HemsidaThe Mountain Goats goes wilde
Det finns artister som tycker så mycket om vissa djur att de döper sitt band efter dem. Det finns artister som citerar Oscar Wilde för dina fans. Det finns artister som helt plötsligt slutar ge ut sina skivor på vinyl. Det finns artister som The Mountain Goats.– Do you know “The Nightingale and the Rose”? It's one of the funniest and most horrible things ever written. It's a young poet, fancies a girl, but she does not care for him. But if he could find the reddest rose in all of England to give her, then she would love him. And a nightingale overhears that. And the purity in it’s heart sings a song saying 'I wish I could help this poor poet from suffering so' and a white rose hears the nightingale and says 'Oh only if I could help you, but I'm just a white rose'. And the nightingale says 'Well, I appriciate that' and the rose says 'You know, if you would hale yourself on my thorn, you'd die, but I would turn the reddest rose you can image'. So the nightingale hales himself, heart first, on the rose. It sings – all night. Alright. As it's life is ebbing out into the rose, and the rose turns red. And the poet comes by and sees the rose the next day, with the corpse of the nightingale. 'Oh there is that rose. Boy, if I still loved her I'd cut that! But today I'm more interested in philosophy.’ [skratt] It's just awful!
Det är John Darnielle som återberättar sagan av Oscar Wilde. John är den enda fasta medlemmen i det amerikanska bandet The Mountain Goats – ett band som jag bara för ett par veckor sen aldrig hade hört talas om. Men deras senaste skiva "Tallahassee" har recenserats ungefär överallt och lovordats av personer med pålitlig musiksmak (läs: Johan Jacobsson, Sonic), så jag bestämde mig för att kolla upp dem.
Just denna dag ska de förgylla kvällen för uppsalapubliken på Kalmars Nation så jag beger mej dit och traskar uppför trapporna till rummen där logerna är. Av det jag läst om dem förväntar jag mig två korta, skalliga, lite korpulenta hillbillys. (Fördomsfull? Jag? Nähä?) I korridoren utanför sitter två långa smala män lutandes mot varsin vägg och pratar engelska. Den ena liknar en Buddha-gestalt där han sitter med benen i kors och läser en bok. Den andra sitter mittemot honom och ser väldigt intellektuell ut. Jag verkar antagligen förvirrad och de frågar direkt "Can I help you?" och jag svarar "I'm looking for The Mountain Goats" varpå Buddhagestalten utbrister "Well you foooound 'em!".
Buddhagestalten, som visar sig vara John Darnielle, säger att det är bara att slå sig ner – bara jag inte frågar varför nya skivan inte är på vinyl, för den frågan har han hört till leda. Den intellektuelle presenterar sig som Peter Hughes, basisten. Det verkar lite konstigt att dom inte får nån loge. Men dom pekar på en dörr och säger i mun på varandra att det är en massa högljudda människor därinne. Båda är trötta och vill hellre vara ifred.
Jag frågar John vad det är han läser och han säger att det är nåt han fick tag på inne i logen, en bok av Oscar Wilde.
Do you like Oscar Wilde?
– Oh, well I have mixed feelings about Wilde, säger han och rycker på axlarna. He's good, but you know, Morrissey-fans are so crazy about him so it turns me off a little bit. He's overrated by the people who love him and underrated by the people who don't. The fairytales are amazing.
Do you read a lot of books?
– Yeah, not as many as I should, but as many as I can, säger han och berättar att hans favorit bland nutidsförfattare är Joan Didion. Han tycker också att hans låtskrivande blir mer inspirerat av böcker än av annan musik.
– Cause mainly what I do is about lyrics. So it's words and ideas.
Vi pratar om hur stor betydelse texterna har för musiken. Han säger att hans absoluta favoriter har bra texter, men att han även lyssnar på grejer där texterna inte spelar så stor roll. Som hårdare musik där man inte alltid kan förstå texterna. Det hårdaste jag lyssnar på nog är Queens of the Stone Age.
– They're alright. The stoner rock thing kind of… there's a band called Sleep, that to me is the ultimate stoner rock. You gotta get an album called "Jerusalem" by Sleep. It's one song. They're signed to a major label, I don’t know whoever, who gave them a houndred thousand dollars and they turned them into a 42 minute album called Jerusalem.
Do you think it's important or funny that bands are doing what people don't expect of them, like doing an album that consists of just one song?
– Yeah…it depends. I mean, not for it's own sake but cause it also happens to be a very excellent album.
– You know like, Kevin Shields (från My Bloody Valentine, red. anm.), hasn't turned in an album since 1991, when Loveless came out. Well, he's not doing what he's supposed to do. Well fuck that, man, get to work! [skratt]. But if you're doing something that you believe is great, and it is great, and it's totally not what were expected, that's good. But I don't think it's good just to be contrary.
Do you think you're doing this?
– Nah, I don't… nah..
Do you wish you were?
– I think that if you think too much of that sort of thing, you're going down the wrong road. You just gotta think about whether what you're doing is good.
»When the big evil labels come talkin' to you, that's what they say: 'Don't you want more people to hear your music?'«
Mountain Goats har gett ut massor av musik, ofta under devisen ’tre singlar i månaden är bättre än en fullängdare’. Dels för att fansen har råd med det, dels för att få ut musiken i samma takt som den görs. Den nya skivan, ”Tallahassee”, kan räknas som den tredje fullängdaren. Den är mer producerad än hans tidigare alster, varav somligt bara varit inspelat på en vanlig bandspelare. I princip allt har också kommit ut på vinyl, varför man kan förstå förskräckelsen när den här skivan inte gör det. ”Tallahassee” är inspelad i en kool studio i New York, med Tony Dugans, som även producerat Belle and Sebastian, Mogwai och Telstar Ponys.John Darnielle har varit kritisk till att binda upp sej för endast ett skivbolag, och i princip bytt bolag för varje skiva. Men den här skivan ges ut på 4AD, som tidigare hyst legendariska artister som Red House Painters, Pixies, m.m.
– 4AD called and asked 'what would you do if you could make a record for us'. And that's such a weird question, cause usually when somebody wants to make a record they say 'give me a record of what you do', you know. So, I thought, well we will go into the studio and play around in there. I called Peter and we talked about it, and we had already done the talking about the possability of doing some recordings, and we thought this was a good chance to try that out. And it was also sort of time to see what else I could do.
Did you get tired of the sound you had before?
– I, personally, no. [skratt] But at the same time, if anybody can be pigeonholed, it's me, you know, säger han med ett leende. It's fair, to say.
– But that's just the sound. The sound aspects has never been important to me – it's the writing. Which I think has grown into change a lot. The lyrics have gotten better, you know, that's what I always try, to write better. More into lyrics that accomplish more with less words. And also articulate the feelings more directly.
How do you become a better writer?
– Read and write, read and write, read and write, säger han snabbt.
Is that the advice you would give to someone that wants to be a better writer?
– Yeah. Keep reading, keep writing. What the inner thing is, you know...Read stuff that you know is better than you. Acknowledge at all times that it's better to not just better than you, but leagues better than you. The worst poets of the world are the ones that think they are gonna be one of the great. I'll never be as good as the people I read. Ever ever. I really think bigheaded, but I don't kid myself.
Texterna på Tallahassee kretsar kring ett kärlekspar, som funnits i Mountain Goats-låtar tidigare.
– Yeah, they've been in a lot of songs for the past ten years or so.
Have they changed through the years?
– No, it's in their nature not to change, skrattar han. That's their whole problem. They're drunk now and they're gonna stay drunk.
And die.
– They're not gonna die. She's just gonna disappear. I don't know where she goes. They're vampires – well they are vampires! Han ler.
– They're vampires as far as they're living of each others negative energy. But, the whole idea with them – although I think I get better at describing them – is that they're not gonna grow. They're doing the opposite of growth, they're receding.
How did you come up with the couple?
– Ehm..it's a…my father had a drinking problem, and he and my mom went divorcing over issues, around that, säger han i en lugnare och väldigt eftertänksam ton. So it's probably, that was the inspiration.
What do they think about beeing put in a song?
– Well, it's not them. This is a young couple with no kids. My father was…42 by the time that happened, so, yeah. And the only similarity is I got to see some people fighting, who were on the verge of divorcing.
Han säger att det är svårt att förstå om man inte själv varit med om situationen.
– You really can't… When those fights are going on…the mood in the room is just poison. It's so horrible, that if you're a little kid you…you wanna do something. You take to doing things like just yelling. You yell at them, you run out of the room, you know. You start reading books and you get so good at it that you just…vanish into the book. Cause the mood in there is just, so, intense, and awful. It's like when a fight breaks out, at a club or at school, you know. That feeling. So that's the only inspiration. It's not my mom and dad, tillägger han avslutande. These people are pretty exaggerated.
Här avbryts vi av två äkta fans – två killar som hämtade ur High Fidelty – som dyker upp för att få en gammal Mountain Goats-klenod signerad. (”The Coroner's Gambit” på vinyl.) Jag har läst nånstans om tio stora fans i Sverige som följer Mountain Goats överallt, och frågar om dessa hör dit. Killarna fattar inte vad jag pratar om.
John förklarar: – They're not following me everywhere…But this is not part of the Jonas posse though. The Jonas posse is the people you're talkin about.
En av killarna frågar om den nya skivan kommer att släppas på vinyl.
John: No.
Killen: No?
John: No.
Killen: [besviket] That's a shame.
John är först tyst men säger sen: Well, I have an attitude problem about that, because I didn't feel that there's no big thing. Sen tar han upp Coroners Gambit-skivan och vänder på den när han säger att den var menad att lyssna på i två halvor.
– But the new album is not meant to be listened to that way. And the other thing is, I really was pretty sympathetic to the vinyl question, back with..you know, there might be people who didn't have a CD player. But everyone does now, so it's not like they can't hear it.
Precis innan de går tar John upp Oscar Wilde-boken och börjar läsa. Han låter som en grånande litteraturprofessor som för första gången ska läsa upp sin egenhändigt skrivna dikt på en poesikväll.
– You know.."suffering is one very long moment. We cannot divide it by seasons. We can only record it smooth and chronical the return. With us, time itself, is not progress." Goodbye gentlemen! ropar han och vinkar åt dom när de försvinner ner för trappan.
– Did you hear him ask the vinyl question? säger John och låter plötsligt väldigt trött. "Why isn't the new album on vinyl?" I'm at the point where when somebody ask me that, I just wanna break my own face. Han ler uppgivet.
»That's just the sound. The sound aspects has never been important to me - it's the writing.«
4AD är mycket större än hans tidigare skivbolag, och man kan undra om han var trött på att inte nå ut till så många människor.– Nah.. I didn't care. That wasn't one of the things I was thinkin about.
– When the big evil labels come talkin to you that's what they say. "Don't you want more people to hear your music?". Well. It's always been my position: people who need to hear my stuff are going to hear it. It's gonna happen. I wanna make records for 4AD cause 4AD's cool. So it's like…perfect. I can make records for people I've always liked. But yeah..you gotta trust that your work is gonna get to people whether or not you think this is good for the big channels of distribution. And with file sharing, people will get it.
– It's more about the fact that I've always liked that label. And when they called it was a wonderful opportunity, to make a record for a label that I've always liked. And you get the guy who does their artwork. He does these beautiful, beautiful records. Han funderar lite. So yeah, it's not so much about the fame. In the record companies, they talk about exposure and so on. Well, anyone who wants to hear it can find it anyway, if it's a big or small label. But. It does get me here tonight. Else I wouldn't be in Sweden tonight.
Who does the artwork?
– Vaughan Oliver is the guy who does the artwork for most 4AD records.
Do you like what he's doing?
– Oh jesus chr- nästan viskar han. -how could you not? Have you seen it?
Uhm… no.
– You've seen his artwork though. You've seen Pixies album covers, and Cocteau Twins album covers. Beautiful ones…just supernatural beautiful.
I've always wondered what the Cocteau Twins sound like.
– They're great. Get an album called “Victorial End”, it's from 1985. Would you like to hear them? I have them in my backpack.
Här går han och hämtar sin ryggsäck och jag får höra lite av Victorial End. Väldigt vackert. Lugn musik. Lite som Mogwailåtar brukar börja. Jag är väldigt svag för låtar som börjar så och sen växer sej mäktiga och pampiga och storslagna. Men resten av skivan går i samma stil. ”It's no percussion”, säger han.
Sen visar han vad han har för andra grejer i sin cd-väska.
– The Rolling Stones. Cocteau Twins. Morbid angel. Various blues from the 30s. Planet Asia – west coast hip hop. New Stephen Malkmus album – not out until March, hehe. Dylans "Blonde on Blonde". The Carpenters. Talib Kwahli. David Johanson. West parade – hip hop. Enon. Tupac. Monk – jazz. Nat King Cole. Rebecka Piercy – it's folk music.
I think that's the widest taste of music I've ever seen beeing squeezed into the same cd-bag.
– Yeah yeah…oh man. But I really really have to do that. If I hadn't done that I'd go crazy. If I'd brought only my metal records you know. Only metal to listen to for months…
Now that you're on a bigger label you're on tour longer. Is that good?
– Yeah..I mean, it's bad for my mental health, but it's good for everything else [skratt].
– Tour just wipes out your brain. Just wipes out your brain.
Is it like beeing brainwashed, beeing on tour?
– It's like…beeing put…in a pillowcase and repeatedly assaulted by people you don't know, haha. No…haha..it's just that you get so disoriented.. What it's like, is like beeing blindfolded and spun around. You know. Get blindfolded and pushed over here and they say "Okey, real quick, this is Bob Tommy Jerry Annica and Nelson and you go "Oh hiBobTommyJerryAnnicaNelson RealGoodToMeetYou" and then they spin you, and they push you someplace else, and okey, this is…Jeryl? Philip Franklin Joel Maria and Philip again but a different Philip and you go "Okey hi guys it's a real pleasure" (visar med handen hur han snabbt skakar hand med fem personer). And you can't buy the five, you're just nice.
»'Why isn't the new album on vinyl?' I'm at the point where when someone asks me that I just wanna break my own face.«
Han valde namnet Mountain Goats därför att han var fascinerad av bergsgetter och det lät bra. Finns det nåra andra djur han tycker särskilt bra om?– I love all the animals. And I cannot actually say that there is any I like more than the others.
– I like moles, I like… I learned the word for mole the other night but I forgot it. It's an animal who lives under the ground.. It ruins your garden. Make tunnels. Wonderful creature. Beautiful. Especially I like the star-nosed mole. Star-nosed mole has one of the most sensitive noses in the whole history of creation. It's like this, säger han och ritar en star-nosed mole i mitt block. This is his nose, it's pink. You won't believe this.
– That's the star-nosed mole's nose. It looks like that. It's his nose, right. It looks like his face.
– Yesss.
Why?
– [eftertänksamt men väldigt bestämt] Because the ones that eat meat do so because they don't know any better, and they don't eat more than they need. They don't factory-farm. They don't consciously do evil. They don't commit rape. Humans do all these things, and worse.
But animals do eat other animals?
– Only as much as they need. Animals do not put other animals in small cages, where they can't live. They don't torture them to sleep in their own filth. And they don't shoot female animals full of hormons, living the horrible miserable life that factory chickens live. I have very strong, passionate feelings about this, ler han. Animals don't know any better. What they do. So they're pure in that way..
I think it’s ok to eat wild animals like elks. They’re gonna kill them anyway cause they’re too many.
– Yeah...but if you knew that somebody was gonna come and kill you tomorrow, is it ok for me to cut off your foot and eat it? No, it's not. It's not ok to do that. You don't have to lend your voice to that. I feel strongly about that.
Do you think it still contributes to…eh…
– …our culture of violence. It perpetuates our culture of violence. Makes it ok for people to hurt each other.
Han pratar högt och tydligt, lite som lärare som försöker vara pedagogiska gör. Men utan att låta tråkig, överpedagogisk eller allvetande. Det är snarare som att han vill förklara det han säger på ett tydligt sätt och är mån om att den han pratar med ska förstå. Hela mötet med John Darnielle kändes som att möta nån sorts vis Buddha-gestalt som säger en massa vettiga saker som får dej att tänka efter. Men han har ändå hållit på i ganska många år nu, och jag undrar om han fortfarande tycker att han har saker att säga i sin musik.
– That's a fun question to say. I don't know if I've ever had anything to say, except that people tell me that my stuff was nice for them. That it helped them or brought them to happiness. There's a lot of sadness in life and if you can lighten somebody's load a little bit, then you should. If I can help somebody that way, I don't mean help that are gonna stop war or anything like that.. But if I can make somebody's days a little nicer...
Is this why you’re writing?
– Well, yeah… cause I can do something for people that other song writers have been kind enough to do for me.
Maria Nilsson
Denna text är även publicerad i Stardust #99, juli 2003.