Pop Quiz: Mark Kozelek

Pop Quiz: Mark Kozelek

Aidin Vaziri | Mark Kozelek, lead singer of Red House Painters and Sun Kil Moon, has always had eccentric taste in covers. A few years ago, the San Francisco singer-songwriter put out an entire collection of Bon Scott-era AC/DC tunes, rendered unrecognizable in a low-key folk style. For his latest release, "Tiny Cities," Kozelek gives an extreme makeover to 11 songs by indie rockers Modest Mouse. It's the first release on his own Caldo Verde imprint and will also be available on vinyl through director Cameron Crowe's Vinyl Films label featuring an alternate version of "Exit Does Not Exist."

Mark Kozelek
Q: How did you become an expert on Modest Mouse all of a sudden?
A: I saw them by accident. I went to see this band the Shins, who were opening for them a few years ago, and Modest Mouse just came out and all these weird cryptic lyrics were unraveling and the music was really explosive. You could tell this band had been together for a while. You could feel this history and you don't really get that sort of payoff when you go see a band like the Killers or Franz Ferdinand or something.
Q: Before Modest Mouse came along, you didn't own too many records that were made after 1976.
A: It's really true. That's the thing. Isaac Brock is an exceptional writer, and you don't see that anymore. He just gets really deep down in this stuff and the lyrics take all these twists and turns. To me, it's almost like Bob Dylan or Neil Young. It stops you in your tracks. You don't know what it is, but something about it makes you stop and think and feel, and it puts you in this other place.
Q: How do you go from covering AC/DC to Modest Mouse?
A: It's quite a leap. But the truth of the matter is this is nothing I planned. At least it's not like a Thin Lizzy or Judas Priest covers record. That would be too obvious. I mean, everybody I've covered until now is dead or, like Paul McCartney, almost dead -- John Denver, Bon Scott, Neil Diamond, Kiss, Yes. So at least it makes me unpredictable.