Mountain Goat Darnielle Births Triplets in 2002

You've likely never heard of John Darnielle, but he's doing his best to change that. By day, Darnielle works with kids in a residential setting. By night he's a gonzo rock critic, carrying on in the tradition of the late Lester Bangs, and a rock musician who has created his own brand of folkified punk rock. "I play the kind of punk rock music that has existed since the time of the great painters in the caves at Lascaux," Darnielle says. "I play an acoustic guitar, but I am not one of those guys with an acoustic guitar."

One of the few thoughtful rock critics carrying the torch for "death metal," and the publisher of the fanzine Last Plane to Jakarta, Darnielle is best known as the sole member of the underground cult "band" the Mountain Goats. Darnielle sings rapid-fire, complex lyrics with crisp delivery to piquant and unexpected melodies. "I play hateful little love songs about people who wish they could do better by one another," Darnielle says. "But take my word for it: They can't."

A new Mountain Goats album, All Hail West Texas, will be out Feb. 19 on the Emperor Jones label. "It's 14 songs about seven people, two houses, a motorcycle, and a locked treatment facility for adolescent boys," Darnielle says. "Which is to say that there are recurring characters with a real big drinking problem. Most of my recurring characters have some fairly severe drinking problems."

The album includes such typical (if there is such a thing) Darnielle compositions as "Absolute Lithops Effect" and "The Best Ever Death Metal Band in Denton." The latter is a song about "Jeff and Cyrus" who, the song's lyrics explain, "believed in their hearts they were headed for stage lights and Lear jets, and fortune and fame, so in script that made prominent use of a pentagram they'd stencil their drum heads and guitars with their names."

Mountain Goats songs depict Darnielle's skewed take on life, with curious references and language that paints vivid pictures with furious, rhythmic guitar strumming, his fine, bell-like voice, and lo-fi production values. Many of the songs fit into series. For instance, there's an "Alpha" series (which chronicles a dysfunctional couple), a "Songs for..." series and a "Going to..." series (as in "Going to Marrakesh"). Darnielle explains, "The Geographic Locations series of songs were begun to make fun of a lot of people I knew in Southern California who always believed they were going to solve all their problems by going somewhere. As time went by I began to realize that the urge to flee is actually a rather profound urge."

In October another Mountain Goats album will see release, this time on the renowned 4AD label (Pixies, Red House Painters, Throwing Muses); Tony Doogan (Mogwai, Belle & Sebastian), who produced, is presently "adding surprises" to the recordings at Cava Studios in Glasgow.

Another Darnielle project was released just last month — Martial Arts Weekend is the product of a collaboration with Franklin Bruno, of L.A.-based Nothing Painted Blue, in a duo called the Extra Glenns. The album has been enthusiastically received by critics, who seem to agree that Bruno's arrangements have contributed to a more lush, full sound with higher production values while retaining Darnielle's charm, lyrical flourish, intense tone and engaging melodies. There are two "going to" songs on the album. Surprisingly, Darnielle says, "I wrote at least 30 of these ['going to' songs] before I'd ever been off the West Coast." Raised in Claremont, Calif., Darnielle moved to Ames, Iowa in 1995.

Darnielle, who is also a Neumu contributing editor, will present a paper, "The Persistence of Hair Bands," at this year's Experience Music Project Pop Music Studies Conference in Seattle (April 11–14). The musician has shown an enduring interest in critical theory, beginning with a college psychology class. His first extended piece of criticism, "Killdozer: The Case Against Self-Actualization," addressed that band's 1987 album, Little Baby Buntin' (produced by Butch Vig, now Garbage's drummer/writer/co-producer, known for producing Nirvana's Nevermind). At the time, the 'Dozer were his favorite band. "I had to write a paper, but the only thing I could think about was how great Little Baby Buntin' was," Darnielle says. "Its greatness would not allow anything else to occupy bandwidth in my brain. So I wrote about Little Baby Buntin' with reference to Maslow's Pyramid of Self-Actualization."

The Extra Glenns are set to play the 10th Annual Noise Pop Festival in San Francisco on Wednesday, Feb. 27. Last year, attendees flew in from New York specifically to see the 10-year underground legend play a secret show attended by over 200 people. "One person flew in from Michigan, and some drove from Pennsylvania," Darnielle says humbly. "Mountain Goats fans have been known to traverse great distances and brave daunting conditions to see me play, for which I am deeply thankful, greatly awed, and generally floored." This year, earlier on the evening of Feb. 27, Darnielle and Bruno will each play separate sets, then play together as the Extra Glenns at an in-store at San Francisco's Aquarius Records. Aquarius staff member Byram Abbott said both staff and customers look forward to the gig.

Darnielle next hits the road for a six-city club tour as the Mountain Goats, sharing the bill with John Vanderslice. For tour dates and locations and additional information, see the Mountain Goats Web site. — Jillian Steinberger [Monday, February 18, 2002]