Over the next five years, Colin Meloy and his band of fearless musicians released three albums. Each of these were bold and exuberant, like a high school production of Jesus Christ Superstar...only even better.

Once upon a time, there were some disgruntled Russian army officers who attempted to overthrow Tsar Nicholas I in the Decembrist Revolt of 1825. They failed and got exiled to Siberia (suckaz!), but 176 years later, some art-school kids in Portland, Ore., thought they were kinda neat. Neat enough to borrow the name Decembrist and, with an extra "e" inserted for aesthetics, they formed a band.

And so the Decemberists began writing music and releasing it to the masses, and in turn, the masses thought they were pretty great. In their early stages, however, their spunky chamber-pop was often compared to Neutral Milk Hotel. Luckily, that was dropped once everyone realized that it was a pretty lame comparison and had very little merit, and the Decemberists were now free to continue on their path to indie rock superstardom without having to answer dumb questions about their influences. And what's more, now other bands were getting compared to them! Things were going swell.

Over the next five years, Colin Meloy and his band of fearless musicians released three albums. Each of these were bold and exuberant, like a high school production of Jesus Christ Superstar...only even better. They learned to control their rebellious instincts and channel them into some truly lovely songs on their third album, Picaresque. Instead of epics about French legionnaires, the people were treated to songs with lyrics that weren't like reading a history book. And even though the people liked history books, they liked this more.

The people liked this so much that even Capitol Records wanted in on the Decemberist action! So the Decemberists' major label debut, The Crane Wife, will be released on October 3, and to celebrate, they're going on tour and kicking it off with two nights in the town where it all started. And while no one knows exactly how the story of the Decemberists will turn out, it surely will end happily ever after, and no one will get exiled to Siberia. The End.

Catch the Decemberists on tour: 10/17-18: Crystal Ballroom (Portland, Ore.); 10/19: Warfield Theater (San Francisco); 10/21: The Wiltern LG (Los Angeles); 10/22: The Rialto (Tucson); 10/24: Stubb's (Austin); 10/25: Gypsy Team Room (Dallas); 10/26: House of Blues (New Orleans); 10/27: Tabernacle (Atlanta); 10/29-30: 9:30 Club (Washington D.C.); 10/31: Calvin Theater (Northampton); 11/1: Electric Factory (Philadelphia); 11/3: Hammerstein Ballroom (New York); 11/4: Orpheum Theatre (Boston); 11/5: Metropolis (Montreal); 11/6: Kool Haus (Toronto); 11/7: Clutch Cargo (Pontiac, MI); 11/9: Agora Theatre (Cleveland); 11/10: Lifestyle Communities Pavilion (Columbus); 11/11: Riviera Theatre (Chicago); 11/12: First Avenue (Minneapolis); 11/14: Paramount Theatre (Denver); 11/16: Wilma Theatre (Missoula); 11/17: Paramount Theatre (Missoula); 11/17: Paramount Theatre (Seattle); 11/18: Commodore Ballroom (Vancouver)

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