Modest Mouse frontman Isaac Brock discusses the band's new album, Strangers To Ourselves.

Photo: Photo by Ben Moon

Modest Mouse formed in 1993, in Issaquah, Washington, a small city that has since been engulfed by Seattle’s urban sprawl.

Though they gained a cult following, releasing critically acclaimed albums and touring relentlessly, it wasn’t until their 2004 album Good News For People Who Love Bad News, and the grammy nominated feel-good hit ‘Float On’, that the band came to mainstream attention. Their 2007 album, We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank, which featured Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr, went straight to number one on the Billboard charts. And then … nothing.

Well, not really nothing. They toured for three years, Johnny Marr left, and their longtime bass player Eric Judy left, which led to a collaboration with Nirvana’s Krist Novoselic that will apparently be on the band's next record. They also chewed up and spat out four record producers, including OutKast’s Big Boi, and two mix-down engineers which led to frontman Issac Brock building a studio and taking over the mixing of their just-released new album Strangers To Ourselves.

Music 101's Kirsten Johnstone got Isaac on the line to talk about the record and the unexpected ways he's been filling in his time off.