Advertisement
My Morning Jacket at full bore, wailing on one of their boozy, staggering slabs of rock, is the biggest sound to come out of Louisville, Kentucky, since the crack of a wooden bat. To indie rock fans, that city immediately suggests Slint and the Palace franchise, but My Morning Jacket were never a part of that scene and don't care to be associated with it. "Palace would play shows and all the cool kids would go," frontman Jim James says. "But we did our own thing: We'd be playing across town to twenty other dorks."
Their recent success must give them some satisfaction, then. Or it would, if My Morning Jacket weren't so damn modest. Here, two albums into their career, they are in a position of strength neither Slint nor Palace got within shooting distance of: a buzz band with both integrity and a healthy major-label deal. They'll make their major-label debut with It Still Moves in August on Dave Matthews' ATO Records, the corporate muscle behind David Gray's breakthrough. The deal gives them complete creative freedom, so they can keep making records in James' uncle's barn in the Kentucky countryside, a place no less reverb-y than the inside of an oil can.
Moves will be My Morning Jacket's third full-length, after 1999's The Tennessee Fire and 2001's At Dawn (both released on California indie Darla), and it seems to James like a natural progression from those two. "The Tennessee Fire was real minimal, real quiet," he says. "At Dawn got a louder and got different, but this is going to be our most bang-it-up job record yet, in terms of being loud and full arrangements. It's the most like the live act."
Live, most often, MMJ sprinkle one or two quiet acoustic numbers into searing sets worthy of vintage Crazy Horse. "Touring is such a hectic, fucked-up thing," James explains. "By the time you get to the club, set up all your equipment, make sure your guitar's in tune, you've been sitting in the van all day, you're pissed off . . . we just start playing and just want to kill everybody and play as loud and hard as we can. We've all gravitated toward that.
" That doesn't mean MMJ -- even though they played the NME Awards tour this winter with Scottish rockers Idlewild -- are throwing their lot in with the new garage or New York Rock. Anything but. Their brand of rock & roll is rooted in an authenticity that rarely earns spots on major-label rosters these days, and which certainly hasn't been a feature of the "return of rock." "Music is one of the most important things we have on the planet, and to see it become a fashion show is really stupid," James says. "All these people who aren't musicians and are marginally talented but are taking over the whole culture. They don't even think about music."
For all the Neil Young comparisons James' plaintive voice has earned him, it's in this outsider streak, in their wholehearted disdain for the pretension and posturing that saturates their chosen field, where the two seem closest. "It's not about who you know and who's donkey comes to your birthday party," James insists, "it's about music. I don't want to go to any parties, I just want to make music."
"I need my space," James continues, not complaining but explaining why he won't be moving into Brooklyn with every other new rock band. "There's space everywhere in Louisville, even the most crowded parts. It's my home, and I'm a homebody. I wish I could just sit in my room and be teleported to and from the stage."
My Morning Jacket tour dates:
4/24: Atlanta, Cotton Club
4/25: Charlotte, NC, Center Cityfest
4/26: Raleigh, NC, Lincoln Theater
4/27: Carrboro, NC, Cat's Cradle
4/29: Washington, DC, Black Cat
4/30: Louisville, KY, Jillian's
5/1: New York, Bowery Ballroom
5/2: Philadelphia, Theater of Living Arts
5/3: Cambridge, MA, Middle East Club
5/4: Providence, Met Cafe
5/6: Toronto, Horseshoe Taver
5/7: Buffalo, Mohawk Place
5/8: Pittsburgh, Club Laga
5/9: Youngstown, OH, Nyabinghi Dance Hall
5/10: Detroit, The Shelter
5/11: Cleveland, Grog Shop
5/13: Cincinnati, 20th Century Theater
5/14: Indianapolis, Birdy's
5/15: Chicago, Smart Bar
5/16: Milwaukee, Eagles Ballroom
5/17: Minneapolis, Quest Club
5/19: Kansas City, The Hurricane
5/20: Boulder, CO, Fox Theater
5/21: Salt Lake City, Zephyr Club
5/23: Vancouver, Richard's On Richards
5/24: George, WA, the Gorge
5/25: Seattle, Graceland
5/26: Portland, OR, Dante's
5/28: San Francisco, Slim's
5/29: West Hollywood, The Troubadour
5/30: San Diego, The Scene
5/31: Tempe, AZ, Bash on Ash
6/7: Calverton, NY, Calverton Enterprise Park
6/13: Manchester, TN, Bonnaroo Music Festival
AUGUSTIN
SEDGEWICK
(April 24, 2003)