One of the bands I've been anxiously awaiting to see come to Chicago this summer is Oregon's Blind Pilot. Laid back and folkish, Blind Pilot leans just as much on the use of Neutral Milk Hotel-esque horn sections and lazily strummed acoustic guitars as it does the beautiful, calm voice of lead singer Israel Nebeker. The results are the perfect soundtrack for the type of beautiful summer day where you lack the motivation to do anything but sit in your room with a fantastic record as your only accompaniment.
Blind Pilot is just one of the many bands hitting Lollapalooza this year and after they play day 2 of the festival, they'll be heading over to the House of Blues at 11pm to play a Lollapalooza afterparty with Ezra Furman and the Harpoons. While I still haven't been able to see them play live yet, I did get a chance to catch up with Nebeker earlier this summer for a brief interview.
So I'm actually fairly new listening to you guys. My friend Chad turned me on to you and I'm so glad he did because I've taken quite a shine to your stuff. Could you tell me a little bit about what music has influenced you to become who you are, from formative influences up through more modern artists?
I remember the year the internet became available to me because I immediately started printing out pages upon pages of guitar tabs by Smashing Pumpkins, Radiohead, Bob Dylan, Nirvana, Elliott Smith... I don't know if you can hear it in my songs now, but that's who I started copying/learning from. It's a funny thing though- I always tried to copy them and ended up missing the mark because I'd put too much of myself in there... as I look back, I'm thankful I wasn't able to fully succeed. Right now, two artists off the top of my head that get to me in the best way is The Helio Sequence and Joanna Newsom.
I did read in one past interview that you named Neutral Milk Hotel as an influence which I immediately did hear on Oviedo, the first track off 3 Rounds and A Sound, particularly with the multi-instrumentation you feature. Every musician I've interviewed or even spoken with in my career thus far has named Jeff Mangum as a formative influence on their career and I just find it amazing how far reaching In The Aeroplane Over The Sea has become in the past eleven years because it definitely orchestrated a good portion of my life growing up. Do you have any particular strong memories of that record?
Absolutely I do. After college I moved out to an abandoned cannery building in Astoria, Oregon. It was out on pilings in the water, away from the city, so it was private and I could be as loud as I wanted. Whenever I wasn't playing music or recording or writing, I was hooking up In The Aeroplane Over The Sea to a massive PA system and just blasting it through the old wooden beams. I'm not sure what exactly it is about Jeff Mangum and especially that album, it might be just simply that it's completely inspired and therefore universal. Whatever it is, I love it and I'm grateful, as many are, that Jeff gave it out there.
Pretty recently you've opened for Langhorne Slim, The Hold Steady and The Decemberists, all of whom are doing something really unique in their own way and are also very talented. Obviously, you were probably familiar with these guys before you toured with them. Was that at all nerve wracking to share the stage with any of these guys? I know if I had to go on before Craig Finn or Colin Meloy, I'd feel a bit inadequate.
It's been one of the most exciting things to ever happen to me, opening for musicians whose music I love. For some reason, it really wasn't nerve wracking to play before them. I just felt glad to be there. Maybe because I knew that nobody's more Colin Meloy than Colin and nobody's more Langhorne Slim than Sean... so it's really no use to make comparisons.
So I read that in 2008 you did a bicycle tour, as in you actually carried your instruments via bike from city to city. How did you come to decide to do that?
Ryan and I were in the annual state of sluggish wintertime Portland and we needed an escape from both the city and the scene. Portland has the greatest music scene ever and I love so many people who belong in it, but we wanted to see how our music would hold up in really small, rural towns where the preface of what music is important/current/cool just didn't exist. That, and it just seemed like a great adventure.
Despite being released a little over a year ago, I'm noticing that alot of people are just starting to catch wind of 3 Rounds and a Sound. Do you guys have immediate plans to record another album or is your priority to still expose this album before heading back into the studio?
As soon as we released 3 Rounds and a Sound, I couldn't wait to get back in the studio soon and that was my plan... But things have been going better and better for this album, so the studio will have to wait 'till we're done touring for a bit.
I've spent time in Oregon, your home state, and outside of Chicago I think it might be the only other place I could ever call my home. It's beautiful and it has an absolutely amazing music scene. How has being native to the Portland area influenced or inspired you guys to make music?
I grew up on the Oregon coast and it's still where I come if I'm looking for inspiration. It's where I am right now, as we're taking a two week break from touring. This place has a strong emotional charge and so when I hear my songs I hear the place in there too.
So - Lollapalooza. You're playing this year on day 2 and that's obviously a really, really exciting thing because you'll be sharing the stage with some really amazing artists and you'll be bringing your sound to alot broader of an audience than might ever have got the chance to have heard you before. Also, I've noticed that in the past few years, Lollapalooza has definitely been showcasing alot broader of a selection of artists. How exciting is this for you guys?
I think it'll be a great time and we're looking forward to it. I've never been to Lollaplooza but I know it's one of the greatest music festivals, so I'm excited.
great interview. love Blind Pilot...love Israel. enjoy Lolla!
Posted by: Lala | 08/08/2009 at 08:26 PM