Isaac Brock’s complicated relationship with religion: ‘Christianity is a crock of shit’
Isaac Brock, the leader of Modest Mouse, has long been one of the most fascinating figures in rock music. An unbelievably gifted guitarist and songwriter, his expressive approach and the oscillating nature of his personal life have made his story incredibly compelling. From writing classics like ‘Float On’ to being charged with attempted murder, his life reads like a work of fiction.
There’s no real surprise that Isaac Brock’s life has taken so many remarkable twists and turns, given that it didn’t start in the most conventional of ways. During childhood, the future Modest Mouse leader lived with his mother and sister in hippie communes and churches in Montana and Oregon before they settled in Issaquah, Washington, when he was 11 years old.
There are many interesting moments in Brock’s early life, including the time he chose to live in his mother’s flooded home when his family moved into his future stepfather’s trailer. However, the fact that he was for a time raised with the Grace Gospel Church, a chapter affiliated with the notorious cult leader David Koresh and his Branch Davidians, who were doomed in the 1993 Waco siege in Texas, is perhaps the most intriguing.
When speaking to The Guardian in 2007, Brock explained that his family were young at the time of being in the Grace Gospel Church, and at least they managed to get out of it. He also revealed that, aged six, he was expected to speak in tongues for the church’s benefit.
“I didn’t feel the spirit of the fucking Lord rushing through me,” Brock recalled. “I definitely felt awkward. I thought. ‘What’s the best way to make this stop?’ So I ripped off some words from Mary Poppins and said them fast, and the deacons are going, ‘Yeah, all right!'”
At the time of the publication of this interview, Brock said his mother was then a Wiccan. “She meets women; they cast spells,” he said.
It’s safe to say that, as an adult, Isaac Brock isn’t really a keen follower of religion. The Modest Mouse frontman has such disdain for religion that he is an open atheist, calling Christianity a “crock of shit” when speaking to The AV Club.
Asked if he still considered himself an atheist, Brock said: “Pretty much, but there are things that make me think. Like that guy who played Jesus [Jim Caviezel] getting hit by lightning during the filming of that movie? That just makes you think, ‘I can’t be 100 per cent sure’. But I’m not going to change my game plan anyway”.
He added: “I don’t think I’m living wrong in the first place, so when the lights go out on me, and brighter ones come on and I have to talk to some guy with a big, bushy beard, or some big glowing blob, I think I’m going to be fine. I’m 100 per cent on the whole Christianity thing being a crock of shit, pretty much, but I don’t give a fuck if other people are religious. Believe what you want. Whatever makes the day easier for you.”
When it was put to Brock that he had written lyrics referencing God and science, he was asked whether he believed in science as a replacement for religion or an adjunct and how the two fit together for him.
He replied: “I don’t believe in science, either! I don’t think it exists. [Laughs.] I toy around with the whole Biblical thing, just as amazing characters. What I’ve read, in terms of the Bible and shit, is that Satan’s this super-charming guy who’ll come off sweet as sugar, and that if you run into him, he’ll try and fool you into thinking he’s God”.
He concluded: “From all of that, wouldn’t that probably make God the devil, if he’s such a good liar? I can’t think of any really horrendous shit that’s been caused by the character Satan, but man, God’s got quite a few smitings under his belt. But science, science is great. I love science. With any luck, it’ll save us all.”
