• the217
• Music
• Artists Index
• The Decemberists

Contact: albert@decemberists.com

Genre: Indie Rock

Last Played: 11-20-2009 12:56 am

The Decemberists is a five piece indie pop band from Portland, Oregon led by singer/songwriter Colin Meloy. They first self released a five song EP, 5 Songs, in 2001 and had three studio album releases following that which were featured on smaller indie labels. It wasn't until there fourth album, The Crane Wife in 2006, that they achieved major success, the album being put out by Capitol Records, their first major label release. Since they have found success in several different ways, one of them being a challenge to their fans to create a video for their single "O'Valencia!" in which they perform in front of a green screen and encourage their fans to fill in the rest. This was made even more public when popular tv show host Stephen Colbert caught wind of the video, describing their music as hyper-literate prog rock and challenging their guitarist to a guitar-off on the show.