When bands in the “space rock” genre like Failure and Mercury Rev have clearly set the standards (high ones at that), a band these days must really like a challenge to try and overtake them. The Minneapolis quartet Greycoats has done just this; To weave almost seamlessly playful pop rock with ambitious art rock takes gusto as well as brains. The outcome is a eleven track, forty-eight minute symphonic work of art called “Setting Fire To The Great Unknown.” It’s hard to deny that this is at least something truly special. These tarheels have just upped the ante guys, it’s time for the next batch to put their chips in.

Lead guitarist and vocalist Jon Reine answers this week’s Kuestionnaire and gives nice little Christopher Guest reference.

1. Of all the bands/artists in your CD/record collection, which one is your most cherished?

i feel like most everything can and has been replaced. there’s an album that my grandparents made in the sixties with a few of my aunts and uncles at an old time gospel radio station in st. paul – i believe Ray Reine on guitar, Ruby Reine on ukulele and everyone on vocals. side a – hymns in English, side b in Scandinavian. my dad has also made a few albums that i grew up to. in some ways, i probably feel more connected to these than anything else. recorded family history.

2. What have you been listening to lately?

van morrison – astral weeks

mew – and the glass handed kites

animal collective – merriweather post pavilion

charles mingus – ah um mingus

simon and garfunkel greatest hits

the very best of ray charles

dark was the night (compilation)

tom petty – wildflowers

fleet foxes – sun giant ep

to name a few…

3. What’s your favorite local band?

low.

4. What was the last show you attended?

“from sea to shining sea”

my nephew’s third and fourth grade musical revue of the fifty states… the kids brought their A game but, alas, guffman never showed.

5. What was the greatest show you’ve ever been to?

sondre lerche with the faces down at the fine line a few years ago. to watch a band play with such ecstatic joy – i think i smiled through the entire show.

6. What show are you looking forward to?

U2 in chicago this september. i’ve never seen U2. i’ve always been put off by the price of tickets, but i finally realized that i didn’t want to be the guy that has to tell his kids that he missed out on seeing the beatles play live because it was gonna set him back $75. plus, it’s apparently gonna be the most innovative tour set-up in the history of mankind, culminating with the transfiguration of bono, so…

7. What musician would you like to hang out/work with for a day?

philip glass – so i can learn how to arpeggiate.

8. What four albums you would bring to a deserted island?

RADIOHEAD – OK COMPUTER (i was attending an acting school in manhattan when this album came out and i don’t know if i didn’t have the money to just buy the album or what, but i would go HMV music, listen through a pair of headphones to half the album, go to class – come back to hear the other half and so on. it was, and still is such an exciting and gorgeous listen.)

U2 – UNDER A BLOOD RED SKY (early U2 gets you through the winter, after the thrill of christmas and new year’s have passed and you’re left with dirty snow, little daylight, and the cloistered life of introspection and regret. this one got me through february/march of ’09. good medicine. of course, this mostly applies if the deserted island lies somewhere in the north atlantic.)

THE SMITHS – LOUDER THAN BOMBS (from the age of 12 i aspired to coiffing the perfect pompadour. elvis and james dean were gods. television, film and song were better in black and white; technicolor the runner-up. by high school’s end, my hair had met the sky and i had met morrissey. first smiths’ album i bought – some filler, but so much song for the buck)

CHRIS ISAAK – BAJA SESSIONS (in case i decide to embrace my time on the island as an extended vacation)

GAVIN BRYARS – JESUS’ BLOOD NEVER FAILED ME YET (most likely, if i were to be actually marooned on a desert island, i would put this one on repeat and slip between clarity and madness. if you haven’t seen the documentary Deep Water yet, watch it tonight. these things rarely end well.)

9. Would you call yourself a music geek?

i wish. it’s so hard to keep up. always short on time and cash. i do enjoy the wealth of knowledge of the music geek … i also fear their wrath.

10. Any favorite music-related videos/DVDs you own?

Talking Heads – Stop Making Sense, Coachella 2005, The Work of Director Michel Gondry, Radiohead – Meeting People is Easy, U2 – Rattle and Hum, Pixies – Sell Out, Jeff Buckley – Live in Chicago, Bjork – Vespertine Live at the Royal Opera House

11. What’s the last book you read?

re-read ON THE ROAD over our west coast tour in may. great fun to trace the same veins of america as sal paradise.

12. Do you prefer live performances or recording in the studio?

live performances. i’m still trying to figure out how to capture the energy of what happens live in the studio. i still enjoy the studio – it’s a great way to write.

13. Any embarrassing moments on stage you’d like to share?

i’ve played in bands with our drummer, mike, since high school. when we were 19, our band was playing long, brooding quiet songs at a some coffee shop in menomonie when the conversations became louder than the music. in between songs, mike slammed his snare with both drum sticks as hard as he could. the place went silent as he chewed out the crowd for being so rude after we drove an hour to get there in the snow. it was awesome… and awkward to finish our set.

14. Any favorite tour locations?

New York & San Francisco are fantastic cities

we made some friends in Champaign, Illinois – there’s some definite love there.

15. Lastly, what have you done today?

spent most of the day with my wife. i made coffee; she made egg & bagel sandwiches. we watched twelve minutes of saved by the bell in bed, followed by a french movie with a promising start that went on far too long. went on a run along the mississippi river in the freezing rain, took hot showers to warm up, ate microwaved burritos to offset the run, went to our favorite local coffee shop – kopplin’s – to edit a bunch of web content for the band. and back home, where i picked up the guitar and worked on songs to put off what i really should have been doing – this interview.

Greycoats – Goodbye, Sweet Youth, Goodbye

Low – Murderer

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