Tag: Blitzen Trapper

BGS 5+5: Blitzen Trapper

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Artist: Blitzen Trapper
Hometown: Portland, Oregon
Latest album: Holy Smokes Future Jokes
Release Date: September 25, 2020

Answers provided by Eric Earley

Which artist has influenced you the most … and how?

Michael Stipe was my favorite songwriter as a kid, his lyrics were so strange and uncanny. I’m thinking of Reckoning and Murmur, some of the most anachronistic lyrical content ever. There were no lyric sheets or online lookups back then so I was always trying to figure out what he was saying. His songs always had the feeling of a riddle or a magical text, the imagery was dreamlike and over the years I’ve tried to emulate that in certain ways. Tom Waits was a large influence later in my twenties, his bizarre comical lyrical storytelling and character voices were inspiring, I’m thinking of Rain Dogs in particular.

What’s your favorite memory from being on stage?

There isn’t any favorite, lots of weird amazing ones for sure, playing “Heard It Thru the Grapevine” with Stephen Malkmus trading weird, collapsing solos with Stephen as he made up the words because we were too lazy to learn the lyrics. I think we were in Cleveland, but I could be wrong. Playing Big Star’s “Feel” with Jody Stephens on drums and Mike Mills on backing vocals in Austin, Texas, that was surreal.

What other art forms — literature, film, dance, painting, etc — inform your music?

Most of my favorite songs have literary origins, whether it’s a particular Cormac McCarthy novel like Blood Meridian (“Black River Killer”) or a general religious text like the Bardo Thodol (the new record is based largely on this book). Biblical imagery has made its way into countless songs I’ve written as a result of childhood influences and pervasive cultural resonances. I’ve also started writing a lot of songs from reading specific poets, using their wordplay to inspire different turns of phrase. Seamus Heaney, Mary Oliver, to name a couple, I’ve also used Finnegan’s Wake and Gravity’s Rainbow to generate wordplay and imagery.

What was the first moment that you knew you wanted to be a musician?

I’ve been playing music since I was a child, so being a musician was never really a choice. I didn’t think of it as a career for a long time. I went to college for physics and math, studied painting, learned classical fingerstyle, became a sous chef. Finally in my late twenties I decided to drop everything and play music, mostly because all the songs I was writing were keeping me up at night, but I didn’t have any vision for the business part of it. Spent seven years playing unattended shows in Portland. Got a record deal off a random song on Myspace and suddenly was touring and making money.

If you had to write a mission statement for your career, what would it be?

Experimentation is the only way to realize the vision of reality you want to hear, so never grow static in style or voice, always move forward, never sit still sonically. Don’t write angry, only from a place of emptiness without sentimentality, nostalgia without regret. Don’t try to please anyone, only follow your instincts.

Photo credit: Jason Quigley

Gig Bag: Blitzen Trapper

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Welcome to Gig Bag, a BGS feature that peeks into the touring essentials of some of our favorite artists. This time around, Blitzen Trapper’s Eric Earley gives us a look at what the band has to have handy when they are out on the road.

Lucky boots: I always bring my lucky boots, bought for $8 in Tucson in ’07. Road worn and wise, they’ve seen things and walked weird roads upon the Earth.

Tape recorder: Can’t forget the trusty Sony VOR. Nothing like tiny tape to capture the waking world in all its glory. Sounds live on or die accordingly. Call me old school, but I prefer the non-digital hand held.

Pen: Always with a four-color pen, Made in France like good wine, never know when you’ll need an overlooked color choice. “Treat words with respect” is a fine motto.

Bracelet: Mike always wears his bravery bracelet, which his son Winter used to get through those first few scary days of kindergarten.

Books: Brian always brings far more books than he can possibly read, but “better safe than sorry” is a fine motto, once again.

Blitzen Trapper Head All Across This Land

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Since they came on the scene 15 years ago, Blitzen Trapper have made music that blends country and folk ideas with an arena rock attitude. Their newest album, All Across This Land, cuts a broad musical swath through American music, from Springsteen's Jersey to Michael Stanley's Midwest (with even a bit of Jolly Old England in the mix, too). 

You and the band are on road as we speak, right? Somewhere between Austin and Alabama?

Yep, that’s right.

Is it still fun being on the road?

Yeah, the shows are fun.

People are reacting enthusiastically?

Yeah, definitely.

I guess you could say you’re all across this land to promote All Across This Land. [Laughs]

Yeah, pretty much. [Laughs]

Did some of these songs get worked out on the road before they were recorded?

No, no. I wrote them all during a spell when we weren’t touring at all. I’m always trying to write songs, here and there. This is just the kind of group that I came up with, I liked, and they all kind of went together. It just kind of seemed like a record.

Are there bands that have influenced you over the years that were in the back of your mind when you were writing the songs?

I guess I wanted to give more of a kind of classic Americana approach. Older Americana, like Springsteen and Neil Young. Just kind of that eclectic guitar, rock, folk mixture.

“Let the Cards Fall” reminds me of Wilco. Tell me how that song came about.

That one is sort of hard to remember, honestly. I think I had the chorus first. That one has a very personal creative ethos to it. The chorus is kind of just me talking, you know? The verses are images from Oregon — all the wildness. The whole song just kind of came one day.

That one has images of Oregon, but it feels like you’re headed down the road somewhere in this lush, green part of Tennessee or something. That’s the way it sounds to me.

Lyrically, that whole first verse is about a forest fire coming your way.

I love the guitar and vocal textures in “Mystery and Wonder.” Tell me about that one, from a recording standpoint. How was it put together?

That one was initially acoustic guitar, bass, and drums. Then we layered on other guitars. The guitars in that one are pretty ambient. It’s straightforward, as far as that goes. There are keyboards and piano that comes in here and there. It wanted it to sound really lush and full.

I think the whole second side of the record has that sort of feel to it. The first side has got some nice textures; it kind of teases you. The second side gets real big and wall-of-sound-ish. “Nights Were Made for Love” reminds me of listening to the radio when I was a kid. Kid Leo on WMMS used to play Michael Stanley all the time, it kind of reminds me of that sort of thing.

Yeah, for sure.

The title cut has a glam-rock-ish edge to it. It reminds me a little bit of Edgar Winter during the 1970s, when he was really, really popular. [Laughs] How does that sound to you?

That one is more Thin Lizzy.

Thin Lizzy?

The guitar on it, yeah. The riffs and guitar on that are pretty great. I think that Joe Walsh was a big influence on that one.

Well, if you put Thin Lizzy and Joe Walsh together, you kind of have Edgar Winter. [Laughs]

Right, yeah.

At least when he was doing “Frankenstein” and when he was a popular artist, as opposed to when he was doing “Tobacco Road” and [Edgar Winter’s] White Trash and all that sort of business. Which songs, of the new ones, are the most fun to play on the road right now and why?

I think “Cadillac Road” and “Love Grow Cold” are pretty great live. And “Nights Were Made for Love,” those three are probably my favorites to play live.

Are you working in a lot of the older stuff with the newer stuff?

Oh, yeah.

Well, you’re coming to Portland at the end of November. Is that kind of a homecoming show for you?

Yeah, that’s the last show of the tour.

Are you going to go back out in the Spring and hit up other parts of the country?

Yeah, I think we’re going overseas in the Spring. We might do some smaller market stuff in the Spring, as well.

Photo by Jason Quigley

The Unforeseen Singer: A Conversation with Liz Vice

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For 32-year old Portlander Liz Vice, a career as a singer is something she’d never considered. As a kid, she wanted to be an actress. As a young adult, health issues sidetracked her acting career and, ultimately, led her to work behind the scenes as a filmmaker and producer. Until a year-and-a-half ago, that is, when a project with Blitzen Trapper’s Eric Early began opening up some musical doors. Vice recently sat down with the BGS at Albina Press coffee house to talk about her recently released album, There’s a Light, and what it’s like to find herself onstage, in the studio, and, to her surprise, mentioned among some of American music’s most notable names.

So, I voted for you.

Oh, for the Cayman Islands thing.

That’s a lineup, man. Did you look at who’s on that trip?

I didn’t know I had been entered into that contest [the Cayama Journey through Song Cruise] until Jacob Abbott from Ramseur Records said, “Hey, you were selected in the top 10." I didn’t even know that he had submitted us; he did it a long time ago. It’s insane. These people have been doing music for their whole lives.

I know!

Last night, Leon Bridges did an Instagram post about me because I’d given him my album when I performed at Pickathon. It was mostly because we have mutual friends and I wanted to say "What’s up?" He said he didn’t get to hear my set so I gave him my album.  And then my friend said something on my Facebook page that I was in Relevant magazine, which is a magazine I grew up reading when I was a teenager.

Then, to be in-the-running to play on a boat with these people … like John Prine … I’m like, "Did I just kick over a set of dominoes? I’m so sorry." I don’t even know how to make it stop or where the next trigger point’s going to be. It feels like one thing happens, then something else happens. It kinda leaves me speechless. Not like, "Oh my God, I’m so speechless," then I’ve got a lot to say. It’s really like, I don’t know how to react to it.

John Prine, John Hiatt, Steve Earle, Jason Isbell … you certainly deserve to be there, based on hearing the record.

Thank you.

You were on World Café recently, too, which is pretty awesome. How’s the response been to that?

Honestly, with most of these things, I don’t even find out about until a friend tells me.

Growing up, I wanted to be an actress, but there weren’t a lot of brown people in movies that I wanted to be in. And I don’t want to portray a slave and I don’t want to portray a teen mom in poverty. Even though I grew up in a single parent home and poor and without a dad, I went to college. I got my Bachelor’s degree. I was an honors student. So I didn’t let statistics and media define who I am as a black woman.

And I’ve always known the Academy Awards and late night TV shows … when I was a kid I used to pretend I was being interviewed by Jay Leno. I would write imaginary Oscar acceptance speeches. So, in the film world, those kinds of things were on my mind.

Suddenly, I’m in the music world. And it’s different from me listening to the radio or to Spotify all day long and finding new music but not really investigating the hub of where these musicians come from. I knew about NPR when my music was featured — not because I had any idea about their music coverage — but because I love the TED Radio Hour and Planet Money. I love podcasts, just learning something new about technology and humanities and the nature of people.

So when things like World Café are presented before me, it’s usually something I’ve never considered. It’s the first time I’ve ever had to think about questions like, "Would you be interested in doing an interview for World Café or for the Bluegrass Situation?" I’m like, "Can I have a few days to think about this and figure out what I’m getting into?" A lot of the things being presented to me are really big deals in the music world but, honestly, I’ve not heard of a lot of them. I don’t realize how big a deal it is. It’s like jumping into cold water.

I learned about you from Eric Early [of Blitzen Trapper] …

Oh, I love Eric.

… because I interviewed him about the live album they did, on which you sang on “Shine On.” And you tore it up. I was like, "Who’s this girl? Liz Vice. What’s her story?"

I was so scared when I did that.

I was part of a project that Eric and I did [in October 2011] with Josh White called Wounded Healer. We opened up for Josh Garrels at the Aladdin Theater [in Portland] and it was the first time I’d been onstage. But, I was in the background, where no one really knew who I was. Then, when Eric asked me to sing at the Doug Fir with him and the band [for the live album], I was so scared.

I remember Brett Way, from the Parson Redheads, standing backstage with me and she could tell I was freaking out. I had taken my shoes off — because when I get nervous I have to be barefoot because I’m afraid I’m gonna fall over. [Laughs] Brett just grabs me by the hand and says, "Let me pray for you." And I just went out there and she just watched and I sang for the first time in front of an audience like that. And that opened the door to sing at a New Year’s Eve show. Adam Shearer [of the Portland band Weinland] was like, "You got this. You can do this. We’re here to play with you."

Eric was in the studio when we recorded my album and, when I would feel bombarded by "the professionals" who would say, "Yeah, we’re going to do it this way or that way," Eric would look at me and say, "No, no, no. What does Liz want to do? How do you feel about this?" I’d say, "Well, I don’t really know the vocabulary of this, but I don’t like how it goes from this key to this key so abruptly. It’s too hard for me; I’ve never sung like that before." Eric is awesome.

He’s a good dude. And a true pro.

He is and, in a way, that’s so unassuming. He’s so talented and I never feel like I can’t try something new with him. Which, for me, having never done music, I’m okay with taking risks. It’s not like I expected to be here, so let’s take a risk. When I work with people who allow me room to sing something and they’re like, "Hmm, that’s not working." I’m like, "You’re right. That sucked." But at least I tried and I know it didn’t work out. Or I tried and I knew it was supposed to happen that way and it did work out.

It’s all about the gut, a lot of times. That’s why I keep doing music. It’s not a matter of "Music is my calling. This is what I was made to do." It’s a gut feeling. I just need to see why doors keep opening. I just need to see, if music is my calling, what would happen if I just keep saying "yes."

How does the filmmaker part of your brain influence your music?

That is a great question. Music becomes visual to me. I remember when I wanted to prove to myself I could direct a music video. I approached an artist because the song was very visual to me. I’ve noticed that, if someone asks me to sing on a song with them or someone presents a song to me to sing, if it doesn’t become images in mind, it's hard for me to connect to the story that’s being told. There are definitely some songs on my albums that are way more visual to me than others; it just allows me sing it in a way that’s more intimate.

What was your number one goal going into the recording of There’s a Light?

My number one goal was to sing this album, that we could give it away free, then I’d go back to struggling in film. The whole time I was in the studio I was like, "Oh my gosh, I’m an imposter. They have no idea I don’t know what I’m doing. I don’t even know if this sucks. No one is saying anything. Okay, I guess I’ll sing the song like this."

I feel like that as a photographer sometimes. Like, "Don’t these people know I’m just guessing?"

Yeah. I have a friend, an actress, who came up to me and said, "How are you doing with all this music stuff?" I was like, "I … I … I don’t know." She said, "You feel like an imposter, don’t you?" All my actor friends say they feel like imposters. Then one day it clicks and they think, "Yeah, I know what I’m doing."

Playing at Pickathon, people were saying, "I’ve been doing this for 10 years. I’ve been doing this for 20 years." I’ve been doing this a year-and-a-half. So, I have a long way to go but, at the same time, what I’m going through is unique and this album is unique. In my mind, it was supposed to be a one-off thing — that we give away for free, that talks about Jesus, proclaims the gospel. Making music that isn’t cheesy, shove-it-down-your-throat, unrealistic kind of music. Then it just took off. The fourth show I ever played was the Bluesfest. How is this even possible?

What appeals to me about the record is that the message is palatable to anybody. There’s the message and there’s the language of the message. In your music, the language of the message doesn’t overshadow the message itself. So, regardless of what language I may choose to define my religious point of view, the message is still the same.  What I also like is how much you just pour it out. It kind of reminds me of Mavis Staples.

[Laughs] It’s so insane to me when people compare me to these musicians. Like, "Oh yeah, everyone knows who that is." I don’t really know how to respond but to say, "Thank you," I guess.

Well, Mavis does what you do. She sings the message, in her own way. From my point of view, that’s a pretty high compliment.

Our human language is so limited. How many times can I say I feel so honored? But, I am honored.

All photos by Michael Verity for BGS

Blitzen Trapper, ‘Flyin’ Shoes’

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"Fall is just a feeling that I just can't lose," sang Townes Van Zandt on "Flyin' Shoes," a track both about a soldier's acceptance of his inevitable death and our mortal reality that someday, no matter how hard we may try to deny it, we too will eventually see our last season, sigh our last sigh, and tie on those flyin' shoes. In true Van Zandt fashion, he performs the song with a mix of sweet solemnity and eerie resignation — and apart from the lyrics that cut deeper than anything just based around easy tears, it's that delivery, where those very tears rest atop a stilted smile, that hurts even more.

Thus, it's not an easy thing to cover Van Zandt, but it's done more out of gentle appreciation that anything else on Days Full of Rain, a new tribute to the master which was released last month and includes Townes takes by the likes of Jolie Holland, Blind Pilot, and Barna Howard. One of the LP's standout tracks is the album's opener, which finds Blitzen Trapper offering a version of "Flyin' Shoes." There's a lot of the same forlorn rasp in singer Eric Earley's voice — a tone that hovers in that same gray area of emotion, set to a slightly sped-up time, spare guitar strums, and delicate echoes of harmony.

"There was a time my old man would listen to Rear View Mirror on repeat while he was working on cars," says Earley. "Those songs are forever entangled with the smell of motor oil and exhaust in my mind.  'Flyin' Shoes' was on that record and it shows Townes's ability to write with such beauty about impending death, about suicidal thoughts … about tying on them shoes and leaving for good."

Blitzen Trapper has always been excellent at capturing the restless feeling of knowing that most things are ephemeral — whether it be a love, a life, or a state of mind. So, here, they're artfully adept at preserving Van Zandt's same lonesome song, while reminding us that there are some things — like the power of a beautiful lyric — that truly live on.