DOWN WITH PANTS!

Down With Pants! was doing an interview with Seattle band Citizen's Utilities while DJing at KGRG and for whatever reason we didn't have their CD to play so we talked about and played the band that they were playing with that weekend. I got thrown into the interview at the last second and didn't know anything about either band so we played some songs and talked about them. That was my first introduction to Modest Mouse. Eventually "Dramamine" became a big favorite of mine when I would play it at full volume at around 4:00 AM while doing the 2-6 AM shift at KGRG and completely trip and veg out for five and a half minutes.

They played one of our benefit concerts and were absolutely awful. They were drunk and high and couldn't find any kind of rhythm. The drummer asked us to stop flashing some of the lights above him because it was knocking him off beat to much. Isaac couldn't sing or play and we thought that it was probably the last we'd see of them. There album was quirky and interesting but none of us could see them as a band in the future. Little did we know they would eventually put out two of the most incredible albums of the last five years, 2000's The Moon & Antarctica and now Good News For People Who Love Bad News

The Moon and Antarctica was a brooding, harsh look at some of the things that were bothering Isaac at the time like the price of his even modest fame (like his date-rape accusation and subsequent outing in the Seattle music scene). It was dark and moody but beautiful at the same time. Good News is still a bit like that. The lyrics are a bit simpler and it's not nearly as complex of an album but it's much more catchy and infectious and equally as beautiful. It's a masterpiece in DWP!'s opinion and you should run out and get it quick...