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Exclusive interview: Decemberists' singer-songwriter Colin Meloy

Andy Pareti

Issue date: 4/10/08 Section: Arts & Entertainment
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With his geeky Rivers Cuomo glasses and bookish personality, Colin Meloy doesn't exactly fit the mold of a rock frontman.  His upcoming live album is another in a line of stripped-down solo releases.
Media Credit: AP AccuNet
With his geeky Rivers Cuomo glasses and bookish personality, Colin Meloy doesn't exactly fit the mold of a rock frontman. His upcoming live album is another in a line of stripped-down solo releases.

Indie-rockers The Decemberists' singer-songwriter Colin Meloy is temporarily leaving his highly-praised and steadily-momentous band to go on a solo tour to promote his upcoming acoustic live album, Colin Meloy: Sings Live! Meloy, who was kind enough to share some words with The Lamron, will be performing at the Tralf Music Hall in Buffalo on April 18.



The Lamron: Tell me about the new solo album you have coming out. It seems to have a more laid back, informal feel to it. You even mention campfire sing-a-longs. Is that the vision you have about it?

Colin Meloy: Yea, I guess so. It's an opportunity to kind of strip away the arrangements of the records into kind of a sing-a-long.



The Lamron: The prior EPs you've released that cover other artists - is that kind of the same feel?

CM: Yea, definitely. It's just me. I recorded them at home, so, other than getting a few friends in to help out here and there, it's mostly just me compiling a little EP together at home.



The Lamron: Do you have any plans for a solo studio album?

CM: You know, it's crossed my mine, but I think if I were to do it, it would just be a Decemberists record, I mean, without the input of the four other people who are in the Decemberists. For now I think that everything that I write is sort of Decemberists material, so I don't see any reason to put the songs anywhere else.



The Lamron: On the upcoming album, you have a couple of previously unreleased songs. Did you write those with the intensions of playing them with the Decemberists or were they purely for yourself?

CM: I wrote them for myself - the one that really sticks out is the song "Wonder," which seems just like such a simple and personal song; I couldn't hear any arrangement over it. I think it's one of the only songs I've written that felt more like just a Colin Meloy song and not a Decemberists song.



The Lamron: While we're on the same track, is it alright if I ask you about "Dracula's Daughter"? [editor's note - "Dracula's Daughter" is Meloy's self-proclaimed worst song he's ever written]
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