Throw a rock these days, and you'll hit a band of
gentle, bearded souls rocking dreamy My Morning Jacket-esque jams. Except that
My Morning Jacket no longer sounds My Morning Jacket-esque. The new Evil
Urges builds
on what began with 2005's Z, an eclectic, economical record that cut down on
the long-winded noodling and airy atmospherics of MMJ's first three records. Evil
Urges is
spacier than Z, but
it's spacey like Sly Stone, not Pink Floyd. While singer-songwriter Jim James
hasn't completely left his old influences behind—much of the record still
draws from the usual well of classic rock and country sounds—his love of
soul and R&B; is more pronounced than ever on Evil Urges, which caused some fans who
heard an early leak of the record to cry foul over stylistic departures like
the hysterical Prince freak-out "Highly Suspicious." James recently talked with The A.V. Club
about Evil Urges, Sly
Stone, My Morning Jacket-esque bands, and taking it to "the next level."
The A.V. Club: How do you think My Morning
Jacket fans will react to Evil Urges?
Jim James: They've already been reacting to it, because
we've played a lot of the songs live. And the album leaked, so I think a lot of
people have heard it. A lot of it has been positive. Some of it has been
negative and confused. But I remember that from when Z came out, and people
really not liking songs like "Wordless Chorus" that were a little different. I
always think time and records are weird things, because I remember hearing some
of my favorite records for the first time and not really liking or
understanding them. People's initial reactions sometimes change. I guess every
record we've ever put out, some people hate it and some people love it. There
have always been people who say, "I wish they'd keep playing rock 'n' roll. I
hate the new stuff." And then there's other people, like, "I love the new
stuff, I'm glad they're not doing the same old shit."
AVC: Do you pay attention to what fans say
about you online?
JJ: It's almost impossible not to. People will e-mail
us shit and say, "Look at what this asshole said!" Or "Look at this beautiful
review!" The Internet is so fucked-up, because we're all tied to it. The way
the band works, we have to check on e-mail every day to get information we
need, like where the hotel is and what time sound check is and all that. I like
to e-mail with my friends and family to keep in contact, but at the same time,
you're getting all these e-mails you don't want to read. Somebody sends you
some link and you're staring at it, like, "Fuck, I guess I'll read it."
AVC: How does that stuff not influence you when
you're making your music?
JJ: It's really tough. It sucks. It hurts when you
read somebody totally rip what you poured out of your heart and soul. And it
feels good when somebody says that it means a lot to them. And in both ways,
it's hard to not let it get in your head. We've been lucky enough to have been
around for a while now, so we've had a lot of experience in that realm. We've
been able to get used to it. I've never been able to understand a band that
releases their first record and it sells 20 million copies, and they spend
forever trying to follow it. That kind of pressure is mind-numbing to me.
AVC: If people react strongly to your record,
even if it's negative, that's a good thing, isn't it? At least you know you aren't
being complacent.
JJ: That's definitely true. I mean, it always bums
you out to hear that somebody doesn't like it. But if somebody has an extreme
reaction, it does make you feel like, "Well, at least they listened to it and
felt something from it." Rather than just "Here's the same old shit." Then
again, people like it if you do the same old shit over and over again. It's
impossible to please everybody. I don't want to do the same old shit over and
over again, but there are people who would be most happy with us if we kept remaking The Tennessee Fire.
At the end of the day, I feel the record makes itself what it wants to be. I
only have so many songs that pop out of my head. There's only so much we can do
to meet people's expectations, or not meet them.