WIUX : Pure Student Radio

Of Montreal have gone on far longer than anyone expected back when Kevin Barnes formed the group in the later 1990s. Their new release, Skeletal Lamping (meaning: hunting for skeletons at night by scaring the prey with lamplight), is both their most hi-profile and most experimental album. The album case can be converted into a Chinese lantern monster (a printing error for this Chinese lantern design delayed the release), and the songs refrain from traditional verse-chorus structures in favor of unpredictable jumping between short movements of songs.

“I like the idea of never having a straight narrative.” says Barnes. Skeletal Lamping also revives Georgie Fruit, Barnes’ black, gay, transvestite alter-ego that first appeared on last year’s Hissing Fauna. Georgie Fruit, if you get past his outrageousness, is part of Barnes’ attempt to transcend his own identity and the narrow labels most people attach on themselves. The album, and also Of Montreal’s live shows, invite fans to find their own inner Georgie Fruits, if only temporarily, as if we were children playing dress-up. Their shows are known for costumes and theatricality which rivals that of any Rocky Horror Picture Show or Flaming Lips performance. Girl Talk shows might be an interesting comparison, but when Gregg Gillis takes his clothes off, he never reaches the same explicit sexuality that Barnes emotes on stage, and with the new Georgie Fruit persona, Barnes is reaching Ziggy Stardust levels of charisma.
I had the pleasure of talking with Jamey Huggins, the drummer of Of Montreal, about the album and tour. The band is starting the long leg of the current tour, and he has the flu. Chinese tea and mussels were just delivered, and everyone has been telling him the flu might be partly in his head.

Like all the members of the band, Huggins is no stranger to side projects. His current solo outfit is James Husband, and he’s selling his second album at live shows. James Husband does not have a label, so its distribution is currently limited to Of Montreal’s merch booth. Particularly for this tour, the live shows will be selling an assortment of strange items in addition to the normal CD, LP, T-shirt fare, Huggins says. Maybe they’ll have real Chinese lanterns. Each month, a new T-shirt design phases in and the old one phases out. Huggins even makes one-of-a-kind, hand-painted shirts that he sells at “gourmet prices.”
At a recent show in New York, Barnes rode a live horse (prompting many to make comparisons to Prince). Huggins spoke about how the controversial feedback he received had less to do with Prince than disgust by animal rights activists. He assured me that due to costs, the live horse won’t be back, but expect Barnes riding some fake horses. The live show also has plenty of costume changes. Even Huggins, a drummer, gets three outfits. When I pressed for more information about what the Skeletal Lamping tour would look like, Huggins stayed mum. Of Montreal knows part of the appeal is the surprise.
Since Skeletal Lamping of the sole production of Barnes, his bandmates are left with the daunting task of finding a way to play the pieces live. Barnes sometimes has over a dozen drum tracks in his recordings. Huggins plays live with an regular, acoustic drum kit, while a second drummer uses an electric kit. “I wouldn’t even say it’s close to the recording but in a way it’s more exciting because it’s definitely something special for the live shows that you wouldn’t get just listening to the album.” says Huggins.
Of Montreal is also known for doing live covers. Recently, they’ve been playing Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” “On the last leg of the tour we got in the habit of playing Nirvana every night and it was a surprisingly well-timed cover. We couldn’t decide it was too soon, or too late, or too cheesy, or too popular or whatever. For whatever reason every time we started that little intro every night that got the biggest response of every song. You never can tell.” says Huggins. If you missed their last few shows and you want to hear Nirvana, however, you’re out of luck, as they’ve already discontinued the cover (just like their old shirts) and have new covers that Huggins refused to identify.

If you live in Indiana, you might be miffed by this, especially since the Midwest got skipped for this tour. Cheer up, though, You Ain’t No Picasso’s website archives all the Of Montreal covers.. Huggins says to expect the band coming to Indiana sometime in March. Meanwhile, you can find Skeletal Lamping just about everywhere. Even Walmart has signed on to distribute. Apparently they didn’t read too far into all the Georgie Fruit stuff in the liner notes.

-Brian Kelley