Of Montreal Embarking on Elaborate 'False Priest' Tour

Athens, Ga., funk-pop pros Of Montreal have made a name for themselves with elaborate stage shows: lead singer Kevin Barnes has rode in on a stallion, wrangled Susan Sarandon onstage to paddle a pig and stripped down to his birthday suit. So, in anticipation for Of Montreal's tour for their new album 'False Priest,' it would be safe to assume that they have a few things in store for audiences this time around -- and it's not something Barnes dreams up in one night.

"The 'False Priest' tour production is going to be very elaborate, very theatrical," Barnes tells Spinner. "We've been in production in getting props and costumes together for two months. It definitely is the most developed. In the past, we'd just get some costumes together and we'd try to make a story real quick. We actually spent many, many months having meetings and creative discussions to do it all together.

While Barnes is chiefly responsible for Of Montreal's tunes, he says that the stage production for 'False Priest' is much more collaborative. "It's like we're an art collective, in a way," he says. "Everyone in the band is contributing, everyone is the crew is contributing and this is very collaborative experience for all of us. Our bass player is responsible for building 85 percent of the props we're going to use on tour. My brother designed all of them. All of us are involved in filming all the video content."

Of Montreal kick things off this Saturday at the 40 Watt Club in Athens, and from there, they head up the coast before making their move out West. Up-and-coming funk/soul diva Janelle Monae, who appears on 'False Priest,' is the opener for most of the run, making this one of the more anticipated tours of this fall.

If you should see Barnes riding in on an animal, know that he picks professional animals with acting experience. "I think if we just found a horse from a farm or somewhere, it would've been a nightmare," he says.