I was reading a copy of the accursed SPIN in the Library the other day, and I was surprised to read a fan’s reaction to their Modest Mouse feature from a few months back.

Basically, she said: “Normally, when I read a piece on a band I like, it makes me think they’d be cool to hang out with. But after reading the piece on Modest Mouse, I don’t even want to live in the same neighbourhood as these guys.”

I was kinda surprised she’d admit to this, but it got me thinking: how much of Modest Mouse’s appeal is based on the fact that Isaac Brock and co. are “white trash?” After all, most of their fans sure aren’t. A musician like Eminem can sing about being white trash and know that a large chunk of his fanbase will either relate, or assume they can relate. I doubt the same can be said of the MM fanbase, especially prior to their mustachioed rise to fame. I think, on one level, the band played a role similar to that of most rappers, titilating their (upper)middle-class white fanbase with lurid depictions of life on the other side of Dick Cheney’s America.

This probably relates to the fact that, at least in my experience, a majority of Modest Mouse fans are female.

In other news…S-K have appealed to their fans not to circulate their new album. I, for one, will abide by their wishes. It’s one thing to steal music from, say, Jeff Tweedy. If anything, you’re not “enabling” him if you bootleg his shit. But stealing from good musicians like Sleater-Kinney is wrong, if they ask you nicely not to do it.

Solidarity with S-K! See you in a month.