The band's current configuration is Isaac Brock (vocals, guitar), Tom Peloso (strings, horns, bass, keyboards), Jim Fairchild (guitar), and Eric Judy (bass)). Plummer has recently become the new drummer for The Shins.
Brock came up with the name "Modest Mouse" when he read the Virginia Woolf stream of consciousness essay The Mark On the Wall in which the author described the working middle class as "modest mouse-coloured people"
Brock frequently moved around with his mother when he was a child. Around this time, his mother left his father for his father's brother (Brock's uncle). Brock's mother's house flooded and forced them to move into his mother's new husband's trailer, but there was no room for Brock. Brock stayed behind, living in the second story of the flooded house, until he was eventually evicted by police. He then moved into a shed next to his mother's house and it is said this is where Brock, drummer Jeremiah Green and bassist Eric Judy first began playing music.
In 1994, the band recorded their debut EP, Blue Cadet-3, Do You Connect?, at Calvin Johnson's Dub Narcotic Studios, which was then released on Calvin's record label K Records. Then followed a single with Sub Pop that was recorded by producer Steve Wold at Moon Studios. Wold, who in the mid-2000's would begin to perform under the name Seasick Steve, would also perform on the band's albums, but was never an official member of the band. After moving to Up Records Modest Mouse put out several releases recorded at Moon Studios, including 1996's This Is A Long Drive For Someone With Nothing To Think About. This double LP was produced and recorded by Steve Wold. The next offering on UP was Interstate 8; also produced by Steve Wold. 1997's The Lonesome Crowded West, (also recorded at Moon Studios, by Scott Swayze) turned out to be the band's breakthrough album. The Lonesome Crowded West gained the band a cult following and is now widely considered by many critics to be one of the defining albums of mid-90s indie rock.
In 2000, Modest Mouse released The Moon And Antarctica, their first album on a major label (Epic Records). The band enjoyed some success on alternative radio with the singles "3rd Planet" and "Gravity Rides Everything." Lead singer Isaac Brock has since put out an album with his side project Ugly Casanova on Sub Pop Records.
In 2003, drummer Jeremiah Green quit the band; the official word was that he was quitting to work with his side project, Vells. He was replaced with two members, drummer Benjamin Weikel (who also drummed for The Helio Sequence) and guitarist Dann Gallucci (Murder City Devils). Weikel being new to the band and Gallucci returning to the band for the first time since This is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About. On April 6, 2004, Modest Mouse released the platinum-selling Good News For People Who Love Bad News, which scored two hits with "Float On" and "Ocean Breathes Salty". In 2004 Jeremiah Green returned to the band, and Benjamin Weikel now drums exclusively for The Helio Sequence. Dann Gallucci left the band in August, and they toured with Hutch Harris of The Thermals during the fall of 2004.
Modest Mouse was mentioned by name in the 2005 Supreme Court decision in the case of MGM v. Grokster. Justice Souter wrote that on the Grokster P2P network, "Users seeking Top 40 songs, for example, or the latest release by Modest Mouse, are certain to be far more numerous than those seeking a free Decameron, and Grokster and StreamCast translated that demand into dollars."
In 2005, multi-instrumentalist Tom Peloso, who already played various instruments on Good News For People Who Love Bad News, officially joined the band. In 2006, Johnny Marr, former guitarist for The Smiths, became an official member of the band.
On March 20, 2007, the band released their fifth album, We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank. Four singles were released from the album: "Dashboard", "Missed the Boat", "We've Got Everything" and "Little Motel". The album debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 album chart. James Mercer of The Shins provides backing vocals on three songs.
In 2009, they released No One's First And You're Next, an EP of unreleased songs from around the time Good News and We Were Dead were recorded, and two songs that had already been released, "I've Got It All (Most)" and "King Rat". The video for King Rat was directed by late actor Heath Ledger.
In 2009, Johnny Marr left the band and was replaced by Jim Fairchild, formerly of Grandaddy. The band performed at several festivals throughout 2009 and 2010, including the main stage of the Reading and Leeds Festivals in 2010.
After an 8 year wait, the band's latest full-length is "Strangers To Ourselves", released March 17th, 2015- two weeks after the original release date, March 3rd, 2015. The album art is an aerial photo of an RV resort located in Mesa, Arizona. Five singles were released before the album, "Lampshades on Fire", "Coyotes", "The Ground Walks, with Time in a Box", "The Best Room", and "Of Course we Know".
Drummer Jeremiah Green passed away from cancer on December 31, 2022 at the age of 45.
Autumn Beds
Modest Mouse Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
We won't be sleeping in our autumn beds
We won't be sleeping in our autumn beds
We won't be sleeping in our autumn beds
October came
Our case got stuck with the day again
So many times they hurt their back
As sure as clocks are bleeding time
We'll show up early just to wait in line
We won't be sleeping
We won't be sleeping
We won't be sleeping
We won't be sleeping
As August came
Our case is drawing to an end
They said guilty so many times
All I heard was just the buzzing lights
As sure as lead sinks were the same
We're just more laundry that they need to hang
We won't be sleeping in our autumn beds
We won't be sleeping in our autumn beds
We won't be sleeping
We won't be sleeping
We won't be sleeping
We won't be sleeping
We won't be sleeping in our autumn beds
We won't be sleeping in our autumn beds
We won't be sleeping
We won't be sleeping
We won't be sleeping
We won't be sleeping
We won't be sleeping in our autumn beds
The lyrics to Modest Mouse's song "Autumn Beds" seem to be about the inevitability of change and the need to adapt to new circumstances. The repeated refrain of "we won't be sleeping in our autumn beds" suggests a feeling of displacement or dislocation, as if the singer is no longer able to find comfort in the familiar. This could be interpreted as a metaphor for growing up or moving on from a long-standing relationship, where the comforts of the past are no longer enough to sustain the present.
The verses also seem to touch on themes of frustration and powerlessness in the face of external forces beyond our control. The lines "They pulled up the welcome mat / So many times they hurt their back" suggest a sense of rejection or exclusion, while the reference to "just more laundry that they need to hang" feels like a statement of dehumanization, as if the singer is being reduced to a faceless object. The mention of a "case" that is "drawing to an end" and the repeated references to "guilty" also suggest a legal or institutional context, where the singer feels unfairly judged or mistreated.
Overall, one could read "Autumn Beds" as a meditation on the impermanence and uncertainty of life, and the need to find meaning and purpose in the face of such instability. The repeated refrain of "we won't be sleeping" could be taken as a call to action, a refusal to accept defeat or give up despite the challenges that lie ahead.
Line by Line Meaning
We won't be sleeping in our autumn beds
The singer and their companions will not have a peaceful and comfortable rest in their familiar surroundings.
We won't be sleeping in our autumn beds
The singer and their companions reiterate that they will not be able to sleep well in their usual beds during fall season.
October came
The calendar month of October has arrived.
Our case got stuck with the day again
Their circumstances involving an uncertain issue remained unchanged and bothersome.
They pulled up the welcome mat
Their hospitality or an invitation was revoked, they are no longer welcome.
So many times they hurt their back
The repeated work troubles the people involved physically and emotionally.
As sure as clocks are bleeding time
Something is certain and inevitable, and time is continuously passing by.
We'll show up early just to wait in line
To have a better chance of succeeding or getting something important done, they will arrive at their destination earlier but would have to wait in line, wasting their time.
As August came
The month of August has commenced.
Our case is drawing to an end
Their predicament and legal issues are approaching a conclusion.
They said guilty so many times
The singer and their companions were accused of being guilty of something repeatedly.
All I heard was just the buzzing lights
There were surroundings with noisy electrical fixtures or machinery, and the artist could not concentrate on what was said to them.
As sure as lead sinks were the same
A comparison to their sinking feeling of guilt or regret, the metal used in their sinks will always be the same.
We're just more laundry that they need to hang
Their situation is just another task to be completed, just like laundry to be hung out to dry.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: ERIC JUDY, ISAAC BROCK, JEREMIAH GREEN, JOE PLUMMER, JOHNNY MARR, TOM PELOSO
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind