Now Here We Are Thirty Years Later Richard O'Brien

Sin as hard as you can. Today's episode is about Shane MacGowan, growing up Catholic in England in the 90s, knocking a few teacups off the shelves, and 'the life of the spirit' in John Darnielle's work from 'Stable Boy Song' to 'Satanic Messiah.' It's 2009, and the song is 'Psalms 40:2.'

Well, they come and pull me from my house. Today’s episode is about ‘Heretic Pride,’ monsters, pagans, ghost cowboys, how a comprehensive knowledge of unreleased Mountain Goats lyrics might come in handy when you least expect it, and a ‘large, eclectic crowd of gay people’ at the City Nightclub in 1986, enjoying ‘the best sound system in Portland & possibly the entire PNW.’

Show notes

A lot of today’s episode is about what life was like for queer teenagers experiencing homelessness on the streets of Portland in the 1980s - an organisation that serves this community today which Darnielle himself has recommended is p:ear, which stands for Project Education, Art and Recreation. While I was in town, programme director Tony Martinez was kind enough to give me a tour of the building and told me about the amazing work they do, helping young people to get anything from socks and basic hygiene products to food service qualifications and opportunities to sell their own artwork. It all starts with looking at ‘youth as youth, intentionally developing relationships’ as the basis for mentorship, rather than a model centered on transactions or case management.

If you enjoy the episode, I don’t charge for any of my work on this project, but you might like to donate to p:ear - you can do so at pearmentor.org/donate. Or if you’re listening in the UK and want to give locally, the charity AKT works for ‘safe homes and better futures for lgbtq+ young people’: you can donate to them on https://www.akt.org.uk/Appeal/donate. If you make a donation to either organisation, tag me on social media - notrockyhorror on Twitter or Bluesky, thirty_years_later on Instagram - to let me know, and I’ll send you a photo. In Portland I didn’t quite manage to ‘shoot a roll of 32 exposures’ - disposable cameras these days seem mostly to come with rolls of 28 - but I do have spare copies of a good few pictures from my trip which I’d be happy to post out in exchange for your generosity if you get in touch.


References: It turns out my hosting platform doesn't allow me to post as long a list of references as I need to here, given the amount of archival material I used in the episode. You can find the normal list of interviews, live shows, etc on this link instead, including persistent links and page number to all the historical newspaper sources: https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vRxvAze26mD0l7oh_P-TeAohyXmL_S7Evk9ZVasio4xrqrC2OIPmx7V4tekBdMbHsic8TwmMMI85Ska/pub

Max Brod Hate Club. Today’s episode is about ‘From TG&Y,’ 2007, writer’s archives, the Mountain Goats fan forums, copying mean lyrics onto your school planner, and how to move a craftsman bungalow down the Santa Fe railroad in the dead of night.

Show notes

Interviews:

Bill Meyer, ‘Goat Ease,’ Puncture, 1994: http://web.archive.org/web/19990427042719/http://mb1.musicblvd.com/cgi-bin/tw/288145857327820_105_4973

‘The Mountain Goats Can’t Buy A Thrill,’ Puberty, 1993/4: https://web.archive.org/web/20140603113938/http://marcopolio.blogspot.com/

Richard O’Brien, ‘The Sound and the Fury: An Interview With John Darnielle,’ 3:am, 2007: https://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/the-sound-and-the-fury-an-interview-with-john-darnielle/

Reese Higgins, ‘The Mountain Goats’ John Darnielle on Internet Addiction, Metal, and the Lifetime Movie Network.’ Washington City Paper, 2013: https://washingtoncitypaper.com/article/412154/the-mountain-goats-john-darnielle-on-internet-addiction-metal-and-the-lifetime-movie-network/

Christian Hoard, ‘The Slow Climb: How the Mountain Goats’ John Darnielle Became the Best Storyteller in Rock,’ Rolling Stone, 2015 [paywalled]: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/the-slow-climb-how-the-mountain-goats-john-darnielle-became-the-best-storyteller-in-rock-227793/

Tom Breihan, ‘We Took The Mountain Goats’ John Darnielle To His First Pro Wrestling Show In 35 Years,’ Stereogum, 2015: https://www.stereogum.com/1788418/we-took-the-mountain-goats-john-darnielle-to-his-first-pro-wrestling-show-in-35-years/interviews/

Craig Jenkins, ‘Genuinely John Darnielle The Mountain Goats’ frontman on keeping the faith, loving the occult, and sad songwriting.’ Vulture, 2022 [paywalled]:https://www.vulture.com/2022/08/john-darnielle-the-mountain-goats-bleed-out.html

Tom Breihan, ‘We’ve Got A File On You: John Darnielle,’ Stereogum, 2022: https://www.stereogum.com/2195715/john-darnielle-mountain-goats-bleed-out/interviews/weve-got-a-file-on-you/

Songwriters on Process: ‘Julien Baker and Matt Nathanson,’ February 2022: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2XHol51wmCjMdUZyzHldMU?si=0aec21182d0140a0&nd=1

Live shows:

Live at the Gold Student Center, Pitzer College, Claremont, CA, on 2006-12-02, taped by Chris Bellew: a href="https://archive.org/details/tmg2006-12-02/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer...

The loneliest people in the whole wide world. Today's episode is about ‘Maybe Sprout Wings,’ Frankie Lymon, the ‘high lonesome sound’ of Appalachian folk music, and a depressive episode at the Trinity LABAN Centre.

Show notes

Interviews:
Tom Lynch, ‘Only the Lonely: Mountain Goats man John Darnielle sings a sad story,’ New City Music, 2006: https://music.newcity.com/2006/09/14/only-the-lonely-mountain-goats-man-john-darnielle-sings-a-sad-story/
Andy Downing, ‘Mountain Goats' Darnielle opens up in `Get Lonely.'’ Chicago Tribune, 2006 [paywalled]:https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2006-09-08-0609080026-story.html
Craig Wright, ‘Mountain Goats' John Darnielle on Chasing Death and Dressing Goth in Portland,’ Willamette Week, 2017: https://www.wweek.com/music/2017/05/31/mountain-goats-john-darnielle-on-chasing-death-and-dressing-goth-in-portland/
Steven Hyden, ‘Celebration Rock.’ ‘20th Century Boss, Part 7: “Tunnel of Love” with John Darnielle.’ Spotify podcast, 2018: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0g1WGiwnjKKcGaYRnKPOuG?si=2b751fe1b0f84e03&nd=1
Craig Jenkins, ‘Genuinely John Darnielle The Mountain Goats’ frontman on keeping the faith, loving the occult, and sad songwriting.’ Vulture, 2022 [paywalled]:https://www.vulture.com/2022/08/john-darnielle-the-mountain-goats-bleed-out.html

Live shows:
Live at Doug Fir Lounge, Portland, on 2005-06-20, taped by Peter Sohriakoff: https://archive.org/details/tmg2005-06-20
Live at Club Europa, Brooklyn, on 2006-09-29, taped by Peter Sohriakoff: https://archive.org/details/tmg2006-09-29/
Live at the Gothic Theater in Englewood, Colorado on 2017-09-16, taped by LMGB Tapes: https://archive.org/details/tmg2017-09-16/
Live at Boulder Theater, Colorado on 2018-09-13, taped by Lance Stack, feat. ‘Duane Allman Slept Here’: https://archive.org/details/tmg2018-09-13.mk4.flac24
Live at Aladdin Theater, Portland, on 2019-09-10, taped by Liz Hamilton: https://archive.org/details/tmg2019-09-10

Web resources:
Japanese liner notes to Get Lonely, featuring Akao Mika interview and translated by Andrew Fazzari, on the Annotated Mountain Goats: https://annotatedtmg.org/mirror/gl-japanese-liner.html
Witchsong, ‘I Don’t Wanna Die In Here: The Mountain Goats in Chicago,’ 2015: https://medium.com/witchsong/i-dont-wanna-die-in-here-the-mountain-goats-in-chicago-df8f1044c75d
Amanda...

Deep in the dream chamber. Today's episode is about 2005, the year I discovered The Sunset Tree: an album that changed my life. It also takes in Keats, Walter Benjamin, amateur Shakespeare productions in Rutland, and the Venerable Bede.

Show notes

Interviews:

Puncture interview with Bill Meyer, 1994: http://web.archive.org/web/19990427042719/http://mb1.musicblvd.com/cgi-bin/tw/288145857327820_105_4973

Washington Post interview with Ivan Kreilkamp, 2004: https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2004/02/04/sure-footed-mountain-goats/534c6689-1848-4538-936a-e6da5230e961/

NPR interview with Linda Wertheimer, 2005: https://www.npr.org/transcripts/4651778

Interview with No Depression, 2005: https://www.nodepression.com/john-darnielle-where-the-truth-lies/2/

The Sound of Young America podcast interview with Jesse Thorn, 2011: https://maximumfun.org/episodes/bullseye-with-jesse-thorn/john-darnielle-mountain-goats-interview-sound-young-america/

MTV interview with Eric Spitznagel, discussing piracy, 2011: http://www.mtv.com/news/2693865/interview-the-mountain-goats-john-darnielle/

SPIN interview with Joe Gross, 2011: https://www.spin.com/2011/04/spin-interview-john-darnielle/

VICE interview with Cam Lindsay, 2011: https://www.vice.com/en/article/bmw7m4/john-darnielle-lived-the-teenage-goth-life-i-never-did

I Only Listen to the Mountain Goats, ‘218: In League With Dragons,’ with Darnielle and Joseph Fink, 2019:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/4cORAS6IHaVredgdNx8FjS?si=33ed8ee10d224894

Interview with Helena Fitzgerald for her Substack, Griefbacon, 2021: https://griefbacon.substack.com/p/dont-write-songs-chatting-with-john

Guardian interview with Oscar Rickett, 2022: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/mar/31/john-darnielle-being-an-american-is-like-living-in-a-terry-gilliam-world

BOMB magazine interview with Carmen Maria Machado, 2022: https://bombmagazine.org/articles/john-darnielle/

Web resources:

Holly Hazlewood’s review of Dark in Here for Spectrum Culture, quoting the press kit: https://spectrumculture.com/2021/06/24/the-mountain-goats-dark-in-here-review/

Bleed Out Bandcamp page with liner notes: https://themountaingoats.bandcamp.com/album/bleed-out

Carl Wilson’s article on The Sunset Tree for The Globe and Mail, 2005: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/hes-finally-confessed-so-hold-on/article18226562/

Edmund Spenser, Sonnet 75: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45189/amoretti-lxxv-one-day-i-wrote-her-name

Heritage Calling article on Newcastle-Gateshead public art over the decades, including Tyne Line of Txt Flow: https://heritagecalling.com/2016/09/07/55-years-of-public-art-in-newcastle-gateshead/

Darnielle on Berryman’s ‘Tampa Stomp’, featuring the reference to ancient Rome: https://fsgworkinprogress.com/2014/04/28/on-berrymans-tampa-stomp/

Wikipedia entry on Benjamin’s ‘Angel of history’: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angelus_Novus

John Keats, ‘This living hand, now warm and capable’: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/50375/this-living-hand-now-warm-and-capable, and Joel Brouwer’s commentary on the poem: https://romantic-circles.org/editions/poets/prose_commentary/brouwer

Geoff Sanborn’s newsletter episode on The Sunset Tree: https://allhail.substack.com/p/2005-the-sunset-tree

JD’s tweet about The Sunset Tree: ‘a record that changed things for us’: https://twitter.com/mountain_goats/status/1519056431126822920

Books:

Bede. A History of the English Church and People. Translated and with an introduction by Leo Sherley-Price, revised by R. E. Latham. Penguin Books, 1968, pp. 127-8.

Alan Bennett, The History Boys. Faber & Faber, 2004.

Antony Sher. Beside Myself: An...

45 minutes in the pews, praying the Rosary. Today's episode is about 'Against Pollution,' Catholicism, ammonites, and spiritual 2004.

Show notes

Interviews

Casual Magic podcast interview on John’s Hare Krishna years with Shivam Bhatt: https://casualmagic.libsyn.com/casual-magic-episode-31-mountain-goats

Live shows

Live at The 40 Watt Club, Athens, GA, on 2006-08-10: https://archive.org/details/tmg2006-08-10.flac16/tmg2006-08-10t18.flac

Live at The Saturn, Birmingham, AL, on 2021-08-08: https://archive.org/details/tmg2021-08-08/tmg2021-08-08-26.flac

Web Resources

Classic FM article on ‘Coventry Carol’: https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/occasions/christmas/coventry-carol-lyrics-meaning-history/

JD tweet about teaching catechism: https://twitter.com/mountain_goats/status/1242608701116162053; also worth noting is this reference to an early Mountain Goats song ‘called “History of the Church Part 2”… about Polycarp rebuking Marcion’:
https://twitter.com/mountain_goats/status/1071071098685534208

Natural History Museum primer on ammonites: https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/what-is-an-ammonite.html

‘The Chambered Nautilus,’ by Oliver Wendell Holmes: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44379/the-chambered-nautilus

Anemona Hartocollis, ‘The Major Findings of Harvard’s Report on Its Ties to Slavery,’ discussing Holmes’s actions as dean. New York Times, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/26/us/harvard-slavery-report.html

‘Exclusive: Hammer Horror Stars Reunite at Bray.’ CinemaRetro, https://web.archive.org/web/20100325031535/http://www.cinemaretro.com/index.php?/archives/257-EXCLUSIVE-HAMMER-HORROR-STARS-REUNITE-AT-BRAY-STUDIOS.html/

Books

Graham Greene, Brighton Rock. Vintage Classics, 2011.

Jeanette Winterson, Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? Vintage, 2011.

YouTube videos

‘Whole Wide World/Against Pollution [Live]’ at the Gothic Theatre in Englewood, CO, on 2021-08-19: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSn6N0Cw_Yg

‘Against Pollution [Live//Halloween//2005]’ – at the Knitting Factory in New York on 2005-10-31, with John dressed as a priest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1kbCQkhezs