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When Modest Mouse flew to Mississippi to record their seventh album, We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank, they came armed with a new member, former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr. Bandleader Isaac Brock actively sought out Marr, believing their stylistic differences might produce interesting results, and after Marr visited the frontman in his hometown of Portland, Oregon, for ten days of writing sessions, the seed was sowed. Marr is now a full-fledged member, and We Were Dead is the Mouse's most thoroughly entertaining album, with the pogo-inducing lead single, "Dashboard," the anthemic "Fire It Up" and the eight-minute-plus "Spitting Venom," which hops between acoustic strumming and daggerlike electric riffs. And though Marr has so far failed to convert Brock into a nonsmoker -- oddly, while we chat in his Manhattan hotel room, he switches back and forth between Winston Lights and American Spirits -- Brock's self-destructive lifestyle seems to be a thing of the past. He's engaged, he owns a house, he drinks less and he even exercises -- a little. "I go to Bikram yoga, which is the hardest shit ever," he says. "Then I come out and reward myself with a cigarette."
Whether you intended it or not, "Fire It Up" will be the
stoner anthem of '07.
My fiancée pointed that one out to me. It wasn't my
intention. I was saying "fire it up" in the sense of turning over a
car. But I highly approve of stoners and stoner anthems.
Do you smoke a lot?
Not a shit-ton -- I'm not stoned right now -- but I tend to get
stoned in the evenings to unwind. It can make TV more
entertaining.
What TV shows do you anticipate?
I watch the same cartoons over and over again. I watch Adult
Swim. I watch Futurama repeatedly. Then it's DVDs,
and I'm easily amused by crappy comedies. I've seen Super
Troopers too many times, and there's a house rule that we're
not allowed to watch Beerfest again.
I was happy to read that you despise the Grateful
Dead.
Not them -- their fans. It's living in Oregon and just seeing these
worthless, talk-too-much-about-what-people-are-doing-wrong,
not-really-doing-anything-themselves fuckin' hippies. That I
despise. "Casey Jones," or whatever, is a great song. I remember
the last time the Grateful Dead played in Seattle, at the Seattle
Center. I was living there, and after the show I was walking to
work near there and I'd never seen so much debris. There were
mountains of garbage. Outside of being green-minded about weed, I
thought they'd be environmentally conscious, but it was the
filthiest I'd ever seen Seattle. It's like they were tripping their
balls off in squalor.
There seem to be a lot of nautical themes in your
songwriting: "Float On," "March Into the Sea," "Missed the Boat" .
. .
There is something genuinely freeing to me about the ocean. There
are no borders -- it's fucking beautiful. I'm not going to get to
do space travel, so what's under the water is quite a bit more
interesting to me. I just went snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef
with my fiancée. Also, I've gotten into surfing a bit. I
can't stand up for more than five seconds, but I like the fact that
I can paddle out into oblivion.
There's a new, unauthorized biography of Modest Mouse.
Have you read any of it?
No. I don't know how you'd write a biography about a band without
talking to any of the players or their families. I think it's
written on speculation, from magazine articles and shit. I think
the guy who wrote it is a fuckin' ass and an asshole.
Have you imposed any rules on yourself as far as
drinking before gigs?
I try to pace myself. I've found that if I don't drink, I'm a
little less fluid. So I like to have a few drinks. I used to get
wasted before shows, and it could end horribly. Or it could start
and end horribly. Out of respect for people who've paid to see the
show, and the guys in the band who don't drink anymore, I realize
it wouldn't be fair for me to fuck up the show for my good
time.
Who are your favorite bands to tour with?
We used to really like touring with the Shins, back when they were
named Flake Music. And we liked touring with Atlas Strategic --
some of whom are now in Wolf Parade -- even though they tended to
show up late, or not at all. And the Flaming Lips, even though it
was hard for us to be memorable with their giant flying saucer and
fuckin' confetti.
What's the coolest thing you've seen recently looking
into an audience?
There was a kid who looked about seventeen who was crowd-surfing,
and he got pulled over the barricade by one of the security guards.
The kid was really psyched, and he gave this big meathead a big hug
and just danced off. These guys are supposed to have beef with each
other, but I like that the kid totally confused the guard with a
big-ass hug.
As a musician, where are you happiest?
Writing. I'm looking forward to writing the next one. And I love
touring a lot more now that I don't party like I used to. I can get
up at a reasonable hour and go check shit out, rather than waking
up hung over with a fuckin' dollar bill hanging out of my nose.
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