Black Lips Celebrate 25 Years of Vital, Irreverent Garage Rock

Photo credit: Alexandra Cabral

Nearly 30 years ago, a teacher from an Atlanta area middle school had some harsh words for the parents of Jared Swilley—namely that their 13-year-old son should stop hanging out with his irascible and troublemaking pal, Cole Alexander.

Swilley—as per his natural inclination during those halcyon days of his youth—opted to ignore the warnings. It was a very fortunate decision for everyone who’s a fan of the Black Lips, the beloved Atlanta garage rock band who will play at the Rickshaw Stop on Sunday as part of the annual Psyched Fest put on by the local station Psyched! Radio.

“At the time, I think Cole had just recently set his head on fire so he would have a funny haircut,” recalled Swilley. “People were concerned about that. But we both had pretty acute cases of oppositional defiance disorders in those days, so my immediate thought was, ‘well, I’m going to hang out with this guy every day now.’”

For a band whose rise to fame was fueled by a combustible combination of outrageous live performances and a well-documented appreciation for the more hedonistic offerings of the rock n roll world, the Black Lips are improbably enjoying their 25th year of existence. And at the core of the operation are Alexander and Swilley, two childhood comrades making music that still feels as vital, inventive and deliciously unpredictable as the tunes they first unleashed in the early Aughts.

“When we first started this thing, everyone was always asking us—‘well, what’s your backup plan,’” said Swilley. “And while we never really expected our band to be huge or anything, we didn’t have that backup plan, because we all enjoyed playing music so much. It made it easier for us to survive those early years, because we would absolutely be fine playing basements and sleeping in a van. We’re not doing that same thing anymore, but we still have that love for what we do. It’s all we know.”

One major reason for the band’s longevity and relevancy is the open-door policy they embrace for songwriting. While crafting plenty of legendary tunes over the years, Alexander and Swilley have always encouraged their fellow bandmates to bring their own ideas for Black Lips albums. That’s evident in the group’s most recent release, “Apocalypse Love.” 

Another amalgamation of neo-psychedelia, folk, punk rock and swampy Americana, the album features a number of memorable contributions from guitarist Jeff Clarke, who joined the band in 2018. Songs penned by Clarke include the dusty cowboy ballad “Stolen Valor,” the eerie no-wave number “Whips of Holly” and the retro-rap (yep, that’s right), disco send-up, “Sharing My Cream.”

“First off, I don’t know if Cole and I are strong enough writers to do this whole thing—we definitely couldn’t write 25 years of songs by ourselves,” said Swilley “But we always looked at this as an art collective—like everyone is an equal member. And we’ve always made it that, no matter what anyone does or doesn’t contribute, we all get the same publishing. You avoid so much resentment and band drama when everyone gets paid exactly the same.”

While the band has always cohered around the concept of southern-fried garage rock, they’ve never fit neatly into a particular genre scene (their roots track back to a tight knit group of Atlanta bands, whose membership range in style and sound from the heavy metal of Mastodon to the avant garde noise rock of Deerhunter.) 

Their sonics have grown all the more expansive in the past decade with the addition of saxophonist Zumi Rosow, whose inputs bring a funkier, skronkier edge to the band. Along with drummer Oakley Munson, who joined in 2017, the band has kept the same personnel for the past six years, a remarkable period of consistency for an outfit of their experience (many of their contemporaries trot out a different lineup for each new tour or album.) 

And despite hitting the quarter-century mark, the Black Lips have no intentions of slowing down. An outfit famed for touring in the most outlandish of locales, Swilley said the band has its sights set on a jaunt through the Central Asian countries of Mongolia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan. He also said the band is also working on a new album, which they hope to put out next spring. He noted that this latest effort was almost a return to form from their earlier days.

“For the first time in a long time, this album is mostly just me and Cole,” said Swilley. “We haven’t had one like this since, probably [2011’s] ‘Arabia Mountain.’ We have a lot of rock stuff and Cole has some super weird stuff—it’s been a great process so far.”

With their expanded footprint on the new album, the timing is ideal for a renewed appreciation of Alexander and Swilley’s songwriting prowess. Because the band has been synonymous for so long with outrageous stage antics and general tomfoolery, it can be lost that these lifelong friends are also incredible musicians and creative artists. Over the years, their output of enduring, strangely heartfelt, uproarious and memorable indie rock songs stands completely favorably with any of the most celebrated bands of the past generation. 

Their generosity and willingness to share the creative helm, notwithstanding, Cole and Swilley will always be the beating hearts of this creative concoction called the Black Lips. Now in their early 40s (but seemingly ageless—for real, they look barely a day older from when they started), they’ve come a long way from their early days grappling with exasperated teachers and unrewarding jobs.

“I remember after recording [2005’s] ‘Let it Bloom,’ we went on tour with the Dirtbombs,” said Swilley. “It was the first time I came home with money, and my boss at the diner I worked at asked me if I needed any more shifts, and I realized that I didn’t need to work there—that I could actually do this music thing.”

From working thankless shifts at diners to touring the most distant part of the globe—the Black Lips story continues. Here’s to 25 more years.

Show Details:
Black Lips with Descartes a Kant and Pancho and The Wizards
Where: Rickshaw Stop
When: 8 p.m., Sunday, November 3
Tickets: $25/$30, available for purchase here.

Broken Dreams Club Interview: Christopher Owens

Photo Credit: Sandy Kim

As the lead singer and founding member of Girls, Christopher Owens left a lasting, indelible impact on San Francisco, the place he called home for more than 15 years. 

Following the dissolution of Girls, the untimely death of bandmate Chet “JR” White, and a series of other personal tragedies, Owens relocated from San Francisco to New York. Today, Owens releases his first solo album in nine years, the gorgeously emotive “I Wanna Run Barefoot Through Your Hair.”  A stunning achievement, the new collection of songs draw upon all the candor and self-reflection that made Girls so great, while also charting an intriguing new path forward for Owens.

Broken Dreams Club spoke with Owens–whose EP with Girls provides the name for this website–about leaving San Francisco, overcoming countless setbacks, finding new love and being continually inspired by the joy of making music.

“I Wanna Run Barefoot Through Your Hair,” your first solo album in nine years, and your first music of any kind in seven years, comes out today. What’s going through your mind right now?

It's been very exciting. I've been waiting for so long to be able to release this music. Seeing the positive reactions so far has been really nice. I'm just glad it's finally here. 

I’m so excited to talk about that new album, but first I want to go over all the huge life changes that have happened since we last talked. First and foremost, you moved from San Francisco to New York City. As much as I would have liked you to stay here, it seemed like the move really rejuvenated you. What’s it been like living in NYC?

I've been to New York a lot over the years, but I've never lived here. It’s a nice new experience. I'm definitely still kind of isolated from my friend group or whatever, but if you're going to do that, I guess New York's a good place, because there's so much to do and check out. It's never really boring. I don't know if I'll stay forever, but it's a good experience to try out. I’m experiencing actual seasons, which is a whole different thing for me. Time passes in a different way, which makes you feel differently about life.

You’ve talked a lot about how the San Francisco that you knew and loved had changed so much over the years. Was it still hard to say goodbye, even after all the difficulties you experienced in the last few years here?

It will always be sad to me that I even had to leave. I wish I didn't have to, but I knew it was the best thing for me to do at that point. I probably spent several years there just trying to make it happen, when I probably should have made a move. I gave it a good shot. I'll probably always miss it. It was the longest place I've ever lived in my life. 

One of your biggest life developments is that you’re now happily married. From what I understand it was quite the whirlwind romance. You all met at one of your shows in LA, right?

Yeah, it was a pretty big surprise the way it went down. It was definitely not something I was thinking was going to happen, but it felt right, and I didn't see any reason why I shouldn't do it. I kind of thought to myself, ‘maybe this is how it is for everybody.’ I always thought there'd be something more planned out, but it kind of makes sense that it didn't work out that way for me. But it’s been really cool. She's from LA, so we go back there a lot, which has been interesting. I never really had a connection to LA before. But now that I do, I realize that a lot of my friends are there, and it’s one of the last places where it seems like everybody still goes out together. It feels like the old days in San Francisco. 

You’ve experienced so much hardship in the past several years—homelessness, a very serious motorcycle accident, the dissolution of your relationship and the death of your closest friend. Not to go all inspirational movie on you, but what allowed you to persevere through that?

I honestly don’t know. When I think about it, all together in hindsight, it's obviously been a lot. And I do have moments where I don't know how I really even got through that. If somebody would have told me, it’s gonna take seven years for you to be able to put out another record. I would have been like, ‘what?’ I would not have known how to accept that. But all you can really do is put one foot in front of the other and keep going. There were definitely moments where I had to sort of ask myself if I was going to try to do something else, but, fortunately I never really got to that point. I always wanted to be playing music and have friends in my life and just keep living how I want to live. I never wanted to be a scenester or anything, but it’s really as simple as that. And, when you do go through that much, you can maybe question how you’re living your life or spending your time. I think it’s maybe a necessary thing for people to experience once in a while—to be tested like that. Hopefully, it's not super extreme, like what I went through, but I think you need to be pushed, so you ask yourself, ‘is this what I really want?’ And then you can take stock of everything, and for me, it was reassuring to see what was important to me. All that I went through, makes everything feel so meaningful now.

Today actually marks the four-year anniversary of JR’s death. How often is he in your thoughts? What are your fondest memories of him? 

He’s been in my mind every day since he passed. Most of my memories are of all the things that we managed to do together. Just the way we sort of stumbled through all these experiences and had to rely on each other so much to get through it all. When big decisions would come up, we were really all we had. When it came to signing big contracts or making huge decisions or touring for the first time—we never thought we'd be actually able to do that stuff. He was a great person to experience all that with. Maybe there were moments where touring was harder for him and maybe sometimes it would be harder for me to let go of ideas on how I wanted songs to be done, but at the end of the day, we never really had any disagreements that lasted longer than a day. 

He was a lot funnier than people realized because he kind of came across as serious. People always thought he was older than me, but in many ways, he was more of a kind than I was—he just had that hilarious sense of humor. He loved cooking. He loved to make food on the road. His family was fun to be around. He was a special person.

When you’re making music now, do you often think of him? How he might approach or contribute to the songs you’re creating?

Yeah—that’s always gonna happen. All my experiences of doing music for those first four years involved him. So, I’ll always be wondering what he would do differently, or if he would like my choices or whatever.

Speaking of these new songs. They’re amazing. When we talked, you mentioned that you had a ton of unreleased material from your time with Curls. Were these songs from those sessions? Or were these all written and recorded more recently?

Yeah–most of these songs are from those sessions. I redid some things, but that's mainly what it was. I took a few songs out and switched them with other things. And then there was a lot of stuff we just didn't record, but most of the songs from this album are from that time period.

The first single you released, “Think About Heaven,” this really gorgeous, breezy, airy song. Of course, it seems like every time you write anything remotely related to religion, people bring up your background growing up in Children of God. You’ve been very candid about your experiences there, and you said that your connection with religion continues to evolve. What’s your current relationship like?

As far as organized religion, I still don't really have any relationship with it. You know, I'm aware of it. I find it interesting, as a human phenomenon, just because I know so much about it. But it really isn't anything I'm into. For me religion has always been more interesting at a personal level. My relationship with the Bible was unplanned for the most part—it was kind of unchosen from the beginning. But recently, I can't help but think about it and read it and it’s probably always going to be a big part of my life. I don’t think the point of the whole thing was to be an organized religion, anyway. Jesus was actually about disrupting that. He was telling people that that their relationship to God was inside of themselves and not inside of some temple. So that's really more the way that I view it. I think there's a reason that it has persisted. No matter how logical and no matter how much our understanding of the world grows, there is always will be that personal relationship.

Shifting gears a little bit--“This is My Guitar” is another great song. I remember when we were speaking a few years ago, and you told me that busking outside in San Francisco—in the wind and the cold—helped make you a much better guitar player. This song reminds me of that—when everything else goes away, you’ll always have your music. How important has music been as this grounding force for you?

It's very important. At a time when there was no real reason to hang on to this and it was probably more logical for me to focus on something else, music became even more important to me. When I had to choose what to do with myself during the pandemic–when I was living in my car and when I really didn't have anyone familiar around me anymore, my reaction was just to play more music and turn to it more. I didn't think about it as a choice—it was this subconscious thing and I only realized afterwards that that's what I was doing. I was really glad, ultimately, because it was reassuring to know that I was doing something valuable with myself. It’s also an amazing feeling when you can actually get better at something. When you're 40 years old and having this same rewarding experience you felt as a teenager of getting better at the guitar. And I've been getting way more into playing keyboards lately and exploring new instruments. I'm just so grateful that I have something like this in my life that I can do.

“No Good” feels like it could absolutely be a Girls outtake, sonically. Whereas “I Think About Heaven” has this upbeat, positive outlook on life, “No Good” takes the opposite tack. What’s the backstory with that song? Is it about anything specific?

It was the first song that I wrote after the break up of my last relationship. It took a while to actually write something like that. I really was only writing instrumental guitar music for a long time. I think it was all too much to address for a while. It took a year until I finally wrote that song and a few other ones. That was kind of me waving the white flag on that relationship. It was about reflecting on the crazy experience that was really jolting. It wasn’t just a disappointing breakup—it was one of those things that really fucked my life up. Something like that shakes your whole idea of yourself and makes you question everything. It definitely made me feel pretty lousy. It’s funny because people say they’ve never heard me write like that. Even though it might sound like a Girls song, what I’m saying on that song is very different.

So, “Album” recently celebrated 15 years since its release. What does that anniversary mean to you? What are your memories of making that record? 

It's always shocking when one of those anniversaries happens. Time seems to pass in a funny way. That record was such a crazy experience. We spent, maybe two years, making it, which is the only record I've ever spent that much time working on. In the beginning, it was just JR and I recording in the bedroom, and the goal was just to get another song done to put on our Myspace page. And then to watch that reaction over those first six months– to see how much people responded to those songs was pretty amazing. It wasn’t until late 2008, after a year of working on those songs and playing those first shows, that we finally started talking to labels about actually making a record. When we knew there was actually going to be an album made, we spent the next year recording the rest of the songs and mixing them up in Seattle at a studio there. It was a huge learning experience. I’d never done any kind of band recording or singing. I played guitar in Holy Shit for a few years, but that was a totally different experience. That first record is sort of the birth of me finding out what I was going to do with myself.

I hope that you appreciate how much you mean to music fans in San Francisco. I think there is a generation of folks like me, whose experience living in the city is so closely tied with the music of Girls. Are you able to reflect on that at all?

I think I’m aware of that, and it means so much to me. To be able to have any sort of impact, especially in a city like San Francisco, is just an amazing feeling. It’s not like doing it in Dallas—San Francisco is this special, sophisticated city and people have taste there. When I left Amarillo, Texas, San Francisco was to me, the most European and beautiful city, and my number one place to go to in America. Coming there as a young adult and being able to have an experience like that and to maybe leave that kind of impression is priceless for me. It gives me a little bit of pride in myself—hopefully not too much—but it makes me feel good. And I couldn't think of anywhere else I would have liked to have made that impression. 

Last question: do you have plans to come back to San Francisco on tour?

Yeah—the first round of shows isn't really a tour, per se, but I’ll definitely be in San Francisco as part of that.[Note, after this interview, Owens announced a set of shows that includes a performance at The Chapel on December 16.]  I’m definitely coming there first, and then I'm sure I’ll be there again when we have an actual tour. I can’t wait to play in San Francisco, actually.

“I Wanna Run Barefoot Through Your Hair” is out now on True Panther Records. Buy the album here.

Friko Return to Bay Area Supporting one of 2024’s Best Albums

Photo Credit: Pooneh Ghana
Chicago outfit touring behind landmark debut album, “Where We’ve Been, Where We Go From Here".

When you’re listening to the music of Friko, Niko Kapetan wants to make sure you’re really listening.

On the Chicago indie rock band’s glorious debut album, this year’s “Where We've Been, Where We Go from Here,” it’s impossible to get comfortable. Austere piano ballads are followed by breakneck post-punk thrashers. Kitchen-sink indie rock anthems sit side-by-side with humble guitar numbers and multi-suite baroque chamber pop epics give way to crashing, blown-out shoegaze pieces.

That discordant, invigorating environment is all by design, according to Kapetan, the band’s guitarist, vocalist and co-founding member alongside drummer Bailey Minzenberger.

“The last thing I ever want to make is music that could just play in the background,” said Kapetan. “When I show people our music and that’s their reaction, I want to literally die. Maybe we’ll make a movie soundtrack of some ambient stuff someday, but for now, we want to go against that feeling. We hope you’re paying attention when you listen to our album.”

On Thursday and Friday, Friko will surely be grabbing the attention of listeners when they perform at The Fillmore and Fox Theater in Oakland, respectively. They’ll be opening those shows for Australian rockers Royel Otis.

The performances are the latest part of a non-stop touring schedule for Friko, which has earned rave reviews for “Where We’ve Been, Where We Go From Here.” A deeply ambitious album that’s rare by today’s standards, the record maps out a band unafraid to explore different genres, moods, tones and approaches. The result is one of the best albums of the year, if not the best.

It's a truly dizzying display of the band’s talents—one that shows an endlessly inventive approach to sonic structures while tracing a lyrical narrative that grapples with regret, memory and the ephemeral nature of passing time. Each song feels singular, yet part of a bold, cohesive mission statement.

“Crimson to Chrome” is a spiky, cascading punk rock testimonial, full of starts and stops and punctuated by Kapetan’s declaration that “We're either too old, too bold or stupid to move/I guess we’re caught on the wrong side of the shoe again.” “Crashing Through” matches that song’s dynamism, with its army of guitars and moments of explosive energy, powered in large part by Minzenberger’s insistent percussion work. 

“Chemical” quickly transforms from a gospel rendition of “Ave Maria” into a tortured, maniacal race against the clock—a frantic dash powered by spiky guitars and Kapetan’s repeated screaming of “Chemical! Chemical!” “Get Numb To It” captures Kapetan at his most desperate, again returning to the thematic motif of time’s endless march, punctuated by the desultory startlement that “It doesn't get better/It just gets twice as bad because you let it.” Kapetan manages to transform that sentiment, however, by viewing isolation and depression as emotions that can ultimately be bonding, exemplified by him evoking the album title: “Where we've been, where we go from here/Take your weight and throw your arms around me.”

“This album was definitely written from a dark place,” said Kapetan. “But if there was a throughline that we wanted to maintain in the album, it was about trying to find joy in those dark places.”

It’s a highly attuned album, emotionally. While Kapetan screams and thrashes on the record’s loud set pieces, he’s equally ruminative and reflective on the release’s most subdued numbers. “For Ella” is a gorgeous lament, just Kapetan and a piano, and his painful retellings of a love lost. “Until I’m With You Again” is another stark composition—a broken heart’s autobiographical tale, and “Cardinal” closes out the album on the most introspective note possible, with Kapetan’s cooing falsetto matched by melancholy string sections. 

The highpoint of the album comes at the very beginning, with the opening track “Where We’ve Been.” Containing an array of distinct movements within a single track, the song serves as a manifesto for the rest of the record—a slow building, churning document that foresees the emotional ebbs and flows of what’s to come while ending in a glorious gang vocal sing along. The song has already reached legendary status—Paste Magazine listed it as the top track of 2024 in its mid-year review.

“That song had this kind of magical feeling from the beginning,” said Kapetan. “It was one of those tracks where everything basically came together in 45 minutes. You have certain songs where you labor over them for hours and hours and nothing comes up, and then you have some where it just feels supernatural. We recorded it once and it was that take on the record. It was just this amazing, special feeling.”

“Where We’ve Been, Where We Go From Here,” is almost perfectly balanced between soft and loud, defiant and accepting, angry and peaceful. As such, it requires that active listening that Kapetan said is a major emphasis of the band.

Additionally, it evokes all the great, ridiculously grand indie rock albums of the early Aughts—everything from Bright Eyes’ “Lifted, Or The Story is In the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground” to …And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead’s “Source Tags and Codes.” With its heart-on-sleeve sentiment, however, its most clear predecessor is Arcade Fire’s landmark 2004 record, “Funeral.”

“We really wanted to show our aspirations with this album—for it to almost be overwhelming,” said Kapetan. “Growing up, indie rock was just so exciting for us, and we wanted to replicate that feeling. But we also love songwriters and playing just quiet acoustic guitar songs. For this first record, we wanted to dive into every realm of possibility, to make it open enough where we could do anything on the next album, and it wouldn’t be a total surprise.”

Kapetan said the band is already plotting out new material for its sophomore album. At this point, the only thing that would be surprising about that effort is if it’s not another generous, daring and vibrant work of art. 

Show Details:
Friko with Royel Otis
Where: The Fillmore and the Fox Theater
When: 8 p.m., Thursday, October 17 at the Fillmore and 8 p.m., Friday, October 18 at the Fox.
Tickets: $50.60 at the Fox Theater, available here. $42.75 at the Fillmore, available here.

Stars Performing Classic Album at the Chapel on Sunday

Photo Credit: Stars
Canadian indie rockers celebrating 20th anniversary of “Set Yourself on Fire.”

“When there’s nothing left to burn, you have to set yourself on fire.”

That spoken-word opening salvo is the first thing listeners hear on “Set Yourself On Fire,” the seminal 2004 album from Canadian indie rock outfit Stars.

Delivered with a stern, Mid-Atlantic accent, the declaration feels lifted from a gritty noir film starring Humphrey Bogart or a 1940s radio broadcast warning of the perils of fascism. Instead, the unlikely orator of that line—which serves as a manifesto for the entire album—is actually the father of Stars frontman Torquil Campbell.

“Yeah, that’s my dad,” said Campbell. “I wanted to start the record with a quote, and I had been kind of jotting that line down on my arm for a little while because I was too scared to get a tattoo. We were in the mastering suite, basically finishing up the album and I got my dad on the phone, and he recorded that real quick. He always liked to complain that he never earned a penny in royalties from that contribution.”

On October 20 at the Chapel, the band will play their beloved third album in full, part of an ongoing tour celebrating the 20th anniversary of the release. The guest vocal contribution of Campbell’s father—which kickstarted the opening track, “Your Ex-Lover Is Dead” has played a strangely enduring role in the legacy of the album. 

That statement is about defiant self-belief and irreverent radicalism, helping set the tone for “Set Yourself on Fire” and perfectly epitomizing the ethos of the band. Much like today, the world of 2004 was a chaotic, war-torn time, with the Iraqi and Afghanistan conflicts looming large and the machismo of George W. Bush America running rampant. Stars sought to counter those nihilistic undercurrents with messages of empathy and understanding. 

“We were very convinced at the time that being soft and being loving was the ultimate punk act—and we still feel that way,” said Campbell. “That’s how we were raised—if you treat people with respect and dignity and love, that’s going to permeate out into the world. And if you act selfish and you don’t show love and don’t express vulnerability, the world will become a harder, nastier place. And then you get assholes like Donald Trump.”

So much of that communal sentiment derived from the explosion of artistic and creative endeavors happening in the band’s hometown of Toronto. At the time, that city was the epicenter of the indie rock world, with bands and artists like Broken Social Scene, Metric and Feist helping to define the expansive, exploratory sound of the early aughts. 

“It’s hard to describe that feeling in your 20s, when seemingly everyone you know just falls in love with each other,” said Campbell. “We all lived within, like six blocks of each other, and we were all just very obsessed with each other as people. We couldn’t stop hanging out with each other and going to each other’s shows and that energy was just a vortex you got caught up in.”

Whether it was the osmosis effect of the Toronto scene or an inspired burst of songwriting, the resulting effect was an astonishing catalog of songs collected on “Set Yourself on Fire.” Few albums capture the wonderment and awe offered by indie rock—a dynamic that perhaps reached its peak in 2004, when bands within the genre produced classic albums on a seemingly weekly basis. 

Every song on “Set Yourself on Fire” is a certifiable classic. “Your Ex-Lover is Dead” sets the tone from the onset with its heart-on-sleeve lyrics and lilting melodies. The title track is a jittering, propulsive pop classic, “Ageless Beauty” is a stunning shoegaze number and “Reunion” is a janglepop masterpiece. “First Five Times,” is a boozy, synthpop creation and “One More Night (Your Ex-Lover Remains Dead)” is a sweeping, orchestral piece characterized by the time honored soft-loud-soft dynamic.

Things take a more serious turn on the second half of the album, with Campbell delivering a scathing indictment of Bush-era foreign adventurism on “He Lied About Death,” and singer Amy Millan cooing a hopeful riposte to endless warmongering on “Celebration Guns.” The album closes with the gorgeous ballad “Calendar Girl”—a final return to more intimate settings.

For Campbell, mixing the personal (the intricacies of romantic relationships) with the universal (a world beset by war) made complete sense. 

“I just think, that’s fucking life,” said Campbell. “All the stuff, post-9/11 was fundamentally disruptive to our lives. The personal and political were completely intertwined. And nothing really has changed—in fact it’s becoming more pronounced. You go on Instagram, and you see someone talking about their new air fryer they just bought and the next post you see is about stopping the genocide. The difference in the personal and public appearances of people in this world have been erased.”

By melding those seemingly disparate concepts, Stars forecast the future in ways that feel eerily prescient. And despite having that wildly ambitious conceit, the album feels shockingly cohesive. Campbell and Millan trade off vocals like lovers having a conversation and the audacious sonic template (flitting between loud, discordant tracks and symphonic, baroque offerings) is deftly wielded by the stately musicianship of the band, anchored in large parts by virtuosic multi-instrumentalist Evan Cranley.

The result is a document of the times (one that received universal acclaim) that still feels absolutely vital 20 years later. Campbell said there was some initial hesitancy about embarking on a tour that could be seen as a nostalgia trip, but those misgivings were quickly dissipated after the first few shows.

“I can honestly say that these shows have been among the most beautiful experiences of my life,” said Campbell. “This record came out 20 years ago. That is an incredibly long period of time for us to hold on to our audience. It means everything to me that we’re still doing this.”

The band’s show at the Chapel sold out within a few days of tickets being offered and numerous other outings have been packed affairs on the tour. Campbell said the outpouring of support has encouraged them to extend these run of 20th anniversary shows.

“We want to keep this thing going,” said Campbell. “We plan on giving everything we got, for two hours every night. We want to give the people what they want—to make them cry and dance and sing and then send them home happy.”

Show Details:
Stars with Kevin Drew
Where: The Chapel
When: 8 p.m., Sunday October 20 
Tickets: Sold Out

Sunset Rubdown Continue Victory Tour after Unlikely Reunion

Photo Credit: Terry Ondang 
Canadian indie rockers will play at The Independent on October 14

We all know about “the rat.”

No, I’m not talking about the legendary Walkmen track. I mean that feeling of self-loathing, doubt and worthlessness. Some people call it anxiety. Others refer to it as stress. Or maybe we just chalk it up to modern living.

For Spencer Krug, the erudite lead singer and founder of Canadian indie rockers Sunset Rubdown, our sense of existential dread is anthropomorphized into that wily, sly little rodent. 

On “Reappearing Rat,” the band’s lead single off their terrific new album, “Always Happy to Explode,” Krug deftly captures our underlying insecurities, portraying a scene of domestic bliss interrupted by the ominous chorus, “But the rat, the rat, the rat/Has reappeared.” However, instead of taking that mantra as a pessimistic rejoinder, Krug said he actually views the song as a defiant ode to all the band has weathered recently.

“I think, on a not super-conscious level, that song was symbolic of the band overcoming all our doubts and overcoming all these challenges we’ve faced,” said Krug. “There are doubts in the lyrics, but for me, that song is about more than that. Actually, making that song was this amazing experience—it was this realization that this record could be fun, and we could enjoy doing this thing together. It made me love that song so much more.”

Krug—who first came to fame as one of the chief songwriters for the indie rock group Wolf Parade—will showcase the band’s triumph over that recurring rodent when they play at The Independent on October 14. It will be a victory lap of sorts for a band that’s risen like Lazarus on more than one occasion.  

The challenges Krug was referencing in his quote stem from a tumultuous recording process for the album. While all ensconced at Krug’s house on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, drummer Jordan Robson-Cramer tested positive for Covid, and bassist Nicholas Merz abruptly bolted during the sessions, taking an unplanned break to calm his nerves. Michael Doerksen, the band’s original guitarist, never even made it to the studio, so the new album was essentially recorded without any electric guitar.

Still, they persevered, accounting for a minor miracle and continuing the band’s wholly unexpected second act. “Always Happy to Explode” is the first Sunset Rubdown album in 15 years. When the group reformed to tour last year, it came as a shock to many, as Krug had repeatedly shot down any rumors about a potential reunion of the group.

But after being inspired by a dream (true story), Krug managed to corral all the founding members of the group (Doerksen, Robson-Cramer, and Camilla Wynne) for a 2023 tour, and after the success of that jaunt, Sunset Rubdown decided to record their first album since 2009’s “Dragonslayer.”

“I’d been saying for years that we’d never get back together—and that wasn’t a move on my part, I truly believed that,” said Krug. “But after doing this reunion tour, it seemed like both the band and our audiences were pleasantly surprised. There was this built-in gratitude to the whole tour—we were all so grateful we could get together and play these songs again. And our next step was always predicated on the success of the previous step. So, when the tour went well, we all decided it made sense to record a new album.”

Similar to past Sunset Rubdown efforts, the songs on “Always Happy To Explode” are unpredictable, labyrinthine creations, featuring abrupt tempo changes and dramatic sonic interludes. Powered by inventive synth and keyboard sounds, the tracks evoke an alien, unfamiliar and exciting sense of place—a world inhabited by ghouls, moths, snakes and other fantastical creatures that inhabit Krug’s trademark mythical narratives. Additionally, the “little lord”—a figure who pops up periodically in Krug’s songs, makes an appearance on the new album.

“Yeah, that’s the nickname I had when we first started with Wolf Parade,” said Krug. “I was very green to the music industry, and I had these certain lines I would refuse to cross. I wanted things to work in a certain way, and so I got that nickname, ‘little lord.’ It was pretty funny, so I just embraced it.”

Always self-effacing, Krug readily admits to his foibles, singing “And oh/The little lord's bored,” on “Worm,” the epic, penultimate track on the album, which, for the first time, features vocal contributions from all Sunset Rubdown band members (Merz stepped in for Doerksen during recording). Those arrangements add new depth to the band’s sound, with Wynne in particular making her presence felt by infusing stirring harmonies to most of the tunes. 

“I remember saying that I wanted to have a lot of vocals on this record, and not just a bunch of my voice,” said Krug. “I wanted to have lots of Camille singing, you know a lot from Jordan. And Nicholas, the new member, has this amazing voice. He’s that baritone you can hear come in from time to time.”

The cacophony of voices separates this Sunset Rubdown album from previous releases, proving that their extended break has only made the band more vibrant and creative. Equal parts prog and punk, “Always Happy To Explode” define easy categorization—a longtime specialty of the group and one that bodes well for the future.

“As long as Sunset Rubdown continues to be sustainable, I think we’re all on board,” said Krug. “I mean, no one is trying to get rich off this project. But if we people still want to hear us play our songs, we’re happy to perform them. I’m just trying to keep this whole thing alive—of making music. And it feels good to be doing that with this group of people.”

Show Details:
Sunset Rubdown with Sister Ray
Where: The Independent
When: 8 p.m., Monday, October 14
Tickets: $32, available here

Broken Dreams Club Interview: Cindy

No band has done more to draw attention to San Francisco’s nascent “fog pop” scene than Cindy, the brainchild of singer-songwriter Karina Gill. Characterized by hushed vocals, unhurried, ambling tempos and proudly lo-fi recording techniques, Cindy’s songs evoke that vivid, dusky moment when one first wakes up, still half-immersed in a dream. 

After receiving critical acclaim for the band’s previous two full-length albums, Cindy is set to release a new EP, “Swan Lake,” through Tough Love Records on October 4. The band will also embark on a major UK/European tour later this year.

Broken Dreams Club recently caught up with Gill to discuss the upcoming tour, Cindy’s new EP and some endearing moments that helped inspire that record. 

So…it’s been another memorable year for the band. You toured the US with Horsegirl, are putting out this new EP and have another big UK/EU jaunt lined up later this year. What’s been your impression so far of the year? Must be exciting times?

The Horsegirl tour was really fun. I feel really lucky that Ground Control Touring invited us for that. I had never really toured the US, other than some small tours in Southern California. To be able to go to the East Coast and the Midwest and cities like Toronto was not something that I would have ever imagined doing. We were presented with a great opportunity to be brought along on a really nice tour that was already set up. All we had to do was basically show up and play. Horsegirl are such lovely people, and I really loved seeing them play every night. I got a sneak preview of music they're working on, so it was really this great experience. And my current bandmates are just a dream to travel with, so it was great. Other than it being crazy hot. I mean, I'm from the East Coast, so I understand. But, you know, my California bandmates were a little shocked. 

That must have been a pretty fascinating bill with Horsegirl—they’re kind of known for their outsized noise, and well, that’s not exactly Cindy’s forte.

Cindy usually plays with bands that are quite different from us, and I generally prefer that. The shows I've played where there was an effort to book us with somebody who is like us end up feeling confusing to me. But for the Horsegirl shows, the crowds were really receptive. There were some people who were there to see us, which is, you know, wonderful and amazing, and I think Horsegirl fans are known for being open minded. Everyone was extremely receptive and warm and friendly. It was really nice. 

You’ve discussed before how you started this musical endeavor a little later in life, watching closely while others pursued this field. When you decided to go into this thing, did you anticipate you’d be where you are today, as this really admired, respected and established musical act?

Definitely not. A lot of opportunities have sort of come to me, and I feel very lucky for that, honestly. I definitely never had ambitions around music, aside from, maybe the ambition to record a song as well as I can or whatever. I think that's pretty common around here with Bay Area bands. There are some exceptions, definitely, but most of the bands I know are mainly interested in developing aesthetically and creatively within our community. There's less of an outward looking feeling. And I certainly felt right at home with that. As you said, I haven't been playing music all my life—this is a relatively recent thing for me. It wasn't like I was, 14 years old, dreaming of touring. But now that it’s happened, I feel super lucky and grateful that I get to do this.

So, the new album—“Swan Lake”—obviously has a very famous title, but this has nothing to do with Russian Ballet, correct? What’s the significance of this name to you?

The song Swan Lake on the EP is referring to man-made lake in a park in Birmingham, England. Last time Cindy was over there, we all went for this walk, and it was full of conversations, and it was just this kind of magical hour or so. We ended up at this lake, and there were all these swan paddle boats in the lake, and they almost all seemed oversized. It was kind of bizarre looking. So the title refers to that place and that experience. But it is also meant to ring bells of that ballet. Even if you don't know that the title is a ballet,  it conjures something from the past—it sounds familiar. I think in my songs, I do that a lot--add these kinds of ringing bells that maybe are not entirely transparent, but have associations that add dimensions to the things we say, the things we hear. 

Now were these songs culled from the “Why Not Now” sessions, or were these written with an EP in mind?

They were all written after “Why Not Now.” I started recording them with just the idea of doing a 7”, because I like them—I think they're cool. But, apparently, record labels do not like 7” records. So I was thinking of doing a 7”, or maybe two, but then once the idea of doing a tour started evolving, it made more sense to record more songs that were new, so we could put together something that was a little bit more substantial of an offering. It went from being maybe I'll do a 7”just for fun, to ‘okay, well, I have, you know, like eight songs and I can find six of them are ready to be recorded.’ They all ended up being recorded in different ways. Oli [Lipton], my bandmate, has a great recording setup in his home. So, we did some there. We recorded a little with Robby Joseph, who helped us in the past. So yeah, they were all kind of put together in different manners. The “Swan Lake” song I recorded at home on a four -track, as you can probably hear.

You mentioned how there's not a whole lot of love for 7” records, but EPS are kind of a lost art as well. There is such a great history of bands with amazing EPs, though. What’s your relationship with EPs? And why was it important for you to release these songs in this format?

I don't know that I have a specific relationship with EPs, per se, but I definitely tend toward less is more. I don't need to hear a set that’s an hour and 20 minutes long or anything. And Cindy's MO has always been about what is happening now—about what is available. That’s not because I have any principled stand on this, it’s simply because it's how it works for me. I’ve never put together an album with this agenda in mind that I have to have 10 songs. That’s never been the case. It's always been—I have songs, they work together, here's a record., I think it's kind of just a reflection of what was real for us. I had a pool of songs that I could then bring to my bandmates and at the time. I had made demos of a lot of them, and they were just kind of ready to go somewhere. I tend to record things and release them pretty swiftly. That has its drawbacks and sometimes I wish I weren't like that, but that's how I am. I just want to do what's happening now and then do the next thing. 

Yeah, and you talked about workshopping these demos. I know there is deep love for demo recordings for certain San Francisco bands (Sad Eyed Beatniks and April Magazine, for example.) There is an appreciation for embracing the imperfections of recordings and in many ways, I associate EPs with some of those demo recordings. Do you share that same kind of appreciation for demos?

Well, I think for me, it's just kind of what I do. I suppose I could adopt another way, but it has no appeal for me at all. I wish I were somebody who could make things more perfect. I wish I was somebody who could, you know, work on something until it has a less vulnerable form. But I'm just not that person. I also think people would be surprised by some of the recordings that you think are effortless. Those other Bay Area albums you mentioned that are similar to us—they are certainly not effortless and nor is Cindy. There is a lot of labor that goes into our work. It may be a different kind of labor—one that is not about the polish, but more about the source. And it’s not this decided-upon route. It's just an expression of what works for me, and I think likewise for the other bands you mentioned. There's this desire to keep moving and not kind of be outward facing and product oriented. We want something that is kind of invulnerable. Something that’s so shiny and bright you can't look at it straight. 

You said that six of you took part in the recording sessions. The Cindy band lineup has gone through some evolutions over the years, but you seemed to have settled on a pretty steady core at this moment, right?

Well, the lineup right now is definitely amazing—I feel so lucky. The live lineup is made up of folks who are able to tour. So there Oli Lipton and Will Smith, both from Now and then Staizsh Rodrigues from Children Maybe Later, who is also doing another project now called Peace Frog. So the four of us have become a band in the sense that we tour, and you know, we've made a set that works for us. But the Cindy sound that’s on the recording also has Stanley Martinez, and Mike Ramos. Again, I’m so lucky that I live in this place where they're all these amazing musicians. And even if someone can't be a touring member because they have other obligations or whatever, you know, they are still willing to contribute to a recording. “Why Not Now?” was full of people from the community who contributed. 

Some of these songs on “Swan Lake” have pretty interesting origin stories. The opening track, “All Weekend” for instance, traces back to an inspiring elevator ride, right? What was the exact genesis and inspiration for that song?

Yeah, a couple years ago now, I was on an elevator in the Main Branch Public Library here in San Francisco, and there was another person on the elevator. It was just the two of us and they were having some non-consensus reality experience. I found myself kind of enraptured by how totally enraptured they were. They were having some experience that was totally immersive, and I was just there to get a book. There was something about that person, and that experience that stuck with me over years.

Every Cindy album seems to contain a stirring instrumental track and this EP is no different. “The Birds in Birmingham Park” is this gorgeous, ambling stroll of the song. What attracts you to these songs with no words?

Most of my songs are really lyric-driven and part of me wishes that I could get away from that, but it is kind of what I have to offer, largely. But I do love instrumental music. That song is very much a mood. I think all my songs strive to capture something like a mood that has its own sort of logic, its own emotional logic. And that song is also about walking through that park in Birmingham. I mean, it's not about anything specific, but that song kind of comes, in some sense, from that experience. I did actually write lyrics for it originally, but they seemed extraneous, so I shifted away from that, and just had this kind of feeling and progression and structure. And then Oli was able to elaborate it so beautifully on guitar. It just became something where the music was able to communicate the mood far better than the words could. 

The title track is a nice wrinkle for the album, with its spoken word delivery. How did you arrive at that kind of arrangement?

That was a really spontaneous demo. I’ve done similar things. There's a song on “Free Advice” that's basically spoken. It feels kind of funny, I suppose, and makes me slightly squeamish, but sometimes that's just what it is. And for that particular song, I was thinking about different kinds of associative thinking. And it just felt like there was no place for a melody. I just had that structure and tone and I recorded it really fast. Usually, I think through songs a bit more before I record them, but that was just kind of spontaneous. 

You have this really big tour coming up in Europe and the UK coming up. This will be your first trip to Europe, but your second trip to the UK. Are you all pretty excited for that?

The UK tour was a year and a half ago, and that was my first international tour. I feel really privileged to get to go back to the UK, and, you know, and play at venues where they want to have us. We get to return to London and Glasgow and Manchester, so that's cool. And then Europe—I mean, I'm really looking forward to it. I'm going to places I've never been. I’ve never been to Berlin or Amsterdam or Rotterdam, Geneva, all these places. So, it's exciting. And Ruben [Myles Tyghe], who runs Outsider Artists, just does a great job of making the tour make sense—making it financially viable and practical and doable for a band at our level where we're not obviously playing massive venues. I'm really looking forward to it. I mean, I'm slightly terrified, but that's normal. 

And are there plans for a possible headlining Cindy tour domestically? 

Nothing planned. We get back mid-November, so probably for this year, that's going to be it. But we’ve gotten invited to different parts of the US. And I think once I recover from this upcoming tour, I might have the bandwidth to think about maybe an East Coast tour. We’ve also had some really lovely invitations from the South. I don't know that I could book a tour in the US on my own and keep my sanity, but I could definitely try. 

I know the EP is coming out in a couple of weeks, but do you have plans on writing a full length album as well? 

I mean, these songs keep showing up. And I do like recording, especially when it can be at someone's home or a really comfortable place, like Robby’s studio. So yeah, I would totally embark on another collection if I had the songs that made sense to do that. But no immediate plans at the moment. 

Other updates worth highlighting? Album news, announcements? Anything happening with Flowertown?

Nothing concrete. Mike and I are good friends and Flowertown is always sort of there in the background. He just went to Japan as Tony J and both of us are in Sad-Eyed Beatniks, which has been really fun. I don't know that Flowertown has any concrete plans, but when those songs are being written, they tend to be like a faucet. So, if we start again, we’ll probably get some songs recorded quickly. I’ll keep you posted on that. 

“Swan Lake” is out Friday on Tough Love Records.

Broken Dreams Club Interview: Built to Spill

Photo credit: Alex Hecht

Legendary indie rockers Built to Spill will be playing two shows at the Fillmore on Friday, September 27 and Saturday, 28. To mark the 30th anniversary of their beloved sophomore release, “There’s Nothing Wrong With Love,” the Boise band will play that album in its entirety each night.

Broken Dreams Club caught up with Built to Spill founder and sole permanent member Doug Martsch prior to the band’s shows to talk about his love-hate relationship with “There’s Nothing Wrong With Love,” performing in San Francisco and what’s next for the group:

You’ve been playing these “There’s Nothing Wrong with Love” shows for more than a month now. What’s that been like—have fans been pretty excited to hear this album live in its entirety?

It’s been really fun. It took a little while to get rolling with it. I don't know if we had as much rehearsal time as I wanted, but it’s starting to feel pretty good after a few weeks. It’s been cool having a cello player out here for this run. 

So, you have a cello player on this tour? What is the tour lineup right now? Is it Melanie [Radford] and Teresa [Esguerra ] and the cello player? 

Yeah, exactly. Mel and T and John McMahon on cello. It’s been awesome.

You’ve been approaching these shows with an interesting setlist—starting with a song not off “There’s Nothing Wrong With Love” before launching into the full album. Any particular reason for that approach?

Yeah—that’s another example of where I wish that we had had a little more rehearsal time to figure out things. We played maybe a couple weeks of shows starting with “There’s Nothing Wrong With Love,” and then decided to mix it up a bit. I really like that it’s a way to warm up the show a little bit, and then you jump into the record. It’s a little more exciting. I wish we had done that from the beginning. 

You’ve been so consistent with touring. I think you've played more than 250 shows over the past two years. How important is it to maintain that steady, live presence? 

I think for me, it's just my job and what I do. That’s how I think of it. There’s something to playing a lot so that you're comfortable and playing at your best. We took eight months off and I feel like it took a little bit for us to get going again. I’m not sure how bands do it that take long hiatuses or just drop out of music, and then come back a few years later. I guess everyone has their own way of performing and their own relationship to live music, but for me, it would be really hard to pick it all up again after not doing it for a long time. I don't know—it just seems the more I play, the more comfortable I am. 

Even after all these years, huh?

For sure, definitely. I'm not a real natural music person. It takes a lot of time for me to get into the zone. 

Ok—let’s talk about “There’s Nothing Wrong With Love.” Last time I interviewed you, you weren’t exactly praiseworthy of this album. Have you softened a bit on it, since you’ve started playing it live in full every night?

I like the songs, for the most part. I just really don't like the recording. The guitars don't sound very good. I didn't play very well back then. I could just only play guitar enough to be serviceable. With my singing, it’s the same thing. There are a lot of things about it that I just feel like they are not very well done. I've improved a lot—at least in my own mind—over the years. But the songs are fun to play now. We do them our own way. The guitar sounds different now, and I sing differently, and I prefer it this way. I understand, too, how it's just a record of that time period. I'm not ashamed of it, but I'm not very psyched about it, either.

What was it like revisiting these songs? Some you’ve been playing live for years, but others you haven’t played much at all.

Well, I guess my thing is that the words and the chords and the melodies are all there, but the way that they're performed is different. I have a different way of singing, a different way of playing guitar, than I did back then. I changed a lot from doing it live over the years as a result of finding my voice and getting more comfortable with the guitar. I try and strip away parts of the songs that I don’t think are essential, but I’m not trying to be extreme like a Bob Dylan thing or something. Sometimes bands make a really cool improvement on their songs and their live shows, and I hope that's what we're doing when we do our old songs. Hopefully we're making them better, and not worse. 

Not only did you record this album 30 years ago, but it certainly feels like the most earnest, almost whimsical Built to Spill album. Was it particularly nostalgic going back to these songs?

Well, there's really not much nostalgia. I don't think about how I felt at the time or what was going on in my brain, really. It’s more about figuring out how I can make it sound good today. And I don't really think about whether or not it transports anyone back. That's not important to me. What matters is making music that sounds good for me right now. 

It also feels like the most autobiographical Built to Spill album. Songs like “Twin Falls,” and “Car” and “Distopian Dream Girl” seem to offer this glimpse into your life that we don’t often get to see. Do you consider this your most personal Built to Spill album?

I mean, it's not too autobiographical. I don't even have a stepfather, that was someone else. “Twin Falls” is not about anyone real, either. So, it’s not necessarily autobiographical, but maybe personal, maybe a little more earnest. I don’t remember the feeling that I had when we made the record too much, but I remember thinking that it was nice to make just a really sweet pop record, with lots of melodies and without any distortion. There's no reverb or anything. It sounds like a home recording at a time when everything was all about grunge and this loud rock stuff. I definitely felt like we were just doing something totally weird. 

So, you didn't really have a stepdad who looked like David Bowie? 

Nope. And “Car” is just a bunch of random words. Not much of it is really about me or anyone. I think there's a few songs that are about my wife Karena. “Reasons” is this pretty love song about her, and “Cleo” is about our kid being in the womb. “Israel’s Song” is a song that Karena wrote all the lyrics to, and it's about a kid with autism that she worked with a little bit. So it's kind of all over the place. “Stab” is not really about anything. I think it's just kind of nonsense words that sound serious.

And so, you mentioned, “Stab,” which is one of the jammier songs on the album, but  “There’s Nothing Wrong With Love” is generally known as the Built to Spill “pop” album. After writing this album, did you feel kind of freed up to explore the more vast, exploratory song structures you specialize in with “Perfect From Now On?”

Yeah, I don't know if it was that specifically. I feel like each record is a little bit of a reaction to what was before. There seems to be a little bit of that pattern. The first record, “Ultimate Alternative Wavers”, was more kind of jammed out, with a lot of improvising and experimental music and song structures. And so, “There’s Nothing Wrong With Love” was really concise. And then “Perfect From Now On” is more of a reaction to that conciseness. “Perfect From Now On” was also about a bit of a fear of a record label trying to do something commercial with us, trying to sort of throw a monkey wrench into the things a little bit. My fear was being over-promoted. I mean, now I wish, I wish we'd done it, but I just did not want that at the time. The whole radio version of music didn't ever make much sense to me. The stuff that got played on the radio, it didn't really sound good to me. 

I love “Hidden Track ” from “There’s Nothing Wrong With Love.” I’m sad I never got to the hear the full version of that song that starts “a man needs loving…” Where did that idea come from, to do that, like, fake preview of the next album?

I don't even remember. It was just this silly idea, and we were able to spend enough time to pull it off all right. Maybe I'll have AI do a full album from that one track. 

“There’s Nothing Wrong With Love” obviously resonates with so many people. There are a ton of Built to Spill fans who consider this their favorite album. Why do you think it’s still special to so many people after all these years?

I have no idea. I remember when we made it, I was really proud of it and really happy with it. It was the first time that I'd spent that much time in the studio—that I finished a record and didn’t really feel like I had to go back and work on it some more. I felt so satisfied with the whole process and working with Phil [Ek] and the band and the collection of songs and the way it all fit together—it just felt like a big accomplishment, But listening back to it now, I wish I still felt that way. I really can't stress enough how disappointed I was to go back and listen to it over and over to prepare for this tour. I just, I don't really like it very much. “Perfect From Now On” or “Keep It Like A Secret”— those records have some similar things that I don’t like, but they’ve grown on me a little bit more. “There’s Nothing Wrong With Love,” for some reason—I just don’t connect. I know I’m not promoting this very much! I mean, I do remember when the record came out and people in Boise were hearing about it and stuff. It was kind of the first record that I made that had any kind of audience beyond my friends and family. Not many people listened to that first Built to Spill record—maybe a handful of people knew about it. So, all of a sudden, this one came out, and we were on the cover of The Rocket, which was really big in the Northwest, so that was super exciting. There was this one guy who worked at The Record Exchange—this older guy who was really cool—and I remember he didn't like the album. I couldn’t understand why at the time. But I definitely can see now how someone could be annoyed by the album.

You’re playing two shows at the Fillmore. Over the years, you’ve played in plenty of San Francisco venues. Where does the Fillmore rank among those sites? It’s a pretty special place.

Yeah, it might be my favorite place, anywhere. I love it so much. I loved playing at Slim’s, but no Fillmore is the best.

And you’ve never gone too long without visiting San Francisco. Do you feel like you always get a nice reaction when you come here?

For sure. It’s one of a handful of most important places to us. 

You released “When the Wind Forgets Your Name” in 2022 on Sub Pop, which is just the perfect label for Built to Spill. Are you all working on material for a new album? Any updates on when we could expect that release?

No, nothing at all. I haven't really written a song in a long time, and even with “When The Wind Forgets Your Name”—a lot of that stuff was mostly pretty old. I don't know. I haven't been pushing myself or anything. I assume I'll write some more songs one day, but maybe that phase is over for me. But getting back to AI actually, I just downloaded an AI app and made a birthday song for my brother, and it was so incredible and weird. So, maybe it’s over for me. 

Final question: what’s your favorite song from “There’s Nothing Wrong with Love?”

If I had to choose, I mean, my favorite one to play, at least, is probably “Some.” Just to noodle around with that chord progression that I think is so pretty. It’s kind of become my favorite one on this tour to play. It's a little too low to sing, but over the course of these few weeks, I feel like I have I settled into where I'm supposed to sing it where my voice feels right. “Big Dipper” is also a nice one. “Reasons” is one of my favorites. “Car,” is an interesting song, but I also kind of hate it.

Show Details:
Built to Spill with Quasi
When: 8 p.m., Friday, September 27 and Saturday, September 28
Where: The Fillmore
Tickets: $53, available here.

Future Islands’ Fox Theater Show Proves They’re Dynamic As Ever

Nearly two decades into their career, the Baltimore art-pop act Future Islands are probably not surprising anyone at this point. 

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past decade, you’re extremely familiar with their legendary, star-turning performance on “Late Show with David Letterman.” The band hasn’t really tinkered with their sound all that much, preferring to stay in their bass-and-synth lane. And Samuel Herring—their growling, gesticulating, wonderfully expressive singer—has remained his endearingly intense self.

That doesn’t mean, however, that Future Islands shows aren’t still thrilling, outrageously fun affairs. On Tuesday night at the Fox Theater, the band proved once again that the Future Islands live experience is a singular event.

Of course, so much of that is attributed to Herring’s wonderfully manic energy. Despite conceding that this voice was feeling a little “husky” (a term he mentioned was also used to describe his wardrobe as a kid), Herring strutted through all his greatest onstage hits, dancing, swaying, fist-pumping, exhorting and generally acting like this performance could very well be his last.

The band is touring behind their fantastic seventh album, “People Who Aren’t There Anymore,” another collection of offbeat, strangely catchy synth pop tunes. The setlist leaned heavily on those numbers, with seven songs coming from the new release. The band also dug deep from their beloved 2010 album, “In Evening Air,” performing five renditions from that record, with each of those tunes sounding as vibrant and moving as they did upon their release 14 years ago.

While the band feels reassuringly comfortable by their connection to one late-night show performance, the notoriety of that event does make every Future Islands show somewhat of a waiting game for “Seasons (Waiting on You).” That’s kind of a bummer, since their entire catalog is so strong (no skips!), but it also makes hearing that song live in concert an utterly thrilling, cathartic experience. 

Because it’s so closely linked to Herring’s performance on Letterman, it can be easy to forget how amazing and transfixing the song is on its own merits. When the band performed “Seasons” deep into their setlist on Tuesday, the crowd exploded in reaction, some clearly responding to seeing Herring at the height of his powers, but others just awed by the soaring nature of the tune. 

Almost as a reminder that the band existed prior to that song, Future Islands returned for an encore that featured “The Tin Man,” a song perhaps equally beloved by the group’s fanbase (I’ve been to more than one Future Islands show with audience members dressed in metallic outfits.)

That song, which set the early standard for the band’s driving, urgent electronica, was a stellar reminder their formula has always been top-notch.

No need to change things now.

As Silverware, Ainsley Wagoner Captures the Profundity of Music

Photo Credit: Marisa Bazan

SF artist will celebrate release of latest album, “One True Light,” with Sept. 24 show at Tiny Telephone studio in Oakland.

The story of Ainsley Wagoner’s life is also inevitably a story about music. 

The Kentucky native grew up playing piano and singing in her church, taking cues from her parents, who were the organist and choir director, respectively. From there, she attended the University of Kentucky, quickly ingratiating herself in the local arts scene while working for the school’s radio station and majoring in music.

It wasn’t until she moved to San Francisco in 2014 that she began to contemplate an existence without her longtime companion. Although it had been a part of her life since birth, music always felt like an organic presence—a calming backdrop that was effortless and natural. 

Upon moving to a new city thousands of miles from her home, Wagoner wondered if she would be able to find that same sense of community that accompanied her earliest memories. For once, she would have to search out this scene, instead of letting it come to her—a prospect that felt daunting.

“When I moved out here, I started to wonder if I only enjoyed music because I was always around it,” said Wagoner. “I wasn’t sure who I’d be once I stepped away from my hometown. But after maybe two years of not doing it, I couldn’t even enjoy listening to music. At shows I was so deeply envious of the people performing. I knew that I had to figure out how to keep making music and find people to do it with here.”

That revelation impelled Wagoner to continue exploring music under her creative moniker, Silverware. On August 30, she released the second full-length Silverware album, “One True Light,” and on September 24, she’ll play tracks from that record at the Tiny Telephone recording studio in Oakland. 

“One True Light” is humble, yet ethereal—grounded in a DIY ethos but also uplifted by Wagoner’s boundless talent and technical expertise. It is secular spiritual creation, an ambitious concept album of sorts that combines Wagoner’s varied influences—everything from the experimental noise bands she played in college to her formative years spent in the church. Flitting between art-rock, synth pop and indie-folk, the album recalls acts such as Indigo de Souza, Bat for Lashes and Chairlift (Caroline Polachek’s pre-breakthrough outfit.) It’s a powerful statement from a musician who draws just as comfortably from Sonic Youth as she does from hymns.

Although she’s now firmly ensconced in the local music scene (in addition to her solo work, Wagoner plays in the awesome indie rock band, Galore), that integration took some time. Wagoner moved from a tight-knit artistic community in Lexington to a city where she knew literally no one. Slowly, she found a group of like-minded artists, mostly from playing at the Mission haunt The Rite Spot Café, making connections with DJs at the indie radio station BFF.fm, while meeting a crew of musicians and engineers working at Tiny Telephone.

Among that Tiny Telephone crew, she connected with Omar Akrouche, who records as Worthitpurchase. The two collaborated on the 2021 debut Silverware album, “No Plans,” and worked together once again on “One True Light.” Nearly immediately after the first album was released in 2021, they began work on the follow-up.

Unlike for the debut album, however, when both lived in the Bay area, the recording for “One True Light,” took more time, due to Akrouche moving to Los Angeles. In addition to the logistical challenges, Wagoner said she had difficulty letting go of the final product.

“I’m not sure how Omar remembers this, but I feel like there was a 3 – 6 month period toward the end where I couldn’t listen to the mixes, because I wasn’t ready to say they were done,” said Wagoner.  “I love “No Plans,” and I’m really proud of that record, but I would listen back and hear things that I wish I had done differently. For this album, over the 2.5 years we were recording, I redid the vocals a lot, because I was getting better at delivering them, and I was playing the songs with my band which helped me refine arrangements. After “No Plans”, I understood better the permanence of recording, so if there was anything I could do to improve the songs, I was going to do that.”

That attention to detail is illustrated gorgeously in “One True Light.” Despite recording in numerous different locales, the album feels crisp, coherent and fully-formed. There are moments of quiet devastation and jarring dissonant interjections, but it’s all a natural ebb and flow that naturally mirrors life’s ups and downs.

The title track kicks off the album in magnetic fashion, shifting quickly from a solemn, hushed number into an urgent, bracing piece capped off with a gritty guitar solo. “No Expectations” follows, an upbeat, thumping piano ballad that’s punctuated by shouted gang vocals of the chorus. “Search,” is a drone-y, atmospheric synth opus and “Longer” is an austere chamber lullaby, featuring a memorable appearance from a forlorn clarinet. “Goodbye,” a stark, dreamlike reverie, appropriately closes out the album. 

And whatever the tempo, tone or genre, every song on “One True Light” is anchored by Wagoner’s classically-trained voice—a silvery, ringing instrument that adds unique depth and pathos to the Silverware catalog.

Wagoner’s powerful delivery charges “Gloria,” the centerpiece of the record. Part dustbowl revival, part canticle, part wistful guitar ballad, the song tackles Wagoner’s evolving relationship with the church and her search for a spiritual guiding light that provides life’s meaning. 

“A lot of this album is wrestling with the dissonance of longing for security inside of a life built around making art,” said Wagoner. “It’s about this effort to stay close with this divine creative force, because I feel the best when I’m writing a song. That’s what makes life worth living—making music. I know there are no guarantees. I know that it might not be going anywhere, but I'm going to do it anyway.”

It's an apt takeaway from an album that exalts and showcases creativity’s profound powers. Wagoner’s musical journey will continue. 

Show Details:
Silverware with Affectionately
When: 7 p.m., Tuesday, September 24
Where: Tiny Telephone Oakland
Tickets: $17, available here.