John Darnielle

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John Darnielle is an American musician, best known as the primary (and often solitary) member of the American folk-rock band The Mountain Goats. Born in Bloomington, Indiana, he moved at a young age and grew up in and around California. Darnielle has also lived in Grinnell, Iowa. In the songs of the Mountain Goats, he is the writer, composer, lead guitarist and vocalist.

Darnielle has several 'series' of songs with similar titles or storylines. A series entitled "Going To..." talks about different small stories associated with different cities Darneille writes about. For example, there is 'Going to Cleveland','Going to Maryland,' 'Going to Bolivia,' and 'Going to Queens,' to name a few. His "Alpha" series is about a distressed couple's marriage and history, with such song titles as 'Alpha Incipiens,' and 'Alpha Rats Nest.'

Darnielle is a vegetarian.

He is also a member or former member of the following bands:

• The Extra Glenns (along with Franklin Bruno). Darnielle is "Glenn D", and Bruno is "Glenn B". They have released one full-length titled Martial Arts Weekend, as well as "Infidelity" a double sided 7" EP.

• The Seneca Twins (along with Lalitree Darnielle and Chris Butler),

-The Seneca Twins - 9-song demo - (unreleased, 1995)

• The Bloody Hawaiians (along with Joel Huschle (Furniture Huschle), Mark Givens (Wckr Spgt), Caroline)

- releases: The Magnificent Bloody Hawaiians, Bastard Son, "Lemon" on Cool Beans #4)

• The Congress (along with Mark Givens and other anonymous members)

-releases: Election Year, Sleeping Under Angels' Wings, We All Fall Down, She Lies in Roses, The Farm Out Back, No Milk Since 1979, Full Term.

• The Crunch Sisters

• Chicken Damage

• The Salvation Brothers

Darnielle is also the editor of and sole writer for the webzine Last Plane to Jakarta ([1]). He updates it roughly every week and has been known to write about everything from death metal to southern rap to confessional folk. He also maintains the website JohnDarnielle.com, often writing about his love for mixed martial arts and prizefighting.

In March 2006, LA Weekly published a roundtable between Darnielle and authors Jonathan Lethem and Rick Moody on the crossbreeding of music & literature (3/2006)

Darnielle has quickly become one of the most influential artists of his time, influencing not only his peers but legions of unexpected fans from around the world. He continues to make unexpected placements on college charts while cross-breeding with more traditional markets. And he is totally rad.