Colin Meloy’s songs arrive by steamer and sailboat, planes and trains and automobiles—each a succinct narrative with melodies stashed in the trunk or overhead compartments. Meloy and his band, The Decemberists, will perform at the Charlottesville Pavilion on Thursday as part of their tour for The Hazards of Love—a rock opera split between "Leda and the Swan" and Giselle, thick with British folk and Black Sabbath menace.
The Decemberists will perform The Hazards of Love album in its entirety, then draw from among four other studio albums and a handful of EPs for a second set. C-VILLE asked Meloy if he had time for a few more stories, and he obliged us.
The Decemberists play the Charlottesville Pavilion on Thursday, September 24.
On reading Infinite Jest as part of Infinite Summer:
I think we’re two days away [from finishing], and I’m right on track. Got a little bit behind over the last week, but I’m now caught up and ready to come in at the finish line with all the rest of the people.
On Feedback’s failure to finish the book:
Totally respectable. And it makes a good doorstop.
On family stories:
I think Maile [Meloy, his novelist sister] picked up on that stuff more than I did… But occasionally there are some things in stories of the family that we both have mined. I think there’s a mention of a Canadian running liquor in one of her stories, and I make mention of that in one of my songs. And that came from an actual Montaigne, my mother’s side of the family, who lived in Canada and would run liquor into Detroit. He ended up getting shot in the gut by mobsters.
On the musical tastes of his son, Hank:
His tastes really run the gamut. As far as music, his favorite songs to sing are "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star," the "ABC" song… But his favorite songs to listen to? I’m grateful that “The Engine Driver” happens to be one of his favorite songs, along with “Space Oddity,” by Bowie, which has this weird effect over him whenever we play it. He launches into this kind of wide-eyed reverie listening to the song, then just howls for more after it’s finished.
On the physical demands of the Hazards of Love tour:
When we played South by Southwest, and played Hazards of Love for the first time start to finish, and did a few songs as an encore, I remember walking offstage after Hazards of Love, and thinking “Oh my god, I can’t believe we’re actually going to be doing that, and taking a break, and coming back after to do another set of material. That sounds crazy.” But Springsteen’s doing three hours and he’s in his 60s. We can handle a few hours pretty easily.
On working with English songwriter Robyn Hitchcock for The Hazards of Love:
We were waiting, getting close to mixdown, finishing the tracking, and I was like, "He’ll totally get it to us. I keep e-mailing him, but I’m not hearing back from him. But he said he would do it. And then, John [Moen, drumer] came in one morning and said, "Hey, did you hear that Robyn Hitchcock’s in the North Pole, on a boat, looking at the icebergs?" The joke is that, whenever you need something from Robyn, he’s north of Greenland in a boat, looking at the icebergs.
