Bury Me With It:
Modest Mouse’s Isaac Brock Writes Happy Songs About Death
By Tyson Schuetze

In the winter/spring of 2003 things were not going well for lead singer and guitarist Isaac Brock and his band Modest Mouse. Struggling to keep the band together, Brock was also struggling to write the material that would, with many delays, become the band’s hugely successful new album, Good New for People who Like Bad News. Engulfed in constantly shifting band drama, Brock and I talked on many different occasions, as it was unfolding, trying to setup a time for a more in-depth interview. I was finally able to connect with him on April’s day of fools and we talked for a long time about many things: how he was inspired by Prince, why he thinks Lou Reed’s “Walk on the Wild Side” is the greatest song ever written and how he copes with depression. But mainly we talked about the act of composing music, a process that through many attempts he was never able to fully explain. In the midst of all the turmoil, the notoriously press-adverse Brock was surprisingly happy and unusually candid in his assessment of his music.

T: It sounds a lot better than it does on the cell phone

I: I am sure.

T: The wonders of primitive technology I guess.

I: It is weird. The cell phones get picked up like, sort of like TVs. You know if your videotaping a TV and it doesn’t actually film right, you get all of those lines and shit. For some reason cell phones tend to do that.

T: I don’t know what the hell is going on there, but they definitely pick up all sorts of strange signals. So, let’s start this off on a positive note. What’s the difference collaborating on a side project like Ugly Casanova than with Modest Mouse in terms of the composition process?

I: Well you know…. can I think about that for a second?

T: Yeah

I: (Lighting a cigarette) Well for me it is easier just cause starting from scratch there is no set way that things have been done in the past or any of that jazz, none of the politics of regular band life. As time went on writing songs (with Modest Mouse), I had to give up more and more control so that everyone gets their fair chance. But collaborating on a side project and what not, when you start you are a lot less likely to get bickery with someone over things?less likely to slip into what was comfortable before. I worked with different people on the Ugly Casanova thing. And with Pall Jenkins (Black Heart Procession), I just kind of let him run the show and did my stuff after the fact because that was easier. That’s what felt natural, you know. And Brian (Deck) and I can come up with an idea, one of us tosses something out, the other one tosses something out, we work through it and come up with something great, sit on it, come back, and realize that we don’t like it at all and change it all.

T: So When you are working in that type of situation is it easier for new ideas and spontaneous things to happen because you are not as familiar with one and another?

I: Totally. (laughing) Yeah, there is not more to say than that, it really is that. Also, the Ugly Casanova thing wasn’t a project where I came there with fully written songs or anything you know. The project got built as we went, so it’s a lot easier to be open to ideas if you hadn’t written an entire song and know how you want it to go.

T: Can you hold on one second while I just double-check that this is actually working here. Before we go any further. Let’s start this again here.

I: Just to warn you up front friend, I am not really all that fast on my feet. Just not something that I have always been that good at. A lot of times I get flustered by questions because most of the time when people ask questions its something that I never really think about.

T: Well that’s fine. You can take as along as you want or if it’s a question that you don’t really want to answer or you don’t really have anything, we can just skip over it. Have you seen any noticeable change in your personal style of composition over the years from one album to another and at different stages in your career?

I: Yeah but it changes noticeably between songs is the difference. It really depends. I mean some times I actually do write a whole hell of a lot and I try to make sure that it doesn’t end up the same by being aware of that. No album needs too many of the same songs basically.

T: And when you say “same songs” are you talking about lyrical similarities or are you talking about arrangements?

I: No I am talking about arrangements. Lyrical(ly) I kind of think that it is cool if they tie together really well. But arrangement-wise and shit, it is good to change up. The tone and style of each song should vary a bit you know. It makes for a better story.

T: Do you often find that, say you’re in a period where you are writing a lot, will you write a lot of the same songs in the same key?

I: That would put me in a position of having to claim I knew how any of that shit worked. I’d like to. I used to be really proud and impressed with myself when I was younger that I could do all of this without having to explain all of that shit. And now I am just thinking why? I just want to know what fucking key this is. Other people in the band are having these fucking number or letter conversations. It’s A and I am just looking at the fingers.

T: So it’s much more of an organic process with you when you are sitting down to write songs?

I: Yeah. There is a certain amount of math that goes into it. Not math, but figuring o