Pitchfork

Photo by Aaron Vanimere

You can squint all you want, but former Grandaddy guitarist (and current All Smiles head) Jim Fairchild does not look anything like Johnny Marr . But when Modest Mouse hits the road next month, that'll be Fairchild onstage with them, not Marr. The scratchy Northwestern indie band made headlines a few years back by adding the former Smiths guitar mastermind to their lineup. But Marr will be recording with the Cribs while his band tours, so he won't be able to make it, and Fairchild is filling in.

On the scale of Johnny Marr band departures, this is roughly fifty bazillion rungs below Marr and the rest of the Smiths repeatedly refusing truckloads of money to reunite. Presumably, we'll see Marr back in Modest Mouse before long. Meanwhile, if you've been longing to prove you've been down with the Mouse since before Marr, now's your chance.

Mimicking Birds, recent signings to MM frontman Isaac Brock's label Glacial Pace, will open all these dates (except for Langerado). Note: They have quite possibly the greatest list of "Influences" on their MySpace page known to man.

Modest Mouse dates:

02-22 Oakland, CA - Fox Theater
02-23 Visalia, CA - Fox Theatre
02-24 Hollywood, CA - Hollywood Palladium
02-25 Tempe, AZ - Marquee
02-26 Albuquerque, NM - Albuquerque Convention Center
02-28 Boulder, CO - Balch Fieldhouse
03-02 Kansas City, MO - Uptown Theater
03-03 Oklahoma City, OK - Diamond Ballroom
03-04 Austin, TX - Stubb's
03-05 Oxford, MS - Lyric Oxford
03-07 Atlanta, GA - Tabernacle
03-08 Miami, FL - Langerado Festival