John Darnielle (left) with Mountain Goats bandmate Peter Hughes.

As part of the Mountain Goats, John Darnielle has developed a unique brand of short-story singer-songwriter music with references to Greek classics and the Bible, witty lines, occasionally dark humor, emotional insight, and absolutely genius cover songs. When he wrote a book for Continuum's 33 1/3 music series (about the great Black Sabbath's Master of Reality, no less) he took that same knack for spinning tales and wrote various journal entries and missives from a young man committed to a mental health institution. Darnielle was able to combine narrative, personal experience, and a sincere love of rock into a new type of musical journalism that offers plot as well as the joy of re-listening to a classic album from an even more classic band.

How'd you get involved the 33 1/3 project?
Somebody—don't remember who—asked me if I was going to pitch a record. I hadn't really thought a whole lot about it. Obviously it had crossed my mind a little, but I kind of hate the canon—I'm pretty much only interested in stuff that either fits in funny or has been left out. But then when I thought about Black Sabbath, I thought, yeah, people give them more props than they used to, but there's still this kind of hesitant quality to how people engage with it, unless they're metal dudes. So I thought it would be good to write something that would represent the "I like it because it's just really fucking good" demographic, in which I count myself.

Rightly so. Was Master of Reality the only album you thought to write about? Did you consider any others?
I thought about Paranoid. That was the only other serious contender for me. It's a more iconic record I think; "Iron Man," "Paranoid," "War Pigs" [are a] pretty brutal triple play, but Master is special to me. So I picked it [because of] a personal connection to it.

Being a guy that is known for more "indie" and acoustic music, do you feel a lot of your fans are missing out on metal?
I think actually a lot of the people who listen to my stuff listen to metal already; I don't think of the people who listen to the Mountain Goats as being mainly-acoustic people. What I do is more about lyrics and, for lack of a better term, vibe—often a dark or evil vibe but also with some humor I hope—which is kinda a big part of metal. Metal lyrics are obviously more over-the-top than mine, but I think the appeal—vivid visions, an immersive environment that the song creates—is similar.

Which bands would you like to introduce to your fans to get them started exploring metal if they're completely unfamiliar?
Everybody should listen to Carcass a lot is the short answer. And Atheist and Darkthrone and the last Ares Kingdom record and the new one, whenever they finish it. It'd take a long time to list all the essential metal bands; it's a big field.

What do you look for in a metal album? Total shred? Heavy-as-a-black-hole sludge? Soul-meltingly dark lyrics?
It depends! Like yesterday, I was digging the new Brain Drill, which is just insane tech stuff. But all week, it's been Ares Kingdom and Order From Chaos and The Stone, which are "dirtier" productions: lots more focus on atmosphere, on mood (though the Stone are also crazy talented from a technical perspective, and for that matter so are Order from Chaos). I look for a bunch of stuff is the probably disappointing answer; there's no checklist or anything.

As for other musical favorites: If you died today (God forbid), which songs would you like played at your funeral?
Something by Amy Grant, probably. Maybe "Angels" or "Out in the Open." This would probably annoy a lot of the people at my funeral because my friends aren't really as into Amy Grant as I am, but whatever you guys; it's my funeral, you can dig a little Amy Grant while you're there.

Now that my fanboy music questions are out of the way, I imagine we can talk about the book a tad. Having worked in a hospital facility like the one portrayed in the book, did you find it difficult to dwell on people like your main character, Roger, getting unfairly sent to the State facility?
I don't know that sending Roger to State is actually unfair. I'm glad readers think so; it means the narrator persuaded them of the righteousness of his cause. I wish the state facilities and the private facilities were able to give better care to the adolescents in their charge. But what is the first hospital supposed to do: Let him kill himself, like he tries to do? Just give him a pass on it? The book gives Roger's side of the story; there's another side that's less emotional and probably more reasonable. When I worked in the field, I did like I hope everybody did: tried my hardest to give as much as I could to the people who needed it, [and] tried to send them on their way with a little more strength and hope than they had when they got there.

Do you regret your time working in state hospitals in any way?
No, not at all. Again, the narrator sort of has a horse in the race; we're hearing everything through his adolescent filter. That said, for sure, these facilities operated and for all I know continue to operate in a pretty boneheaded way. It's hardly their fault; it's hard to run a good program when you can't pay good people enough to work there and you're chronically understaffed and you're a member of a culture that thinks of adolescents as somehow less intelligent or capable than adults. But really, if you care about this stuff, you have to work in the field for a while just so you can do whatever good you can do. After a decade or so, you either burn out or get sick of living on scraps, so you gotta do something else. But working in the field is, if I can say so, a noble thing to do, and I have nothing but love and respect for the people who're still there.

What was it like to switch from the short story-like songs you write to writing something a little more full-length?
The two processes don't really resemble each other at all—like going from cleaning to cooking or something.

Do you get much reading done amidst touring and recording? What are you currently reading?
I'm reading Omega Minor by Paul Verhaeghen, which is about two-thirds really good and one-third kinda not so great, which is interesting to me, actually. I tend to go for stuff with fatal flaws. I do read a lot on tour; generally less in the studio—recording is a heavy-focus kind of work for me, and during the non-focused times, I'm usually just putting the brain into idle on the internet or TV. On airplanes, though, there's a lot of reading you can get done.

What are some recent favorite reads? And if you had to pick five desert island books, which would you pick?
Let's see, what did I last read? Europeana by Patrik Ourednik. Totally incredible book [and] very short; everybody should read it. Seriously. Amazing. If I had to go to a desert island, I would probably take a Bible and four long books I hadn't read yet. Some Dostoevsky probably. I guess The Canterbury Tales, which I have read, would be indispensable; that never gets old. Maybe a collected Shakespeare.

Anything else you'd like to promote in this space? Our readers will do absolutely anything you ask. Use your power wisely.
Give to Farm Sanctuary. Buy as many cookbooks as your house will hold and make good use of them nightly if possible. Prepare for our fall tour; it's going to be awesome. Stay hydrated.

(July, 2008)