Features | Interviews
SXSW 2007 :: Interview: Bishop Allen
By Craig Eley & Andre Perry | 4 February 2008
It was a pleasure to see Bishop Allen's new six-person line-up at SXSW (twice: first at the Schuba's day party and then at Mohawks later that night). The band's core -- Christian Rudder and Justin Rice -- have put together their finest ensemble yet. The current sound includes horns, keyboards, glockenspiel, and lots of vocals. The band is tasteful enough to sway between anthemic peaks and lullaby-quiet lows.
Following their afternoon set, Craig Eley and I coaxed them aside for an interview. We each brought different histories to the conversation: I have been watching various versions of the band play live for five years while Craig spent last year reviewing the band's entire EPs project (they put out 12 EPs in 2006, one for each month of the year).
Rudder and Rice opened up and discussed their impressive EPs project, signing to their first record label, and plans for a new LP in summer 2007.
*****
Craig (CMG - C): What's next for Bishop Allen? You just had an epic 2006. Where are things going?
Christian Rudder (CR): We recently signed with a label called Dead Oceans. It's part of a partnership between Jagjaguwar and Secretly Canadian. They're putting out a record in July that we finished the day we left for tour. all of January and February, after we were done with the EPs, we spent twenty hour days working on it.
Justin Rice (JR): It's more of a studio record. We went somewhere and worked hard to make it sound really cool, to make it sound a certain way. It'll come out, we'll tour, and we'll actually be able to play a lot more shows because we won't be in the studio all the time. We'll see what happens.
CMG - C: You guys have been doing this now for a long time and [until the recent signing] haven't been affiliated with any label. Were you waiting for the right label to come along or was it.
JR: Before the EP project started we were definitely waiting and that's why we didn't do anything for like a year. We were kind of waiting for someone to come around -- I don't even know now. It's hard to relate back that mindset.
CR: We were quite prepared to keep forging ahead on our own.
JR: Yeah, that's kind of why the EP project started: because we were like, We need to start putting out music. At various times a couple of different labels approached us about putting the EPs out and we turned all that stuff down.
CR: It's not like we were turning down lots and lots of offers either. It kind of worked out fine.
JR: When [Dead Oceans] came to us they were really smart, really nice, and gave us totally reasonable terms.
CR: It's kind of all you can ask for.
CMG - C: So, the EP project started out as a necessity but beyond that it was an interesting format: an EP every month for a year. How did the project progress -- I imagine it was really different in January than when you were really trying to get the project done in December.
JR: It went through all different kinds of phases. Sometimes we were really pressed for time and sometimes we had more time. By the end we sort of knew we could do it but there were always moments where it didn't seem like it was possible. In January we didn't really know what we were doing. but the process became so familiar. By the end we were worried less about the logistics than just working on the songs.
CMG - C: I'm really interested in how you guys used the music to chronicle that time period. are these snapshots of moments?
JR: Part of the idea was that it was like a postcard that would come out every month and showed where we were and what happened that month. And because we were writing the songs as we were going, the material would develop as events unfolded across the year. In September I went to Chile and the September EP has "Like Castanets" which is about that trip to Chile. So a lot of it is very much sort of chronicling the events in a given month and the feelings at given points.
CMG - C: I love the August EP being a live record. To me, that really exemplifies that these EPs are about capturing moments in time. Was it hard to let go when you were done? Was there anxiety? Was there terror?
CR: There was some relief except that I left for India two hours after we finished. We finished at like three in the morning on December 14th and I had to get up at five. So I slept for an hour. As soon as I came back [from India] we started the full-length. As soon as we finished the full-length we left for this tour.
JR: As we finished the last song [on the EP] I was like, "Wow, what am I going to do tomorrow?"
Andre (CMG - A): What are we to expect on the new album?
CR: It's like nine EP songs and three new ones. We really wanted to flesh out, sonically, some of the EP songs.
JR: Some of the songs are pretty significantly re-arranged. We said, Here's how this song went [on the EP] but how should it go? It was hard to get over the EP mentality because we had more time to work on stuff. It's loud and quiet. It's got a really broad range. We not only distilled the songs from the EPs but we tried to give them a life they couldn't have on the EPs.
CMG - A: You guys have gone through a lot of different versions of Bishop Allen. I know you two are the foundation but what's your vision of how it should be? Is it always you two guys and then letting everything else transform as necessary?
JR: I think as long as the two of us are doing it, it'll exist. it's definitely like this out of necessity. It's not always possible to have four or five people who are doing this all the time. The band we're playing with right now: I really like everyone and what they do and everyone gets along. It's really fun. It would be awesome if everyone kept doing it but if they have to go do other things -- most of these guys are in other bands -- then someone else will join the ranks.
CMG - A: I dunno how old you guys are. I'm going to say around thirty.
CR + JR: Yeah.
CMG - A: I know you both went to Harvard and I'm sure you have friends from Harvard who are doing totally different things and on a different track. They're working at Goldman Sachs and you're about to rock out a show. How do you negotiate that difference in space between how you were brought up, the social cultural circles that you've been put in [via the Harvard experience] and what you've sought out?
CR: It's not so much how I was brought up. Some of my friends didn't go to college, so that's not weird at all. But having classmates at Harvard -- I know many millionaires now -- that's a little weird. But what are you gonna do?
JR: At the same time I think they're like, "This is my friend and he's in a band. Cool, really?!"
CR: I feel that as time goes on and those people keep doing that and we keep doing this those differences will disappear. You just kind of hang out with your friends no matter what they're doing. It "matters" where you went to college when you're 25 but when you're 30/31 it doesn't really come up all that much anyway.
Following their afternoon set, Craig Eley and I coaxed them aside for an interview. We each brought different histories to the conversation: I have been watching various versions of the band play live for five years while Craig spent last year reviewing the band's entire EPs project (they put out 12 EPs in 2006, one for each month of the year).
Rudder and Rice opened up and discussed their impressive EPs project, signing to their first record label, and plans for a new LP in summer 2007.
*****
Craig (CMG - C): What's next for Bishop Allen? You just had an epic 2006. Where are things going?
Christian Rudder (CR): We recently signed with a label called Dead Oceans. It's part of a partnership between Jagjaguwar and Secretly Canadian. They're putting out a record in July that we finished the day we left for tour. all of January and February, after we were done with the EPs, we spent twenty hour days working on it.
Justin Rice (JR): It's more of a studio record. We went somewhere and worked hard to make it sound really cool, to make it sound a certain way. It'll come out, we'll tour, and we'll actually be able to play a lot more shows because we won't be in the studio all the time. We'll see what happens.
CMG - C: You guys have been doing this now for a long time and [until the recent signing] haven't been affiliated with any label. Were you waiting for the right label to come along or was it.
JR: Before the EP project started we were definitely waiting and that's why we didn't do anything for like a year. We were kind of waiting for someone to come around -- I don't even know now. It's hard to relate back that mindset.
CR: We were quite prepared to keep forging ahead on our own.
JR: Yeah, that's kind of why the EP project started: because we were like, We need to start putting out music. At various times a couple of different labels approached us about putting the EPs out and we turned all that stuff down.
CR: It's not like we were turning down lots and lots of offers either. It kind of worked out fine.
JR: When [Dead Oceans] came to us they were really smart, really nice, and gave us totally reasonable terms.
CR: It's kind of all you can ask for.
CMG - C: So, the EP project started out as a necessity but beyond that it was an interesting format: an EP every month for a year. How did the project progress -- I imagine it was really different in January than when you were really trying to get the project done in December.
JR: It went through all different kinds of phases. Sometimes we were really pressed for time and sometimes we had more time. By the end we sort of knew we could do it but there were always moments where it didn't seem like it was possible. In January we didn't really know what we were doing. but the process became so familiar. By the end we were worried less about the logistics than just working on the songs.
CMG - C: I'm really interested in how you guys used the music to chronicle that time period. are these snapshots of moments?
JR: Part of the idea was that it was like a postcard that would come out every month and showed where we were and what happened that month. And because we were writing the songs as we were going, the material would develop as events unfolded across the year. In September I went to Chile and the September EP has "Like Castanets" which is about that trip to Chile. So a lot of it is very much sort of chronicling the events in a given month and the feelings at given points.
CMG - C: I love the August EP being a live record. To me, that really exemplifies that these EPs are about capturing moments in time. Was it hard to let go when you were done? Was there anxiety? Was there terror?
CR: There was some relief except that I left for India two hours after we finished. We finished at like three in the morning on December 14th and I had to get up at five. So I slept for an hour. As soon as I came back [from India] we started the full-length. As soon as we finished the full-length we left for this tour.
JR: As we finished the last song [on the EP] I was like, "Wow, what am I going to do tomorrow?"
Andre (CMG - A): What are we to expect on the new album?
CR: It's like nine EP songs and three new ones. We really wanted to flesh out, sonically, some of the EP songs.
JR: Some of the songs are pretty significantly re-arranged. We said, Here's how this song went [on the EP] but how should it go? It was hard to get over the EP mentality because we had more time to work on stuff. It's loud and quiet. It's got a really broad range. We not only distilled the songs from the EPs but we tried to give them a life they couldn't have on the EPs.
CMG - A: You guys have gone through a lot of different versions of Bishop Allen. I know you two are the foundation but what's your vision of how it should be? Is it always you two guys and then letting everything else transform as necessary?
JR: I think as long as the two of us are doing it, it'll exist. it's definitely like this out of necessity. It's not always possible to have four or five people who are doing this all the time. The band we're playing with right now: I really like everyone and what they do and everyone gets along. It's really fun. It would be awesome if everyone kept doing it but if they have to go do other things -- most of these guys are in other bands -- then someone else will join the ranks.
CMG - A: I dunno how old you guys are. I'm going to say around thirty.
CR + JR: Yeah.
CMG - A: I know you both went to Harvard and I'm sure you have friends from Harvard who are doing totally different things and on a different track. They're working at Goldman Sachs and you're about to rock out a show. How do you negotiate that difference in space between how you were brought up, the social cultural circles that you've been put in [via the Harvard experience] and what you've sought out?
CR: It's not so much how I was brought up. Some of my friends didn't go to college, so that's not weird at all. But having classmates at Harvard -- I know many millionaires now -- that's a little weird. But what are you gonna do?
JR: At the same time I think they're like, "This is my friend and he's in a band. Cool, really?!"
CR: I feel that as time goes on and those people keep doing that and we keep doing this those differences will disappear. You just kind of hang out with your friends no matter what they're doing. It "matters" where you went to college when you're 25 but when you're 30/31 it doesn't really come up all that much anyway.