hypersongs

Modest Mouse

An indie rock band formed in Issaquah, Washington in 1993 around Isaac Brock, with The Lonesome Crowded West (1997) as its early landmark and "Float On" its best known single.

Issaquah

Modest Mouse formed in 1993 in Issaquah, Washington, a town Isaac Brock chose to avoid association with the Seattle and Olympia scenes. Brock met the bassist Eric Judy while both worked at a family video store near Seattle, and they met the drummer Jeremiah Green at a heavy metal show. The name comes from a line in Virginia Woolf's story "The Mark on the Wall". Their first EP, Blue Cadet-3, Do You Connect?, came out on K Records in 1994, recorded at Dub Narcotic Studio. On Up Records they made This Is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About (1996), the Interstate 8 EP and The Fruit That Ate Itself (1997).

The Lonesome Crowded West was released on November 18, 1997, recorded between May 22 and June 7 at Moon Studios in Olympia and at Avast and Jon & Stu's in Seattle, and produced by Calvin Johnson, Brock and Scott Swayze. It sold over 60,000 US copies by June 2000. Stereogum's Sam Hockley-Smith called it the album that made Modest Mouse a great band instead of just a good one, and Pitchfork placed it 29th on its albums of the 1990s. Building Nothing Out of Something (2000) collected singles and rarities, and The Moon & Antarctica (Epic, 2000, produced with Brian Deck) earned Pitchfork's 9.8.

Good News and after

Good News for People Who Love Bad News (April 6, 2004) went platinum and earned a Grammy nomination for Best Alternative Music Album, with "Float On" nominated for Best Rock Song. Johnny Marr joined from 2006 to 2009, and We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank (March 20, 2007) became their first Billboard 200 number 1. Judy and Joe Plummer left in 2012, leaving Brock the only constant member. Later albums are Strangers to Ourselves (March 17, 2015), The Golden Casket (June 25, 2021) and An Eraser and a Maze (June 5, 2026). Jeremiah Green died on December 31, 2022.

Setlist.fm shows "Float On" played 852 times, "Dashboard" 798, "Tiny Cities Made of Ashes" 741 and "Doin' the Cockroach" 694. The band toured with Weezer in 2023, co-headlined with the Pixies in 2024 and toured with the Flaming Lips in 2025. NME's Jim Alexander called them the sound of the Pacific Northwest.

Albums

Songs

  • Trailer Trash The Lonesome Crowded West · 1997

    Track eight of The Lonesome Crowded West, a 5:49 song about growing up in Issaquah, with Dann Gallucci on guitar.

  • Teeth Like God's Shoeshine The Lonesome Crowded West · 1997

    The opening track of The Lonesome Crowded West, credited to the whole band.

Sources

  1. Modest Mouse, Wikipedia
  2. The Lonesome Crowded West, Wikipedia
  3. Modest Mouse, The Lonesome Crowded West, PopMatters (2021-07-23)
  4. Modest Mouse, setlist.fm