The Decemberists
Interview with Colin Meloy
Words: Marshall Dickson & James Ferreira
Photos: Marshall Dickson

For this evening’s encore, the merry crew of The Decemberists consecrated the huddled masses with an extraordinarily keen Easter treat.  They graced us with the debut of Brian Eno’s “I’ll Come Running,” a mantra to the melancholy set from his Another Green World album.  The gala Sunday night garden party ended with and an audience participation scream-a-long of “Mariner’s Revenge” involving an accordion, a giant whale, a puppet, and the band’s drummer front, center, and on his knees.  We caught up with Colin Meloy before their performance at Hard Rock Live to hopefully give our readers a little more insight into the doomed majesty that is The Decemberists.

REAX:  Since 2001, The Decemberists have been redefining the boundaries of traditional progressive rock by using songs to paint vivid pictures of unique characters and extraordinary circumstances.  The heavy folk influences seem to play nicely here.  Can you tell me a little about where this approach to song writing came from? And, who are some of your early influences?
Colin Meloy:  I guess my approach to songwriting came from the bands and music I was listening to at an early age.  Bands like REM, Robin Hitchcock, Bruce Smith, … later stuff like the Pogues and some old folk stuff.

REAX:  The past year has seen an explosion in the popularity of your band and the success of “The Crane Wife” has been matched by critical acclaim.  In your opinion, what has lead to this climb towards the top of the indie rock world?
CM:  I think we do what we do and for whatever reason people have caught on to it and we’re very appreciative of that.  The last time we played in Tampa (New World Brewery) there were about ten people there.  I remember that the sound guy for that show was also running sound for a club down the street.

REAX:  Chris Funk was recently asked in an interview how he felt about Starbucks selling the new album.  What is your take on it and how does that kind of exposure feel?
CM:  I think I’m fine with it.  Sure, Starbucks is a corporation, but so are Best Buy and Virgin Megastore.  It’s a really good thing that Starbucks does that because they don’t necessarily focus on a lot of mainstream bands, they support indie bands too.  They’ll buy a huge chunk of records and sell them, so it’s not like they sell what they can and return the rest.  It’s a huge deal for smaller bands.

REAX:  What was it like working with Chris Walla of Death Cab For Cutie on production for “The Crane Wife” album?
CM:  He’s great!  We started working with him in 2004 on the EP called, The Tain.  He always felt like creative kin in a way and had a connection early on.  He has a lot of energy and a lot of very interesting ideas and I trust his opinion.

REAX:  Can you tell our readers a little about your relationship with Comedy Central’s Steven Colbert, and what went into the guitar solo competition that took place on his show?
CM:  I’ve always been a fan of his, but it wasn’t until we announced the green screen competition in the fall.  We had just played David Letterman and Chris was flying back to Portland on a Jet Blue flight.  He was watching Comedy Central and the episode where Colbert called us out.  We had no idea that it was coming… it was completely unscripted.  We saw it, so we thought we immediately had to respond in some way.  The only way we thought justice could be served was if we challenged him to a guitar dual.

REAX:  The past couple of years have seen resurgence in folk-inspired indie rock bands with The Decemberists at the front of the pack.  In your opinion, what has led to this fascinating turn of events?
CM:  I think that there is a wealth of really fantastic material from the 50’s and 60’s… a lot of the American and British folk-revival stuff.  I think people have been going back and rediscovering that era and applying it to their songwriting.  And, there happens to be an audience for it, it’s the audience that is making it happen.

REAX:  What type of advice can you offer to our readers who have just recently begun to discover their love for playing music?
CM:  I would say... don’t necessarily try to tailor what you do to what you think people want to hear.  More than likely, if you’re doing it because it feels right and it’s your voice, then it will be exciting to people.