Flint Journal Pre-Show Press

[LaurieBlue]

http://www.mlive.com/entertainment/fljournal/index.ssf?/base/features-2/1148309485314590.xml&coll=5

Band 'eases back' with Pearl Jam tour
FLINT
THE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITION
Monday, May 22, 2006
By Doug Pullen

My Morning Jacket drummer Patrick Hallahan says playing 45-minute sets before Pearl Jam goes on every night is both "an honor" and "like a vacation" for the Louisville, Ky., quintet known for its marathon performances.

It's also a necessity.

"We kind of wanted to ease back into things and opening for someone else is a good way to do that," Hallahan said.

An illness that left singer Jim James hospitalized for a week last year forced My Morning Jacket to cancel the remainder of a European tour and put everything temporarily on hold as its latest album, the wondrous "Z," was gaining critical and commercial momentum.

"The last show (in Europe), we were all so dead," Hallahan said. "It was such a rapid-fire end of the tour, so many shows all in a row. We looked like crap. I got a call from (James') mother saying he'd gone into the hospital and it totally took me back. I had no idea he was that sick. He went in for heart pain initially. He had an infected sac around the heart."

The Pearl Jam tour, which launched this month, allows My Morning Jacket to "run the gamut of styles" covered on its four albums, the first three of which have been hailed for their Southern-fried adventurousness, James' reverb-soaked vocals and crafty songwriting, a rarity for a so-called jam band. But fans and critics weren't prepared for the creative quantum leap My Morning Jacket took with last year's "Z," which came after two founding members left and had to be replaced.

The two new guys - guitarist Carl Broemer and keyboardist Bo Coster, who replaced Johnny Quaid and Danny Cash - were integrated quickly into the mix. The group left the comfortable environment of the barn studio where the first three albums were recorded, for a studio in England, where for the first time it worked with a producer: John Leckie, who produced Radiohead's "The Bends" album.

The connection was fitting. "Z" has led some critics to call the Louisville group America's Radiohead, a reference to James' ethereal voice and the beyond-jam-band arrangements.

"We were completely blown away by the fact that 'Z' is getting such a good response," said Hallahan, who joined the band (which also includes bassist Two Tone Tommy) in 2002, after the release of its first two, indie albums. "We were a little skeptical. 'What the h--- are people gonna think about this? We hoped it would go over well.

"We were just flying by the seat of our pants doing what we wanted," he added.

Now that they're back on the road, My Morning Jacket is exploring new places in songs like the soaring "Wordless Chorus" and episodic "Lay Low."

"A recording captures a moment in a song's evolution," Hallahan explained. "It's like a birthplace. We do change them up as we play them live, grow them organically. There's a lot of circumstance that comes into play."

With James and his golden voice returning to full strength, My Morning Jacket will head to Europe late this summer and expects to return to America for a headlining tour after that. There's also a live CD and DVD, which will combine concert video with a narrative, due this fall.

"We're working on it right now," Hallahan said. "It's all just coming together. There are lots of camera angles and hours of video to sift through."

[BH]

http://www.mlive.com/entertainment/fljournal/index.ssf?/base/features-2/1148309485314590.xml&coll=5

Band 'eases back' with Pearl Jam tour
FLINT
THE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITION
Monday, May 22, 2006
By Doug Pullen


The two new guys - guitarist Carl Broemer and keyboardist Bo Coster, who replaced Johnny Quaid and Danny Cash - were integrated quickly into the mix.

Dug Pulan is a hell of a writer!

[cmccubbin25]

except that he got several facts wrong...

[BH]

except that he got several facts wrong...

I don't think you got my sarcasm and name spelling joke.

Duhg Poolin is an idiot.

[LaurieBlue]

After the Show "review":

Openers My Morning Jacket are making the most of the opportunity to reach a wider audience. The band's taut, 45-minute set was highlighted by singer Jim James' soaring vocals.

http://www.mlive.com/entertainment/fljournal/index.ssf?/base/features-2/1148392279193830.xml&coll=5

[tomEisenbraun]

And I didn't realize that their last show was in Europe, or that they recorded Z in England....these are interesting new developments...

[yieldgirl]

I'm looking forward to the dvd  :)