| Prelude to THE DECEMBERISTS... |
| Written by Shahlin Graves |
| Monday, 11 January 2010 16:52 |
 JOHN MOEN of fairytale-rock-opera's THE DECEMBERISTS, punctuates each of his snappy replies with a rollicking chuckle. Rather like the small-talk you might appropriate with a favourite Uncle, on festively seasonal occasions. Moen does not mince his words - and having played in more than twenty bands during his forty-year tenure of existence, this is a man for whom you sit up a little straighter when he graces you with his time. Calling from his home in Portland, Oregon; Moen reminisces over that mock-fued with Stephen Colbert - "Stephen Colbert was kind enough to involve us in some hijinks. *Laughs* Basically, Chris [ Funk ], represented the band on this television show [ 'The Colbert Report' ] in a guitar battle and was robbed by Stephen Colbert and Peter Frampton. We're still looking for revenge." - As well as sharing some unknown facts about his band-mates; "Jenny [ Conlee ] is a good witch. Nate [ Query ] likes sports. Colin [ Meloy ] can't read. Chris Funk is a lizard." And an actual fact about the man himself? - So down to earth, he has no worries about the drum kits that are rented for him to play on tour - "I don't take much when I go to Australia. We'll probably just rent kits down there, so it's a little less in transportation costs. I'll just play whatever they give me down there." Moen's wholehearted joy over The Decemberists upcoming Big Day Out New Zealand date, is contagious. Moen considers the band's calendar, choosing only to highlight that - "The Decemberists are looking forward to coming down to your direction and playing in January. Then, I think we will resume making another record in May sometime."  COUP DE MAIN: New Zealanders finally get the privilege of watching The Decemberists live this Summer at the Big Day Out Festival! How excited are you to be visiting us? THE DECEMBERISTS - JOHN MOEN: I've been down that direction a few times before, with different bands. But this will be the first time for The Decemberists. I'm very excited. We play a fair amount of festival-type shows, they're never my personal favourite compared to a proper show in a venue. Just because there's a lot of hurry-up and it never sounds as good as it could. *Laughs* But generally, there's a positive vibe at a festival and people are there to have a good time. So that, always makes up for it. CDM: What are your fondest memories of your past trips to our shores? JOHN: I love New Zealand because of the poached eggs and because of the excellent coffee. And everybody has a good attitude - the times I've been there, anyway. It was mostly breakfast - that was what I liked the most. And of course the beautiful countryside. I've never been down South, I've just been around Auckland - up to the coastline above it. But, it's beautiful. CDM: Who have you tripped over to New Zealand with before? JOHN: I came with a band called Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks. He was the lead singer for Pavement - so that was his solo career. I also came with a woman called Rebecca Gates - the band would have been called The Spinanes at the time. CDM: From your vast experiences of having played in over twenty bands, which has been your favourite and why? JOHN: The Decemberists has been my favourite - it's been the most excitement. We've been - it's hard to explain I guess - a lot of being in a band is enjoying a like-minded-ness with your band-mates. And that's definitely been the most fun I've had. Good camaraderie I would say. CDM: So to speak, you were the last member to join the current 'Decemberists line-up... How'd it all come about? JOHN: I think the year was roughly 2005... I had just heard about auditions happening for the band and went and joined - basically! *Laughs* I did my first audition of my career and came out ahead, which was a surprise to me. But, it's been great since! CDM: How involved is each band member with the actual songwriting of 'Decemberists songs? JOHN: It's all Colin Meloy, our lead singer. He writes everything, and we decipher his demos and come up with ideas along the way, as far as getting the song completed. But it's mostly his babies, as far as the writing goes. I just play drums! And sing some back-up vocals, and contribute a little bit towards arrangements when it comes time to record. CDM: I spied some videos of yourself crowd surfing on Youtube... JOHN: I don't mind crowd surfing. But generally, I'm forced to be doing it by Colin. He seems to think it's really funny when other people crowd surf. So, that's usually at his instigation. *Laughs* It's part of the job.  CDM: Colin was inspired to write 'The Hazards Of Love' album, by the title of an Anne Briggs EP of the same name? JOHN: Inspiration is pretty simple. It's just something that gets your brain working. Obviously, our record doesn't sound much like an Anne Briggs record, but it's more of the ideas and the content that got his gears turning. Not so much the direct sound of an Anne Briggs record. I think he and several others of us in the band were all enjoying English folk music quite a bit. Especially when we started making this record, that was high on our listening list. So he assembled a lot of different pieces from various different folk songs into his own idea. CDM: Jim James of My Morning Jacket, Becky Stark of Lavender Diamond and Shara Worden of My Brightest Diamond all provide guest vocals on 'The Hazards Of Love'. How did those collaborations come about? JOHN: Basically, Jim's a friend of the band and he happened to be in town at the right time. Shara on the other hand, and Becky from Lavender Diamond - they were both hand-picked. Both of their bands had opened for us on prior tours. So we knew about then and knew how they sang. And when Colin was casting, if you will, for the female voices - they both came to mind immediately. He may have even written some of it for them specifically. I don't remember that part... That's how it happened. CDM: How do those songs differ in a live setting, as those guest-vocalists are obviously not permanent members of The Decemberists? JOHN: All the touring we've done for 'The Hazards Of Love' has been with them. So, they've been along for everything. And we've done the whole record from start to finish, everytime we've played it for the most part. Now, when we come down to Australia and New Zealand, we're going to be playing a few songs from 'The Hazards Of Love' - but not the whole thing. So, we'll just pick songs that don't count on them as vocalists. CDM: How would you describe the narrative behind 'The Hazards Of Love'? JOHN: I think his [ Colin's ] idea was to create something that felt like a story - that really could be digested by every listener in an individual way. I don't think anyone has tried to tell a definite story with it. It sort of blurs the line between a pop album and a rock-opera I think. There's a lot of connecting points and certainly, there's a narrative you could sketch out. But I think everyone would sketch it a little differently and that's kinda part of the fun. CDM: Who is your favourite character from the album? JOHN: I think I enjoy Margaret's character. Especially with Becky singing, just the naive, sort of optimistic character. I think that's my favourite. CDM: Tell me about 'The Hazards Of Love' animated movie! JOHN: That was a lot of fun! That was another thing I just sort of sat around and while it was done, I didn't have the time to do it. We did manage to play one live show with it as a backdrop and it went sort of alright. A few timing things were missed. But, it's basically four separate animators, taking - if you have a vinyl copy of the record, there's four sides to the record, and each animator was given a side of the record to illustrate - and it's fairly non-narrative and it's on purpose. It's more like a mood-thing. It's like a lava lamp, you get to watch as you listen to the music - so once again, so we wouldn't interrupt anyone's imagination of what the story is about. CDM: What's the status on your musical projects outside of The Decemberists? JOHN: I have a little band of my own called Perhapst - that I write songs for and sing for once in a while. That doesn't get a lot of attention 'cuz I don't have that much time, but it's a nice little outlet for me. And then I also play in a band called the Boston Spaceships with Robert Pollard who used to be in Guided By Voices. CDM: What's it like being a Father, away from your daughter constantly while on tour? JOHN: It's pretty frustrating, I would say - that part of it. Interestingly enough, I'm bringing my family - and I think many of the other band members are as well - to, on this next tour. So, we're gonna all come down together. *Laughs* That'll be a lot of fun for me. The Decemberists' 'The Hazards Of Love' is in-stores.  |
