As ever, the global rock and indie communities are doing their bit for the victims of a devastating natural disaster. The latest is that John Darnielle and his literate ensemble The Mountain Goats are auctioning off a cassette demo the band made back in May 2001, with the proceeds going to Doctors Without Borders.
Pitchfork reports that the tape, which includes the song Eugene Sue and is labeled with ‘FRENETIQUES’ demos on its spine, is up for auction on Ebay. Darnielle wrote about the early demo on the band’s website, saying, “The tape is dated 5/27/01, and is labeled “FRENETIQUES demos” on the spine, but that plural is deceptive: it has only one song on it. The song’s called Eugene Sue. I spent today trying to figure out why it’s called that, but no luck. Quick math tells me that this is the tape I had planned on making the next work-tape before I decided to write Tallahassee instead.”
Darnielle, a fine blogger, added, “The song, which if I do say so myself has a catchy little chorus, is about doom & disaster, about which I feel a little weird given the circumstances, but what can I tell you: doom, disaster and a sunny disposition is what I do. The song features a spoken intro giving play-by-play information about the muted Cubs vs. Reds game I was watching when I got the idea for the song.”
The Mountain Goats are about to embark on a US tour, before heading over to Europe for dates in May.
