Hey there Machinists — I’m sitting in front of a roaring wood stove, listening to some dulcet piano music and drinking coffee. Figured it would a nice time to connect with you all — and answer any questions you might have! HMU!
Hey there, Colin. No question really. I'm on a bus riding through California's Central Valley on my way to the Bay Area for Thanksgiving, wearing my Twenty Years Before the Mast shirt, and listening to Sleepless. Just wanted to say, thanks for the decades of art! Your music means a lot to all of us, and goes great under these massive blue skies.
Do you, in fact, want my 8yo to join the decemberists, as he feels you indicated by tossing a guitar pick in his general direction in Chicago? I’m kidding—guessing you guys are not in need of a guitarist who cannot play guitar—but it made his year and he’s still talking about it. Thanks!!
Just wanted to share that I used to play The Hazards of Love in the car with the little kids but I stopped when my son started singing "I had entered into a marriage..." 😬😬😬
After seeing the Enfield Tennis Academy show up in the “Calamity Song” music video—- also thank you so much for imagining what Eschaton would like IRL :)—-How do you feel about the writings of Pynchon, and would those ever make a cameo in an upcoming Decemberists song and/or music video?
I've only read the shorter things by him, Crying of Lot 49 and that pulp novel he did a little bit back. I do need to tackle some his epochal stuff, now that you mention it. Maybe in future then!
Why the lyric change to "Wisconsin" in Calamity Song? Thought it was specific to show in Milwaukee. But saw you again at Ryman and there it was again. That show was excellent by the way!
That's a good question. I don't know! I think I might've done it on the fly while in Wisconsin, thinking that I'd do that thing where you insert the name of the city (in this case, state) you're playing into the song and the crowd goes wild (Detroit! AAAAAAAH!) but I just landed on Wisconsin and never changed it.
This was going to be my question. I thought there'd be some geopolitical analysis involving the probability distribution of Andalusian tribes and their post-apocalyptic migrations, a chilling realisation mid-tour that "Nebraska will have to go", a quiet monograph submitted to the appropriate journal summarising the forecasts, that sort of thing.
I think we'll be heading into the studio in the first part of the year -- hopefully to get down those songs + whatever else is kicking around. I'm excited!
I am late to the party, but I was wondering if you could hint at what inspired Lake Song, since its one of my favorite songs ever. The line about the ghost of your footprints on the station wagon window evokes such a strong, almost sorrowful nostalgia for long ago teenage moments for me every single time I hear it.
That's interesting; when I wrote that line, I honestly didn't feel much attached to -- it maybe felt too specific, too personal -- but it seems to have struck a chord. I've had other people mention it. I guess it harkens back to everyone's sordid teenagehoods. And yes, it was a Honda station wagon; the song is a very brief fling with someone in high school...
Hi Colin, can you please tell me the story around the song Hurdles Even Here? I discovered it on YouTube but can't find it on any albums, EPs, or Spotify. What happened to it and what's it all about?
That was an outtake from the Crane Wife sessions -- and there are a couple versions on the 10th anniversary set of The Crane Wife. I think those should be on spotify. As for the song itself, that one had been kicking around since the Tarkio days, but just never found a home. I thought I'd bring it out in -- whenever that was -- 2006 and see how it held up. It held up okay. You can hear from the Crane Wife sessions that we took a couple stabs at it before leaving it as a solo song. And then it got kicked to the curb -- I think it might've been an exclusive track for something, like, Starbucks or whatever. Back when everyone was selling records and wanted exclusive tracks. What an annoying time in the industry that was.
Although your songwriting seems to lean more towards history/fantasy, are you much of a fan of any scifi? I've always thought the two genres tell similar stories at the end of the day.
I do dip into sci-fi from time to time -- during the pandemic I read the three William Gibson books in the Sprawl trilogy (I'd read the first one as a kid) and LOVED them. So good. Dune, I love; I went through a real Vlad Sorokin phase, and I love his stuff.
Ooh, ooh! I can't say enough about how amazing The Expanse is (James S.A. Corey). The Amazon Prime series was amazing, but the books are an order of magnitude better. I know, that's true about 99% of the time.
We're looking at a small spread and my wife really loves llamas so....any tips on keeping the beasts happy? They seem okay with other animals and we already have a bunch plus a small pig coming soon.
huh -- I hadn't given it much thought, tbh. I expect I'll keep doing the lyric annotations here for the foreseeable future -- that might make a good book?
I asked him this at a Shebangers pre-show Q&A in LA in 2018. They'd been looking for someone to do a "Calamity Song" video with—he wrote the song shortly after reading "Infinite Jest," and they wanted to do a video for the song recreating a scene from the book—and the record label had been skeptical they'd find a director willing to do it. But then somehow this idea landed on Mike Schur's desk, and it turns out he was a big David Foster Wallace fan, had written his dissertation on "Infinite Jest," and had film rights to it, so he ended up directing that music video (Mike Schur has also said on Reddit AMAs that he's a fan of the band). When it came time to find a band for the Unity Concert episode, he chose the Decemberists!
Do you know about Campaign: Skyjacks, the ttrpg podcast set in a world based on the music of The Decemberists? (Big Bad Evil Guy called The Mariner, a mysterious scene at a place called Shankill, an admiral called The Bandit Queen, etc) and if so, what do you think of it? And if not, what do you think about that idea — of universes spun out of your songs without your hand on the tiller?
Signed,
Let’s Get Sad Beanie
PS
If you are taking requests it would be amazing to hear “I Was Meant for the Stage” in Astoria next month.
When you’re planning stories, do you have any particular way of planning out worldbuilding? Also, what typically comes first in your writing process, characters or plot? Thanks!
Do you ever listen to your older music and wish you had added or taken away some elements? My band just finished the tracking for our first album and I’m paranoid, production-wise.
Not really -- usually, by the time a record comes out, I've hashed and rehashed every minute of the record. Whatever decisions I made were probably more genuine and thought-out than anything I would come up with now, with hindsight.
Sometimes completely unbidden this line from The Decemberists entry in “conservapedia” will pop into my head and I have to wonder if somebody ever really did directly ask you this:
“When asked whether he felt his music could corrupt those who listened to by glorifying rape, homicide and suicide, leader singer Colin Meloy said that he "didn't care"[Citation Needed].”
I've been using the OpenAI playground a bit lately, and set it the task of writing the canonical Decemberists song (as perceived by Conservapedia). Here is the prompt and the song. No royalties required.
Write a song about a godless heathen alcoholic witch whose unmarried homosexual Monarchist lover drowns her in the river after she reveals that she voted Democrat, in the style of the Decemberists.
You should have known better
Than to fall in love with a godless heathen alcoholic witch
Revel in the downtime -- don't despair. Time away from your tools (your instrument, your notepad) are just as fruitful -- sometimes moreso -- than time scribbling, noodling, writing. These times might be an invitation for intake rather than output; listen to music, different music + read new poetry, new books.
As an aspiring writer I have a soft spot for the oft-overlooked and under-appreciated “Midlist Author.” Is the song meant to be ironic? Or how do you intend for the lyrics to be interpreted?
Just curious, was the hexafoil in The Stars Did Wander Darkling at all inspired by the one found in your barn? (Also a question for Carson - will Old Bright return?)
I don't have one question, but I do have something I've been meaning to ask.
I'm a Portlander who's planning on leaving the country in the next year, but before I do, I'd really like to say hello one last time in person. And I figure the best way to do it would be to interview you (or really just to have a chat) about your early Portland years, maybe for your podcast, as a sort of guest.
My friends and I used to bring the band Oranginas before the shows, back when that was your thing. I'm the one who sat on your URL until you were ready for it, and you signed my copy of The Hazards of Love with "Thanks for the domain!" I was at the Bachelor and the Bride video screening at that place on Burnside. A group of friends had planned to play soccer with the band, but that's the day your instruments were stolen, so you had to cancel, and in the ensuing auction, I finally landed that patch I didn't win in the Sixteen Military Wives scavenger hunt. There's a lot of Decemberists in my history here.
This isn't just to ramble about how weirdly dedicated some fans can become, but these are some of my greatest Portland memories, and I would love to just talk with you about your love for this place before I take off and leave most of my past behind.
So I guess a do have a question: if I were to offer to make a donation to any charity in exchange for setting up a talk for an hour or so, how much would that donation be for, and what charity would you choose?
I’m very late to this thread so I doubt this will get answered...
Rusalka is the best song on the latest album in my opinion. But it feels out of place compared to the rest of the album’s 90s vibe. How did this song end up on the album when it sounds more like something you would have written during the Picaresque - Hazards era...
You're a founding member! I can make time for you! Rusalka, over time, is my favorite song on that record too -- and it was the last one to be written for it. I wrote it in 2017, shortly after we'd finished the Offa Rex record release. I think I was lost in the British Folk Revival again, having consumed all these old folk songs in preparation for that record, and Rusalka just came out. It's always nice to have the last song you write for a record be your favorite -- it bodes well for the future...
Thanks for taking the time to answer this one. And I appreciate you playing it in Nashville this past tour. And allowing me to play your guitar during the last part of I was Meant for the Stage. A lasting memory I will tell my children one day.
I briefly was in a Jesus and Mary Chain cover band, but we only met and talked about songs and instrumentation, we never rehearsed or anything. I'm on record for wanting to play bass in a Feelies cover band.
Hey Colin! Do you ever do crazy fan requests?? I’m getting married on December 2nd to an amazing girl named Avery, we fell in love starting with the music you make. Any chance you would film yourself singing “Dear Avery”, and then wish her the happiest day of her life, and send it to me to play for our wedding? You are amazing either way, I just have to ask 🤩
I would love to hear The Crane Wife album (and the others) without the "loudness wars" compression. I'll bet the original dynamics are amazing. How much control do you have over mixing and mastering when an album or EP is released?
I'm curious about this as well. While I own a legal copy of The Crane Wife, the copy that I play to this day is a pre-release version, with different mixing and twice as many hits before the chorus on The Island's first part. I've always wondered who decided to cut those hits in half for the final release, and if the reason was for radio play, or if the band actually preferred it.
What are your thoughts on the economics of touring, as this is a hot button issue right now? How do The Decemberists manage with this? Large tours that involve tour buses (or multiple tour buses), large crews, stage design, lighting design, etc. would seem to have a very large overhead versus touring in a van with no or maybe one crew member? What are your thoughts from your band's perspective versus that of smaller bands, to even larger bands/tours? Thanks!
1) It goes way back. Way back when, we used to play a recording of the Red Army singing the Soviet National Anthem -- communist kitsch and all that + it was very dramatic. This became problematic pretty quickly, as history can attest, and we switched to a very funny rendition of the same song -- a recording of an Egyptian orchestra playing it for Putin (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yHbAhFnfrA). But even that, after a time, felt weird. And then I discovered the Portsmouth Sinfonia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portsmouth_Sinfonia) and *that* struck the same chord, but was much less...fraught. We initially were using their version of "Also Sprach Zarathustra" but then we discovered that Death Cab For Cutie was using that for their walk-on music, so we switched to "Hall of the Mountain King." Wow. Long story.
2) The name Philomena is incidental. It was Willomina for a bit, then Philomela -- but Philomela, in myth, was a bit too fraught (so much fraught-avoidance) so I went with Philomena. Shortly after we recorded it, a movie came out titled Philomena starring Judi Dench. It is *not* about Judi Dench.
It's getting harder and harder! I find myself nostalgic for the days when your setlist was just your record in a different sequence with a couple covers thrown in. These days, I just have to divorce myself from the expectation that *everyone* will be pleased by a particular setlist -- you kind of just have to go with what feels right for you and the band.
You played 0 out of the 5 songs I most longed to hear in MPLS, and the show exceeded my expectations. I wasn’t the least bit disappointed, and am so happy for you to keep it fresh!
I'm curious about your opinion of The New Pornographers? I find their layering of multiple voices and intentional out of tune strings and notes very interesting.
At minute 5:29 in Row Jimmy, what made you giggle? Did you consider redoing the song or did you immediately know you wanted to keep it there? I love that you left that in because it makes me smile every time 😊
Maybe? I don't know. If I feel moved to do it -- I didn't really *mean* for the ending to suggest a sequel, I just liked that it was a little open ended. My thoughts do return to Seaham from time to time, though...
I just read it to my kids for the Halloween week and we all loved it. The ending was great just as it is. But we’d love to see more of those characters if you ever do return to it.
I do! Having experimented with different methods I always fall back on the tried and true butter-on-the-bread-cheddar-cheese-grilled-in-a-cast-iron-skillet method. I've done the mayonnaise as the fat on the bread (per the NYT) and it works well but always weirds me out. Mayo as a searing/cooking medium feels unholy.
Movies have totally influenced my music. A lot of it, stuff that I encountered in my formative years. Guy Maddin's movies (particularly Archangel and Careful) were a big influence early on; the movies of Emir Kusturica. Come and See by Elem Klimov (the first part of "The Island"'s namesake. Um, Terry Gilliam's Brazil, Time Bandits, and Baron Munchausen.
Have you had a chance to digest the new Alvvays album yet? If so, what do you think? My first time seeing them was watching them open for you two nights in a row in 2015 and I always associate that band with the Decemberists.
Huh! They were a great band to tour with and I love their music to death -- though I don't think our music is super similar. I love the new record -- I just think they have pop songwriting chops to die for.
In the annotated June Hymn a little while ago you mentioned people get 'heaven sent this cardinal maroon to decorate our living room' wrong often - what do they hear instead? That one has always seemed pretty straightforward.
I actually don't know off hand! Maybe I made that up. But I do remember seeing a transcription of the lyrics *somewhere* where that line was super off...
I think sometimes people hear "Heaven sent this card, in all maroon, to decorate our living room." I have never typed that out and put it on the internet until now but that is what I used to think it was :)
I always heard "Heaven sent this cardinal, marooned, to decorate our living room." I just assumed it was acknowledging that the bird was in a place it wasn't meant to be.
Hey there, Colin. No question really. I'm on a bus riding through California's Central Valley on my way to the Bay Area for Thanksgiving, wearing my Twenty Years Before the Mast shirt, and listening to Sleepless. Just wanted to say, thanks for the decades of art! Your music means a lot to all of us, and goes great under these massive blue skies.
Thank you!!! Safe travels.
Do you, in fact, want my 8yo to join the decemberists, as he feels you indicated by tossing a guitar pick in his general direction in Chicago? I’m kidding—guessing you guys are not in need of a guitarist who cannot play guitar—but it made his year and he’s still talking about it. Thanks!!
Any chance of a Hazards of Love 15th anniversary tour, 2024?
Hmmm! That's coming right up, huh. Maybe! We got awfully close to doing a 10th anniversary tour in 2019, but it never came together.
OMG I would name my first born after you if you do a Hazards anniversary tour.
OK technically she's 17 but I'm sure she won't mind the change.
My 33 year old is on board with changing her name!
Could always go with Myfanwy
I vote for this!
Ah awesome to know it’s been on the table before! Fingers crossed!
If you do a hazards tour, make sure you come to Toronto! It takes me six hours to get there but would be worth it!
Yes please!!!!
Just wanted to share that I used to play The Hazards of Love in the car with the little kids but I stopped when my son started singing "I had entered into a marriage..." 😬😬😬
Any plans to have Traveler’s Rest come back? I so wanted to go in 2020 before… everything.
One of these days... Lots has changed in the festival/touring/promoter world, so it might look very different, but it's not an impossible thing.
Did you ever pay back Steven for the stolen bicycle?
I didn't. I was super broke at the time -- we all were so broke. I don't think there was ever any expectation that I would pay him for the bike.
When are you writing a musical for Broadway?
I am currently doing just this.
Fantastic! I would like to preorder opening night tickets now before the bots and scammers crash Ticketmaster. Again.
I heard about this when you did the podcast with Daniel Handler, SO exciting!
YES! May the spirit of Sondheim bless your journey and inspire the best internal rhymes.
After seeing the Enfield Tennis Academy show up in the “Calamity Song” music video—- also thank you so much for imagining what Eschaton would like IRL :)—-How do you feel about the writings of Pynchon, and would those ever make a cameo in an upcoming Decemberists song and/or music video?
I've only read the shorter things by him, Crying of Lot 49 and that pulp novel he did a little bit back. I do need to tackle some his epochal stuff, now that you mention it. Maybe in future then!
Such a great book! Thanks for the response!
Is the musical you are writing with Daniel Handler intended for kids or adults?
For everyone!
Awesome
Why the lyric change to "Wisconsin" in Calamity Song? Thought it was specific to show in Milwaukee. But saw you again at Ryman and there it was again. That show was excellent by the way!
That's a good question. I don't know! I think I might've done it on the fly while in Wisconsin, thinking that I'd do that thing where you insert the name of the city (in this case, state) you're playing into the song and the crowd goes wild (Detroit! AAAAAAAH!) but I just landed on Wisconsin and never changed it.
Wisconsin is a great place to sing about about the apocalypse.
I was born in Wisconsin and my recent heartbreaking ex was from Nebraska, so this change was quite a revelation for me at the time.
This was going to be my question. I thought there'd be some geopolitical analysis involving the probability distribution of Andalusian tribes and their post-apocalyptic migrations, a chilling realisation mid-tour that "Nebraska will have to go", a quiet monograph submitted to the appropriate journal summarising the forecasts, that sort of thing.
I asked this previously, but what is the timeline for releasing the new music that y’all played live on tour (Burial Ground, etc.)?
I think we'll be heading into the studio in the first part of the year -- hopefully to get down those songs + whatever else is kicking around. I'm excited!
I am late to the party, but I was wondering if you could hint at what inspired Lake Song, since its one of my favorite songs ever. The line about the ghost of your footprints on the station wagon window evokes such a strong, almost sorrowful nostalgia for long ago teenage moments for me every single time I hear it.
That's interesting; when I wrote that line, I honestly didn't feel much attached to -- it maybe felt too specific, too personal -- but it seems to have struck a chord. I've had other people mention it. I guess it harkens back to everyone's sordid teenagehoods. And yes, it was a Honda station wagon; the song is a very brief fling with someone in high school...
Kelly as I read your question I realized that just yesterday I wrote down the name of this song as I would like to learn how to play it. Pretty cool!
Hi Colin, can you please tell me the story around the song Hurdles Even Here? I discovered it on YouTube but can't find it on any albums, EPs, or Spotify. What happened to it and what's it all about?
Thanks
That was an outtake from the Crane Wife sessions -- and there are a couple versions on the 10th anniversary set of The Crane Wife. I think those should be on spotify. As for the song itself, that one had been kicking around since the Tarkio days, but just never found a home. I thought I'd bring it out in -- whenever that was -- 2006 and see how it held up. It held up okay. You can hear from the Crane Wife sessions that we took a couple stabs at it before leaving it as a solo song. And then it got kicked to the curb -- I think it might've been an exclusive track for something, like, Starbucks or whatever. Back when everyone was selling records and wanted exclusive tracks. What an annoying time in the industry that was.
Thanks for taking the time to answer, I'll check out the 10th anniversary set that you mentioned. Hopefully see you in the UK or Europe soon!
Although your songwriting seems to lean more towards history/fantasy, are you much of a fan of any scifi? I've always thought the two genres tell similar stories at the end of the day.
I do dip into sci-fi from time to time -- during the pandemic I read the three William Gibson books in the Sprawl trilogy (I'd read the first one as a kid) and LOVED them. So good. Dune, I love; I went through a real Vlad Sorokin phase, and I love his stuff.
Ooh, ooh! I can't say enough about how amazing The Expanse is (James S.A. Corey). The Amazon Prime series was amazing, but the books are an order of magnitude better. I know, that's true about 99% of the time.
I just finished the Culture series, worth it just for the ship names!
Any Star Trek?
We're looking at a small spread and my wife really loves llamas so....any tips on keeping the beasts happy? They seem okay with other animals and we already have a bunch plus a small pig coming soon.
Any chance we might get a truly beautiful hardcover collection of your lyrics?
huh -- I hadn't given it much thought, tbh. I expect I'll keep doing the lyric annotations here for the foreseeable future -- that might make a good book?
Yes! That or either would be a great book. Or books.
Hi Colin- How did you get involved with the concert on Parks & Rec? Was it a fun experience?
I asked him this at a Shebangers pre-show Q&A in LA in 2018. They'd been looking for someone to do a "Calamity Song" video with—he wrote the song shortly after reading "Infinite Jest," and they wanted to do a video for the song recreating a scene from the book—and the record label had been skeptical they'd find a director willing to do it. But then somehow this idea landed on Mike Schur's desk, and it turns out he was a big David Foster Wallace fan, had written his dissertation on "Infinite Jest," and had film rights to it, so he ended up directing that music video (Mike Schur has also said on Reddit AMAs that he's a fan of the band). When it came time to find a band for the Unity Concert episode, he chose the Decemberists!
Do you know about Campaign: Skyjacks, the ttrpg podcast set in a world based on the music of The Decemberists? (Big Bad Evil Guy called The Mariner, a mysterious scene at a place called Shankill, an admiral called The Bandit Queen, etc) and if so, what do you think of it? And if not, what do you think about that idea — of universes spun out of your songs without your hand on the tiller?
Signed,
Let’s Get Sad Beanie
PS
If you are taking requests it would be amazing to hear “I Was Meant for the Stage” in Astoria next month.
I've heard about that podcast, yes! Very flattered. It's nice to see what other people make of that world...
When you’re planning stories, do you have any particular way of planning out worldbuilding? Also, what typically comes first in your writing process, characters or plot? Thanks!
Do you ever listen to your older music and wish you had added or taken away some elements? My band just finished the tracking for our first album and I’m paranoid, production-wise.
Not really -- usually, by the time a record comes out, I've hashed and rehashed every minute of the record. Whatever decisions I made were probably more genuine and thought-out than anything I would come up with now, with hindsight.
Is Suckers Prayer an homage to Goodnight Irene? and does it always get the best crowd response Love a good river song. thanks Colin.
I guess it is, kinda! Jump in the river and drown! The original singalong suicide song.
Sometimes completely unbidden this line from The Decemberists entry in “conservapedia” will pop into my head and I have to wonder if somebody ever really did directly ask you this:
“When asked whether he felt his music could corrupt those who listened to by glorifying rape, homicide and suicide, leader singer Colin Meloy said that he "didn't care"[Citation Needed].”
Omg, that entry is a forever gift. Is it still around?
Edit: it is! https://www.conservapedia.com/The_Decemberists
It really needs to updated tho
You need to get in touch with some more songs with potentially negative influences.
OMG that's a treasure.
I've been using the OpenAI playground a bit lately, and set it the task of writing the canonical Decemberists song (as perceived by Conservapedia). Here is the prompt and the song. No royalties required.
Write a song about a godless heathen alcoholic witch whose unmarried homosexual Monarchist lover drowns her in the river after she reveals that she voted Democrat, in the style of the Decemberists.
You should have known better
Than to fall in love with a godless heathen alcoholic witch
Who would never be content
With a life of domesticity and Republican values
You should have known better
Than to think that she could ever be true
To a lover who was not of her own kind
And so it was that on a dark and stormy night
Your Monarchist lover drowned you in the river
After you revealed that you had voted Democrat
And now your soul is doomed to wander
The earth forever, searching for a way to escape
The torture of knowing that you will never again
Be able to share a glass of wine
Or a hearty laugh
With the one you loved and lost
To the cold embrace of the river.
Haha you beat me to it. I check in on it sometimes when I need a laugh.
Whoever put this extensive list together is a closet Decemberists fan, haha.
“Citation needed” looks like we got our citation right here. Ha!
What’s the current status of Fudgie?
Fudgie the whale! Which iteration was that? I've lost track...
I'm a songwriter but haven't been able to write anything since June. Any tips for writing motivation/making time?
Revel in the downtime -- don't despair. Time away from your tools (your instrument, your notepad) are just as fruitful -- sometimes moreso -- than time scribbling, noodling, writing. These times might be an invitation for intake rather than output; listen to music, different music + read new poetry, new books.
I listened to an old interview with Tom Waits yesterday and in it he said, “All music has rests.”
Fave and least fave Xmas songs?
Fave: O Holy Night
Least fave: Do They Know It's Christmas
Oh yeah, I think Do They Know It's Christmas will never have any competition.
Clearly you have never had to suffer through “Wonderful Christmastime”. *shudder*
Sure, that's a bad one, but...
"Well tonight thank God it's them instead of you.
And there won't be snow in Africa this Christmas time.
The greatest gift they'll get this year is life.
Where nothing ever grows,
No rain nor rivers flow.
Do they know it's Christmas time at all?"
Legit, "Thank God it's them instead of you"?! I had no idea, despite being a contemporary of this song.
I had many reasons to avoid that song, and now there's one more. Thanks!
Rockin’ around the xmas tree is the least rockin’ song ever written.
Still love it
That makes me happy- sorry to yuck your yum there (-;
nat king cole? mine too <3
As an aspiring writer I have a soft spot for the oft-overlooked and under-appreciated “Midlist Author.” Is the song meant to be ironic? Or how do you intend for the lyrics to be interpreted?
I'm a big fan of this one too. "Have another taste of fame when they mispronounce your name..."
Just curious, was the hexafoil in The Stars Did Wander Darkling at all inspired by the one found in your barn? (Also a question for Carson - will Old Bright return?)
Yes -- that discovery led us down a pretty fascinating wormhole. And that's a good question re: old bright -- you should ask Carson
I don't have one question, but I do have something I've been meaning to ask.
I'm a Portlander who's planning on leaving the country in the next year, but before I do, I'd really like to say hello one last time in person. And I figure the best way to do it would be to interview you (or really just to have a chat) about your early Portland years, maybe for your podcast, as a sort of guest.
My friends and I used to bring the band Oranginas before the shows, back when that was your thing. I'm the one who sat on your URL until you were ready for it, and you signed my copy of The Hazards of Love with "Thanks for the domain!" I was at the Bachelor and the Bride video screening at that place on Burnside. A group of friends had planned to play soccer with the band, but that's the day your instruments were stolen, so you had to cancel, and in the ensuing auction, I finally landed that patch I didn't win in the Sixteen Military Wives scavenger hunt. There's a lot of Decemberists in my history here.
This isn't just to ramble about how weirdly dedicated some fans can become, but these are some of my greatest Portland memories, and I would love to just talk with you about your love for this place before I take off and leave most of my past behind.
So I guess a do have a question: if I were to offer to make a donation to any charity in exchange for setting up a talk for an hour or so, how much would that donation be for, and what charity would you choose?
I’m very late to this thread so I doubt this will get answered...
Rusalka is the best song on the latest album in my opinion. But it feels out of place compared to the rest of the album’s 90s vibe. How did this song end up on the album when it sounds more like something you would have written during the Picaresque - Hazards era...
You're a founding member! I can make time for you! Rusalka, over time, is my favorite song on that record too -- and it was the last one to be written for it. I wrote it in 2017, shortly after we'd finished the Offa Rex record release. I think I was lost in the British Folk Revival again, having consumed all these old folk songs in preparation for that record, and Rusalka just came out. It's always nice to have the last song you write for a record be your favorite -- it bodes well for the future...
Thanks for taking the time to answer this one. And I appreciate you playing it in Nashville this past tour. And allowing me to play your guitar during the last part of I was Meant for the Stage. A lasting memory I will tell my children one day.
If you made a secret tribute band, what would your tribute band name be (and to which band would it be a tribute)?
I briefly was in a Jesus and Mary Chain cover band, but we only met and talked about songs and instrumentation, we never rehearsed or anything. I'm on record for wanting to play bass in a Feelies cover band.
Hey Colin! Do you ever do crazy fan requests?? I’m getting married on December 2nd to an amazing girl named Avery, we fell in love starting with the music you make. Any chance you would film yourself singing “Dear Avery”, and then wish her the happiest day of her life, and send it to me to play for our wedding? You are amazing either way, I just have to ask 🤩
Shyness is nice, and shyness can stop you...
From doing all the things in life you’d like to.
Like me saying -- you’re awesome!!
That is all :)
I would love to hear The Crane Wife album (and the others) without the "loudness wars" compression. I'll bet the original dynamics are amazing. How much control do you have over mixing and mastering when an album or EP is released?
I'm curious about this as well. While I own a legal copy of The Crane Wife, the copy that I play to this day is a pre-release version, with different mixing and twice as many hits before the chorus on The Island's first part. I've always wondered who decided to cut those hits in half for the final release, and if the reason was for radio play, or if the band actually preferred it.
What are your thoughts on the economics of touring, as this is a hot button issue right now? How do The Decemberists manage with this? Large tours that involve tour buses (or multiple tour buses), large crews, stage design, lighting design, etc. would seem to have a very large overhead versus touring in a van with no or maybe one crew member? What are your thoughts from your band's perspective versus that of smaller bands, to even larger bands/tours? Thanks!
Any future plans for Offa Rex (or with Olivia Chaney)?
Hi Colin! You and The Decemberists are in my dissertation :) Here are two questions from the back of my notebook that I have been saving for you:
1) What is the significance of "Hall of the Mountain King" being played before your live concerts? And which recording are you using?
2) What inspired writing "Philomena?" The saint? Who is the narrator in that song?
1) It goes way back. Way back when, we used to play a recording of the Red Army singing the Soviet National Anthem -- communist kitsch and all that + it was very dramatic. This became problematic pretty quickly, as history can attest, and we switched to a very funny rendition of the same song -- a recording of an Egyptian orchestra playing it for Putin (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yHbAhFnfrA). But even that, after a time, felt weird. And then I discovered the Portsmouth Sinfonia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portsmouth_Sinfonia) and *that* struck the same chord, but was much less...fraught. We initially were using their version of "Also Sprach Zarathustra" but then we discovered that Death Cab For Cutie was using that for their walk-on music, so we switched to "Hall of the Mountain King." Wow. Long story.
2) The name Philomena is incidental. It was Willomina for a bit, then Philomela -- but Philomela, in myth, was a bit too fraught (so much fraught-avoidance) so I went with Philomena. Shortly after we recorded it, a movie came out titled Philomena starring Judi Dench. It is *not* about Judi Dench.
Thanks, Colin :)
Hi, since you have such a body of work, how do you put together setlists ?
It's getting harder and harder! I find myself nostalgic for the days when your setlist was just your record in a different sequence with a couple covers thrown in. These days, I just have to divorce myself from the expectation that *everyone* will be pleased by a particular setlist -- you kind of just have to go with what feels right for you and the band.
You played 0 out of the 5 songs I most longed to hear in MPLS, and the show exceeded my expectations. I wasn’t the least bit disappointed, and am so happy for you to keep it fresh!
I'm getting married in a few weeks. You and Carson seem to have such a loving and authentic partnership. Any advice for newlyweds?
Listen to one another! Give each other space! Alternate housework! Be kind and generous to one another. Allow for mistakes.
Thank you! 💛
I'm curious about your opinion of The New Pornographers? I find their layering of multiple voices and intentional out of tune strings and notes very interesting.
Aside from their first record, Mass Romantic, I haven't spent a ton of time with New Pornographer's records. I think they're great, though.
what’s your go to breakfast?
I'm a yogurt and granola guy these days.
At minute 5:29 in Row Jimmy, what made you giggle? Did you consider redoing the song or did you immediately know you wanted to keep it there? I love that you left that in because it makes me smile every time 😊
Are you planning a follow-up novel for The Stars Did Wander Darkling?
Maybe? I don't know. If I feel moved to do it -- I didn't really *mean* for the ending to suggest a sequel, I just liked that it was a little open ended. My thoughts do return to Seaham from time to time, though...
I just read it to my kids for the Halloween week and we all loved it. The ending was great just as it is. But we’d love to see more of those characters if you ever do return to it.
Kiss/Marry/Kill:
The Smiths
British Folk Revival
REM
My sister and I would like to know: what is your favorite fruit?
"And does she ever whisper in his ear / all her favorite fruit..."
I think I'm a blackberry guy first and foremost.
I don't have a question, I just appreciate the Camper Van Beethoven reference
My sister says: that’s a very Oregonian response!
I say: I’ve never heard this song before but it’s quite nice.
And if you have time for a follow-up question: what’s your stance on marionberries?
Why didn’t Randy get more “screen time?” I love his scenes.
I feel like the archetypal role he was fulfilling -- the scribe, the mentor, the tool-supplier -- is always an important but secondary role.
Do you have any opinions on how to make a grilled cheese and what do you like to put on them? [File under cozy questions]
I do! Having experimented with different methods I always fall back on the tried and true butter-on-the-bread-cheddar-cheese-grilled-in-a-cast-iron-skillet method. I've done the mayonnaise as the fat on the bread (per the NYT) and it works well but always weirds me out. Mayo as a searing/cooking medium feels unholy.
“Do you want that grilled cheese regular or unholy style?”
What are some of your favorite movies and has cinema ever influenced your songwriting?
Movies have totally influenced my music. A lot of it, stuff that I encountered in my formative years. Guy Maddin's movies (particularly Archangel and Careful) were a big influence early on; the movies of Emir Kusturica. Come and See by Elem Klimov (the first part of "The Island"'s namesake. Um, Terry Gilliam's Brazil, Time Bandits, and Baron Munchausen.
Why doesn’t “Colin Meloy Sings ‘A Rocky Mountain Christmas’” exist yet?
LOL. Working on it.
This would be my dream come true
Ha! Had no idea ya’ll covered one John Denver Christmas song already!
Sublime! But could you imagine Colin covering Aspenglow?!
Yes, in a Holiday special requests live stream... pleeeease? Setlist will likely not include Do They Know It’s Christmas.
Have you had a chance to digest the new Alvvays album yet? If so, what do you think? My first time seeing them was watching them open for you two nights in a row in 2015 and I always associate that band with the Decemberists.
Huh! They were a great band to tour with and I love their music to death -- though I don't think our music is super similar. I love the new record -- I just think they have pop songwriting chops to die for.
In the annotated June Hymn a little while ago you mentioned people get 'heaven sent this cardinal maroon to decorate our living room' wrong often - what do they hear instead? That one has always seemed pretty straightforward.
I actually don't know off hand! Maybe I made that up. But I do remember seeing a transcription of the lyrics *somewhere* where that line was super off...
I think sometimes people hear "Heaven sent this card, in all maroon, to decorate our living room." I have never typed that out and put it on the internet until now but that is what I used to think it was :)
I had this same comment at the time! I second this question.
I always heard "Heaven sent this cardinal, marooned, to decorate our living room." I just assumed it was acknowledging that the bird was in a place it wasn't meant to be.