MODEST MOUSE LIVE Fulsome beards on faces, fearsome tea-cosies on heads – this is indie rock. Text: Christopher Holder
Nothing says ‘Indie Rock’ like two drummers on stage. It says, “anyone can have one drummer – one wage, one set of drum flight cases, one riser, one ego – but we choose to walk the path less travelled.” Mind you, there must be times when Modest Mouse would look wistfully on at other ‘normal’ bands with only ‘the’ one drummer. Like the night I rocked up to the Prince Bandroom in St. Kilda. The Prince’s corner stage is adequately proportioned for most rock bands, but this night was something else. The support act’s gear was clinging by its finger nails to front of stage, while Modest Mouse’s two drum kits, bass rig, two electric guitar rigs, keys, upright bass setup, along with a fullblown JBL sidefill (just for the occasion) made for the most crowded stage I’ve ever laid eyes on. Tip-toeing around the ‘tulips’ of pedals, DIs, leads and mic stands was positively treacherous. Evan Player mixes the band. He’s been in the band’s orbit for many a year. He doesn’t have a beard, and generally eschews strange headgear. Saying that, he’s grown a moustache, more than likely especially for the Australian tour. Evan’s turned his back on a life on the road for a settled existence in New York with his fashion industry Australian wife and two young kids. He’s the Production Manager of a successful Brooklyn venue, Music Hall of Williamsburg. The band convinced Evan to come out on tour ‘one last time’. NEITHER MODEST NOR MOUSEY
Christopher Holder: What’s the Modest Mouse attitude to touring Evan? I’m guessing it’s not about faithful album recreation? Evan Player: For Modest Mouse, it’s not about recreating the record, it’s a lot more powerful live – with a lot more energy – and that’s important to them. The reason the band is so big is because they present a big live experience. They have the ability to have brass on one song, keyboards on another, with people floating about playing different instruments. That aspect of the performance is important to them – the sheer amount of stuff going on. CH: How do you approach mixing this amount of stuff?
EP: I approach mixing them by not getting in the way. Having someone play a drum over and over and over is counter-productive. For one thing, it simply won’t achieve the result I’m after once the two drummers are playing flat-out. I could spend hours digging into something with EQ but once it’s back in the mix, it won’t fit. For me, Modest Mouse is all about looking at the whole picture, and making that sound good. I do that by softening things; rounding things out rather than having everything competing for attention. CH: So you’re doing your best to ‘stay out of the way’ and ensure the band feels comfortable? EP: That’s right, which means getting monitors sorted out first of all. This show is the first of the Australian tour so we had a rehearsal yesterday. Once I’m comfortable with the mic setup I’m just happy for them to get on with playing. I know I have time on my hands to sort a mix out, so I massage things into place slowly. At the end of the soundcheck, I thought – I haven’t heard the toms yet. So once they were all done and most of the band had gone, I went through the toms. I did a little something to them and that was it. I had my mix. It may not be totally there but it’s as close as I need it to be. CH: By which you mean, it’s going to sound a good deal different when the room fills up with punters? EP: That’s right, we’re rehearsing in a big empty room and in my experience I’m careful not to paint myself into a corner with overly dramatic EQ. It’s better to do the fix when the gig starts rather than remedially putting frequencies back in – re-EQing for the first three songs. With a bit of experience you’ll know the areas you need to address when the gig kicks off. CH: Sounds like you trust your instincts? EP: I think so. For example, I don’t Smaart rooms. I know people get great results using Smaart, and sure, it’s a science but it’s subjective in equal measure – you need to use your judgement as well as your ears.
Vocal Sound: “Isaac is using an Audix OM7 on his vocals. He’s used a 58, a 935, it really depends on who’s doing monitors. It’s a loud band so I’m happy to defer to the monitor engineer most times – whatever he feels will allow him to get the most out of the vocal. It’s an aggressive vocal style, and it’s not about nuance or clarity. Super clean? No, it just needs to be there.”
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