Fresh Faces and Profound Performances: An Interview With Blind Pilot

How does a folk group go about making music without subjecting themselves to the unfair criticism, comparisons, and quick dismissals that plague the genre? Well, if you’re Portland, OR-based Blind Pilot, you hitch up your pants like a grown-up band, compose some beautiful tunes that defy lazy associations and present your sound to the world with an innocent strength that awes listeners and concertgoers.

This budding collective of musicians has come a long way from when the original core duo of the group - front man Israel Nebeker and drummer Ryan Dobrowski - toured the Pacific Northwest solely on their bicycles. Now touring and operating as a fully fleshed-out nine-piece, Blind Pilot has received rave reviews for both their debut album, 3 Rounds and a Sound, and for their live performances (including a sublime set at the recent PDX Pop Now Festival). Nebeker spoke with Burnside Writers Collective recently about his musical inspirations, the band’s evolving lineup and the pros and cons of touring by bike.

Blind Pilot seems to have turned the traditional folk singer/songwriter genre on its ear. Your music comes across as simple and sweet, yet so aware and world-weary, and you manage to accomplish this without sounding simpering or cynical. What does the songwriting process look like for you?

I’m glad that all those things come across to you. I’m not trying to make music that is turning anything on its ear. Songwriting is a really simple process for me, yet the hardest thing I try to do: I get an idea, and if it’s good enough I spend a day or two or three or four and live with it and work it and do nothing else ‘till it’s done. It’s not plodding though; it’s fast with ideas. As far as intent, I really just want to make music that is honest enough to me that it moves me, so that it might move other people too.

Where does your lyrical material come from? Is it personal experience, a fertile imagination, or both? Or maybe it’s neither? Help me out here.

I’d say both, but some songs are more or all-personal experience. I guess all songs are fiction, in the sense that the story is for the sake of the song, not the account. On the same token, I can’t make up a story without it being very close to what’s happening to my life at that moment. A lot of the lyrics from this album come from distance and place. I lived in Spain, Hawai’i, and Astoria while writing them, so to me these songs are very much in those three categories.

Whom have you looked to in the past and whom do you look to now for musical inspiration?

I’m inspired by those closest to me in my life, and often songs come from them. I hope I can still draw on that resource in the future. But as far as musical influences, [there are] too many to count - Bob Dylan, M. Ward, Neutral Milk Hotel, Thom Yorke, David Byrne. Certain records, when you put them on for the first time, just blow you away because they’re showing you how infinite and endless it is - where music can go from here. It’s incredibly comforting. Artists that are doing that for me consistently now are Joanna Newsom, the Shins, Arcade Fire and M.I.A. to name a few.

What is the transition like going from recording in a studio to performing as a two-person folk duo, and then proceeding to performing as an eight-, nine-, or ten-person indie-folk band? Who arranges the parts for everyone?

It actually went like: performing as a duo, then recording in the studio and bringing in musicians for certain tracks, which then turned into playing as a nine-piece. The transition has seemed totally natural and seamless because it was just good fortune that brought us to these musicians. I feel incredibly lucky to be playing with everybody in it, and I think it’s mutual all the way around. It’s definitely different from playing as a duo, but I love it.

What are the differences between touring with just two guys on bikes and then as a “full” band? And yes, I’m sure that the full band can’t travel on bikes, since pianos and drum kits can be quite unwieldy to strap to one’s back.

Actually, for the first tour it was me carrying a guitar and Ryan carrying his drums (a minimal version of them) and this next bike tour starting in August will bring along Kati (mountain dulcimer, banjo) and Luke (upright bass) - again, carrying all the instruments by bike trailer. It’s going to be different for this tour because there will be more of us, better pr campaign, and a documentary film being made about it. Last time there was a blurred line for most people, between two established musicians touring and two vagabonds drifting. I’ll miss that, but a slightly bigger tour will bring a lot of new things our way too.

What are your hopes, dreams, and aspirations for your new record, especially since 3 Rounds and a Sound has already been receiving such positive press? Is there a more long-term and long-range tour in the works?

There’s planning for longer tours and tours in other countries. I just hope that 3 Rounds and a Sound keeps reaching people and bringing people to our music. It’s taken us totally by surprise how many people it’s reached so far, so I’m more just enjoying what’s happening, rather than plotting what’s going to happen next.

I appreciate your time Israel. It’s been great to chat with you.

Thanks for doing an interview on us. If I could just ask a favor of you, and if it’s not awkward to the article, there’s this cannery building in Astoria, OR from the 1800s called Big Red. It’s built on pilings out in the water and it’s where Ryan and I lived for a summer and started Blind Pilot. This December, the top floor got blown off and we are just devastated. It’s planned to have a new life as an artist live/work community and our biggest show on our tour in August will be a music festival for Big Red’s benefit. Bands like Holy Modal Rounders, Jefferson Airplane, and Country Joe McDonald will be there. Maybe it can be mentioned or linked - www.concertforbigred.org