Blind Pilot: Interview - You take a flute, I'll take another person.

I tackled the Blind Pilot duo - Israel Nebeker (vocals, guitar) and Ryan Dobrowski (drums) as they tackled large pub sandwiches and I choked down a typically poor Aussie beer that the bar-con-man proffered upon me, then charged me for later...

Z: Ryan, you're nicely showcased on the new video, but live, outside in the wind at PDX Pop Now, your 'light touch' drumming was blown away a little. The 'Ringo Starr' approach to drumming is much despised by some, what's your response to any criticisms?

Ryan: It doesn't bother me, how I play depends on the songs: What do they need? Some drummers may feel pressure to show off what they can do... - if I need to I can mic up my drums, but the songs are the point of reference.

[The PDX Pop Now thing is a great event, the sound is as best it can be with quick changing sets, and Ryan doesn't do the padded drum thing...]

Z: You're both painting right? Pictures for you Ryan and Houses for you Israel.

R: Yes. It's my primary source of income at the moment.

Z: So you're successful then?

R: [Sandwich devouring delay...] I have a gallery I run, called the PIP Gallery, downtown [Portland].

I: I'm making money for the tour, and even in the winter I do inside, detail work.

Z: OK. Let's get tangental: What's your solution to the energy crisis?

R: That's a big one.

I: [Eating, agrees]

R: It's complex, there are so many variables. How much energy does it cost to make a Prius? But BIkes! Human powered stuff. People forget how easy it is to do things with their own energy.

Z: Yeah... people blowing leaves around on windy days...

R: Right! Use a broom!

I: It's all speculative, everyone's looking for the one answer, but creative solutions in day-to-day lives have as much worth.

Z: Here's a 'Desert Island' question - your physical survival needs are taken care of - you pick two from this list and you can add one new thing.

[List: Dictionary, pencil & paper, hat, dog.]

I: Am I by myself? [yes] For sure the dog... and the hat... and the dictionary and the pencil &...

R: Wait that's all four!

I: Oh yes,... The dog... and the hat, no, yes the hat. No, the dictionary. [smiles]

Z: And you get to add one.

I: An instrument on which the strings wouldn't break... a flute or something.

[Ryan's turn]

R: Is it one sheet of paper? [no a whole pad] Is there a pencil sharpener?

Z: Blimey, what a lot of questions!

R: OK. I can write in the sand. I'd take the dog and the dictionary, and for my add - another person.

I: Oh great! I chose a flute and you take a whole other person!

This seemed like a good point to ask: Which of you has the greater corporate management potential?

Israel, eating, points at Ryan, who nods and agrees.

Z: What do you always forget to take on tour?

I: We don't. Packing for a bicycle tour is a very exact process.

R: There's no wasted space, we have to get it right.

Z: Tell me about the bike tours: How to you lug all the drums and equipment around??

R: we each have a trailer and the load is evened out.

Z: And this coming tour you'll be joined by more band members...

R: Right Luke (Double bass), and Katie Claybourne (banjo, back-up vocals) and maybe the two violinists, Luke's done a cycle tour across the continent and Katie's enthusiastic.

Z: But this upcoming trip is scheduled to take 2 months - how do you deal with issues that come up? Health - family news - logistics etc?

R: It's less flexible, we can't just drive through the night for a schedule change for instance, but we believe in just letting things happen, not trying to control everything.

I: And to date we've been fortunate: Not a single day of rain last time out.

Z: What's your first memory of anyone hanging washing on a clothesline?

R: I was 3, at my house in Eugene. It was my Mom, hanging off-white sheets with flower prints, I might have been 4.

Z: How did that feel?

R: Good. They were nice times.

I: Mine was my next door neighbors growing up in Gearhart. The fence had a little gap which I would peer through... Katie's Mom was hanging washing, I had a crush on Katie, I was 4-5. Yeah - and their yard was off limits but they had an abundance of crickets and we'd sneak over sometimes and catch them.

Z: You described yourselves as ecstatic regarding the itunes success.

R: Who did?

I: Oh that must have been me.

Z: Do you have any reservations about growing popularity?

I: Not reservations, we're just trying to be a little bit cautious - Ultimately [the appreciation] is great.

Z: But how do you explain the level of response? You have sudden attention from all sides, and despite myself, I really enjoy your music - explain that to me.

[Modest shrugs and diminishing sandwiches]

Z: How about opening for Aimee Mann? Is her audience your audience?

R: We feel that any audience is capable of liking what we do. The thing is, we're not trying to be anything - to imitate any particular style, or take on any particular look.

Z: so you're not into being totally hip, even though you own a gallery.

R: No. That bugs me a lot.

R: I've also got to say, to compliment Israel, he just writes good songs. [Israel does the bulk of the writing and all lyrics, but they collaborate on the music].

The new Blind Pilot video was shot by Wyatt Garfield on location in Astoria where they lived in 'Big Red'. But in Dec '07 the wind tore the roof off. There's a huge benefit concert happening to re-roof Big Red: https://concertforbigred.org/

 
How many swans do you recommend, per bathtub?

Z: How many swans do you recommend, per bathtub?

I: [jumping in confidently] Three.

R: [puzzled...] Where?

I: In the bathtub of course...

When did you last run, and why?

R: I ran... I ran...

Z: Iran, Iran - you sound like George Bush!

I: You ran back to the gallery the other night racing us [9 blocks - they took the car]

R: Yeah and I won.

R: And you ran walking back to the house with Luke & Christine after the show

I: That's right - Christine took her shoes off, then everyone did.

R: We played shoe-ball.

Z: Shoe-ball?

R: Yeah - it's great.

Z: Best Gig you ever were at?

I: I was in Gijon, northern Spain in 2004 and David Byrne played. It was an incredible steep-sided baroque theatre and Byrne was so different and uplifting, until then I'd been so into Radiohead... Byrne changed how I wanted to write songs, he was so honest, and uplifting.

R: I have a couple of stand-outs: Beck at Champoeg Park, Odeley period and I won the tickets on the radio! Also my very first concert when I was about six: Zazzou Pits at Albany Fair, they had 3 drummers and I knew right hen that was what I wanted to be.

The food baskets left, Ryan's sandwich long gone, Israel's only half-eaten despite triple the chew-time. "He's like that," explained Ryan, "eats very slowly; always has." They've known each other since high school, and I was left wondering if that extra person Ryan would take for his desert island might just be someone familiar, someone who chose a flute.

Blind Pilot's recently released  debut full-length is "3 Rounds and a Sound" (Expunged Records).