On October 3rd 2008 Chicago Tribune published an interview with Patrick Hallahan, done by Chris Riemenschneider. The original interview can be found here.
Keywords:
Plenty of rock bands have made exceptional albums but stunk like a dead carp on stage. And then there's the peculiar case of My Morning Jacket.
While fans of the Kentucky-bred, reverb-soaked quintet will argue which of its five albums is best (2003's "It Still Moves" gets the vote here), few would suggest that any of those records live up to the vibrant energy and climactic rush of the group's live shows.
MMJ concerts these days reach upward of three hours and have a mad-whirl quality to them. The albums are great, or at least half-great, but ...
Apparently, the band members themselves understand the different levels of appreciation.
"We always try to experiment when we get into the studio, to try to capture something new and different," drummer Patrick Hallahan explained.
"We tour so much because we enjoy playing so much. The live show is probably a purer reaction to that enjoyment."
Talking by phone from backstage at "The Tonight Show" -- the last big late-night TV show MMJ had not played (including "Saturday Night Live") -- Hallahan made it sound like the group was once again having a blast on tour.
That wasn't a foregone conclusion this time around. Before the making of MMJ's new album, "Evil Urges," frontman Jim James came down with a serious bout of pneumonia that left him hospitalized for about a week. The going line was he had simply worn himself out on tour. (No surprise, then, that he isn't doing any interviews for the current swing.)
MMJ had also lost different members over the years because of its demanding road treks. Bassist Tommy Blankenship is the only other original member. A childhood friend of James, Hallahan said the singer and the rest of the band have since learned "a hidden secret" to stand up to the rigors of the road.
"You learn lessons as you go along, so we've learned to stay healthy more and get good rest and not knock down anything that would tire us all the more," he said with a laugh. "Nobody gave us the memo. We had to figure it out on our own.
"These are long shows, so you have to stay healthy. We could do this for a long time if everybody exercises and eats right. It's amazing what that can do for a band."
The longest of the My Morning Jacket shows famously came this summer at the Bonnaroo festival, where the band played a four-hour late-night set and reportedly didn't lose the crowd, even when it started raining.
"It was a magical, electric night," Hallahan recalled. "It was just a case of Bonnaroo providing us with a platform to do that. We're playing close to three hours every night on our own. When you play that long, another hour is 1not so bad once you hit your stride."
The Bonnaroo set was rounded out with a madcap array of cover songs, ranging from Bobby Womack's "Across 110th Street" to Erykah Badu's "Tyrone" to, for a closer, Motley Crue's "Home Sweet Home." Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett (whose band played before MMJ's set) joined the band for its own would-be classic, "One Big Holiday."
"He told us he always listens to us before he goes surfing, and he turned out to be a super nice guy," Hallahan said.
Showing posts with label Chicago Tribune. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chicago Tribune. Show all posts
Chicago Tribune (2006)
On May 12th 2006 Chicago Tribune published an interview with Jim James and Tom Blankenship, done by Fauzia Arain. The original interview can be found here.
Keywords: Johnny Quaid and Danny Cash leave the band,
When pneumonia knocked down My Morning Jacket lead singer Jim James after Thanksgiving last year, what followed was a crash course in learning to say no.
It started with a particularly painful lesson--when his band turned down a gig opening for the Black Crowes on New Year's Eve at Madison Square Garden.
"[The pneumonia] totally wore me down and destroyed me," says James, from his hometown of Louisville. "This year we're trying to tour a little less and tour a little smarter, just trying to do things here and there."
One solid reality check later, the earnest Americana rockers with a stunning, expansive sound charged on with their plans to support last year's lauded "Z" (ATO). Their highest-profile achievement brings them to the United Center Tuesday and Wednesday--opening for Pearl Jam's current tour, an honor shared with icons Sonic Youth and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, who are opening different legs of the tour.
Clearly, slowing down isn't all that leisurely for this band, but the relentless drive is probably what landed the quintet in the heat-seeking seat they've occupied for at least the last four years. That growth spurt also triggered two original members to quit the band, on good terms, in favor of a stationary, home-focused life.
"[Drummer] Patrick [Hallahan], Jim and I were standing in the hallway of this hotel in London after those two quit, and Jim looked at me and he's like, `What do you think? What're you gonna do?' and I'm like, `I'll be around. I'm still here,'" relays bassist Two-Tone Tommy.
That's the kind of easy strength and quiet confidence that runs through the band's southern veins--relaxed yet far from lazy. "It's just in the nature of the band that we never depended on anything," Tommy adds. "If we were told, y'know, `You'll make a million dollars per show for the rest of your life,' we'd just never believe anything that we're ever told. I guess our philosophy was just to work as hard as we can and not expect too much in return."
That has led band members to seek out alternate creative outlets. Such collaborations have included a solo tour for James with Bright Eyes' Conor Oberst and singer-songwriter Matt Ward (a.k.a. M. Ward); guest spots on both of those artists' albums by James and the rest of the band; plus a short tour as M. Ward's backing band.
But the ambitions stretch far beyond there, as James notes. "I've got a lot of dreams in my head, but I'd really like to work with Kanye West or Andre or Big Boi from OutKast," James says. "I've always wanted to work with [Radiohead producer] Nigel Godrich, and I've been wanting to do something with Vic Chestnut lately. I've always really liked his music, and I've always had kind of a dream scenario of us being his backing band or studio band for one of his records."
There's a common, positive sentiment among those who cross paths with My Morning Jacket, a group that often picks up fans and friends on the road.
"Just from hearing [Jim's] voice I knew there was soul in the music. The melodies, too, but it was the voice that struck me," recalls Ward of his impression of My Morning Jacket's music before meeting them. "It's very wide-screen and epic, and it makes me feel good about life. He comes to music from a very humble perspective and it's from people like that I get a lot of inspiration. He sees himself as part of the bigger picture of music, and not as the big picture."
They've already got a head start on winning over Pearl Jam, a band both James and Two-Tone Tommy say they were "huge" fans of when "Ten" (Epic) was released in 1991.
The bands, it turns out, share some unique credits. In April, Esquire Magazine awarded James the best songwriter Esky Award, while Pearl Jam picked up the Esky for best live act. My Morning Jacket appeared in Cameron Crowe's "Elizabethtown" as the band Ruckus, covering Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird" while Pearl Jam appeared as Citizen Dick in Crowe's '92 film "Singles."
James admits that his first band, in junior high, learned to play every song off of "Ten" and the "Singles" tracks in his buddy's garage. "I was insanely, crazily a fan. I'm still a big fan, but back then we were over the edge," he says. His first Pearl Jam live show was just last year.
"It was insane to see them play in a tiny record store for like 200 people," he recalls. "It just blew my mind, 'cause I didn't know whether I would still connect with them or not, and seeing them play in a tiny, tiny space ... there was a couple points where it was pretty emotional. Some of those songs I just really, really loved, and seeing them play just really transported me back to what made me love music in the first place."
Keywords: Johnny Quaid and Danny Cash leave the band,
When pneumonia knocked down My Morning Jacket lead singer Jim James after Thanksgiving last year, what followed was a crash course in learning to say no.
It started with a particularly painful lesson--when his band turned down a gig opening for the Black Crowes on New Year's Eve at Madison Square Garden.
"[The pneumonia] totally wore me down and destroyed me," says James, from his hometown of Louisville. "This year we're trying to tour a little less and tour a little smarter, just trying to do things here and there."
One solid reality check later, the earnest Americana rockers with a stunning, expansive sound charged on with their plans to support last year's lauded "Z" (ATO). Their highest-profile achievement brings them to the United Center Tuesday and Wednesday--opening for Pearl Jam's current tour, an honor shared with icons Sonic Youth and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, who are opening different legs of the tour.
Clearly, slowing down isn't all that leisurely for this band, but the relentless drive is probably what landed the quintet in the heat-seeking seat they've occupied for at least the last four years. That growth spurt also triggered two original members to quit the band, on good terms, in favor of a stationary, home-focused life.
"[Drummer] Patrick [Hallahan], Jim and I were standing in the hallway of this hotel in London after those two quit, and Jim looked at me and he's like, `What do you think? What're you gonna do?' and I'm like, `I'll be around. I'm still here,'" relays bassist Two-Tone Tommy.
That's the kind of easy strength and quiet confidence that runs through the band's southern veins--relaxed yet far from lazy. "It's just in the nature of the band that we never depended on anything," Tommy adds. "If we were told, y'know, `You'll make a million dollars per show for the rest of your life,' we'd just never believe anything that we're ever told. I guess our philosophy was just to work as hard as we can and not expect too much in return."
That has led band members to seek out alternate creative outlets. Such collaborations have included a solo tour for James with Bright Eyes' Conor Oberst and singer-songwriter Matt Ward (a.k.a. M. Ward); guest spots on both of those artists' albums by James and the rest of the band; plus a short tour as M. Ward's backing band.
But the ambitions stretch far beyond there, as James notes. "I've got a lot of dreams in my head, but I'd really like to work with Kanye West or Andre or Big Boi from OutKast," James says. "I've always wanted to work with [Radiohead producer] Nigel Godrich, and I've been wanting to do something with Vic Chestnut lately. I've always really liked his music, and I've always had kind of a dream scenario of us being his backing band or studio band for one of his records."
There's a common, positive sentiment among those who cross paths with My Morning Jacket, a group that often picks up fans and friends on the road.
"Just from hearing [Jim's] voice I knew there was soul in the music. The melodies, too, but it was the voice that struck me," recalls Ward of his impression of My Morning Jacket's music before meeting them. "It's very wide-screen and epic, and it makes me feel good about life. He comes to music from a very humble perspective and it's from people like that I get a lot of inspiration. He sees himself as part of the bigger picture of music, and not as the big picture."
They've already got a head start on winning over Pearl Jam, a band both James and Two-Tone Tommy say they were "huge" fans of when "Ten" (Epic) was released in 1991.
The bands, it turns out, share some unique credits. In April, Esquire Magazine awarded James the best songwriter Esky Award, while Pearl Jam picked up the Esky for best live act. My Morning Jacket appeared in Cameron Crowe's "Elizabethtown" as the band Ruckus, covering Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird" while Pearl Jam appeared as Citizen Dick in Crowe's '92 film "Singles."
James admits that his first band, in junior high, learned to play every song off of "Ten" and the "Singles" tracks in his buddy's garage. "I was insanely, crazily a fan. I'm still a big fan, but back then we were over the edge," he says. His first Pearl Jam live show was just last year.
"It was insane to see them play in a tiny record store for like 200 people," he recalls. "It just blew my mind, 'cause I didn't know whether I would still connect with them or not, and seeing them play in a tiny, tiny space ... there was a couple points where it was pretty emotional. Some of those songs I just really, really loved, and seeing them play just really transported me back to what made me love music in the first place."
Chicago Tribune (2004)
On May 17th 2004 Chicago Tribune published an interview with Jim James, done by Joshua Klein. The original interview can be found here.
Keywords:
My Morning Jacket handles hype
Few buzz bands live up to the hype as they make their way from the underground to the mainstream. But so far, My Morning Jacket has done so with aplomb.
The band's excellent third album, "It Still Moves"--a dynamic tour de force of spacey, classic rock-styled gems--has expanded its audience enough that the Louisville group is still touring behind the disc eight months after its release.
RedEye spoke with My Morning Jacket singer/songwriter Jim James about the band's growing fan base, name changes and hip-hop.
Is the music changing now that you're playing to larger crowds?
The thing that I've realized after playing so many shows is that people can only handle so much information at any one time. I've always had a lot of songs lying around, and I'd always try a lot of songs. We try to keep to where we're playing songs that people know, but at the same time we throw in two or three new ones. We're touring with M. Ward, and we're going to be backing him up for three or four songs. We're trying to think of as many things as we can do creatively, to have fun and to keep our minds stimulated.
Do the bigger audiences mean more pressure?
I think as long as you're giving people their money's worth, it's a good time. I've seen bands play where you've paid a lot of money and there's a lot of hype and you're expecting a good show, and they come out for 45 minutes, standing around on stage looking at their watches just waiting to be done playing. That just pisses me off, so we try extra hard--maybe too hard sometimes--to let people know we're really grateful for being there.
You changed your name from Jim Olliges to Jim James. Did it ever occur to you that going by a single name--Sting, Cher, Madonna, Prince, Bono--might have been more lucrative?
It just happened to me at an open-mic night, since it's so much easier than my real name. No one has to worry about pronouncing it. But I guess I didn't have any good ideas.
Hip-hop's the most popular music in the world, and most of those guys have great names. I think that's half the fun, making up fake names.
So will you be working with the Neptunes on the next record?
That's right, they're already on board, and we've got half the album done. [laughs] Actually, I think it would be fun to work with the Neptunes. As annoying as some of their production is, I think they've really contributed a number of good things to hip-hop. They've brought a lot more melody back. I've been thinking about that a lot lately. I've been really into hip-hop, and I've been thinking about finding someone special who was into what we do. We're really into rhythm, and I really want to take that and get someone who will make the next album really hot, rhythmically, make it really intense and locked in. Hey, you never know! Nothing's impossible.
Keywords:
My Morning Jacket handles hype
Few buzz bands live up to the hype as they make their way from the underground to the mainstream. But so far, My Morning Jacket has done so with aplomb.
The band's excellent third album, "It Still Moves"--a dynamic tour de force of spacey, classic rock-styled gems--has expanded its audience enough that the Louisville group is still touring behind the disc eight months after its release.
RedEye spoke with My Morning Jacket singer/songwriter Jim James about the band's growing fan base, name changes and hip-hop.
Is the music changing now that you're playing to larger crowds?
The thing that I've realized after playing so many shows is that people can only handle so much information at any one time. I've always had a lot of songs lying around, and I'd always try a lot of songs. We try to keep to where we're playing songs that people know, but at the same time we throw in two or three new ones. We're touring with M. Ward, and we're going to be backing him up for three or four songs. We're trying to think of as many things as we can do creatively, to have fun and to keep our minds stimulated.
Do the bigger audiences mean more pressure?
I think as long as you're giving people their money's worth, it's a good time. I've seen bands play where you've paid a lot of money and there's a lot of hype and you're expecting a good show, and they come out for 45 minutes, standing around on stage looking at their watches just waiting to be done playing. That just pisses me off, so we try extra hard--maybe too hard sometimes--to let people know we're really grateful for being there.
You changed your name from Jim Olliges to Jim James. Did it ever occur to you that going by a single name--Sting, Cher, Madonna, Prince, Bono--might have been more lucrative?
It just happened to me at an open-mic night, since it's so much easier than my real name. No one has to worry about pronouncing it. But I guess I didn't have any good ideas.
Hip-hop's the most popular music in the world, and most of those guys have great names. I think that's half the fun, making up fake names.
So will you be working with the Neptunes on the next record?
That's right, they're already on board, and we've got half the album done. [laughs] Actually, I think it would be fun to work with the Neptunes. As annoying as some of their production is, I think they've really contributed a number of good things to hip-hop. They've brought a lot more melody back. I've been thinking about that a lot lately. I've been really into hip-hop, and I've been thinking about finding someone special who was into what we do. We're really into rhythm, and I really want to take that and get someone who will make the next album really hot, rhythmically, make it really intense and locked in. Hey, you never know! Nothing's impossible.
Chicago Tribune (2004)
On January 27th 2004 Chicago Tribune published an interview with Jim James, edited by Cara DiPasquale and Victoria Rodriguez. The original interview can be found here.
Keywords:
Bands from the South are suddenly attracting notice, but don't lump My Morning Jacket into any kind of Southern-rock resurgence.
The only thing the Louisville, Ky., band has in common with acts such as Kings of Leon or the Drive-By Truckers is that all three come from south of the Mason-Dixon line, says Jim James, the frontman for My Morning Jacket.
"I'm glad bands from this part of the country are getting attention, but I think it's silly to call it a Southern rock revival," James says. "I just have a hard time with the term 'Southern rock.' I'm proud of where we're from and stuff like that, but I think when you say that word, it limits people's minds and what they think a band can be."
My Morning Jacket has resisted limitations. The group's loose-limbed amalgams of rock, country and blues earned the quartet copious critical praise last year for its third album, "It Still Moves." James' voice is drenched in reverb, lending an emotional sheen to songs that calls to mind classic material by the Band.
The record was the band's first for Dave Matthews' ATO Records, and James says releasing "It Still Moves" was one of the highlights of 2003.
"It's always a nerve-wracking thing when you sign to a new label and you're making a new record and stuff like that, wondering if there's going to be any resistance to it or if they're going to like it or going to want to change it," he says. "Getting it to come out exactly how I wanted it to come out was probably the biggest thrill of the year."
James can't quite explain why, but he has a feeling that 2004 will be even better.
"This year's going to be a really good, weird year. It's the 10-year anniversary of 1994, which I consider to be a vintage, classic year in my brain," he says.
What was so great about 1994?
"I don't know, there was something about 1994 for me that was just an amazing year," says James, who turns 25 this year. "I mean, I've had other good years, but something about the way '94 felt, it just felt right. Something in the air was just awesome then."
Something in the air?
"Maybe it was just one of those first years when you really start to branch out as a person beyond what you've been as a kid and what you've been through adolescence and changing and trying to figure out yourself," he says.
James isn't sure how his hunch will manifest itself, but then, he doesn't figure he'll see it coming.
"I just want to learn more, and I want to keep changing. I feel it's going to be a big year of change, and a lot of weird things are going to happen, and it's going to be really weird and really confusing but really good," he says. "I just want to be able to roll with the changes and be a happy person and try to not get bogged down. I just want to keep making good music."
Keywords:
Bands from the South are suddenly attracting notice, but don't lump My Morning Jacket into any kind of Southern-rock resurgence.
The only thing the Louisville, Ky., band has in common with acts such as Kings of Leon or the Drive-By Truckers is that all three come from south of the Mason-Dixon line, says Jim James, the frontman for My Morning Jacket.
"I'm glad bands from this part of the country are getting attention, but I think it's silly to call it a Southern rock revival," James says. "I just have a hard time with the term 'Southern rock.' I'm proud of where we're from and stuff like that, but I think when you say that word, it limits people's minds and what they think a band can be."
My Morning Jacket has resisted limitations. The group's loose-limbed amalgams of rock, country and blues earned the quartet copious critical praise last year for its third album, "It Still Moves." James' voice is drenched in reverb, lending an emotional sheen to songs that calls to mind classic material by the Band.
The record was the band's first for Dave Matthews' ATO Records, and James says releasing "It Still Moves" was one of the highlights of 2003.
"It's always a nerve-wracking thing when you sign to a new label and you're making a new record and stuff like that, wondering if there's going to be any resistance to it or if they're going to like it or going to want to change it," he says. "Getting it to come out exactly how I wanted it to come out was probably the biggest thrill of the year."
James can't quite explain why, but he has a feeling that 2004 will be even better.
"This year's going to be a really good, weird year. It's the 10-year anniversary of 1994, which I consider to be a vintage, classic year in my brain," he says.
What was so great about 1994?
"I don't know, there was something about 1994 for me that was just an amazing year," says James, who turns 25 this year. "I mean, I've had other good years, but something about the way '94 felt, it just felt right. Something in the air was just awesome then."
Something in the air?
"Maybe it was just one of those first years when you really start to branch out as a person beyond what you've been as a kid and what you've been through adolescence and changing and trying to figure out yourself," he says.
James isn't sure how his hunch will manifest itself, but then, he doesn't figure he'll see it coming.
"I just want to learn more, and I want to keep changing. I feel it's going to be a big year of change, and a lot of weird things are going to happen, and it's going to be really weird and really confusing but really good," he says. "I just want to be able to roll with the changes and be a happy person and try to not get bogged down. I just want to keep making good music."
Chicago Tribune (2003)
On May 9th 2003 Chicago Tribune published an interview with Jim James and Johnny Quaid, done by John Cook. The original interview can be found here.
Keywords:
If you ran into My Morning Jacket in a dark alley, you'd probably turn and run. The Southern rock revivalists from Louisville look like bad guys from some Starsky and Hutch episode set in Appalachia--five road-weary, freak-flag-flying Southerners with ropes of shaggy hair, wild beards, and eyes hidden behind amber aviator sunglasses.
But don't let the image fool you. Though they play heavy metal guitars, make loud, raucous rock noise better than any band since Black Sabbath and obsessively shake their tangled manes on stage, the boys in My Morning Jacket are softies at heart.
Frontman and songwriter Jim James, a 24-year-old Louisville native with a crystal voice that recalls Roy Orbison in its clarity and Neil Young in its nuance, keeps a stuffed animal--a cuddly bison head that James calls "an old friend"--affixed to his mic stand on stage with him. And he is as quick to cite "The Muppet Show" as Led Zeppelin when it comes to his musical influences.
"I grew up listening to the Muppets and Disney [songs]," James says. "That's what really drew me to music."
The Muppets meet Led Zeppelin is as good a way as any to describe My Morning Jacket's sound. Its most recent record, 2001's "At Dawn" (Darla Records), is a loose, sprawling collection of folk-rock songs that hearken back to the glory days of classic rock, overlaid with James' chiming, sing-song melodies (it's hard not to imagine Kermit the Frog singing some of the infectious backing vocals), touches of psychedelia and post-rock indie noise. The whole record is awash in reverb--"I can't sing without reverb," James says, and he means it--which lends it the character of a distant transmission, a dispatch from a different time. If you've ever wondered what the Eagles would have sounded like if they were any good, go buy a copy of "At Dawn."
It's on stage where the Led Zeppelin part comes in. Live, My Morning Jacket takes those laid-back tunes for lazy-afternoon listening and plays them with boundless energy, ferocity, and volume, reclaiming the glory and majesty of the classic rock pantheon for a generation crippled by the insularity and nihilism of indie-rock hipsterism.
James is not much for stage banter, but he, lead guitar player Johnny Quaid, and bass player Thomas "Two Tone Tommy" Blankenship work their guitars like jackhammers, wringing out every note, rocking back and forth and striking rock god poses.
"We kind of look at it as two different worlds," James says by way of explaining the difference between his band's recordings and live shows. "The records are going to last forever, and we try to make them sound like we want them to sound forever. But when we're on the road, we get all antsy and cooped up in the van, and we want to let it out on stage. The road needs the studio, and the studio needs the road."
The road has been winning out lately. My Morning Jacket tours voraciously, including several trips to Belgium and Denmark, where, thanks to a rave review of "At Dawn" by an influential Danish writer, they have a devoted following. "It was amazing," Quaid says of their first tour of Belgium and Denmark, in 2000. "Some promoter called and said, `You're blowing up over here,' and in a couple of weeks we hopped on a plane." They headlined before audiences of 1,000, playing in front of 5,000 people at one music festival. After returning to the states, they'd sometimes play before audiences of 10 people.
Quaid's family owns a farm outside Louisville--"soybeans and a small amount of beef cattle," he says--where he worked before leaving to tour with the band. "The day before we got on that plane," he says, "I worked a full day on that farm." The band has converted an apartment above a three-car garage on that farm into a home studio--called Above the Cadillac--where they recorded "At Dawn" and their forthcoming release, "It Still Moves." The new one is due out on ATO Records, founded by Dave Matthews, who signed My Morning Jacket to a two-record deal last winter.
The band is a little cagey about discussing the new record, but they say it is more consistent with their live performances than "At Dawn."
"I think it sounds really good," James says. "I'm really happy with it."
But does it have reverb?
"Tons," James says. "It makes me feel like a champion when I've got my reverb."
Keywords:
If you ran into My Morning Jacket in a dark alley, you'd probably turn and run. The Southern rock revivalists from Louisville look like bad guys from some Starsky and Hutch episode set in Appalachia--five road-weary, freak-flag-flying Southerners with ropes of shaggy hair, wild beards, and eyes hidden behind amber aviator sunglasses.
But don't let the image fool you. Though they play heavy metal guitars, make loud, raucous rock noise better than any band since Black Sabbath and obsessively shake their tangled manes on stage, the boys in My Morning Jacket are softies at heart.
Frontman and songwriter Jim James, a 24-year-old Louisville native with a crystal voice that recalls Roy Orbison in its clarity and Neil Young in its nuance, keeps a stuffed animal--a cuddly bison head that James calls "an old friend"--affixed to his mic stand on stage with him. And he is as quick to cite "The Muppet Show" as Led Zeppelin when it comes to his musical influences.
"I grew up listening to the Muppets and Disney [songs]," James says. "That's what really drew me to music."
The Muppets meet Led Zeppelin is as good a way as any to describe My Morning Jacket's sound. Its most recent record, 2001's "At Dawn" (Darla Records), is a loose, sprawling collection of folk-rock songs that hearken back to the glory days of classic rock, overlaid with James' chiming, sing-song melodies (it's hard not to imagine Kermit the Frog singing some of the infectious backing vocals), touches of psychedelia and post-rock indie noise. The whole record is awash in reverb--"I can't sing without reverb," James says, and he means it--which lends it the character of a distant transmission, a dispatch from a different time. If you've ever wondered what the Eagles would have sounded like if they were any good, go buy a copy of "At Dawn."
It's on stage where the Led Zeppelin part comes in. Live, My Morning Jacket takes those laid-back tunes for lazy-afternoon listening and plays them with boundless energy, ferocity, and volume, reclaiming the glory and majesty of the classic rock pantheon for a generation crippled by the insularity and nihilism of indie-rock hipsterism.
James is not much for stage banter, but he, lead guitar player Johnny Quaid, and bass player Thomas "Two Tone Tommy" Blankenship work their guitars like jackhammers, wringing out every note, rocking back and forth and striking rock god poses.
"We kind of look at it as two different worlds," James says by way of explaining the difference between his band's recordings and live shows. "The records are going to last forever, and we try to make them sound like we want them to sound forever. But when we're on the road, we get all antsy and cooped up in the van, and we want to let it out on stage. The road needs the studio, and the studio needs the road."
The road has been winning out lately. My Morning Jacket tours voraciously, including several trips to Belgium and Denmark, where, thanks to a rave review of "At Dawn" by an influential Danish writer, they have a devoted following. "It was amazing," Quaid says of their first tour of Belgium and Denmark, in 2000. "Some promoter called and said, `You're blowing up over here,' and in a couple of weeks we hopped on a plane." They headlined before audiences of 1,000, playing in front of 5,000 people at one music festival. After returning to the states, they'd sometimes play before audiences of 10 people.
Quaid's family owns a farm outside Louisville--"soybeans and a small amount of beef cattle," he says--where he worked before leaving to tour with the band. "The day before we got on that plane," he says, "I worked a full day on that farm." The band has converted an apartment above a three-car garage on that farm into a home studio--called Above the Cadillac--where they recorded "At Dawn" and their forthcoming release, "It Still Moves." The new one is due out on ATO Records, founded by Dave Matthews, who signed My Morning Jacket to a two-record deal last winter.
The band is a little cagey about discussing the new record, but they say it is more consistent with their live performances than "At Dawn."
"I think it sounds really good," James says. "I'm really happy with it."
But does it have reverb?
"Tons," James says. "It makes me feel like a champion when I've got my reverb."
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