Modest Mouse performed the second stop of their short North American tour at the Coachella festival.

Marking it's second appearance in concert, was new track Be Brave and thanks to an earlier campaign to get the festival organizers to stream the festival, a higher quality version of the track has been recorded by Twitter user mylasdiralen. Catch the recording over on their website.

Source: Here's to Now: I recorded the new Modest Mouse song "Be Brave"...

While it originally looked like Modest Mouse set was not going to be included in the list of acts Coachella would be streaming tonight, an 11th hour campaign organized by board member jplan74 seems to have changed the festival organizers minds.

Modest Mouse's set tonight will be streamed, just not live. The band's set will be shown on Channel 2 of the Coachella YouTube stream at 9pm Pacific Time tonight.

Thanks to all that helped out.

Source: coachella - YouTube

Modest Mouse performed their first show for 2013 in Oakland, California two nights ago. In case you missed the set list when we posted it that night, it was reported that two new songs were performed.

The titles for these two tracks have now been confirmed as Be Brave and Shit In Your Cut. Rough video of both songs has also made it's way onto YouTube and posted below. Interestingly, no other "new" material from the past two years was performed.

Eric Judy has still not surfaced, and despite not having any conflicting dates with The Shins, Joe Plummer also did not perform. Both positions, to our knowledge are still being filled in by Russell Higbee (formally of Man Man) and Modest Mouse drum tech Davey Brozowsky. Lisa Molinaro from Talkdemonic also played violin on some songs, as she has in the past year.

Tonight the band plays the main stage at Coachella. And while it was originally reported that the set might be streamed, it seems like Modest Mouse's set is one of the few that will not be. Should that change, I'm sure it will be updated here.

Be Brave

Shit In Your Cut

Thanks to TinyLaugh and McWeird007 for the set list updates and the names of the new songs.

Source: www.interstate-8.com • View topic - names of the new songs played last night...

Although not yet officially announced, a string of UK dates has been popping up on websites this morning, with a few of the dates being confirmed by the venues.

It seems highly promising that in between all the European Festival madness coming our way this Spring, Modest Mouse has managed to close a lot of the gaps with eight non-festival dates scattered around the island. This is on top of the single Scottish Festival that has already been announced last month.

This will be the band's first time back in the United Kingdom in almost three years. Tickets should be on sale shortly.

Thanks to Joseph T and Scott M for bringing this to our attention after the announcement of the London show this morning.

Source: Monday 18th March Onsales | GetToTheFront

Following on from last months news that Modest Mouse would be performing at Coachella, and the few European festival dates that started appearing on and off, the band's website today has been updated with a batch of club gigs between in the two Coachella dates in California and Arizona.

Also check out an updated list of Summer European festival dates that include new performances in Germany and Scotland.

Refer to the band's website for when tickets go on sale.

UPDATE: The Pomona date seems to have been removed from Modest Mouse's site. We'll keep an eye on it to see if it was a mistake. The Pomona date is back up on their website, but the ticket link now seems invalid.

Source: MODEST MOUSE || OFFICIAL WEBSITE » TOURS

Right on the heels of the Coachella announcement last week, Modest Mouse has been added to the Best Kept Secret Festival happening in Hilvarenbeek in the Netherlands this coming June 23.

Tickets seem to have already been on sale for a bit, but Modest Mouse was only announced this morning, along with a few other bands. They're going to be playing on the Sunday, the last night of the festival, with headliners Portishead and Sigur Rós.

Hopefully this is an indication that the band is gearing up to perform the Spring festival circuit over the months between these two festivals.

UPDATE: No sooner than we'd posted this information, it was brought to our attention that Modest Mouse's own website has silently also listed a June 28 date for the Azkena Rock Festival in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain, a few days after the Dutch festival.

Early bird tickets are on sale until tomorrow, after that it seems you'll need to look on the Spanish division of Ticketmaster.

Source: Best Kept Secret Festival

The Coachella lineup was announced last night, and Modest Mouse is set to perform on the Friday for both weekends of the festival. That's April 12 and 19. They will be performing alongside Blur, The Stone Roses, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and more. This marks the band's first time ever performing at this festival.

Another interesting side note, is that Johnny Marr will also be performing on the same days, which could see him join the band on stage again. However they were in the same position in England a few years ago, where Marr was performing at the same festival with The Cribs and nothing came of it.

Either way, it's good to have some live dates on the horizon, maybe leading up to a more structured tour, or perhaps the hint that Modest Mouse will be doing the festival circuit this Spring/Summer. The band has not performed together since July last year.

Tickets go on sale this Tuesday. Watch the trailer for the festival below.

UPDATE: It's actually been pointed out that they made their debut at Coachella in 1999. Embarrassing for us! Thanks Kurt for pointing this out.

Source: Coachella

Pitchfork has posted an interview with Outkast's Big Boi, during which the question came up as to what had happened to the work he did with Modest Mouse back in 2011.

Pitchfork: What made you want to work with bands like Little Dragon and Phantogram?
BB: I had just finished working with Modest Mouse for their project, and after that I was like, "Man, I need to start doing this for my own shit." Just bringing people in. So we did. We would live day-in and day-out with people, go bowling, go out to eat, and then come back and record, watch a movie, record. It was like funk summer camp.

Pitchfork: What's happening with the stuff you did with Modest Mouse?
BB: It's for their record; it's coming. We actually took a trip back out there to go see them a couple months ago. I did maybe three records with them. Isaac [Brock] is cool, man, like cowboy cool. He showed me how to make a bong out of an apple and shit. For real.

Not much to go on, but it is interesting to hear that he has been in touch with them recently and that it does sound like the material will be put to use and not abandoned.

Also in the interest of keeping some conversation going (in these dry news times), Big Boi does have a new album coming out next month, of which it doesn't sound like the track-listing or collaborating artists has been confirmed. Seeing how he has been working with other bands, it will be interesting to keep an eye on it, and see if any member from Modest Mouse makes an appearance on it. Pure thinking out loud this last part.

Source: Update: Big Boi | Features | Pitchfork

Mouse Mouse may be performing at the UR1 Music Festival in December.

While the festival has not yet announced their lineup, Logan H has passed on an article to us, that leaks the supposed lineup.

If the lineup turns out to be true, the band will be down in Miami, FL on December 8 and 9. As with all festivals, at this point, we don't know which day they'll be performing on, or if there's the chance they'll be performing on both.

We'll continue to keep on eye on it, but seeing as how the UR1 Music Festival posted on their Facebook page yesterday, claiming the Kanye West part of the lineup is true, there's a good chance the lineup could turn out to be true. The festival's website doesn't make any mention of when they actually plan to announce the lineup.

Source: Art Basel: UR1 Festival Announces Initial Lineup

Here's Luke's third and final review. He's been following the band on a string of east coast dates, but Pittsburgh has been the last one.

Once again he was able to speak to Isaac and managed to get a few snippets of info, mainly it sounds that the band is planning on lining up a few more festival dates later this year and some shows in Canada.

Modest Mouse played the third show of it's tour in Pittsburgh to another sold out crowd.

Taking the stage at 9:00 PM, they opened with Gravity Rides everything.

Donning his banjo, Bury Me With It was played, much to the excitement of the crowd.

Lampshades on Fire was played, with some in the crowd actually booing, giving the band the middle finger, and screaming "fuck the new shit." Others were grooving to the song and enjoying the "new shit." Isaac once again added a bit of a jam to the bridge.

Next, The View was played, with an awesome extended jam towards the end that I have yet to hear during this song.

Broke followed, garnering the loudest crowd response. Nearly everyone was singing along with Isaac, swaying as one.

Isaac picked up his banjo again, starting with a banjo riff while singing "I used to be an old time nothing," among other lyrics. The band then opened into Satin In a Coffin, with lots of the crowd starting to mosh and a few members crowd-surfing.

Continuing with the banjo, King Rat was played, once again with a small, but boisterous few expressing their displeasure.

Bassist Russell Higbee started into Dramamine, with the rest of the band following. The extended version was played, with Isaac borrowing lyrics from Life Like Weeds. Isaac eventually started screaming into his pickups, with the crowd going bonkers.

Dashboard followed, with, once again, many in the crowd unhappy.

Ansel followed, with what was the sloppiest version I have heard thus far. It appeared that Russell perhaps skipped a verse on the pump organ, leaving the rest of the band fumbling to catch up. Isaac appeared a little angry, but they eventually sorted it out and continued with the song.

Missed The Boat came next, with most of the crowd singing along again.

Shit Luck was next, with large amounts of head banging and moshing from nearly everyone in the crowd.

Education followed, with a truly awesome jam at the end, which appeared to fall on deaf ears. Isaac took a few power chords and turned them into a dancey, raucous outro.

Next was Custom Concern, followed by Black Cadillacs. The band then took off their instruments, and with not much of a crowd response, explained that "that's it."

After an encore break, they returned with Poison The Well, which had yet to be played this tour. The bridge seemed to be extended, with a heavy guitar riff that sounded like it could be straight off of Lonesome Crowded West.

Fire It Up came next, with a large amount of the crowd singing along.

What followed was hands down, the coolest moment of the three shows I attended. Tiny Cities Made of Ashes was played, with Modest Mouse showcasing what they are all about. The band truly sounded in sync, allowing Isaac to go off on his guitar, leading a brutal onslaught of magnificence. Tom Peloso was on the upright bass, which I am a sucker for. It truly was a culmination of all that the band is: music that makes you want to dance while simultaneously breaking everything in sight. Isaac moved about the stage, literally hitting his guitar with closed fists in a truly awesome rendition. Afterwards, Isaac joked with the crowd, explaining one could make millions of dollars off of a "non-sexual, sexual lubricant" that would eliminate the holes in his hand from playing guitar so violently.

Dance Hall was next, with much of the crowd dancing along and chanting with Isaac.

Ending the night was Bob Dylan's You Ain't Goin' Nowhere, with members of the crowd booing once again.

Overall, this was a solid show. It appeared that the band was more in sync, which led to some awesome improvisation. The crowd was pretty young, and there were some truly annoying people that got in the way of the music. The fact that people were booing new songs is just ridiculous: don't come to a show if you don't want to hear new music, especially from a band that is in the process of creating a new album. A fight broke out about five feet from me because some drunk guy apparently groped some buzz-cut dick-head's girlfriend, leading to a solid 10 minute altercation that was completely unnecessary. When I was leaving the show, some guy was complaining to me how they played Shit Luck with a "bunch of 22 year olds that don't deserve to play with Isaac." I explained that Tom Peloso and Jeremiah Green were both present, who have been playing with the band for quite some time. It was also a bit disappointing to hear songs that had been played the previous two nights, with only Poison the Well being an unplayed song.

Prior to the show, I was able to talk to Isaac for a few minutes, who agreed to answer a few questions for me. I asked him how it was working with Big Boi, and he explained "it was fun, we basically smoked a lotta weed with him in the studio. He wasn't too involved, we were just testing the waters." I asked if other than Firefly, there were any other shows he could share and he mentioned "something in Toronto, or maybe Montreal." He was with Davey Brozowsky, the drummer filling in, who said "I thought we weren't doing that anymore though." At this point Isaac was moving into the gated off area, so I asked when we could be expecting a new album. He explained "when we finish it," then grinned. "Nah, we are working on it though." He moved into the gated area, wishing me a good day. So, it would appear the time spent with Big Boi was more of a time used getting inspired, and no news of a album release date.

This marks the end of my travels with the band, but shows at Orion Fest in Atlantic City, Governors Ball in New York City, and a final date in Columbus Ohio are still yet to be played, along with Firefly Festival in Delaware, later this summer.

Thanks to Luke for taking the time to write up these posts and for doing his best to speak to members of the band to get some new info.

Source: Moon of the Milky Way

Continuing on from yesterday, here's Luke's review of the second show in DC.

Modest Mouse finished it's two night stand at The 930 Club in Washington DC tonight for another sold out crowd.

The band took the stage at 9:50, with frontman Isaac Brock wearing extremely short purple shorts with rainbow sidings. Short shorts in full effect, 5'6 Isaac tore into The Whale Song resembling a playground bully; thrashing and stomping as he struck blows with his guitar.

Moving into I Came As a Rat, Brock continued his assault, playing 3rd Planet with nearly the entire crowd singing along, specifically "I got this thing that I consider my only of heart of FUCKING PEOPLE OVER!"

Dashboard was played next, sounding a bit light on Tom's horn.

Isaac grabbed his Banjo, literally beating the living shit out of us with King Rat. His shouts of "WELL!" were echoed throughout the crowd, with Tom's horn finally coming through, meshing perfectly with Isaac's mumbling.

Rarely played Heart Cooks Brain followed, with Isaac using a music stand to read the lyrics. He joked with the crowd about how he'd learnt the song in a manner that ensured he would forget it every time he tried to play it.

Although a bit mellower (is that even possible?) than the night before, Tiny Cities Made of Ashes brought about shuffling from most and full on dancing from others, including myself.

A tighter, more in sync Ansel was played, with most fans bobbing along and seemingly enjoying it.

Just when I was getting my bearings straight from the ass kicking delivered by King Rat, Isaac shouted "I got one, two, three, four, five, six six six," throwing himself into an extremely jammed out version of Breakthrough. Screaming into his pickups, Isaac made it known: He will beat you up and take your wallet, then make you cry in front of your girlfriend.

Taking a turn for the slower, Bob Dylan's You Ain't Goin' Nowhere was covered again, with a bit of jamming towards the end.

Not wanting to stay slow for too long, Parting of the Sensory built to a deafening crescendo, with a violent mosh pit erupting as Isaac chanted about our eventual return to mere carbon.

Good News For People Who Love Bad News was showcased next, with Black Cadillacs, World at Large, and The View being played, respectively. The View was hands down my favorite performance of the night, with Isaac's lyrical excellence in full view: As life gets longer, awful feels softer/ Well it feels pretty soft to me/ And if it takes shit to make bliss, then I feel pretty blissfully.

An encore break was taken, with Isaac returning to take a seat at the drum set, with the stage hands on guitar. The rest of the band eventually returning to play Custom Concern.

Recently debuted Lampshades on Fire was next, with a few members of the crowd singing along. The bridge, heard 1 minute into the Sasquatch recording, seemed to have been extended with Isaac jamming a bit.

Just to ensure we wouldn't be getting up anytime soon, Shit Luck exploded into a barrage of beat downs, once again leaving the crowd moshing and flailing.

Missed the Boat followed with most of the crowd once again backing Brock on vocals.

Closing out the night was Trailer Trash, with an awesome ending jam. Tom Peloso took the bass on this one, handling what I consider one of the greatest bass lines ever conceived, impeccably. Isaac added some lyrics from Perpetual Motion Machine throughout the jam, ending the show on a high note.

Overall, this was an awesome show. Isaac and company sounded a bit tighter and cohesive tonight, eliminating the little mistakes of last night. Tomorrow brings round three with the band... onto Pittsburgh.

UPDATE: Here's Heart Cooks Brain, finally caught on camera courtesy of Tiki, from that show.

Source: Moon of the Milky Way

Pitchfork.tv has, as promised, uploaded their full film looking back at Modest Mouse's 1997 album The Lonesome Crowded West.

The 45 minute film, spends a brief time detailing the bands earlier years before the release of their second album, and then spends the rest focusing on some core songs off the album. Along with stories from the band members themselves, there are also tales from Dann Gallucci, Calvin Johnson, Phil Ek and Pat Graham.

Most of the footage is taken from the original "Untitled" documentary, interspersed with a lot of Pat's photography.

It's a nice walk down memory lane, looking back at an album that is now 15 years old. Hearing tales about songs, and their live and recording history.

Watch the full film below.

Source: Modest Mouse - The Lonesome Crowded West: Entire Film | Pitchfork Classic | Pitchfork.tv

As was mentioned back in March, Pitchfork has been working on a documentary on Modest Mouse's 1997 album, The Lonesome Crowded West.

They've just put up a short trailer for it, along with the message that it will be debuting on June 18th. Catch the trailer below.

Source: Modest Mouse: The Lonesome Crowded West Teaser | Pitchfork Classic | Pitchfork.tv

Modest Mouse's website has been updated with four new dates dotted around their existing festival dates this coming summer. New shows in Washington, Pittsburgh and Columbus bring the total number of dates to seven.

Most tickets go on sale on April 26. Check out Modest Mouse's tour page for more details. Thanks to Darwin and Luke for sending this in.

Source: MODEST MOUSE || OFFICIAL WEBSITE » TOURS

Another single date seems to have popped up, all by its lonesome in May. The band will be headlining what appears to be a mini-festival of sorts on Stanford University's campus in Palo Alto, CA on May 19.

Tickets on sale April 23rd at tickets.stanford.edu, available online, in the Stanford Ticket Office, and in White Plaza. Student tickets are only $20; save on each ticket with a Stanford student group order of 10 or more. SUIDs required.

The show seems to be set for 3pm and Modest Mouse will be preceded by Benjamin Francis Leftwich and Eyes Lips Eyes.

Click here to see the Frost Revival Official Facebook Event.

Source: Stanford Concert Network | SCN New

If anyone was paying attention, you will remember that five years ago today, Modest Mouse released their last album We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank.

Without trying to sound like an ungrateful fan stamping his feet and asking where that new album is (which seems to the common occurrence every time Modest Mouse makes a post on Facebook), we would like to point out that this is the longest gap so far between albums. If you don't take No One's First, And You're Next, as it's an EP and featured mostly old material.

With We Were Dead reaching this milestone, we thought we'd take this moment to recap and speculate on some of the recent activities of the band and its members, in the hopes of stirring up some discussion or perhaps someone filling us in on some news we're not aware of:

• The band as a whole: After performing a mammoth 119 known shows in 2007, the performances cut to about a half of that for 2008, 2009 and 2010, before performing only 15 shows last year. This year doesn't seem to be off to anything different, with the only dates having past and set for the future being festivals.
  
  One could be optimistic and see this as them spending more time in the studio working, or maybe they're just taking a break. I'm all for not rushing things. However with so little new material having been debuted live, I would think it's closer to the latter.
  
  While the band has been notoriously shy from giving interviews in the past few years, when they have strangely there has been mention of a new album being practically finished, only to have the same story repeated a year later. A lot has happened since, Johnny Marr did leave the band, and who knows how that may have affected any of the material that he may have contributed to.
  
  Even the sessions with Big Boi occurred almost one year ago, although it seems to have been made out that that was more of an experiment than anything.
  
  So far the only new material floating around are the songs that have been performed live. The two that have had the most oration being Lampshades On Fire and Poison The Well. Another potential song is the untitled track performed at The Warfield, unofficially titled "Mexico". Lastly there is the untitled track that made an appearance at the end of the Don't Move Here episode.
  
  
• Isaac Brock: Recently, apart from playing the few last minute surprise solo shows, the only other project Isaac potentially has on the go is the writing of the Queens Of Country soundtrack. Which was also announced about a year ago, and has since not been mentioned again. The film is finally due out at the end of this month, and while Isaac is still mentioned as the composer on IMDB, the lack of updates around this make me think he's no longer involved. We attempted to contact the producers of the film, but did not receive a reply. Hopefully with the release just around the corner, we should get some closure to this soon.
  
  
• Jeremiah Green: The once side project busy Jeremiah, has also been quiet of late. At least perhaps quiet to news sources. After multiple World Gang releases early last year, this work seems to have slowed down since releasing that live album last June.
  
  
• Eric Judy: Eric hasn't performed with the band live since 2011/07/02. Not that the band has performed that much since then. Rumours are rife that he has left the band. Personally I don't believe it, Eric does have young children, and could be taking a break from touring. We have tried to contact the band and certain members about his status, but haven't heard anything.
  
  
• Jim Fairchild: Jim will be returning to perform some dates with the reunited Grandaddy. A question to maybe ask is, depending on the outcome there, will he perhaps not return should they decide to take things further?
  
  
• Tom Peloso: To our knowledge, nothing news worthy has been happening with Tom lately (sorry Tom).
  
  
• Joe Plummer: A lot of updates lately have been revolving around Joe, now that he is with The Shins. They have a new album out as of today (coincidence?), and he will be touring full time with them. As with Jim, a question to ask, is does this mean Joe is perhaps done with his time in Modest Mouse, or when his work with The Shins calms down, will he be returning?
  
  
• Pat Graham: Lastly, Pat Graham is still awesome, and we miss him and his updates on the band.
  
  

Modest Mouse's set tonight at Festival 72810 in Mexico might be streamed live, thanks to a link discovered by board member goinunion.

The band will be taking the stage at 12:05 am CST. We have contact the festival and hope to get confirmation on the stream and will update you if we hear anything back. The festival has already started though, and the stream is not yet active.

UPDATE: So it doesn't look like this is happening. We should have a set list by tomorrow I hope.

Source: Festival72810 - live streaming video powered by Livestream

Today's two stories are brought to us courtesy of Pitchfork Media.

The first is a brief posting in their new feature Inbox, where Pitchfork's writers and editors field reader emails.

Nik Kapetanakis writes in under the subject "Desperately Seeking Modest Mouse", asking if it would be possible to do an in-depth interview with Modest Mouse. Pitchfork writes back with a semi cryptic response, that if you like the band, and you liked the documentary Pitchfork.tv did for the Flaming Lips' album The Soft Bulletin, that something related may be appearing in the near future. This leads to the possibility that Pitchfork.tv may be doing a piece focusing on a Modest Mouse album.

It would be super awesome if you guys did an in-depth video interview with Modest Mouse-- I am a huge fan, so pardon my maybe-far-fetched suggestion. --Nik Kapetanakis

We don't want to give too much away just yet, but if you like Modest Mouse and you liked our recent Pitchfork.tv documentary on the Flaming Lips' The Soft Bulletin, you'll probably be into another video piece we've got on the way...

The second article, mentions that Jim Fairchild's former band, Grandaddy, are reuniting for some shows this year. The only one set in stone at the moment is on September 2 at Dorset, England's End of the Road Festival.

While this is more than likely a temporary arrangement, it could potentially overlap with any future Modest Mouse tour dates, if any are planned for later in the year. Not that that would probably affect anything, as Modest Mouse is pretty good with swapping out members temporarily. Jim has also stated in the past, that he doesn't seem to be too involved in the recording process, if the band happens to be recording at the time... who knows, all speculation really.

Source: Grandaddy Reunite for Shows | News | Pitchfork

The Governors Ball Music Festival announced their lineup this morning, and the hints they'd been dropping turned out to be true. Modest Mouse will be one of the acts performing on June 24, opening for Beck.

Other acts that day apart from Beck, include: Explosions In The Sky, Cults, and Built To Spill.

Because this festival has the band locked for the Sunday, this means that Modest Mouse will most likely be only performing on Saturday June 23 at the Orion Music + More festival in Atlantic City.

Tickets for this event go on sale tomorrow, February 22, through the festival's website. Watch a video of the announcement below.

Source: The Governors Ball Music Festival | Gov Ball | June 23rd & 24th, 2012 | Randall's Island, NYC

The Governors Ball Music Festival is taking place on June 23 and 24 at Randall's Island in New York, NY. This is the same weekend that Modest Mouse is confirmed to be performing at Metallica's Orion Music + More festival in nearby Atlantic City.

The Governors Ball will be announcing its full lineup on February 21. Until then, they have started dropping hints on their Facebook page. Including one today of a cartoon mouse being modest, making it look very likely that Modest Mouse will be performing at that festival as well.

Tickets have yet to go on sale, and remember that if they do before the 21st, this is not confirmed. Keep an eye on The Governors Ball Music Festival's website for more info.

If this turns out to be true, it definitely looks like Modest Mouse will only be performing on one day at the Orion Music + More festival. So be careful when buying tickets there, if you weren't planning on going for the whole weekend.

Thanks go to Miike S for bringing this to our attention.

Source: The Governors Ball Music Festival

The inaugural Orion Music + More festival will be held on June 23 & 24 at Bader Field, a Municipal Airport just outside Atlantic City, NJ.

Metallica will be headlining both nights of the festival, during which they will be performing their Black album in its entirety on one of the nights.

They will also be curating the event, having selected 22+ of their favourite artists to join them, Modest Mouse being one of the confirmed acts so far. Other bands announced include the Arctic Monkeys, Avenged Sevenfold, Fucked Up and Best Coast.

Little info otherwise is known as of now. We're not sure yet if Modest Mouse will be performing on both nights, and if not, then which night they will be performing on.

Presale tickets for Met Club fan club members go on sale Wednesday (February 8) at 10:00 am ET until Friday (February 10) at 10:00 pm ET. General admission tickets for the two-day festival will be priced at $125 and Ultra Passes will be priced at $225. Public tickets go on sale Saturday (February 11) at 10:00 am ET on the festival's official site. Early bird tickets will be priced at $150 and advance tickets will be priced at $175. VIP passes and travel packages will be announced Saturday.

We will update as we hear more.

Source: Orion Music + More | June 23 & 24 | Atlantic City, NJ

We're a little behind on this live date that was quietly added to Modest Mouse's website about a week ago.

The band will be heading to Mexico in March to perform at Festival 72810. A festival being held in the shadows of the Great Pyramid of Cholula in San Andrés Cholula on March 10.

They will be joined by acts like Public Enemy, Bauhaus's Peter Murphy, Blonde Redhead and more. Tickets are already on sale through the festival's website.

Source: Modest Mouse (Issaquah, Washington, EUA) ‹ Festival 72810

Modest Mouse are in the running again to win a Grammy award.

Rapper Lupe Fiasco sampled Modest Mouse's Float On on his single The Show Goes On, that was released back in 2010. The song was later featured on his album Lasers that was released in early 2011.

Fiasco has now been nominated for three awards at this year's Grammys: Best Rap Performance, Best Rap Song and Best Rap Album. Should he win the award for Best Rap Song, he will share the Grammy with Isaac Brock, Eric Judy and Dann Gallucci seeing as how they are the original songwriters.

Modest Mouse was last nominated for a Grammy in 2005, when they were up for Best Rock Song and Best Alternative Music Album for Float On and Good News For People Who Love Bad News. They lost to U2 and Wilco.

Not the best way for Modest Mouse to win their first Grammy, but with these awards having become a bit of a joke in the past decade, I'm not sure anyone cares. But thanks to all the people that have been sending this tip in.

Source: Nominees And Winners | GRAMMY.COM

Modest Mouse will be performing at the opening night of Macworld at a concert entitled Macworld | iWorld Opening Night BLAST. The show will be taking place at The Warfield in San Francisco on January 25, 2012. Tickets are available now it seems through some kind of registration process, for what I believe is $35 (but this may be on top of the ticket price for the Macworld expo being held at Moscone Center). Also it sounds like there is a special deal on at the moment, and the price will be going up tomorrow.

The Macworld | iWorld is being held January 26 - 28, 2012 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco and is the ultimate fan event for those who use, create, and love Apple products.

Source: Macworld | iWorld BLAST | Macworld | iWorld

Modest Mouse was meant to take the stage today at the SWU Music and Arts Festival in Brazil. Unfortunately the festival organizers have informed us, that due to a "logistical" problem, the band will be unable to do so.

Galera: lamentamos informar que, em nota oficial enviada por sua produção, a banda Modest Mouse anuncia o cancelamento do show por problemas de logística.

From what we've heard earlier, it is believed the band's equipment has been misplaced during their flight to Brazil. This would have marked Modest Mouse's first performance in that country.

UPDATE: Isaac talks about the show's cancellation in this video.

Source: SWU Começa com você | Conscientização pela sustentabilidade

How did the Modest Mouse sessions with Big Boi go?

I didn't go out to those sessions. They were trying out some songs with Big Boi. I'm not really sure what's going to come of that. I think Isaac's still in the process of deciding who he wants to record the record with.

So it's going to be primarily a Modest Mouse record, as opposed to some kind of collaboration?

Yeah, they were recording Modest Mouse songs out there. But I don't think Isaac knows what he wants to do with the new record yet so it's very early stages.

Source: ROCKSUCKER: Interview: Jim Fairchild (Grandaddy, Modest Mouse, All Smiles)

Long time Modest Mouse photographer, Pat Graham, has just released a new book entitled Instrument.

The link between musician and instrument is emotional, physical-and sometime volatile.

INSTRUMENT is a photography book that represents an intensely personal exposure by some of the world's most important and dedicated musicians. Instrument features beautifully photographed iconic instruments with thoughts, stories, and captions about them from the owners/musicians.

The book comprises over 10 years worth of Pat's work with numerous artists such as Modest Mouse, The Smiths, Sonic Youth, The Flaming Lips, R.E.M., New Order, Wire, Fugazi, Built to Spill, Band of Horses, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and more. It also features a forward has been written by former Modest Mouse guitarist, Johnny Marr.

The iconic sleigh bells that can be heard The Beach Boys Good Vibrations and Phil Spector's wall of sound, The moog that created New Order's Blue Monday, The organ that gave the Special's hit Ghost town, The bass from The Pixies, The guitar played by Ian Curtis on Love Will Tear us Apart, Joy Division. Johnny Marr's Gibson that was played in the height of the Smiths. Etc Etc... All these and many more photographed by Pat Graham with captions from the musicians.

The book has just been released in the UK, but has unfortunately been pushed back in North America to late September / early October. It can be ordered through Amazon or Chronicle Books.

Source: Instrument

It has only been performed once to our knowledge, used to close out one of the first known Modest Mouse show's back in 1995. Today, Wrong Decision, finally gets an official title: Dead End Job At The Dead Letter Office.

The track will be appearing on a compilation that we reported on earlier entitled Live From Nowhere Near You : Volume 2, being released on July 19 through Greyday Records.

As for a little history on the track, Kevin Moyer was able to share the following:

Isaac and I share a distant friendship. He is very smart, crazy, fun, hilarious, and can tell a story like no other. I think the fact that our group of friends don't overlap too much means we can often have confiding conversations with no outside concern. I can also tell that we both understand the darkness. When we first talked about the effort and him contributing, he wanted to do a cover song and for the life of me I cannot remember what it was, just that I wanted to record him doing it under a bridge or in a park near his house at night. But he got busy with doing the album "No One Is First and You're Next", so we started looking at old tracks already in the can to include instead.

Around that time I came upon some old tapes of Isaac as a 14 year old young kid playing music with friends in a shed using an old answering machine to record, and spent a considerable amount of time trying to clean those up, but Isaac did not want to use those as he felt it was "strip mining his past" and I had to agree. And just FYI on those tapes - Uncle Bunny Faces and Tube Fruit - he was just a teenager, only fourteen on some them, and he dumpster dived every tape that these were recorded onto from the MUZAK dumpsters in Seattle. Isaac tells me that these were never intended as demos, the term "demo" implies that you made the recordings to get people to become interested for a REAL record - and these were the REAL records. Isaac only gave them to close friends at the time and I can tell that he has a hard time hearing that these were for ever put up for sale by anyone. Again, with the strip mining his past.

Anyways, we decided to figure something else out and our schedules were having trouble aligning. Finally, one stormy night I was supposed to meet Isaac and his girlfriend at his house, but he wasn't there so I sat and waited on the porch for a few watching the trees bend in the storm. When the rain seemed to settle a bit I got in my car and left, only to get a text message from him on my way home saying to come back. I vividly remember the rain smearing down the windshield and the blurring green and reds of the traffic lights in the night as I turned the car around and almost got T boned by a semi truck running a red light doing about 60MPH. Finally though, I was back at Isaacs in the warmth of his house, sitting around a table drinking wine and listening to music.

The track that we finally chose is called "Dead End Job At The Dead Letter Office" and was recorded back in 1993 at Pat Maley's Yoyo Studios in Olympia, WA. This track is almost as old as the band and there is no recollection as to what this was recorded for particularly, other than just for the sake of recording music. The song features Isaac Brock on vocals and guitar, Dann Gallucci on guitar, and Jeremiah Green on drums. At the time, Isaac was sleeping in the hallway of a house with about 13 other people living in it; as was Dan, who was living in someone's closet.

By the way, Isaac was one of the first people to offer to release the "Live From Nowhere Near You" album. He had been doing A&R for sub pop and later started his own label called Glacial Pace. As far as I was concerned, with that kind gesture from him, he always had first dibs on releasing the project. But, remember, this effort took eight years to finish and he was busy with his own stuff and it kinda got to the point where I didn't want Isaac to think that the only reason I was talking with him was because I wanted something from him, so I kind of let that go. But it was always his, and the appreciation will always be there because it came at a point where I really needed someone to believe in the project and me... so it's not a stretch to say that he still had a very big part in the music on this release finally making it out of my studio and into the public ear.

Kevin was unfortunatly not able to disclose any more about which tracks were considered for the compilation, but for the most part it seems that the majority of what was, already exists in the fan community now (albeit sadly with made-up fan titles). As was with Every Mom I Know Seems To Think Its 'bout Them But It Ain't and the Babble On compilation that came to light earlier this year, this adds a few more details to the band's early history that is sadly so poorly documented.

Hear a new higher quality version of Dead End Job At The Dead Letter Office over at Antiquiet. Live From Nowhere Near You is available now for pre-order from Greyday Records (Canadians should have no problems now with shipping costs, as the postal strike is over).

Source: Exclusive: Unreleased Song From Isaac Brock Of Modest Mouse @ Antiquiet

We have been told that an old 1996 era Modest Mouse track will be featured on an upcoming three disc compilation entitled "Live From Nowhere Near You Vol II" coming out July 19.

The compilation has been compiled by Kevin Moyer and consists of collaborating street musicians, friends and professional musicians. The majority of the music recorded in his attic and basement studios, donated spaces, live on the street, and in alleyways or under bridges. With the purpose of the album being to tell the story of life on the streets and the roads leading to and from there.

All profits from this release will be donated to Outside In, a non-profit organization in Portland, OR focused on providing aid and counseling to homeless youth.

Kevin has managed to assemble an impressive array of artists to support this cause, alongside Modest Mouse, the likes of Pearl Jam, James Mercer, Elliot Smith, The Strokes, Corin Tucker, Bright Eyes, and many more.

To keep the media interested, they will be releasing the track list bit by bit over the next few weeks. Right now, all we know about the Modest Mouse track is that it is circa 1996 and that while it is not unknown, it is unreleased. It is speculated that the track could be something off Uncle Bunny Faces', as there was talk back in 2009/2010 of a track being wanted for a compilation album. Keep an eye on their Facebook page, where they will be releasing more details in the coming days, and of course we will keep you updated with any information as we receive it.

Right now, the album is available for pre-order through Greyday Records' website for $15. Canadians (and maybe others) please note, there seems to be a problem with the shipping options, as only express options are available. We're informed they will be looked into, so maybe hold off until then.

Source: Live From Nowhere Near You Vol II 3xCD + MP3 PRE-ORDER Live From Nowhere Near You Vol II [GDP-050]

Two new tracks have surfaced at Modest Mouse's recent live shows in Boise, Missoula and Spokane. The first track is titled "Lampshades On Fire", according to a set that was posted on Modest Mouse's Facebook page earlier. The second Isaac referred to as being titled "Poison".

Modest Mouse's set tonight at Sasquatch will also be streamed live on NPR. They are scheduled to be playing at 10 PM Pacific/1 AM Eastern.

Lampshades On Fire

Poison

This short news roundup is coming from Beijing, China. I brought my laptop with me on this trip, but left it in Guangzhou, and access to Wifi has been tricky.

Just to quickly recap what has been going on in my absence:

Modest Mouse kicks off their very short run of tour dates tomorrow before their headlining slot at Sasquatch. Something that will be on a lot of people's minds will be new material. If this happens, the Board is going to probably be the best place to stay up to date, as I won't be able to review anything until next week. Sheldon (Chief Tragedy) will be updating set lists, so please keep them coming in.

The band has also added more Australian dates in Perth, Sydney and Melbourne to accompany their performance at Splendor In The Grass. They will also be performing in New Zealand for the first time. Starting these dates off is also a single show in Troutdale, OR, maybe leaving space for a few more North American shows. Please refer to the Tour Date section for more info.

Lastly, Broken Social Scene has recorded a cover of The Word At Large for the Voice Project. The song had previously been covered live with Isaac back in 2008.

Source: Pitchfork: Watch Broken Social Scene Cover Modest Mouse

Liza Richardson at KCRW played the upcoming Modest Mouse cover of the late Buddy Holly's, That'll Be The Day, on her radio show this past weekend. Hear the cover below.

The compilation album, Rave On Buddy Holly, is due out on June 28 and will feature other artists such as Paul McCartney, Lou Reed and The Black Keys. It can be pre-ordered from Amazon.

Modest Mouse - That'll Be The Day

Buddy Holly - That'll Be The Day

Source: Modest Mouse Cover Buddy Holly - Stereogum

It has recently come to light through a series of Tweets that Modest Mouse is working with Outkast member Big Boi, and producer Chris Carmouche on their new album.

Big Boi has been tweeting:

Me and @mouche1 in the studio workin with Modest Mouse on their new album Turnt up ! Shout out to Issac and the crew! (Apr 25)

Been camped out in the Lab with Modest Mouse all week, workin on the new mouse LP, coolest cats ever. Long Live The Funk (Apr 27)

While there is no official word on if Big Boi is producing, or perhaps providing vocals for the album, it is the first official confirmation that Modest Mouse is indeed working on a new album.

In other news, February's earlier rumour, of Modest Mouse working on a Buddy Holly cover, seems to have turned out to be true.

Modest Mouse will be covering "That'll Be the Day" on an upcoming tribute album entitled Rave On Buddy Holly, out June 28.

Source: Pitchfork: Modest Mouse, My Morning Jacket, Julian Casablancas, Black Keys on Buddy Holly Tribute

Isaac Brock's house (and Glacial Pace headquarters) are featured in Season II, Episode 5 of "Don't Move Here".

Isaac gives a tour of his home/studio, discusses his love of taxidermy, some home renovation tips, the bands that he's signing to Glacial Pace, and how the label came to be.

The episode ends with a short, partial performance from Modest Mouse, that features an as of yet, unreleased song. No mention though if this song is old or a new one being worked on for an upcoming album. Hopefully more will be cleared up when the band starts their short tour next month, should this song make its way onto set lists.

Source: Don't Move Here, Season II | Ep #5 | Isaac Brock + Glacial Pace | Wieden+Kennedy Entertainment

Source: Splendour in the Grass

Modest Mouse has added three club dates leading up to their headlining performance taking place at the 2011 Sasquatch Festival.

Dates in Boise, Missoula and Spokane go on sale this Friday, March 25 at TicketFly.com.

Source: MODEST MOUSE || OFFICIAL WEBSITE » TOURS

Back in 2009 two uncirculated Modest Mouse demo tapes turned up on eBay titled "Tube-Fruit, All Smiles And Chocolate" and "Uncle Bunny Faces'". The first tape featured only Isaac, the second all three founding members.

When asked about the tapes after a show one night, Isaac mentioned that he viewed them not as home demos, but as albums, and that very few copies existed, almost all in the hands of friends.

While "Tube-Fruit, All Smiles And Chocolate" was quickly circulated amongst the trading community, "Uncle Bunny Faces'" was not. Until this past weekend that is, when a YouTube user, MusicIsFunn, uploaded the rough tracks to his/her channel. The tracks have since been uploaded to the Night on the Sun blog. If you're a fan of early (early!) Modest Mouse, they're worth a listen, but note the audio quality is poor at best.

Source: YouTube - MusicIsFunn's Channel

It's always interesting when something unknown to the general fan community turns up, especially when it's something really old and from a period of the band's history that is general unknown and poorly documented. That's why yesterday I was quite pleased when Interstate-8 reader and frequent contributor, Martin, emailed me in something he had recently found and purchased on eBay.

"Babble On" is a self released compilation tape from 1994 featuring mainly bands from the Seattle, WA area. Compiled by Chad Byerly, the tape has a real DIY feel to it, tracks that aren't really studio quality, and each band seemingly getting to contribute a page of photocopied artwork.

The Modest Mouse tracks featured on this tape are nothing that most hardcore Modest Mouse fans wouldn't have heard before. The first being "5-4-3-2-1... Lisp Off", which is obviously the more common of the two, having appeared on the band's first EP, "Blue Cadet-3, Do You Connect?" and "Sad Sappy Sucker". The second is perhaps a little more rare. Having always been known as the Modest Mouse demo "Follow Through", here it finally gets a home and an official title, "Every Mom I Know Seems To Think Its 'bout Them But It Ain't", labeled as "The Other Song" on the back cover. Both tracks are Isaac Brock only songs, just guitar and vocals (and astronaut voice), and are most likely both from his "Dial-A-Song" collection.

The artwork features a young Brock, probably around 18-19 years of age at the time, sitting on low brick wall. An address at which to write the band, the same one that would appear on the back of the "Blue Cadet-3, Do You Connect?" 7". And lastly, rounding up a final piece of Modest Mouse history, the phone number for his Dial-A-Song, (206) 557-0311 (and before you waste your time, I called the number, and it has long been disconnected by the phone company).

The other bands featured on the tape don't seem to have gone on to do anything else, with the exception of Tattle Tale, who were quite well known in the Seattle Riot Grrrl scene. In 2003, Jen Wood would also appear as a guest vocalist on the The Postal Service's debut, providing the female vocals for the duet "Nothing Better". She has also collaborated with Black Heart Procession and Joan of Arc.

For more information on this release, as well as scans of the full booklet where you can read Chad's story, check out "Babble On" under Compilations in the Discography section.

Modest Mouse - Every Mom I Know Seems To Think Its 'bout Them But It Ain't (aka Follow Through)

Modest Mouse will be headlining this year's Sasquatch Festival in George, WA over the Memorial Day weekend in May.

Other artists that have so far been announced are:

Foo Fighters, Death Cab For Cutie, The Decemberists, Robyn, Wilco, Flying Lotus, Bright Eyes, Flogging Molly, Rodrigo Y Gabriela, Das Racist, Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings, Iron & Wine, The Flaming Lips, Bassnectar, Pink Martini, Cold War Kids, Old 97's, Ratatat, Wolf Parade, Chromeo, Guided By Voices, Yeasayer, Beach House, Local Natives, Matt & Kim, Deerhunter, Mstrkrft, Trailer Park Boys, Sleigh Bells, Major Lazer, Skrillex, Fitz & The Tantrums, !!!, Archers of Loaf, Against Me!, The Thermals, Best Coast, CSS, Surfer Blood, Jenny & Johnny, Bonobo (DJ Set), City and Colour, Reggie Watts, K-Os, Gayngs, Tim Minchin, The Drums, The Radio Dept., Young the Giant, The Antlers, Sharon Van Etten, Villagers, Stornoway, Aloe Blacc, Black Mountain, Noah & The Whale, Sam Roberts Band, Secret Sisters, Twin Shadow, Wye Oak, Tig Notaro, Smith Westerns, Rival Schools, Foster the People, Alberta Cross, S. Carey, White Denim, Washed Out, Gold Panda, Dan Mangan, Axis of Awesome, The Globes, Cotton Jones, Jaill, Basia Bulat, Other Lives, The Bronx, White Arrows, Pepper Rabbit, Talkdemonic, Rebecca Gates and The Consortium, The Young Evils.

Please note that until the performance schedule is released, we will be listing the date of the show as the first day of the festival, but that may end up not being the day Modest Mouse performs on. Do not base a one day ticket purchase on this information.

UPDATE: Confirmed, Modest Mouse will be headlining on Sunday, May 29. They will be following The Flaming Lips, who are planing to perform their entire album The Soft Bulletin.

Source: Sasquatch Festival 2011

Source: http://store.glacialpace.com/collections/new/products/mystery-shirt

Longtime Modest Mouse photographer Pat Graham, is currently the featured artist of the day at Imagekind with his series: Photos From Last Night's Gig. Check it out for a nostalgic look at the 2009 tour, and see if you are able to spot yourself in the crowd.

Source: http://www.imagekind.com/MemberProfile.aspx?MID=66be8713-62b6-4710-ae5c-a0912d2e4894

Source: http://3voor12.vpro.nl/tv/#/42393647/43913868/0

Source: http://www.brooklynvegan.com/archives/2010/07/modest_mouse_pl_3.html

Pitchfork: What are you working on with Modest Mouse?

IB: Songs. That's that.

Pitchfork: Are they going in any particular direction?

IB: I can't say that yet. I can't say that they are. It's pretty early in the game for me to have a clear picture of what we're doing, if it's good or anything. They're going to show up again today, and we'll keep banging our heads on it. It's way too early for me to know what direction this thing is really headed. It's just a bunch of random shit at the moment.

Pitchfork: How long have you been working on the random shit?

IB: About six months. We're not killing ourselves doing it, by any means. We just had the "Hey, we should probably buckle down" conversation last week. We just putz around and smoke a bunch of weed. It's more time spent hanging out than playing music.

Pitchfork: Will you try out new music on tour?

IB: We're going to try to. But I actually think we won't. I don't think any of it is close enough to be ready in what's essentially two-and-a-half weeks. I'd like to say we're going to, but I don't really see it happening.

Source: http://pitchfork.com/news/39217-isaac-brock-talks-i180-southi-modest-mouse-portland-mayor-portrait/

Source: http://glacialpace.myshopify.com

The band will hit the road again on February 22. They will be touring with "Mimicking Birds." Tickets go on sale on January 29. The dates that have been announced so far are:

Source: http://attblueroom.com/music/events/kroq.php

Source: http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/news/47134-modest-mousebuilt-to-spill-covers-lp-in-the-works

Source: http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/0E003F568CFB5E3A?artistid=781346&majorcatid=10001&minorcatid=60

Source: http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003563939