modest mouse

     

Moest Mouse is an American indie rock band formed in 1993 in Issaquah, Washington by singer/lyricist/guitarist Isaac Brock, drummer Jeremiah Green, bassist Eric Judy, and guitarist Dann Gallucci. Since their 1996 debut album, This Is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About, their lineup has centered around Brock, Green and Judy. Guitarist Johnny Marr (formerly of The Smiths), who lives in Portland, Oregon, joined the band in May 2006, along with percussionist Joe Plummer (formerly of the Black Heart Procession) and multi-instrumentalist Tom Peloso, to work on the album We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank. Since being signed to Sony's Epic Records in 2001, the band has attained significant popular success. Elements of Modest Mouse's early sound have been likened to or inspired by that of Pixies, Built to Spill and numerous other alternative rock bands. Their name is derived from a passage from the Virginia Woolf story "The Mark on the Wall" which reads "I wish I could hit upon a pleasant track of thought, a track indirectly reflecting credit upon myself, for those are the pleasantest thoughts, and very frequent even in the minds of modest mouse-coloured people, who believe genuinely that they dislike to hear their own praises."