Modest mouse

Thrasher Magazine, July, 2004 by Jesse Locks

When I moved as a kid from a rural dirt-poor town where everyone worked like motherfuckers to outside Seattle, we found ourselves living butted up against this California wealth thing going on (ed note: the gentrification of Seattle from a working class port to a prosperous urban city attributed to the computer/technology industry). and something about it jilted me. But then again look at that (he proudly, but with a certain degree of guilt, points to the brand new gray all-wheel-drive Volvo station wagon parked in the front of the house); it's the first new car I've owned in my life. I bought it mostly for safety reasons--for my girlfriend and to carry the dog. I've only owned Dodge Darts and vans. I'm over vans.

Does the increasing gap between the middle and upper classes in the US concern you?

Yeah, but things are going to change. The Great Depression wasn't 100 years ago but it doesn't mean it can't happen again. If you read the Grapes of Wrath and think about now, life isn't that bad.

Were you a happy kid?

Yeah, but I was so neurotic I'd pull all my hair out and wake up every morning in a pool of blood, but I was happy nonetheless.

What music were you exposed to while growing up?

Hungarian folk music, gypsy music, Irish rock and roll, quite a bit.

Your songs are sometimes several stories told into one. Have you ever thought about committing these stories to paper and publishing a book of writing?

I've thought about it, but I'm not a good writer I can't even keep a journal.

What have you sacrificed in order to live life as an artist?

I've sacrificed every relationship I've been in. It's been the end of most of them. It almost happened last night when we received our tour schedule for the next four months. I, along with the band, have sacrificed our options. Our options to do other things is limited; I mean, we're lifers. There are people who are in a band and go into art school or some precious crap like that, but at the end of the day they're going to have a job as a graphic designer. It's hard for people to see, but people who actually have to worry about working don't go to art school. I'm not saying they're not artists; I'm saying they really don't have to worry. I was living under a bridge before I moved to Chicago. Yeah, I've gotten comfortable, but I could go back to that life. I've been doing this for 14 years and haven't gotten bored or nowhere near finished. I want to make sure that we do this for a long fucking time.