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.
The View
Modest Mouse Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Well you shot off your mouth and look where it got you.
My mouth runs on too.
Shouts from both sides,
"Well we've got the land but they've got the view!"
Well now here's the clue.
And yeah I hope it put plenty on you.
Well I hope mine did too.
As life gets longer, awful feels softer.
Well it feels pretty soft to me.
And if it takes shit to make bliss,
Then I feel pretty blissfully.
Your gun went off.
Well you shot off your mouth and look where it got you.
My mouth runs on too.
Shouts from both sides,
"Well we've got the land but they've got the view!"
Well now here's the clue.
We are fixed right where we stand.
Life it rents us.
And yeah I hope it put plenty on you.
Well I hope mine did too.
We are fixed right where we are.
As life gets longer, awful feels softer.
Well if feels pretty soft to me.
And if it takes shit to make bliss,
Well I feel pretty blissfully.
For every invention made how much time did we save?
We're not much farther than we were in the cave.
As life gets longer, awful feels softer,
And it feels pretty soft to me.
And if it takes shit to make bliss,
Well I feel pretty blissfully.
If life's not beautiful without the pain,
Well I'd just rather never ever even see beauty again.
Well as life gets longer, awful feels softer.
And it feels pretty soft to me.
For every good deed done there is a crime committed.
We are fixed.
For every step ahead we could have just been seated.
We are fixed.
As life gets longer, awful feels softer.
Well it feels pretty soft to me.
And if it takes shit to make bliss,
Well I feel pretty blissfully.
We are fixed.
We are fixed.
We are fixed right where we stand.
The lyrics of Modest Mouse's song The View start with a gunshot, which the singer interprets as a metaphor for someone shooting off their mouth without thinking about the consequences. The opening lines suggest that both the singer and the person being spoken to are guilty of this, and while they were arguing over who had the better choice of land, they failed to see the beauty of the view. The singer seems to have come to an understanding that life is short, and it is not worth fighting over things that do not matter in the grand scheme of things.
Throughout the song, the lyrics assert that humans are "fixed" where they are, and they can only hope life has treated them well. The line "As life gets longer, awful feels softer" suggests that over time, people become desensitized to the difficult parts of life. The singer seems to have found a sense of peace despite acknowledging the dark side of human nature. The lyrics "For every good deed done, there is a crime committed" juxtapose the opposing forces of good and evil and emphasizes that fixing one's self in one place is necessary to avoid getting caught between the two.
The chorus of the song, "We are fixed right where we stand," emphasizes the idea that humans are powerless to change their fates. In a world where everything from the past influences the present, we are inevitably fixed, and there is nothing we can do to change it. The song is a commentary on human life and a reminder that we should learn to appreciate the beauty of things around us.
Line by Line Meaning
Your gun went off.
Your true nature has been exposed in your words or actions.
Well you shot off your mouth and look where it got you.
Your recklessness has led to a negative outcome for yourself.
My mouth runs on too.
I am not immune to this tendency to speak without thinking.
Shouts from both sides,
There is contention and animosity from different perspectives.
"Well we've got the land but they've got the view!"
There is a sense of envy and desire for something that is perceived to be better.
Well now here's the clue.
This is a hint or insight into the truth of the situation.
Life it rents us.
Life is temporary and fleeting, and we are mere renters of this experience.
And yeah I hope it put plenty on you.
I hope you have experienced a significant amount of hardship and challenge in your life.
Well I hope mine did too.
I too have experienced struggle and adversity, which has made me who I am today.
As life gets longer, awful feels softer.
As we age and gain more life experience, even the most difficult trials become more bearable with time.
Well it feels pretty soft to me.
The challenges I have faced do not seem insurmountable when I reflect on them now.
And if it takes shit to make bliss,
Sometimes hardship is necessary to appreciate the joys and pleasures of life.
Then I feel pretty blissfully.
Despite the difficulties I have faced, I am able to find happiness and contentment in my life.
We are fixed right where we stand.
We are stuck in our current circumstances, unable to change our situation.
For every invention made how much time did we save?
The progress of technology and innovation has made our lives more efficient, but at what cost?
We're not much farther than we were in the cave.
Despite our advancements, we are still primitive in many ways and have not fundamentally changed as a species.
If life's not beautiful without the pain,
Perhaps it is the struggles and hardships we face that give our lives purpose and meaning.
Well I'd just rather never ever even see beauty again.
I would rather not experience the good if it means having to endure pain and suffering as well.
For every good deed done there is a crime committed.
There is a balance of good and evil in the world, and it is impossible to have one without the other.
We are fixed.
Once again, we are stuck in our current situation and unable to change it.
For every step ahead we could have just been seated.
It is possible that all of the progress we have made has been for naught, and we could have simply remained stagnant and content.
We are fixed.
Our circumstances are unchangeable and we must learn to accept them.
We are fixed.
We are stuck in this situation and may never escape it.
We are fixed right where we stand.
We are unable to move forward or backwards, but must face the present moment where we find ourselves.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: DANN GALLUCCI, ERIC JUDY, ISAAC BROCK
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind