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November 6, 2006

The Unveiling Of Modest Marr

People all over envy NYC around this time of year, and that's understandable, but y'all in the LA area have a treat of your own, 'cause the Johnny Marr-ified Modest Mouse kicked off a mini-tour at Avalon the other night. Rolling Stone was on hand to say that the band still needed practice, but was gonna be a force with Johnny:

But it quickly became evident that the band's six members were still working out the kinks on the new stuff from their forthcoming album, We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank. One such track, the mid-tempo "Fire It Up," in which Marr and Brock trade off vocals, sounded unintentionally sloppy. But they got it together in time for "Float On," which came around mid-set and, thanks to Marr's contribution, never sounded better.
"Never sounded better"! Did any of you go? We're super jealous. How excited are you guys for the record? Or should we just start the backlash right now? Gotta admit, we're psyched to hear the sound of Marr's guitar with Brock's vox; that being fun to write is just gravy.

Posted at 4:54 PM
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22 Comments

this should be super duper cool.

Posted by: satisfied '75 at 11/06/06 5:13 PM  | Reply
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As a long time Modest Mouse fan, I am unbelievably pumped about this.

Posted by: Gillian at 11/06/06 5:24 PM  | Reply
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Marr completely Marr-ified most of the songs. You could REALLY tell he was playing on the songs if you were at all familiar with his sound with the Smiths. It was evident on The View especially. One of the new songs also had a really Smiths-esque chord progression.

On the whole I was pretty disappointed with the setlist which consisted of most of Good News, a couple from Moon, Dramamine, and like 5 new ones. Play some fucking Lonesome please. The crowd was also pretty terrible (I'm talking to you, guy who wouldn't shut up about Portland). Maybe it's just me but Good News did not stand the test of time and sounded pretty stale.

and here's a shameless plug:
Check out my radio show "Stereo Sanctity" on UCLAradio.com on Fridays from 12-2pm PST.

Posted by: Dags at 11/06/06 5:43 PM  | Reply
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I'm with Justin...totally psyched about this one. they've taken enough time off to write what could be a truly amazing album and really hope they don't let us down.

Posted by: matt at 11/06/06 5:48 PM  | Reply
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I'm also pretty excited to hear what this sounds like. I can't really picture what Marr and the Mouse will sound like as a unit, but I'm hopeful.

Is there a street date on "Ship" yet?

Posted by: Darren at 11/06/06 6:02 PM  | Reply
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As a graphic designer, I think this is a winning combination!

Posted by: richard at 11/06/06 6:11 PM  | Reply
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can't wait to see them later this month!!

Posted by: Ed at 11/06/06 6:40 PM  | Reply
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i can't wait
for my date.

Posted by: Alec at 11/06/06 7:12 PM  | Reply
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They're playing at the Wiltern tonight and i plan to see them! I, too, am looking forward to hearing what Johnny's guitar can do with the rest of guys. There are haters, though; Smiths fans with no idea of what Modest Mouse is. Backlash for "Modest Marr" is inevitable, I guess.

Posted by: Howard at 11/06/06 7:14 PM  | Reply
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This will either be amazing or absolute dog shit. Either way I'm really curious which direction they go.

Posted by: Hutch at 11/06/06 8:04 PM  | Reply
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im curious but i dont have high expectations.... :/

Posted by: ben at 11/06/06 8:47 PM  | Reply
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Modest Mouse are playing at Live 105's X-mas show with Racounturs, Killers, Shins & Silversun Pickups December 1st..tickets on sale Saturday. Best X-mas line up in years. I hope Jack punches that little cowboy in the eye.

Posted by: KID at 11/06/06 8:55 PM  | Reply
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Silly Modest Mouse. They're in LA while I'm in NYC, then when I travel to LA, they're in NYC. Gaaah.

Posted by: Reid at 11/06/06 9:55 PM  | Reply
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Having beend a huge modest mouse since Float On came out and never having heard of "Johnyy Marr" all I can is I hope they still ROCK!!!

Posted by: imcool at 11/07/06 1:17 AM  | Reply
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Hmmm.... as a not very big fan of the smiths, the johnny marr collaboration actually confuses/scares me a little. someone reassure me so i can go and get tickets for their london show...

Posted by: ani at 11/07/06 7:18 AM  | Reply
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yes, please stop playing shit from good news! the setlist tonight at the wiltern and yesterday at the avalon were pretty similar. alot of stuff from good news and the new album. last years tour gave me enough of that. where is trailer trash, broke, cockroach? well at least they tore it up for an almost 15 minute "tiny cities." marr's influence is quite evident especially on the new material. i'm excited to see how it sounds on record considering they worked overtime on it... (cancelling those summer shows).

Posted by: andre at 11/07/06 7:35 AM  | Reply
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Best career move Johnny Marr has made since The Smiths!!! Totally psyched to hear the new stuff!!

Posted by: fred at 11/07/06 11:34 AM  | Reply
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um...condescend to l.a. much?

i personally am not too jealous of ny around this time of year. pretty much all the bands that played cmj played la either after or before,

or start or end their fall tours here,

or they're from here in the first place.

but ny can be fun too.

Posted by: buster keaton at 11/07/06 3:04 PM  | Reply
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um...condescend to l.a. much?

i personally am not too jealous of ny around this time of year. pretty much all the bands that played cmj played la either after or before,

or start or end their fall tours here,

or they're from here in the first place.

but ny can be fun too.

Posted by: buster keaton at 11/07/06 3:09 PM  | Reply
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um...condescend to l.a. much?

i personally am not too jealous of ny around this time of year. pretty much all the bands that played cmj played la either after or before,

or start or end their fall tours here,

or they're from here in the first place.

but ny can be fun too.

Posted by: buster keaton at 11/07/06 3:09 PM  | Reply
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Saw 'em last night at the Wiltern. They rocked, Isaac sung his heart out and the people stood stoic. Fucking lame ass LA crowd as always, especially at the nicer places. I'd say about 5% dancing.

LAme.

Posted by: Bernie at 11/07/06 9:08 PM  | Reply
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I went to this

Posted by: cool at 12/25/06 10:55 PM  | Reply
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