Toronto Press

[LaurieBlue]

http://www.metronews.ca/entertainment_music_detail.asp?id=15984

Ethereal rock outfit navigates growing pains
My Morning Jacket survives lineup,  studio changes

(Danny Clinch photo)

My Morning Jacket's revamped lineup, from left, Carl Broemel, Two-Tone Tommy, Bo Koster, Jim James(seated) and Patrick Hallahan.

Before My Morning Jacket put together their latest offering entitled Z, the Louisville, Ky., outfit had enjoyed years of recording at a farm belonging to the grandparents of guitarist Johnny Quaid.

Nowadays, in the words of drummer Patrick Hallahan, "The farm is no longer an option for us." Two years ago Quaid, a founding member of My Morning Jacket back in 1998, and keyboardist Danny Cash both amicably departed from the group citing the rigours of nomadic touring.

So not only did the remaining members — bandleader-singer-songwriter Jim James, bassist Tom "Two-Tone Tommy" Blankenship and Hallahan — have to deal with recruiting a new guitarist (Carl Broemel) and keyboardist (Bo Koster), the band also had to get accustomed to new surrounding for both writing and recording.

"That whole time period was filled with new changes, new environments and new feelings," Hallahan says.

"We wrote this new album in a Victorian house in old Louisville. We did find a new rural setting for recording — on top of the Catskills Mountains. And it was also our first time working with a producer (John Leckie, of New Order, Radiohead and XTC fame), who came in and pushed us to do even better."

Z earned critical praise from Rolling Stone, Spin, Pitchfork and PopMatters, all of whom placed it as part of their year-end best album lists in 2005.

Yet the band pays more attention to those who cite the record as a dreamy, atmospheric, melodic journey — led by James' reverb-filled vocal stylings.

And while Hallahan says My Morning Jacket can pump out a good rocker or two in a southern rock vein, he loathes being branded with the southern rock label.

So imagine the shock on everyone's faces when film director Cameron Crowe offered the band a role in his film Elizabethtown performing, under the guise of fictitious cover band Ruckus, one of the most-loathed southern rock classics.

"We asked him, 'What are we going to be playing?'" Hallahan recalls. "He replied, '(Lynyrd Skynyrd's) Freebird.' We were like, 'Uhhh ...yeah ... we'll get back to you on that one.' We've gotten so sick of having the southern rock tag applied to us. And hearing that from Cameron was like sealing our own grave.

"But once we saw it  in the script and in the context of the movie, it made perfect sense to us. It ended up being a tribute to the deceased who we were honouring, because that was the main character's favourite song to hear this cover band play."

• My Morning Jacket open for Pearl Jam tonight and tomorrow at the Air Canada Centre.

IAN NATHANSON/Metro Toronto

[LaurieBlue]

http://www.mikeboon.com/2006/05/hail_hail_pearl_jam.html

The Toronto Sun review of the first show said "it may very well go down in history as one of the greatest live performances to ever hit this city." It was a great live performance, no doubt about it, but the show that deserves to go down in history as one of the greatest live performances to ever hit this city occurred last night. My Morning Jacket was even better and the crowd definitely had greater energy, even managing to produce a successful wave at the ACC before Pearl Jam hit the stage shortly before 9. Hearing many of the new songs a second time live helped as they blended perfectly with the older staples. Eddie was on fire, seeming far more comfy and pleased with this show than he was on Tuesday night.

[fitzcarraldo]

http://www.mikeboon.com/2006/05/hail_hail_pearl_jam.html

The Toronto Sun review of the first show said "it may very well go down in history as one of the greatest live performances to ever hit this city."

 :) Yep, that an any other town or city.  :D

[LaurieBlue]

http://www.muzzleofbees.com/2006/05/11/pearl-jam-in-toronto-last-night/