Bright Eyes

Bright Eyes has joined a relatively small group of bands that have made a record that sold over 100,000 copies. They have had albums occupy the top two spots on the Billboard charts simultaneously, and have sold out shows in every corner of the world. During the silence in between songs, girls have yelled, “I love you, Conor!” in just about every language in existence. The band has all the while maintained a strict no Clear Channel policy, which limits their radio presence to small independent stations with very small demographics. Conor Oberst is one of the pioneers of the current indie/DIY age we have the pleasure of living in. For someone still in his 20s he’s released an unheard of amount of material and as Synthesis found out, he makes pretty good phone conversation as well.

So let’s start out by talking a bit about Cassadaga.
Sure. We wanted to record a lot this time and then pick and choose what worked together. This was also the first time we had the resources to do things like include full string arrangements.

Yeah I saw that you recorded your strings in Studio A at Capitol Records. Why all the way out here in California?
Well Nate Walcott wrote the string arrangements and Suzie Katayama conducted for him, and she was in LA. We’ve had strings before but they were always a bit naïve sounding. There’s only so much you can do with multi-track layering and stuff.

Were there a lot of new faces on this record or was it mostly the usual suspects?
M. Ward came back who is one of my biggest inspirations, and of course Mike [Mogis] but there are always people coming and going when we record or tour, which is nice, but it doesn’t feel like I have a band, which sometimes I long for I guess. Having those two guys as invested as they are makes me feel good.

You’ve been releasing records since you were around, what 12, 13?
That sounds about right.

Do you think your approach to songwriting has changed a lot?
Amazingly enough I don’t think it has changed at all. I still don’t know where the songs come from. Pretty much everything else has changed, but not that, which is comforting. I hope I never figure out a formula.

As a band you’ve done some things that until very recently would have been considered impossible outside the major label arena. What do you think allowed them to happen?
Well I think timing has a lot to do with everything. Also living in Omaha was part of it. There was no infrastructure there. Because of that we sort of developed the idea that we had to do it ourselves, and also a lot of good old-fashioned luck, and just being around really talented people. It just snowballed into this thing; we would celebrate each milestone like it was the greatest thing in the world.

Where do you see the industry ending up in five years?
I’d like to see a model where the artist is a more respected member of the community. There are so many amazing things that other countries do for their artists that just aren’t possible here in America. Sharing music is always going to happen but I do see the downloading debate from all sides. I think at this point music will have a digital existence other than a small vinyl presence. CDs are done for sure. Environmentally digital music is fantastic, but flipping through an iPod is not as pleasing as it is with records. But I guess 14-year-old kids who have never owned a record might not miss it.

How do you feel about all the new viral content being produced on the Internet?
I’m really bad at all that stuff. I can’t come up with all this original content for the Web. I’m not dissing it, but I’m not interested in it. It’s great until someone is on your back saying, “Hey you should put some videos together to strengthen your Web presence.” We go on tour a lot, isn’t that enough? I mean, live music is irreplaceable. Concerts have been some of the most profound experiences in my life.

Do you ever get the urge to bring back any of your other projects like Desaparecidos?
Collaborating is always important and happens whenever we record or tour. That keeps things from feeling stale, but the idea of starting another band is a thought. Doing another Desaparecidos album would be cool. We’ve talked about it and actually wrote part of an album, but never really got past the demo-ing stage. It’s not ruled out.

So I read that you started eating fish. What prompted that?
I wasn’t the best vegan. I rarely have access to a kitchen to be able to cook all the time. Fish just seemed like the least disgusting way to get what I needed. Now I just try to eat the best quality possible. Local, organic, stuff like that.

So what’s next for Bright Eyes?
Keep writing songs and making records. Record in interesting ways. Not a whole lot of premeditating. We’ve got shows until late November, which is the end of the line until next year, then write and record, who knows?

Maybe another Desaparecidos record?
Exactly! 

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