Oregon-based band has hit the big time, with a highly anticipated A.C. debut at the Borgata July 29.
If you had asked Chris Funk back in 2005 if he thought his band the Decemberists would join the ranks of mainstream music, he probably would have looked at you sideways and inquired about your medicinal regimen.
At the time, the Oregon-based music group led by songwriter Colin Meloy had just put out their third studio album entitled Picaresque on Kill Rock Stars, a small indie label, and were just getting used to their first round of monetary success. During that period, says Funk, the group’s guitarist/multi-instrumentalist, “[bands] like us didn’t sell out stadiums.”
Now, however, that is no longer the case.
The group’s trajectory of success has risen slowly but steadily upward in the last six years. Despite having unconventional instrumentation and producing songs that are often inspired by obscure folk tales, the Decemberists’ audience has grown from the modesties of an indie following, to widespread, national acclaim.
In 2005 the band signed to major label Capitol Records and released The Crane Wife, which was voted as best album of 2006 by NPR listeners. This was followed by the groups’ epic masterpiece, Hazards of Love, released in 2009.
On Friday, July 29, the Decemberists will grace the Borgata in Atlantic City and play tunes from their latest studio album The King is Dead, which topped the Billboard 200 upon its release in January. Funk recently called Atlantic City Weekly from Portland to chat about the groups’ demanding 2011 tour.
I’m looking at your tour schedule right now and it looks pretty intense. Do you think you’ll get to spend any time in Atlantic City after your show on the 29th?
I don’t even know. I don’t really look where we’re going until I’m on the road these days.
Do you gamble at all?
Not really. [But] when in Rome, I suppose I would.
Let’s get right to the new record. Can you talk a little bit about your role in the creation of The King is Dead?
In a recent phone interview with All-American Rejects guitarist Mike Kennerty, he addresses the Rejects’ fans, the new album — released March 27 on Interscope — and the tour, which will be making a stop in Atlantic City at the Borgata on Friday, April 13.
“We knew it was going to be a bit different than what we experienced in Britain,” Turner says. “It’s much bigger [in the U.S.]”
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Atlantic City Weekly will be bringing you live photos, blogs and more from the DMBC festival this weekend at Bader Field in Atlantic City.
Wayne Coyne: 'You watch endless episodes of America’s Next Top Model and before you know it, it’s July. It’s always like that.'
Thousands of people — from all over the region and country, and some from abroad — trickled into Bader Field throughout the day on Friday, from when doors opened at 1pm till close to 9pm.
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