 Decemberists | When we caught up with Decemberists guitarist Chris Funk last month, he was a little confused at where his summer had gone. |
"Usually the best thing about being in a band and making a living from that is that you have a bunch of free time when you're home, but I haven't had any free time yet this year," he lamented.
"We supposedly took the summer off. Really we did a bunch of festivals, which were well attended and fun to do. Now it's the end of summer, I haven't gone swimming once and we're about to go on tour again."
That's been the story for the Portland-based Decemberists, who released the critically adored Picaresque near the beginning of the year and haven't stopped working it since.
They've appeared on Conan, opened for Beck and been hassled by the big labels, but Funk doesn't think things have really blown up for the band yet.
"We have successes but we're not a band that sells through the roof, like the Arcade Fire, who hang out with David Bowie or Death Cab For Cutie who hang out with the O.C. cast," he says. "I'm glad, though. We have this steady career path — we're still below a lot of people's radars. I think people assume we're this big buzz band, but I don't think we are. I mean, nobody's asked us to be David Bowie's backing band. If David Bowie called us and asked us to be his backing band I'd say, 'Fuck, I quit. We made it!'"
If you've taken notice of the band this year, it could be due to their clever imagery. Whether it's their model UN inspired video for "16 Military Wives" or album art showcasing them as characters in a costume play, The Decemberists definitely have a sense of style all their own.
"We're laughing at ourselves," Funk explains. "We didn't want to do standard band photos. Somehow, I think it suits the music. So many of the songs have so many characters, so why wouldn't we dress up? We just wanted to challenge ourselves and have fun. There's so many bands who take pictures in an alley against a brick wall. We're bored of that. The photo shoots are fun to think of and put together."
While the group are still heavily promoting Picaresque, their next release is already in the works. Lead singer Colin Meloy used their rare downtime in Portland this summer to start piecing together new songs that the band will record next May and release in fall 2006.
"We thought it would be fun to do this really prog-y, metal, elf-rock record, sort of in the direction of The Tain, which is an 18-minute long song we put out as an EP," Funk says. "It's very much in the vein of '70s music, like psych-rock stuff. The other direction would be more folk oriented, sort of like Fairport Convention — more rock-based folk. It's something we've kind of done already but haven't really explored.
"I think on the last record we established the Decemberists sound. It's exciting to say, here's who we've become. Here are the avenues we can explore. I think we're just looking on the next record to go further. I'm sure it'll backfire and no one will buy it because they'll have only heard the last record and they'll say, 'What the fuck is this? What's this 48-minute jam with a 12-string guitar and flute bullshit? [laughs]"
Following a European tour that starts in November, the group will finally take an actual vacation, but most of them will still be working. Funk is working with Lifesavas DJ Reverend Shines on a project that goes by the moniker, The Society. They've already done remixes for Feist and Bloc Party. Drummer John Moen is part of Stephen Malkmus' Jicks and they may tour. And Meloy, of course, will continue writing.
"You constantly forget you're around amazingly talented people," Funk says. "It's like, wow, you wrote that jaw-droppingly awesome song. Again. You suck. [laughs] No, I'm excited for it."
The Decemberists play the Phoenix in Toronto on Thursday night.
source: chartattack_by Noah Love
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