Vegas, Vegoose
11/25: New York, Roseland Ballroom
11/26: New York, Roseland Ballroom