“I went to the dentist today,” says Koster, reached on the phone from his Louisville home. “The one side of my mouth is just beginning to become un-numb, right as this interview is starting.” The pain in his mouth eventually subsides. Odds are Koster didn’t take to his acoustic guitar to lament for his aching teeth, yet it’s still worth wondering where Koster sees his band in a genre that was born out of pain: the blues.
With six full-length studio albums, countless EP’s and live albums to their name, My Morning Jacket’s eclectic blend of stoner rock will be put on display at Bluesfest in Byron Bay. And while it might be hard to hear the blues in their rapturous, blissful haze, Koster insists if you dig deep enough, it’s there. And it’s there for all musicians.
“Maybe not in the traditional sense of the word,” he says, when asked if the band considers themselves bluesmen at heart. “But if you really think about it, in modern music, the blues has been an influence on almost everything. You can hear the blues in tango, mambo, country, rock’n’roll, soul – it’s really all over the place. The blues is like air and water for a musician as far as I can tell.”
Koster is certainly in a place where he can make that assertion. My Morning Jacket is the kind of band that have walked the long road and have always managed to stay focused on the ideals which brought them together as a band in the first place.
Their continued efforts to maintain their unique position in the world of rock’n’ roll can be heard on Circuital, their latest full-length. It’s their most cohesive and entertaining record to date; still, My Morning Jacket have always thrived on being a live band first and foremost.
From their legendary four hour sets at Bonnaroo to their continued tours throughout the world, My Morning Jacket are a relentless live act. It’s been over six months since the release of Circuital, and Koster is keen to offer insight on how the songs have evolved live.
“It’s funny, it seems like the songs always morph the more you play them and get comfortable with them,” he says optimistically. “They tend to just change organically; they never stay the same. In a lot of ways they’re just vehicles. Every song has chords, structures, melodies, words but they’re always open to interpretation as you can tell whenever anybody covers anybody else,” says Koster with a chuckle. “You have to stay in the moment.”
Though Koster acknowledges the importance of staying in a moment, he can’t help but look back on a series of moments which certainly shaped My Morning Jacket, especially as a live band. In 2006, the band were asked to open for legendary live act Pearl Jam. If My Morning Jacket are any good at all now, Koster admits that Seattle’s favourite sons certainly deserve some credit.
“That was a really great experience for us. To get to play with a band that has such integrity and such soul and such care about what they do, from a business level to an activist level to an artistic level to a personal level. It was an inspiration for us to know we could have something like that. To know that we could do what we do, not compromise anything as a band and be successful at it. We got the idea to get involved in a lot of different things after watching them. They were the ones that inspired us to give a dollar of every ticket from every show we play to a local charity. Ed [Vedder] used to come out and sing with us, before the place was full. It’s that kind of care and attention really rubbed off on us. It’s something we’ve tried to do since we started having the chance to take bands out with us.”
Bluesmen in the purist sense of the word they might not be, but My Morning Jacket certainly know how to overcome sorrow: by challenging themselves. Every record is a step in the evolution of the band. Just as the blues were first used to comfort those in times of trouble, the music of My Morning Jacket brings not only their fans joy, but the band as well.
“I think it’s important as a band to do things out of love, inspiration and pure joy rather than out of fear. And sometimes the fear can thwart you and halt you in your tracks. It’s a fine line. But I don’t know any authors, artists, filmmakers that don’t have works that weren’t challenging. They were always taking chances and not doing things that had already been done. And I hope we’re the same way. We can’t be afraid to fall down and make a mistake.”
BY JOSHUA KLOKE
