Univ. of MD - Diamondback Article

[LaurieBlue]

http://www.inform.umd.edu/News/Diamondback/archives/2004/01/30/diversions1.html

Jan 30, 2004
No jackets here, just hair
My Morning Jacket's bass player on 3-D music and hairy robots
By Jorge Valencia
Staff writer


As part of perhaps one of the most acclaimed new rock acts to emerge from mid-America in the past year, the members of My Morning Jacket bring their love, sweat and long hair to the 9:30 Club tomorrow night.

Live, the members of MMJ play barefoot with no fears, using their Neil Young and Lynyrd Skynyrd influences of yesterday as a springboard into today's scene.

With two new touring members, the MMJ engine is still in fifth gear and doesn't appear to be slowing down any time soon. Not even the recent departure of two of the Kentucky rock band's original members has halted its growth. Guitarist Johnny Quaid and keyboardist Danny Cash recently parted ways with the band. In MMJ bassist Two-Tone Tommy's opinion, it was just the lifestyle. "It was courageous for them to give up what they had given to the [touring] lifestyle," Tommy says.

The Southern-rock quintet was first discovered a long way from its Louisville, Ky., home.

The band's '99 release, The Tennessee Fire, was imported to a few small Holland record shops, and a Dutch journalist wrote a half-page review about it in a national paper, Tommy says.

Word of the band spread like wildfire. "We flew out to Holland and it was a little strange," Tommy says. "We had no idea about interviews and the media. We had never really played out of Kentucky beforeÉ Our first time in Holland we had a documentary crew following us around. We had about 200 people showing up [to shows] when in our hometown only our friends and family went. We didn't know these people. We didn't even know if they could speak English."

With vocalist/guitarist Jim James, drummer Patrick Hallahan, Tommy and two other members who have since departed, MMJ later released At Dawn in '01 and had its major label debut with It Still Moves last year.

It Still Moves has been a major evolution for the band. It has begun to make the band's music appealing to a larger fanbase. No longer is it just Dutch reviews for these Kentucky rockers. MMJ has been spotlighted during the past six months by major magazines like Spin and Rolling Stone. It Still Moves was even chosen as the 2003 album of the year by Harp Magazine.

The critical appeal for the band is not unfounded, at least judging by the booze-drenched yet witty lyrics. In the album's first track, "Mahgeetah," James tells exactly where he's at: "sittin' here with me and mine, all wrapped up in a bottle of wine." A couple of tracks later the alcohol seeps in a little deeper: "time I don't think I waste it / it just seems to disappear sippin' the wine you got me."

But the band's signature deep reverb is almost enough to eclipse the drunken lyrics. On It Sill Moves, James' voice sounds almost like the echo of an echo and the drums were recorded in a hollow barn to get the deepest sound possible.

"The reverb is the unofficial sixth member of the band," Tommy says. "Actually, it's the first member, because it was there before the band. I think it just kind of adds another dimension. It adds depth to the music and feels like a painting that you can walk into."

Just like the permeating reverb on It Still Moves, most of MMJ's music is James' brainchild. Tommy describes the song-writing process: "Usually [James] comes in with songs out to the studio and we just kind of flush it out. Patrick and I come and put down the rhythm and because [James'] songs are so rhythmic it's kind of easy for us."

But the songs from It Still Moves kept on evolving even after the release. The entire band "adds to it like a little puzzle," Tommy says.

The band's touring and on-stage spontaneity adds perspective to the music.

"We started touring on the album right after we were done recording it last March, and the songs have come along quite a bit," says Tommy. "We had to relearn the songs in a live settingÉ some parts became longer. 'Steam Engine' became a 15-minute song. . . songs continue to evolve and go to new places," he explains.

There's always room to grow.

"[It Still Moves] is a document of where the band was at a certain time. Like those little alligators that you put in a little bathtub and keep expanding," Tommy says.

In the future, MMJ's performances could go anywhere.

"It would be cool to have an amusement park on stage and bring the crowd on stage and just let it go anywhere. . . if we could have robots that looked like us we could just let them play and give them a bunch of hair," he says.

[peanut butter puddin surprise]

Great article, thanks for the heads up!

[plank10]

Yes thanks.
I'm happy to see that they are getting some local press. Hopefully that will translate into more people coming out to the show tomorrow. I know i've told everyone that they must go or face certain death.