IN MY ROOM
3
M ates
of State

Photographed for Spin in Stratford, Connecticut, March 3, 2008

6
Someone’s in the kitchen
with Jason Hammel and
Kori Gardner—us!

1MAGNOLIA, FOUR, AND UKULELE Kori: “She had this fake little-kid’s guitar that sounded so dumb, and we’re like, ‘Why don’t we get her a ukulele? It’ll sound pretty, and it still looks like a guitar.’”

2YAMAHA ORGAN Kori: “This is the organ we played up until this record. We’ve tried to wean ourselves away from it. You can’t find these anywhere, and they break. We’ve been in the middle of the set, and all of a sudden everything goes quiet, and we’re like, ‘Guess we can’t play anymore!’ It’s not like we can just borrow someone’s organ.”

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3THIS AMERICAN LIFE TOUR POSTER Kori: “We’re fans of [NPR’s] This American Life, and we somehow got asked to be the band for its tour. Instead of ²⁵-year-old people partying every night, it was these really intelligent, literary people who went to bed after the show.”

4JESSAMINE’S “HOUDINI” SEVEN-INCH Jason: “It had a lock on it that came without a key; you had to break it off to get to the record.”

5CONCERTINA Kori: “That’s from this guy Marcus the Great Music Critic.” Jason: “He’s this schizophrenic music lover in Lawrence, Kansas. He comes up to you and starts talking a mile a minute: ‘Have you seen this band? Come to my house, I’ve got some instruments.’”

6PRETTY DRAWINGS Kori: “I don’t know if we’re just proud parents, but we think Magnolia’s artwork is better than anything we could do.”

7COOKIE JAR Kori: “It was one of those random gifts: ‘Why did you get me an Eiffel Tower cookie jar when I’ve never been to Paris?’ I’ve been baking a lot more and actually filling it with cookies.”

8AMBY BABY HAMMOCK Kori: “When Magnolia was born, she wouldn’t sleep anywhere. The one thing that ended up really working was this bed from Australia.” Jason: “It’s how we bring our kid on tour.”

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9JUNE, TWO MONTHS Jason: “She sleeps over 20 hours a day, which is big. And she laughs like a pterodactyl.”

10RHUE THE CAT Kori: “She’s been on tour—she would ride on our shoulders in the car. If you’re part of this family, you better be ready to travel, even if you’re a cat.”

BY SPENCER KORNHABER
PHOTOGRAPH B Y OFER WOLBERGER