Phillyist Interviews... Chris Funk of The Decemberists

What are you most looking forward to with this upcoming tour?
Obviously, playing and hearing a lot of our arrangements with a symphony will be pretty interesting. It’s sort of like a grand mash-up. We are playing some material that is dating back to beginning of our careers from our discography. It will be exciting to hear a new take on that stuff. That’s the biggest thing. It’s to hear what the arrangers done and how it will check out.

How closely did you guys work with the arrangers?
Not closely at all. I mean, I never even met the guy. You know, we're just like – we weren’t really involved. We just said, “Go for it.” We don’t have any – we had some input on some songs – but it’s been really hands off. We’ve heard computer arrangements of the songs when he sends them to us for our approval. We listened to them, but it’s been really hands off. It hasn’t been like us sitting down and saying, “Oh there needs to be a timpani drum there or an entire brass section” or something like that. It’s really fun. We already presented and recorded the songs as we thought they should be. We could have had large string sections on any of the songs. We chose not to. It’s more exciting to, I think, work with somebody who has a classical mind to see how they interpret the songs – to see how it will plug in. It is sort of the unexpected. For something that we are so used to hearing….

Did [the arranger] send you the music and say this is what you need to learn and play?
He just sends us actual midi files through synthesizers so you can actually hear it. So we said, “Yeah sure, sounds cool!” [laughing]

Will you guys practice together as a band with the new orchestrations or will you work it out once you get there?
We will have one rehearsal once we are in Los Angeles. Naturally, they, the L.A. Philharmonic are all professional musicians so they can sight read and play music right off the cuff. The conductor, Sean O'Loughlin, who is the arranger as well, I think the burden will be on him as we fluctuate on pace here and there. We haven’t played with perfect tempos.

Does it make you nervous to play with that many musicians, under a conductor?
Not really, no. Personally, I grew up playing in high school band and symphonic band. I am pretty used to it. I think it will be nerve racking, since it is not our average concert – I think it’s more exciting. I don’t know, I don’t really feel nervous. I will probably be nervous as I walk on stage but it’s more excitement and more wonder.

Clearly, there’s a generation gap between the people who go to the Pops concerts and the people that go to your regular shows. Do you think this will affect the performance at all?
No, I don’t. I think we all know that it isn't all completely Decemberists fans. For instance, in Los Angeles, they have sold like 11,000 tickets. I know that we don’t have 11,000 fans that come to our concerts all of the time. There are definitely some people who are Pops season ticket holders. That is just how it works. No, I don’t think so. I don’t think it will change at all.

With each new city, what is your practice schedule like?
I think they will be right before the show - probably about one hour before. The symphonies are given the music and probably have a dry rehearsal and I bet there are a lot of people that don’t even pay attention to it. They probably sight read most of it or look at it or scan it over – read it the day before or something. It’s pretty loose. You think we would have extensive rehearsals but I think we are just going on a wing and a prayer and realizing that everyone is a professional. The conductor is a professional and we already know how to play our songs, obviously. It’s just gonna happen; we have our fingers crossed. You never know.

What prompted this whole orchestra collaboration?
What prompted it was our promoter in Los Angeles. I guess our old A&R person from Capitol Records, Laurel Stern, was talking one night to our promoter and I guess this is becoming more commonplace for classical organizations and orchestras to work together. They are trying to revitalize their attendance so it could appeal to a younger audience. You know there are other bands that have done this: John Sebastian at a Hollywood Bowl did it one or two years ago. My Morning Jacket has done it. Matt Ward was supposed to do it though he just recently canceled. Our promoter and A&R person decided that our band was perfect for this. So really it was our promoter that sought it out. We never sought anything out. We were never like, “Oh, let’s see what it sounds like with a symphony orchestra.” I guess we should have but… [laughing]

That’s very cool. How many times have you guys come to Philly before?
Man, our first show was at the Kyber. We played a couple of times there. We performed a couple of times at TLA and maybe twice at the Electric Factory and once at the Tower Theatre recently. Probably about ten times – maybe a little bit less.

The Mann Center of Performing Arts will be a bit different than your regular venues you perform in.
Yeah, I think they all will be. I’ve never been there. Is it nice?

Actually I have never been there either. So this will be a first as well. It’s an outdoor theatre.
It probably will be nice and clean. [laughing]

Yes, definitely. We are really looking forward to this new adventure.
Yeah we are too – we have no idea what to expect.

The Decemberists featuring The Mann Festival Orchestra
Mann Center of the Performing Arts
Sunday, July 15th, 2007
8pm
GET TICKETS