Q: From Zopilote Machine up to your current album, Get Lonely, you have had transformations in style, content and overall tone.,”The Mountain Goats' front man John Darnielle talked to Marquee about songwriting and musical collaboration as the band prepares to play the Pabst Theater Tuesday.
Q: From Zopilote Machine up to your current album, Get Lonely, you have had transformations in style, content and overall tone. What do you credit these transformations to?
J.D.: Just instinct – I write about what interests me, I play however it feels good to play, and like any animal I guess I seek out a little variety.
Q: Since the band's conception, many different musicians have played with you. How is the dynamic of working with such a diverse group?
J.D.: I kind of glom onto whoever I'm working with real fast, I'm like an orphan – as soon as I start playing with somebody they feel like family to me. So it doesn't really feel like a diverse group insofar as it takes me about half a song to feel like we're bonded at the hip.
Q: You seem to have a knack for taking sometimes dark, personal material and singing about it to lighter pop music. What inspires this sharp contrast?
J.D.: Writing songs isn't really like doing something that you go into with a game plan. I write stuff, one, in the hopes of keeping myself entertained, on the theory that if I find something amusing then somebody else will too; and, two, giving myself the creeps a little bit (because) there are people besides myself who enjoy feeling a little creeped out. Dark theme plus bright focus equals instant creeps.
Q: You used to have a theme of writing songs entitled "Going to." and then the name of a country or city. How did this theme develop?
J.D.: I started writing those to make fun of people who always think they're gonna move and everything's gonna be great as soon as they move to where it's cool. I'm a Dorothy Gale man: there's no place like home.
Q: Can we expect to hear a new album from you soon?
J.D.: We recorded a new album at Prairie Sun (recording studio in Cotati, Calif.) back in August, and it'll be out in February if all goes well.
Q: Where do you see yourself in 10 years and are there any unfulfilled goals, music or otherwise, that you wish to fulfill?
J.D.: I don't really know! I try not to think past what I'm doing this week, you know – I sort of don't believe in plans any longer range than "I'm gonna write a record where all the characters die painful deaths" or "I'm gonna play a show where all the songs go in reverse chronological order." Creative businesses plans sound like a dead end to me. I have rather modest ambitions I guess.
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