ON ASSIGNMENT: In The Lonesome Crowded West

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Photo by PAT GRAHAM

Heading out to Portlandia to talk to this guy for these guys. Then up to Seattle to talk to these guys for these guys. It’s a lot of guys. And a LOT of running around the Pac Northwest. As such, the pace of our updates schedule will slow for the time being. I’ll be back in the office March 1. Behave.

RELATED: More than any other band, Modest Mouse represented the ascendency of indie rock at the turn of the millennium. True dyed-in-the-wool independent musicians, after years of touring and recording, in 2004, these indie darlings released the platinum-selling Good News for People Who Love Bad News, changingModest Mouse CVR the face of popular rock music and opening the door for a new wave of like-minded peers. Modest Mouse frontman Isaac Brock and photographer Pat Graham were housemates in 1992, in Washington, DC. In 1997 Modest Mouse embarked on their first U.S. tour, and Isaac asked Pat to come out and help with managing and driving, and most importantly to photograph the tour. What followed over the next 12 years were a continuing friendship and many tours across the USA, Europe, and Japan. Modest Mouse is Graham’s firsthand, intimate, visual history of a good friend and the band that he created. His photographs of Isaac Brock and Modest Mouse are a rare and privileged view. Onstage and 10,000 miles off of it, Graham’s remarkable photos record the broken down vans, overflowing merch tables, adoring fans, blown amps, couches turned into beds for weary tourmates, performance injuries, more filthy than average motel rooms, run-of-the-mill truck-stops, zen moments and breathtaking landscapes, and scores of other sights of almost a decade on the road, along with both compelling and candid portraits of the band members and their friends. Witness to all the highs and the lows of the road, Modest Mouse is a treasure for anyone interested in a backstage view and a deeper understanding of the glory, grit, and grime of rock and roll. MORE