The Decemberists

This is the 77th post in our Musician of the Day series.



The Decemberists were formed in 2000 when frontman Colin Meloy (singer/songwriter) left his band in Montana and hit the road to Portland, Oregon. Not long after he met Nate Query (bass guitar, string bass) and then Jenny Conlee (hammond organ, accordion, melodica, piano, keyboards). Chris Funk (guitar, multi-instrumentalist) also performed with The Decemberists from the beginning and was eventually made an official member. The drummer of the band has changed throughout the progression of the band and is currently John Moen (drums, backing vocals, melodica).

In 2002 the band released their first album Castaways and Cutouts on Hush Records in 2002. The following year they released Her Majesty the Decemberists.

The Decemberists have a unique indie/rock/folk sound and they tend to be anything but conventional. In 2004 they released "The Tain" which was a song that ran over 18 minutes and was based on an Irish Myth. They also recorded their third album, Picaresque inside a church.

In 2006 after switching labels for a second time they released The Crane Wife. That same year the band gained massive recognition due to Stephen Colbert. The band was simply trying to create a music video for one of their songs by using a green screen. Colbert insisted that he came up with the green screen challenge first and the band responded that their lightsaber fight came before his green screen challenge. In the end the band agreed to a guitar solo competition on The Colbert Show. Stephen Colbert faked a hand injury and called in Peter Frampton to take over and Frampton won the audience vote. But as a reward everyone in the audience got a copy of the new Decemberists album.

Their most recent album The Hazards of Love was released March 24th, 2009 and was their most successful album yet peaking at #14 on the billboard charts.

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