"I tend to shoot the shit"

Considering he had been falsely accused of rape just a few years before, it was not surprising that Isaac Brock wanted to hide behind side projects and alter egos when I interviewed him back in 2002. The following is an article I wrote about Brock and his short-lived Modest Mouse side project, Ugly Casanova.

Isaac Brock/Ugly Casanova

According to a press release issued by Sub Pop Records, the “official” story behind Ugly Casanova goes something like this… Back in the summer of 1998, a deranged fan named Edgar Graham approached the members of the Seattle-based trio, Modest Mouse, at a show in Denver. Graham, who introduced himself as “Ugly Casanova,” displayed “a gentle, if not slightly unnerving mental disability,” which the members of Modest Mouse found so endearing that they “adopted” him for the rest of their tour. After the tour, Graham/Casanova quickly disappeared, but not before being coerced into sharing valuable song lyrics and musical ideas with Modest Mouse singer-leader Isaac Brock.

The press release goes on to say that this collaboration, along with a “sheaf of ramblings” sent from Graham to Brock the following year, “inspired” Modest Mouse’s acclaimed 2000 album, The Moon and Antarctica. “Then, in November of last year,” the Sub Pop release continues, “a faded and water-damaged bundle was discovered among a stack of old packages during one of those general decontamination purges that so often follows a mail scare… Inside, swathed in tape, Silly Putty and pelts of three identifiable rodents was a greeting from the long lost Graham. Numerous tapes and a list of requests that alternated between raving demands and meek pleas for recognition were extracted from this mess of a package.” From this package, the press release concludes, Brock pieced together a full album’s worth of Ugly Casanova songs, which he and Sub Pop have entitled Sharpen Your Teeth.

Now anyone who has followed Isaac Brock and Modest Mouse throughout their decade-long career knows that there is no such person as Edgar Graham. However, longtime Modest Mouse fans are already quite familiar with the moniker “Ugly Casanova,” which is both the name of Brock’s music publishing company and an early Modest Mouse song. Over the years, loyal Modest Mouse admirers have also grown accustomed to Brock’s mischievous yet closely guarded nature.

“I don’t really play in Ugly Casanova, I just oversee it and things,” Brock tells me from his home in Cottage Grove, Oregon. “I joke! We have good times! [Laughs then pauses.] Ugly Casanova started off as a solo project. But I also wanted to record with a bunch of different people I don’t get to play with too often. So Ugly Casanova wound up being [Moon and Antarctica producer] Brian Deck and me and a few more people. While Brian and I were the two consistent [players] on Sharpen Your Teeth, I also recorded a couple of songs down in San Diego with Pall Jenkins, a fellow from the Black Heart Procession. We also recorded with my friend John Orth, who I met when I lived in Florida, and Tim Rutili, who was in a band with Brian in Chicago called Red Red Meat, and then a band called Califone. Except for those two songs I did in San Diego with Pall, we recorded Sharpen Your Teeth here at my home in Cottage Grove.”

Although Brock is more than willing to talk about the true origin of Ugly Casanova and the recording of Sharpen Your Teeth, the innovative singer-band leader is not as eager to explain the content of his latest songs. Nonetheless, Brock warns that while parts of Sharpen Your Teeth may sound playful or even whimsical, his new album is, in fact, darker and more sinister than any of his past work with Modest Mouse. At least, that is what Brock wants his listeners to believe.

“I probably shouldn’t say anything about the songs,” Brock says to me over the phone. “But this album has some very dark moments. It’s a slower, prettier-type of evil. I wanted to get more of that vibe than I had managed to get on a lot of Modest Mouse things. Not that I hadn’t tried with Modest Mouse, but it’s harder to get that vibe with a full band. And there are only so many times with Modest Mouse I can say, specifically, I want a song without drums on it, or I want a song to have a creepy [vibe]. For example, on one song on Sharpen Your Teeth, Brian and I sat on either end of a piece of plywood and stomped on it. Then, we got chains…”

This summer, Brock will spend time on the road with both of his bands – Ugly Casanova and Modest Mouse. First, Brock and Ugly Casanova will headline a short club tour, and then Brock will join Modest Mouse for the month-long Unlimited Sunshine Tour. In the meantime, Brock is content to stay at his home in Cottage Grove and continue working on what he does best.

“I tend to shoot the shit,” Brock says as our conversation winds down. “But right now I’m writing a song. I’d better get back to doing that anyways.”

http://www.subpop.com/