Modest Mouse frontman and songwriter Isaac Brock describes his band's sixth album, We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank, as a "nautical balalaika carnival romp." Setting aside references to the obscure Russian three-stringed instrument, the band's sixth studio album is yet another success — pirates, clowns and all. Hear Modest Mouse recorded in concert from Philadelphia's Electric Factory, a co-production with WXPN, on May 3.
The latest incarnation of Modest Mouse includes vocalist/guitarist Isaac Brock, bassist Eric Judy and drummer Jeremiah Green, all original band members. Former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr joined the band in 2006 to record and to co-write the new album and has now become a full-fledged member.
The Issaquah, Wash. group formed in 1993 rehearsing in a makeshift practice space affectionately named "The Shed." Calvin Johnson, owner of K Records and former Beat Happening frontman, recorded the band's first single that attracted the attention of Up Records (home to another indie-rock stalwart, Built to Spill). It would be their sophomore record, the raucous and wildly eclectic Lonesome Crowded West, that established Modest Mouse as an unreckonable force.
Modest Mouse's career trajectory has only gone upward since then. Freshly signed to a major label, Epic Records released the critically praised The Moon & Antarctica in 2000, a darker, more subdued affair than the band's angular-sounding past. Then in 2004, the band scored two hits with "Float On" and "Ocean Breathes Salty" from Good News for People Who Love Bad News. "Float On" was so popular that it was transformed into a Kidz Bop phenomenon.
On its debut, We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank hit No. 1 on the Billboard charts besting pop-soul singer Joss Stone and a former American Idol contestant. Considering the band's scraggly, angry beginnings on college radio, they've certainly come a long way.
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