The Decemberists are here - Radio City tonight w/ Robyn Hitchcock who is in Brooklyn w/ Takka Takka Thursday

Colin Meloy in Ohio, June 1st ’09 (unruly badger)

Ah, yes, young Meloy….Colin, isn’t it? Yes, yes…jolly good. I must say he is a springy lad…most flexible…hewn of wands, you know…they splice them down by the river…he was part of a group that lost contact with the main tribe, and drifted to Montana. I found him in the bushes, whistling to a frog. He later said it was me, perhaps he was right. A majestic performer, at ease with himself, his audience and his material in away that makes me quite…envious. He is…well, he’s not old, you know…still green of leaf and…always springy, did I mention? Oh yes, well, the thing is: he’s young but he goes back a long way. That’s right – he leads from the old path. The deeper your roots, the broader your branches, I always say. Especially if you’re a tree. Colin has magnificent roots, he showed me them in a forest. What did you say? Prog Folk? Or Fog Polk? In San Francisco, probably, I know he was there…or was I there?…yes, we were both there, but not at the same time. I get confused with the other chap…not Dr Partridge…he’s sitting over there, I think it’s him…no, Colin is very…to me he’s the ultimate British rock star…in a way that he couldn’t be if he was from Britain, because he’s have to come from some sector of society that the other sectors would resent him for….(Canon Morrisey, that’s the fellow – or is he dean now?)…no Colin has it in perspective and can be it in a way that only an outsider can. So he has the brogues, and the lamps, and the canvas…the pavilion…the lashes and the brand…although he’s most careful with them both…and most of all, he has the voice. With a little technological help, he could yet be duetting with
Sandy Denny

– if he hasn’t already. Hmmm? Did I say he was springy? Ah yes…young Meloy….

– Robyn Hitchcock [to Paste]

The Decemberists are still on the road, playing their new album Harzards of Love from start to finish — they’ll be touring North America (with some time off) till August. Updated dates are below. The band visits NYC’s Radio City Music Hall on Wednesday, June 10th (TONIGHT). Tickets are still on sale.

“Apropos, the stage backdrop was a silk screen draped with tumbling, gauzy cocoons and lit in blood and chlorophyll. Meloy, dressed like he wanted to borrow just a moment of your time to discuss the Good News, played the role of Narrator/William the Forest Prince. Becky Stark, as Margaret, wore a white sequined gown of the sort usually found in a giant trunk in the attic; I’d bet anything it originally came with a giant cone-shaped hat. Shara Worden, as The Forest Queen, dressed in a loose black dress and silver tights, leaving her free to steal the show with some body-rocking that was extemporaneous and silly and improbably sexy.” [Washington City Paper]

Becky Stark and Shara Worden are reprising their guest spots on Hazards of Love, and more, live. See a video of Stark, Worden and Meloy cover Heart’s “Crazy On You” on tour, below.

Speaking of guests, Robyn Hitchcock, who played some guitar on Hazards, is opening select dates for the Decemberists with his band, the Venus 3. That group consists of Peter Buck (R.E.M.), Scott McCaughey (Young Fresh Fellows) and Bill Rieflin (Ministry). They’ll open the Decemberists’ Radio City gig.

The guys in that band — McCaughey and Buck, specifically — are also in The Minus 5. That group will release an album called Killingsworth on Yep Roc on July 7th. From that record, the song “Scott Walker’s Fault” features Colin Meloy on lead vox. Meloy also sings on Robyn’s newest disc.

Robyn Hitchcock has his own NYC headlining show on Thursday, June 11th (the night after the Decemberists gig) at the Bell House. Tickets are still on sale. The openers for that show will be Ken Stringfellow and Takka Takka.

Takka Takka’s singer and guitar player Gabe Levine was recently interviewed by MC Steinberg on NY Noise, and Gabe recently went solo – playing and recording under the name Samuel Izdat.

Storefront Hitchcock, a 1998 concert film directed by Jonathan Demme and featuring Robyn Hitchcock, is now streaming online. See that video, and an exclusive interview with Hitchcock from SXSW earlier this year, with all Decemberists tour dates, below…

The Decemberists w/ Becky Stark & Shara Worden – Crazy On You

The Decemberists – 2009 Tour Dates
06/10 New York, NY Radio City Music Hall ^
06/13 Manchester, TN Bonnaroo Music Festival
06/20 Minneapolis, MN Walker Art Center Rock The Garden *
07/17 Redmond, WA Marymoor Park % @
07/18 Portland, OR Edgefield % @
07/19 Portland, OR Edgefield % @
07/21 Vancouver, BC Vogue Theatre @
07/22 Vancouver, BC Vogue Theatre @
08/01 Newport, RI Newport Folk Festival
08/02 Montreal, QC Osheaga Music & Arts Festival
08/03 Toronto, ON Kool Haus $
08/05 Madison, WI Orpheum Theatre $
08/07 Chicago, IL Lollapalooza
08/08 Indianapolis, IN Murat Theatre $
08/10 Louisville, KY W.L. Lyons Brown Theatre @
08/11 Royal Oak, MI Royal Oak Theatre $
08/14 Pittsburgh, PA Byham Theater $
10/03 Austin, TX Austin City Limits Festival
@ with Blind Pilot
^ with Robyn Hitchcock and the Venus 3
% with Andrew Bird
$ with Heartless Bastards
* with Calexico, Yeasayer and Solid Gold

Robyn Hitchcock – 2009 Tour Dates
Jun 10 – Radio City Music Hall New York, NY
Jun 11 – The Bell House Brooklyn, NY
Jun 13 – Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival Manchester, Tennessee
Jun 28 – Glastonbury Festival Glastonbury
Jul 16 – Latitude Festival Suffolk, England
Jul 17 – Latitude Festival Suffolk, England
Jul 19 – London Barbican London
Oct 2 – Austin City Limits Festival Austin, Texas
Oct 3 – Austin City Limits Festival Austin, Texas
Oct 4 – Austin City Limits Festival Austin, Texas