My Morning Jacket's Evil Urges

My Morning Jacket sure do love touring. The Louisville, Ky. quintet recently released their fifth album, Evil Urges, and are about to embark on a tour that will last until mid-October.

But that schedule isn't unusual for these road veterans. After all, MMJ made a name for themselves the old-fashioned way: by touring incessantly.

Guitarist Carl Broemel says he's developed a pretty long list of preferred places to play over the years.

"We have a lot of favourites now. It's getting hard [to choose]."

The list includes Austin, Texas, Chicago and Atlanta ("They were so excited, they kind of scared me," says Broemel), but he notes that they "feel the most love" in Knoxville and Nashville, Tenn.

"I'm hoping we'll find some new favourites, because this time we're going to some new countries," says Broemel of the European dates sandwiched between their North American shows.

While MMJ have been able to do some pretty interesting things on the road, like record at their idol Levon Helm's house, Broemel says the little things make for the craziest tour stories.

"We're not like a super wild partying band. The more intense and busy we get, the less time we have to even be hung over. But we have a good time.

"Little, weird things happen, like walking through Wal-Mart at two in the morning trying to buy a trailer hitch. It's all this kind of stuff that happens, that special tour moment, that's not necessarily on stage. And it's just endless. Basically, just finding yourself in situations that you never knew existed."

Broemel might look a little out of place in those situations while careening around with his bandmates, since he's the only Jacket not sporting a beard.

"Me and my older brother have these weird patches that won't grow, so it looks kind of weird," he explains. "But I have successfully — well, it depends on your definition of success — grown a moustache a couple of times, but I always end up freaking out and cutting it off."

But the guitarist says he's not really jealous of his hairy cohorts.

"Not for the summer tour. Having a beard in the summer is not really optimal."

Catch the clean-shaven Broemel and his bearded buddies at these Canadian shows:

June 16 Toronto, ON @ Kool Haus w/The Besnard Lakes
June 17 Montreal, QC @ Le National w/The Besnard Lakes
July 26 Pemberton, BC @ Pemberton Festival