Beats Per Minute (Philip Cosores): On your first two albums, there wasn’t necessarily anything lacking in the production or fidelity, but you can hear a real difference on The Clearing. What were some of the changes that went into the making of the album that allowed you to achieve a grander sound?
Bowerbirds (Philip Moore): It was a number of things. We first started recording it at April Base Studios with Brian Joseph, and all the tracks that remain from that recording sound crystal clear. A lot of the stuff that made the album is from those sessions.
But, not only that. I think that Brian set the bar higher and I learned a lot from watching Brian record. So, when we came home to do vocals and some overdubs, and even start some songs fresh, we had a better idea of how to take our time with it and look for the right sound, instead of just barreling through.
I also think it’s that we had so much more time, like, several months more that we thought we were going to have originally, that we could put the extra time and thought into what we thought the instrumentation was going to be on the album. So, strings obviously bolster things and make the sound more majestic, and we added horns and reed instruments. I think having the extra time to make all those decisions really helps the grandeur of the album.
You mentioned taking a lot more time. Did you ever get worried that you might overwork things or over-think things?
Yes, absolutely. And, I think in the end we got it right. Like, “Brave World” we recorded in four different styles. One was like swing, one was slow, one was super fast and more aggressive. So, yeah, there was a point where we were questioning everything we were doing, but we just took time and put everything down of a month and came back to it. Everything then sounded fresh again and we were able to make decisions about what version of songs sounded the best.
Yeah, and one of the charms I have always found in Bowerbirds, at least with the first two albums, is that it is music you can imagine listening to on a porch, and this album takes it to the next level, but it doesn’t lose that charm. And, I think that is a really delicate balancing act, expanding the sound but still keeping the band sounding true to who they are.
Well, that’s really, really good to hear. That was our intention and it’s really cool that you think that.
“Tuck The Darkness In”
When the album was announced, the press release had some tidbits about the major overarching stories that were happening while you were recording the album. I thought it might be good if you could expand on them for us. So, tell us about Beth’s illness that happened.
It was a year and a little bit ago, right after Thanksgiving, and she fell ill with this mystery illness. She had some sort of infection and couldn’t eat and we finally took her to the doctor and they gave her an i.v. to get her rehydrated. And, we ended up going to emergency twice in a couple days and they couldn’t figure it out. So, we went home and everything seemed to be getting a little better, but still not great. So, we went to another doctor and they told us that she needed to be rushed to the hospital and we did that in a panic. She ended up staying in an emergency room for three days after that. Her iron levels were dangerously low. So yeah, they monitored her for a few days and started feeding her foods with high iron. We started eating lots of steak, liver, things like that. She got better eventually and now she is in really great health, but it was a pretty scary time for us.
Another story that was alluded to was about you guys finding a dog?
-laughs- Yeah. Our second dog, Spice, was our neighbor dog, and she used to hate us and would chase our car nearly everyday. And one day she ran under the wheel-well and Beth ran over her back leg and broke it. So, we took her to the vet and fixed her up and gave her lots of attention, so now she sort of lives with us and our neighbors are cool with it. -laughter- She’s our dog now.
Also, if it isn’t too difficult to talk about, I heard the two of you also had problems with your personal relationship, which I imagine happens for every band that is also a couple, because you spend so much time together.
Yeah, it is the hardest thing to be both in a romantic relationship and to be working in any capacity together. And, I don’t know why Beth and I insist on doing it. Before this, we did web design together. We learned how to program and did stuff like that. We had our own business together. And then we started building our home together just the two of us, which we worked on every single day for several years. And then we started a band the two of us. I think we are getting pretty good at figuring out our boundaries in all of these scenarios, but regardless, when pressure builds, like right now with the release of this record, it gets harder to, like, stop and take a walk and talk about something entirely different. So, it’s really important that we do stop sometimes and walk our dogs and try to be normal for a while.
Do you guys have activities that you like to do by yourselves to give yourselves the break from doing everything together?
Yeah. Beth has her art that she does by herself. She has been learning how to, what do you call it, tan… buckskin… deer hide? Yeah, and she reads a ton of books. I like to run and exercise and work on programming our website and stuff like that.
One of the things I would say about your records is that it reflects the environment that you guys hold. Like, you mentioned that you built this cabin in North Carolina together. And, I think the sound of your music reflects that place. And with this album you have expanded your sound quite a bit, have you ever considered writing in a city to see what that would do for your sound?
Yeah, I would be really curious about that, to see if that would effect what the songs are about. I mean, I used to write songs when I lived in a city, but it was really hard for me to find inspiration in really populated places. I don’t know if it is that I have a short attention span and need a ton of quiet and solitude to focus on expressing what I think in a song or if it more that the actual nature is inspiring to the song.
But, the way that I live my life, I don’t think I could live in a place like New York City for more than a month. I think I’d go crazy. I like to step outside and be able to go straight into the woods. And, I’ve always kind of lived like that. Growing up in Iowa I lived in a house where I could walk out and go straight into the cornfields and be by myself. That is in important part of life, I think.
“In The Yard”
And when you go out on tour, you have to leave that comfort zone behind for a long time. Does it take a serious adjustment for your lifestyle to get back on the road? Also what do you miss the most when you are on tour and what do you like the most about it, because there has to be somethings you enjoy about it or else you wouldn’t do it?
Going out on tour is really exciting. It’s like a vacation or a getaway. I mean, it’s a lot of work at the same time, but seeing all the different people and places and being able to wake up in a different city every day, is definitely exciting for a while. It’s something that as a kid, I loved the idea of adventuring, but I couldn’t really do it. I couldn’t really afford to do it because you had to keep a job and stuff. But, now, this is a really nice job to have, and we get to have fun and adventure and explore new places.
Right now, we haven’t toured in earnest for a couple of years and are really itching to get back on the road. However, we’ve been on tour before for months and know that feeling that you get, even after just a couple of weeks, of wanting that personal space and your own bed, with nothing to do in the morning and no driving to do. But, whatever, it’s just the way it is. It’s still fun, but, you know, I’ll miss my dogs. Luckily, Beth and I go on tour together and I don’t have to miss Beth.
When you play a show, how do you know that you’ve done your job well or had a successful gig?
It’s mostly all audience connection. If you are putting out your best energy, not even if you are playing the best (although that is even better), but you are putting all this positive energy out to the audience and they are getting it, you can feel it. It’s like a visceral thing. The audience can feel it and you can feel it. There is no question when it is good.
I read a recent interview with you where you named some of what you guys have been listening to recently, some of which made sense to me, like The Rosebuds who are from your same area, or Midtown Dickens who I like a good amount. And then there is Skrillex, which I guess is a case of sometimes artists liking to listen to music that is way different than what they write. Is that something you enjoy, listening to music that is a big contrast to what you make?
Yes. I’ve really been into dance music. Not dance dance music, but, and this will date us a little bit, but we were kind of ravers a little bit. In college, I was into trip-hop and things like that. I listened to Archers Of Loaf and Superchunk, but I also was into Portishead and Tricky and Massive Attack and bands like that. So, the whole dubstep thing reminds me a lot of jungle that we listened to back in the day. And, with Skrillex, I guess it shows that we don’t pay attention very well, but it was brand new and we didn’t know it was popular or whatever. But, it was totally awesome. We heard it and like as soon as that beat drops we were like “wow.” I dunno. Kids like it, I guess.
So, I usually conclude my interviews with a similar question, where I ask artists about their idea of success or ask what they hope to accomplish by this release, but for you and your band, and this might be presumptuous, but you seem to be in a really good place. Like, I imagine you think your life is pretty successful at this point. But, what do you do you hope is the end result of releasing The Clearing?
That’s a really good question and I definitely don’t have a straight answer for that. It’s such a weird thing to put your creative product out into the world, or put your creative world out there as a product. In my heart, I just want people to like it, to get it. That’s the only reason that I’ve ever played music. I want to put something out there that people have never heard before. And, I want them to understand what it is that I am trying to say. That’s really as far as any artist can really predict and that is success. If people get it, than all the other pieces will fall into place.
There is no monetary goal and no album sales goal for us at all. You can’t control that anyway. You can only write what you write, and I don’t really want to compromise that for what I think people are more likely to consume. This is mostly for us, for Beth and I to do something creative and fun. I feel like already we are at the point where we can afford to go out on tour and at least scrape by and not have to have jobs in the meantime as we write a record, and that is success to me.
