Music Blog

Blind Pilot began three years ago as the humble duo of singer/guitarist Israel Nebeker and drummer Ryan Dobrowski. In the ensuing years, the group has ballooned into a nine-piece "collective", replete with vibraphonist and multiple string players.

The band's growing membership seems an apt parallel to their success and attention that has come their way since the band released its debut album 3 Rounds And A Sound. In that time, the group has found their music downloaded a few thousand times on iTunes, shared the stage with Aimee Mann and granted an audience with the listeners of NPR and KCRW.

Here in their hometown of Portland, their reputation as one of the finest progenitors of country and folk infused pop music is gaining plenty of traction as well. The band's half-hour set at the 2008 PDX Pop Now festival filled the street outside Rotture with at least 500 onlookers. And their performances of late, both here in Portland and along the West Coast, have brought out capacity crowds for this still young band.

We recently caught up with Dobrowski who was kind enough to answer some questions via e-mail. If you'd like more on the sound of Blind Pilot, check out the band's In Studio Performance recorded for opbmusic this past July.

So how are you holding up amidst all the attention you are getting these days? Is it strange to be doing these things for radio and online sources and TV, etc?

All of the things that have happened so far are definitely exciting. It has all been a lot of fun up to this point. Everyone has been really great and the more we do, the more we get comfortable with it all.

How did you two meet and started playing music together?

Israel and I met while going to the University of Oregon and really started playing together when we went to England for a summer. We would just busk on the streets and then use the money to buy Cornish pasties and beer. Playing on the street is still one of our favorite things to do.

Tell me about Big Red, the place in Astoria where you rehearsed and wrote the songs for the album. What brought you there? How did it feed your creativity?

The building was originally used as a fishing net loft and was built around 1890, I think. It is a pretty amazing place still filled with all sorts of stuff that people have left over the years. Israel's dad has a painting studio there and it seemed like the perfect place for us to write and paint and just be with our own thoughts. Astoria is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been and the building itself is kind of like a giant fort.

How collaborative a process is your songwriting? Is it just Israel coming up with all the song or do you both work together closely on all the details?

Israel definitely does the larger part of the songwriting. A lot of the initial ideas will come when we are just playing as the two of us, but then he will write lyrics and flush out the melodies. Then the song just keeps evolving and the details change.

When did you start thinking of doing bike tours?

I had the idea quite a few years ago when I first road my bike to the coast just for fun. When I mentioned it to Israel, he got so excited about the idea that it became a reality pretty quick.

You've done bike tours of the West Coast, have you gone further? If not, do you plan to?

We've done two tours by bicycle down the West Coast and I think we would do it again in a heartbeat. We would really like to go to Europe with our bikes someday, but it seems like we are going to be touring the US for a while longer.

Are you being encouraged to put the bikes on top of a van and tour the "old fashioned" way?

For time and weather restrictions, I'm sure we will be spending our fair share of time in a van.

Where does the band go from here? Do you have any bold plans for the future?

I think we will be touring on this album for a while actually. There is a whole lot of world out there that we haven't yet seen.  We're planning for a bigger national tour in February and after that I am not really sure what will end up happening. I'm sure it will be great though.

Bob Ham is a freelance writer here in Portland. His work can be read most often in Willamette Week, The Oregonian and Relevant Magazine. He can be reached via e-mail at miller.ham (at) gmail.com or through his blog The Voice of Energy.