Colin Meloy

Sorry to disappoint you, but the world of Colin Meloy is rather boring – at least compared to your average frontman for one of music’s most heralded and respected acts. When asked to elaborate on his “senior citizen living” (see below), Meloy states his keen interest in model ships and collecting ’60s folk records without missing a beat. It’s his unassuming, ‘normal’ nature that took me most off guard.

Then again, that’s what makes his latest release, Colin Meloy Sings Live!, so charming. There’s no questioning that the Decemberists’ leader is well-read, brilliant and incredibly talented. But what I didn’t expect was a funny, familiar and ultimately charming concert recording from Meloy. And that surprise carried over into my first conversation with him.

SSv: Can you tell us about the inspiration behind the Sing series?

Colin Meloy: I was going out on my first solo tour, this was in 2005, and I thought since I didn’t have any record or anything like that, I thought it would be nifty to have a CD, a tour only EP. And since I knew the people who were coming to the shows would be the diehard, ten percent of the Decemberists fanbase, I could probably do something indulgent like a Morrissey cover EP. So I went with that and it became a ‘thing.’

SSv: What makes you tackle artists like Shirley Collins?

Colin: Well, then it was picking people to cover who I was particularly obsessed with at the time. In 2006, Shirley Collins definitely fit that description. And likewise, this year Sam Cooke has been an obsession.

SSv: Is it a kick where it’s all you’re listening to?

Colin: I do. Obviously, I had these teenage years where all I would listen to was Morrissey, but recently Shirley Collins and Sam Cooke are definitely two people that, in the case of Sam Cooke, rediscovered. I had heard him growing up and knew the hit songs and I’d suddenly became really aware he was the guy doing those songs. And I was more in tune with the songs he had been doing and his voice and I immediately rushed out and bought box sets worth of stuff. Same with Shirley Collins. I’d never heard her before I’d heard one song on the Internet and immediately spent the next six months amassing her entire discography.

SSv: What is it about those artists in particular? Is there a common thread in their artistry you found?

Colin: Well, no but that’s sort of the beauty of it. I think anybody’s experience with music shouldn’t be confined to one genre or anything like that. I do see connections between them even though they might be very, very distant cousins of one another. There are threads and if nothing else, it’s nice pretty music. That’s what attracted me to them.

SSv: You used the word ‘indulge’ earlier. How much of that is true of your solo project?

Colin: Well, the cover EPs definitely feel indulgent. I don’t feel I’m a good interpreter of song, like somebody who makes a career of doing other people’s songs. I’m not one of those people. I just really like to sing and record other people’s songs and it’s been a fun exercise to do that with these different artists.

As for the live record, I don’t know if I would call that a solo project. The live record is just that – a live record from the ’06 tour. That’s what I was doing when I first moved into town, in Portland, was playing solo. Being in a band was an afterthought to a certain degree. I was kinda picturing myself as a solo musician, and I really loved it. When I started the band, it became a little more lucrative and interesting and there was more opportunities there, but I’ve always held a candle for playing solo.

SSv: When you were touring, was the rest of the band taking a break?

Colin: Yeah, everyone does their own thing. They’re off doing different stuff. Everybody likes a little downtime and we need a break from each other from time to time.

SSv: I was taken back by just how informal and warm and even fun the live album felt. I guess I was expecting something more serious and focused.

Colin: I hope that’s also the vibe you get at one of the shows. I don’t know why we didn’t include it, but I was really wanting to include this version of “Los Angeles, I’m Yours” where I actually forget the words in the middle of the song which is not an uncommon thing at a Decemberists show. And then I’m prompted by the crowd with the right lyrics and then continue. It’s the freedom to have those moments is what makes the live experience interesting for me. I’m not just up there trying to regurgitate something that’s already on record, but I’m a human being who, in some way, is trying to present the songs in a way that feels human and everybody is able to chime in and sing along with.

SSv: What left that out?

Colin: I don’t know. I think we forgot. [Laughs] There was a lot of organization in just compiling things and I think it’s one of the extra tracks you can get if you buy the British version or something like that. I think we managed to get it onto one version somehow. But that totally happens. There’s a whole verse missing from one of the songs on Picaresque because I just forgot to do anything with it. It wasn’t until later that I was like, ‘Oh, right!’ I really like the verse, too. That’s a bummer. But it’s a happy accident, so you just have to move forward.

SSv: For a Decemberists fan, what would be the biggest surprise when they pick up the solo disc?

Colin: Probably the same surprise that you had. If they’d only heard a few songs or if they’d only heard “The Crane Wife” and would assume that we were a very studied or serious group that made this orchestral pop music where in fact our tongues are firmly planted in our cheek most of the time.

SSv: You said this is only for the 10% … is it really that low of a number?

Colin: Okay, maybe that’s too low of a number. On the first tour, we were playing these teeny cafes and clubs that maybe would hold 150 people or something like that. And they did well, so that’s more than 10%. And it’s grown over time. In my mind, I’d like to remember it as a much more intimate experience than what you would have at a Decemberists show.

SSv: Are there different sides of you that enjoy the solo show and full band show?

Colin: I enjoy as much as the next man playing a big rock show in front of thousands of adoring fans, but we’ve often had our best Decemberists shows at these teeny rock clubs back in the day. And we still have that in places like Germany to play in some shitty rock club. But the bathrooms are always nicer in the big places, so that’s what keeps me there.

SSv: Do you approach the solo writing differently, thinking ‘This is going to be a solo song’ or are they scraps from the Decemberists pile that didn’t make it?

Colin: It’s arbitrary. I don’t know. Most of the songs, I think I’m just in a mode where I’m writing for the Decemberists. The only time that I haven’t done that really is with the unreleased song that’s on the live record called “Wonder.” I think that felt like such a personal song and it worked so well on its own with me singing it that it didn’t seem that it belonged in the world of the Decemberists. I kept it in its own world.

SSv: You describe “Dracula’s Daughter” as the worst song I ever wrote. Were you young when you wrote that?

Colin: No, I think I was writing songs for Picaresque when I wrote that song. Maybe even “The Crane Wife” because those chords turned into the chords for “Oh, Valencia” so I was well in my prime and should have known better. But I also have been entertaining … well, there are so many worse songs. [Laughs] At least that one is funny, so at least it has that going for it. But I have this masochistic desire to write a song called “Bad Hair Day,” which that would be the worst one. That’s not even funny. Well, it’s funny…

SSv: [Laughs] Yeah it is funny.

Colin: And there are probably people who think it would be a perfectly good song, but it would so bad.

SSv: You don’t even have to sit down to write it – it’s already your worst song.

Colin: I know! You don’t even need to. You can just imagine it. It fills your heart with chills.

SSv: I just heard the baby in the background. Is that your son?

Colin: Yeah, he’s having dinner. Or fighting having dinner.

SSv: You’ve been a father now for a couple years. Has that changed your artistic approach at all?

Colin: You have to pick your time to work. There’s a certain chunk in the morning and the evening that you have no choice but to make breakfast or dinner or read books before going to bed. And we don’t go out as much, but that’s about it. But otherwise, it feels pretty much the same.

SSv: So there’s no tension with the artist within that cringes at restrictions of some sort?

Colin: No, I was already totally a homebody. And I didn’t give myself the freedom to do that. I live like a senior citizen anyway with the occasional rock show thrown in or drunken binge, but for the most part, it wasn’t that different.