this is interesting because i think (im not positive) sonicnet is owned by
sony which in turn owns epic which now "owns" modest mouse...
but on the bright side we have a tentative release month now! yay for april!
This intercepted at sonicnet:
------------------------------------------
Modest Mouse Offer High-Volume,
High-Velocity Show
Washington trio prove true to punk roots � even with
new
major-label backing.
SonicNet's Nicole Stevenson reports:
SAN FRANCISCO � Their name may be Modest, but the
reception to
their show Tuesday night was anything but.
The crowd response at San Francisco's Great American
Music Hall
pretty much proved that Issaquah, Wash., trio Modest
Mouse have lost
not a crumb of their fan-grabbing punk-pop appeal
since recently
morphing from modest indie band to major-label
signee.
"They're pretty damn good � grungey Pink Floyd with a
twist of
lemon," Mark McKenzye, 16, of Vacaville, Calif., said
as he trolled
for a spare ticket outside the club, hours before
showtime.
Modest Mouse's unique mixture of
introspective
lyrics and intricately composed
punk-pop has
earned them a devoted following � a
following
that by the end of Tuesday's
sold-out show
seemed to hang on the band's every
song.
And that was in spite of
singer/guitarist Isaac
Brock's announcement that he'd just
had his jaw
broken � a possible cause of his
never-quite-intelligible
between-song banter.
Opening act Love as Laughter held
the crowd's
full attention with avant-garde punk
and
ominous, slow songs from their new
album,
Destination 2000.
"[These days] live music is a
novelty," Love as
Laughter singer/guitarist Sam Jayne
announced,
and the band � whose players include guitarist
Brandon Angle,
drummer Zeke Howard and bassist Ryan Davidson �
proceeded to show
that if not a complete novelty they can at least
churn out a distinctive
mix of rockin' double guitars, clean harmonies and
resonating vocals.
Modest Mouse's arrival onstage was marked by nary a
word to the
eager audience. Instead, Brock, drummer Jeremiah
Green and bassist
Eric Judy launched right into a song from their
upcoming Epic
Records album, tentatively due in April 2000.
Before the show, Brock commented that the new album
"is different
and definitely darker [than 1997's Lonesome Crowded
West] in the
mood and the lyrics."
When Brock, Green and Judy leapt into the haunting
guitar opening of
"Doin' the Cockroach" (RealAudio excerpt), a few
girls in the
audience began bouncing their heads � heads adorned
with furry,
white mouse-ear headbands. Brock threw off his hat
and the crowd
cheered as Modest Mouse slid into their languid
"Dramamine," draped
with echoing guitar and vocals that shifted from
breathy to howling.
Before what became a nightlong pattern of extended
pauses between
songs, Brock inquired, "Any ya'll been salsa dancing?
.. We're going
to salsa dance." Brock then jumped around wildly as
he unleashed
guitar feedback.
During an instrumental break in "Cowboy Dan"
(RealAudio
excerpt), Brock slung his guitar over his shoulder
and sang
inaudible, distorted lyrics. In response, an excited
devotee in the
huddled crowd yelled, "That's it, that's the sh--,
baby!"
On "Jesus Christ Was an Only Child," gnarling guitar
coupled with
vocals electronically shifted into what sounded like
a child's
underwater lament.
Aside from the lulling simplicity of "Dramamine" and
"Custom
Concern" (RealAudio excerpt), the set remained high
volume and
high velocity. Brock repeatedly turned up his amp,
called out to the
sound man for more volume and bent down in the middle
of a song to
adjust his distortion pedal.
In both "Cowboy Dan" and "Trailer Trash" (RealAudio
excerpt),
the band engaged the audience in enthusiastic rounds
of call and
response. "Trailer Trash," a bittersweet pop song
dealing with
blue-collar life, seems to have been inspired by
Brock's past.
His path, which has taken him from digging ditches
and selling oil
changes door-to-door to fronting Modest Mouse,
mirrors the band's
rise from indie label Up, a division of Sub Pop, to
the mainstream
Epic label. "The offer was there. We've put out quite
a few records on
independent labels. ... People throw integrity issues
about this
major-label thing at me, but where's your integrity
when you're
washing dishes?" Brock said.
Love as Laughter's Angle seemed to concur. "You gotta
make a living,
especially if you're doing what you love to do," he
said.
The lyrics from Modest Mouse's final encore song,
"Custom Concern,"
cut to the bottom line: "You gotta go to work, gotta
go to work, got get a
job."
In addition to their upcoming Epic album, the band
has a collection of
singles, Building Nothing out of Something, due on
Sub Pop in
December. ____________________________________
Get your free full featured email @
http://www.apexmail.com
