York Daily Record Article

[LaurieBlue]

http://ydr.com/story/friday/18323/

Labels do not suit this Jacket
By MIKE CAGGESO
Daily Record staff
Friday, January 30, 2004

"We're a van band, it's more intimate that way," says Patrick Hallahan, drummer for Kentucky-based quintet My Morning Jacket.
Snippy music critics and fans recently bestowed critical and commercial success on MMJ, but the band still tours the country like an outcasted crew of riffraffs. In the band's zillionth consecutive month touring, its van rolls into Lancaster, where MMJ will perform tonight at the Chameleon Club at 223 N. Water St.

The members of MMJ don't read many articles written about them, but they've heard all the stereotypes, genre-lumpings and guesses at what brand of music they play.

Psychedelic? Wrong. Dream pop? Not quite. Back-porch blues? Eh, not really.

There's the overused and oh-so-meaningless, "southern-fried."

"My God, yes. For lack of a better word, that's what they say," Hallahan says with a chuckle.

Then the ever-so-misleading "haunting."

"We totally listen to Type O Negative to get those 'haunting' melodies," he joked.

But Hallahan said the band can relate to that label, haunting meaning the chills the original Hank Williams can send up one's spine.

"It's like a night-time scene in a movie where the thunder is rolling and the lightning is striking," Hallahan said. "It's the soundtrack to a haunting situation, rather than us being haunting."

The band was founded in late 1990s by Jim James, lead singer and songwriter. MMJ's first album, "Tennessee Fire," was generally ignored in the States, but was a commercial hit in Belgium. As odd as that seemed, it was enough support to fund the band's 2001 album, "At Dawn."

Critics, pretentious indie-rock gurus and pop-rock staple Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters resoundingly applauded the album and MMJ was catapulted to ATO Records, a label founded by Dave Matthews and comprised of bands handpicked by him.

MMJ released "It Still Moves" in the summer of 2003 and has been touring since honing its carousel of timbre. That's not to say everything is peachy. The band's keyboardist, Danny Cash, and lead guitarist Johnny Quaid recently retired from MMJ, citing they could no longer handle life on the road.

Hallahan is the band's third drummer in as many albums, coming on board in 2002. Hallahan and James have been friends since childhood, and one of the reasons he wasn't in the band earlier is because they didn't want business to get in the way of friendship.

But Hallahan can't foresee any discord after gingerly touring and recording an album with James and the gang. Many bands are frustrated by the tedious rehearsals and outtakes involved in studio work, but Hallahan said James' acoustic blueprints make recording a project, not a test.

"He brings in a skeletal structure of acoustics, we put the meat on the bones and make it a human boy," he said. "We start playing it and let the song take off itself."

As a quality control tactic, MMJ doesn't press the red button until everyone knows how and where each instrument will go.

"If you don't force it and walk on the same page with everyone, you can feel where the song is going together," Hallahan says. "We never record before we have the final song down."

The same goes with the band's live shows. Expect to hear songs from each album and occasionally a hidden gem from old EPs, but never a song still in the works. To the band, it's unfair to the concert-goers to listen to a song the band itself isn't fully sure of yet.

As for the tonight's performance, expect to see a high-energy show — Hallahan clobbering his drum set, James corkscrewing his long hair in circles while wheeling rhythms and riffs.

"Being that we're pinned up in the van all day, we like to move around a lot," Hallahan said.

That's great, dude, but what kind of music does MMJ play already?

"We don't want to be labeled as anything," he said.

Well, how about a timeless blend of reverb-drenched roots rock with spiraling solos and sprinkles of soul and twang?

"That's the most fair assertion I've heard. Thanks," Hallahan said.

Oh yeah, and it's "haunting."

Tickets are $10 in advance and $12 at the door. Doors open at 6 p.m. Call 299-9684 or visit http://www.chameleonclub.net.


Reach Mike Caggeso at 771-2051 or mcaggeso@ydr.com.

[peanut butter puddin surprise]

Great article, and double kudos for it coming from my old "haunting" ground, York PA!  Many a summer day spent tooling around "the circuit"  :)

[Oz]

""Tennessee Fire," was generally ignored in the States, but was a commercial hit in Belgium"

Argh! You know, I love Belgium, but that should be Holland. Those ignorant Americans...  ;)

[lfish]

That was also my remark, O. All credit should go to the Netherlands and not to Belgium.  But our countries are so little that many not well-educated Americans confuse Brussels with Belgium, HOlland with Belgium and Holland with the Netherlands.  So here's a call for Recognition:  Look at the worldmap, try to find the Netherlands and Belgium and your world will brighten up. ;)

[peanut butter puddin surprise]

aye carumba!  one american in 300 million makes a typo and y'all are ready to hang us all!

 ;D

[lfish]

Well sometimes we have to stand up for ourselves and raise our voice so that we alsco can be heard. It is not always easy for us, little countries.  So we have to speak out. Like our minister of defense who recently mentionned in an article that, I quote: If I was an american I certainly would vote for a democrat, and the american army is in many ways inefficient.  Well, it's for sure that Mr.double U now knows where Belgium is on the map. ;D

[DD]

why dont we just call it france and be done with it.   ;D

[lfish]

hilarious indeed  :P ;) ;D

[Oz]

One rapper to another: "Yeah, Holland is great, I'd love to go to Holland one day."

The other: "You've been to Amsterdam, man!"

"What? Is that the same, then?"

[Oz]

I actually read that once in an interview with Snoop Dogg or something....  :)

[lfish]

Yep that's my point, alas.  

[thebigbang]

 But our countries are so little that many not well-educated Americans confuse Brussels with Belgium, HOlland with Belgium and Holland with the Netherlands.  ;)

Even imagining that most Americans have heard of Brussels gives way too much credit. Way, way too much credit!  Brussels sprouts, maybe, but Brussels?

Man, you so need to come to the United States to understand just how few Americans know anything about the states they don't live in, much less other countries.  Willful ignorance is rampant here, and you pretty much have to experience it to understand the scale of it.

Thanks for giving me a chuckle, though.

[lfish]

Well as a matter of fact, I've already been in the states, and I must say it's a hell of a country.  I certainly want to go back. But due to its largeness, many fellow Americans haven't left America, to explore the world for instance. So their focus remains fixed on America and the inner land.  And it's a pitty, because it's very interesting to know other things about other countries, like history or politics... It sharpens your vision on the world we're living in.  It let you appreciate more the beautifull things in life and it restrains oneself to generalize things. But I guess that's exactly your point big bang.  And how about belgian waffels and belgian chocolate? Isn't that famous over there?

[Oz]

Hey, exactly where were you, Ifish? And what did you like? I must say I'm not really keen on going to the US myself. Well, maybe Louisville...  :)

[thebigbang]

But I guess that's exactly your point big bang.  And how about belgian waffels and belgian chocolate? Isn't that famous over there?

What I was getting at, basically, is that I was amused that anyone would think very many of us in the States would even know enough to associate Belgium and Brussels.  What I mean more specifically is, I would bet you if you randomly chose 100 Americans and told them that "Brussels is the name of a city" and then asked them what country it was in, less than 20 percent would be able to tell you it was in Belgium.

I thought it funny you would assume otherwise! America, God Bless her, I do love her. But alas, we can be comically (or tragically) ignorant of the rest of the world.

I can dream about travelling the world, but due mainly to financial concerns, I've been to only two other countries.  Drove to Canada several times, and my wife won a trip to the Bahamas, which we also visited during our honeymoon cruise.  Mind opening experiences going to other countries. I love it.

Oh, that reminds me, my wife gets seasick, very, very easily. No more cruises for us! Unless MMJ is the featured entertainment. She'd be willing to get sick to be stuck on a boat with them.

[lfish]

Hey, exactly where were you, Ifish? And what did you like? I must say I'm not really keen on going to the US myself. Well, maybe Louisville...  

Well, I visited the West Coast of the US.  I started in San Francisco, California, then went further through Nevada, visited the national parks along the way, then Utah where we visited death valley and Las vegas  (where we put a coin in one armed jack), then Arizona where we visited the Grand Canyon. Then we entered California again where we visited San Diego, and crossed the border, into Tihuana.  It is one of the most beautifull trips I have ever done.  The only suggestion I can offer you is the following, don't let the doubts take the upper hand, just go and explore (if you have the money of course  ;))  The nature and the wide open spaces, which you can hear in the Tennessee fire and At Dawn, are just waiting for you overthere.  Besided this, I would suggest that now is the moment to visit the states for the sake of the weak dollar opposed to the strong euro. Just spread your wings and fly away!!!!

[Oz]

Money! There you mention something..  ;D

But yes, maybe someday I will visit the US after all. And I already know what my soundtrack will be.  :)