Interview: Eric Earley (Blitzen Trapper)
10 June 2024
Picture by Jason Quigley
Regardless of dropping three long-time members in 2019, Blitzen Trapper’s carried ahead and launched, arguably, among the greatest music of their storied two decade profession with 2020’s Holy Smokes Future Jokes and 2024’s 100’s of 1000’s, Tens of millions of Billions. Maybe it’s on account of the truth that whereas music remains to be a major focus, the trimmings of chasing gross sales figures and spending extra time on the highway than at house is one thing frontman Eric Earley has discovered to let go of. Today, Earley’s time is primarily consumed with working with – and advocating for – the homeless in Oregon and the chance to make music serves as a artistic outlet for all of the concepts he has brewing in his head.
Blitzen Trapper’s music has morphed and matured with age, from the early days of discovering inspiration in acts like Rogue Wave, Beck and Pavement to the more moderen psych-country sounds influenced by Wilco, Fleet Foxes and The Grateful Lifeless. Earley’s lifelong love of acts like R.E.M. and Bob Dylan continues to play a job within the songwriter’s course of, from lyric writing to hooks.
Having launched albums on SubPop and Vagrant, for the final two data, Blitzen Trapper’s put their profession within the palms of Yep Roc, an unbiased artist-driven label with artists starting from Alejandro Escovedo to Sloan. It looks as if an excellent match for Earley and his method to creating music.
Earley joined me through a video convention name after his workday had ended to debate the previous, current and future.
I heard Paul Simon say one thing just like the music that you simply listened to whenever you have been between the ages of 11 and 14 is the music that can stick to you all through your complete life. What have been you listening to between these ages and has it caught with you?
ERIC: R.E.M. was my favourite band as a child and I nonetheless take heed to them loads, particularly their early data. I believe that it was the lyrics that was I used to be most drawn to. That they had these actually bizarre esoteric lyrics, and also you make of them what you needed to.
Have been you a giant music geek as a child? Did you take heed to a number of music?
ERIC: I largely performed. I listened to a number of stuff, however I used to be very explicit. I most likely performed music earlier than I heard it. I used to be 5 once I began choosing up guitars, as a result of my dad had them everywhere. So, listening to music, for me, has all the time been linked with enjoying it. I’ve by no means had the chance to simply be an off-the-cuff listener, non-player. I can all the time inform what they’re enjoying and I do know why they’re making selections. Specific bands would actually resonate with me for every kind of bizarre causes that needed to do with songwriting.
Has that modified for you as an grownup? Do you take heed to music for pleasure now?
ERIC: Oh yeah. I believe it broadened out as I bought older, however at that younger age, it was extra about, “Can I work out the way to play this myself? Does this sound that I’m listening to resonate with the sounds I hear in my very own head once I play?” There’s that interaction in case you’re a participant. As I bought older, I began to get into different stuff. Within the childhood, it was positively about enjoying music for me.
A whole lot of artists will say, “I wrote ten songs for this report and nothing extra. Nothing was thrown away. These are the ten songs that we’ll report after which exit and tour and finally when it comes time, I’ll write ten extra songs and report these.” You appear to be the kind of artist that’s reverse of that, that you simply’ve bought an limitless drawer stuffed with concepts and outdated demos and snippets and stuff. Is that honest to say?
ERIC: There’s a lot music that I’ve written and messed round with that’s simply sitting round. And I’m all the time form of arising with new stuff right here and there to throw into the combo. There’s all the time one thing to tinker with. I can play no matter I hear in my head, so I like to simply tinker with totally different concepts and genres and issues that attraction to me at the moment after which determine later if I wish to put it onto a report.
For this album, you have been impressed by going again and discovering stuff that you simply had written and recorded whenever you have been like 19 or 20.
ERIC: Yeah. I bought a four-track cassette deck as a child, my dad purchased it for me, so I simply instantly began recording songs and determining the way to overdub and the way to organize music as a result of I didn’t have a band. I used to be in Salem, simply getting out of highschool, however the four-track allowed me to create my very own band. That was actually the way in which that I discovered the way to do all of that. However, yeah, I’ve a field stuffed with these cassette tapes with music after music.
What was it like getting again into the pinnacle of 19 or 20-year-old Eric?
ERIC: It’s form of humorous. It’s amusing to see the journey of the place my head was at with lyrics, who I used to be listening to and copying, the evolution of the talents of enjoying. It’s like a time machine. I don’t have a tape deck, I borrowed one from a pal, so I don’t really get to take heed to these tapes fairly often. It’s a snapshot of the previous Eric’s which have existed through the years.
Did you could have lofty, huge goals for Blitzen Trapper whenever you began out or did you luck into all the pieces that has occurred during the last twenty years?
ERIC: It was a number of luck and a number of work. Writing songs is rarely actually work however as soon as we did get that break, the luck got here round. We bought signed after which it turned a number of work, extra work than I knew, like touring.
Was that one thing you needed? Was it like, “I can’t wait to place out a report and exit and play songs in entrance of individuals?”
ERIC: I don’t suppose I understood the way in which that the entire thing labored. I didn’t notice that you simply’ve bought to be on the highway for six months out of the 12 months whenever you’re beginning out. I don’t suppose any of us actually understood what it was like till it was taking place, so I actually don’t know that I used to be visualizing enjoying each evening, being on levels. I used to be all the time extra inquisitive about recording music and having folks hear it. It actually felt like a tradition shock once we began touring. We have been like, “Whoa, it is a totally different way of life.” It was cool, but it surely was additionally annoying and form of bizarre, and we form of needed to slowly determine issues out.
With the way in which expertise has superior and the entire music trade runs in 2024, do you’re feeling such as you’re nonetheless having to determine issues out?
ERIC: Not likely. I really feel prefer it’s a lot simpler now to make music and in case you’re doing stuff that’s actually prime quality and that’s good, folks will gravitate in the direction of it slowly. It was that it was all gatekeepers. I didn’t even know what the trail was to do what I used to be doing. I used to be simply making songs, recording them, sticking them on MySpace or no matter. And I used to be residing hand to mouth. I had no plan. It was simply dumb luck that some man who might assist us out heard our music on MySpace. I believe now the trail is simpler on the one hand however tougher on the opposite as a result of as soon as it turns into straightforward for everybody then there’s lots of people vying for everybody’s consideration. It’s a distinct dynamic and it’s attention-grabbing.
There’s a lot music being launched lately, it’s bought to be troublesome to chop by means of the muddle. You’ve been doing this for some time and also you’ve constructed up a following so a minimum of folks have an concept what to anticipate from you, you’re not a brand-new band that no person has ever heard earlier than.
ERIC: Placing the work in by way of touring is all the time going to be the identical. Touring for a decade goes to get you someplace even in case you’re beginning two years in the past, and also you’re two years in. If you happen to hold going, and also you’re making music that you simply love, and also you’re connecting with the folks, then you definitely’ll get the place you wish to be. Some folks get there method sooner, and generally that’s good, and generally it’s not. Touring is the important thing, actually.
You’ve put out stuff on well-respected, respected labels. You’ve gotten accolades from Pitchfork and Rolling Stone. You’ve performed on nearly each competition stage possible. Is there one thing that you simply’re most pleased with, one thing that you simply’ve executed that your daughter will inform her youngsters about some day?
ERIC: I all the time give it some thought by way of the songs themselves, and I believe a music like “Furr,” which, to me, is form of a as soon as in a lifetime form of music, that form of factor is the form of factor that speaks for itself by way of the longer term. Most individuals aren’t going to know, “He was on Letterman,” or “He did this or that.” It’s extra like, “This can be a music he wrote, and other people nonetheless take heed to it. And it has which means, like folks met their partner listening to this music.” These are the sorts of issues which are actually necessary, I believe, and hold songs within the zeitgeist.
I’ve a bunch of songs that I’m actually pleased with that I hope folks will proceed to take heed to. I hope my daughter and her youngsters, and their youngsters, can have that as a touchstone.
Are there songs or artists that you simply take heed to now that take you again to a really particular time or place in your life?
ERIC: So many. I’ve sure songs that take me to totally different instances. Neil Younger albums, like After the Gold Run, have songs that take me to some very particular instances. There’s most likely a number of Bob Dylan songs that do the identical. My dad was a giant Dylan fan. And, like I stated, listening to R.E.M. data takes me again to every kind of locations. I had cassettes of their stuff, and their stuff had this mystical rural high quality to it as a result of they have been down in Georgia. The place I grew up is comparable. It was a smaller place, rural features, small city components to it. I might placed on my headphones on my like Walkman and journey my bike at 14-years-old down by the river listening to “Don’t Go Again to Rockville” and it’s all related for me. I don’t take heed to it a ton anymore however once I do, it’s so highly effective.
My music that brings again reminiscences is “Funky Chilly Medina” by Tone Loc!
ERIC: Truly, that takes me again too! I bear in mind listening to that on the college bus and considering, “What the heck is that this?” That and MC Hammer too. It’s form of the identical period, the late ’80s. I might have been in grade college, and I bear in mind listening to MC Hammer sing, “We bought to wish simply to make it at the moment.” It was all the time on the bus. One of many older youngsters, like one of many junior excessive youngsters, would have the cassette and play it. And likewise License to Sick by the Beastie Boys. That got here out even earlier. I bear in mind listening to License to Sick at 6 or 7 years outdated and being like, “Whoa! What is that this?” That’s most likely the primary rap I ever heard. I bear in mind I used to be visiting some cousins down in East L.A. We have been of their trailer, within the yard, listening to that album and I used to be like, “What am I listening to? The place am I?”
My first take heed to 100’s of 1000’s, Tens of millions of Billions was uninterrupted, begin to end, whereas on a highway journey by means of rural Ohio. It was the perfect method for me to take heed to the album and I do know, ten years from now, once I’m listening to it, I’ll keep in mind that drive on a chilly, February day. If you happen to might choose the perfect state of affairs for somebody to take heed to the album, what wouldn’t it be?
ERIC: I don’t know. It’s so humorous as a result of folks don’t actually take heed to complete data anymore, do they? In America, driving, after all, is the way in which we take heed to music. As a child, I might typically put a report on in audio system after which have headphones as nicely and lay between the audio system and also you’d get a full physique expertise. I nonetheless like that concept, the sensation of that, simply because I really feel like that’s a great way to enter into the thoughts palace of that report. It permits you to take a look at how deep the waters are in there. I bear in mind listening to OK Laptop by Radiohead that method within the 90s, with the headphones and the audio system, excessive on mushrooms, all the pieces is simply increasing out. I imply, that’s most likely the perfect method to take heed to music, proper? Straight into your mind with all of the chemical compounds simply pumping by means of.
One other place the place I can take heed to music for prolonged period of time is whereas I’m doing yard work.
ERIC: I take heed to a number of music whereas I’m within the storage woodworking. I construct stuff fairly a bit and I’ll do this loads. That’s really once I take heed to outdated R.E.M. cassettes, within the storage as a result of I’ve a cassette deck and I’ll drop some outdated R.E.M. or Velvet Underground cassette in there and simply let it roll.
And you reside in Portland?
ERIC: I reside about 20 miles outdoors of Portland in a bit city referred to as Scappoose however the metropolis’s not too far-off.
I do know you’ve bought a full-time job and a household and also you’re additionally writing and recording music however do you could have any music close by, whether or not it’s reside music venues or report shops, you can simply entry whenever you’ve bought time?
ERIC: Residing near Portland, you may all the time go to reveals. I simply don’t have the time. My child’s so small that I simply can’t do this an excessive amount of. I sometimes do but it surely’s not that usually that I do anymore.
Document shops I am going to often, however I simply don’t spend some huge cash on data anymore. I stream a number of stuff and I have already got a number of data. I’m at a time in my life the place a number of my cash goes in the direction of the household or I purchase a number of books, I learn loads. I most likely purchase extra books than something to be trustworthy. With streaming, you may free affiliate by means of artists and discover all these nooks and crannies. I like doing that now. I like discovering younger new artists which are simply sudden. You possibly can see like how small they’re, however you may see the potential. Spotify is fascinating that method. There’s simply a lot on there and you may uncover issues that nobody’s heard but, apart from possibly like 30,000 folks. After which low and behold, a 12 months and a half later, you begin listening to about them, you’re like, “Oh yeah, individuals are beginning to catch on to this or that.” It’s simply tremendous enjoyable to do this. That was by no means a software for us rising up. I might hear covers and by no means realize it was even a canopy. I might hear R.E.M. do “Toys within the Attic” by Aerosmith and I’d be like, “That’s a cool R.E.M. music.” You’ll simply by no means know since you couldn’t get ahold of the music. Now, it’s simply so nice to listen to all of it.
I do nonetheless love crate digging at report shops and coming throughout one thing that I both by no means thought I’d discover or that isn’t on a streaming service.
ERIC: I did used to dig by means of data loads. I believe it was extra once I was touring loads since you would have time to kill right here and there, and there’d be a report retailer two doorways down. You’d go in and simply dig by means of. And we might all the time come residence with data. Bands do this on a regular basis. I form of miss that as a result of I simply don’t tour that a lot anymore. And I’m not seeking to spend cash on tour, I’m seeking to earn a living.
If I discover an album from the ’70s within the greenback bin the place the band is on the duvet they usually have lengthy hair and mustaches, it’s virtually all the time an prompt buy for me. As I used to be listening to your new album, there are songs that I might think about being on a kind of data.
ERIC: Nate does have lengthy hair and mustache. I simply have lengthy hair. Brian has a full beard. I can see that.
And that’s a results of your influences like Neil Younger and Bob Dylan. That’s not precisely what I hear within the new songs however is that the place you’re drawing inspiration from?
ERIC: There’s all the time a component of that, even when it’s simply lyrically. However a number of the music on this report is drawn from Guided by Voices, Elliott Smith, the form of stuff I’d name the alt-alternative of the ’90s, the stuff that not lots of people have been listening to at that time. I used to be drawing from a few of that. However then I used to be additionally drawing from some extra psychedelic areas of the ‘70s, just like the early ‘70s Pink Floyd, that form of stuff, sonically.
A few of your songs have that psych-country sound.
ERIC: For certain. That’s a theme that runs by means of a number of the music. A whole lot of that stems from listening to a number of Gram Parsons and the Rolling Stones, the form of extra spacious nation that was occurring within the 70s. That’s like consolation meals to me.
100’s of 1000’s, Millions of Billions by Blitzen Trapper
Inform me in regards to the album cowl. Did I learn that it’s a Bob Pollard portray?
ERIC: Yeah, it’s one among his collage works. I simply actually related with it. I like his music and his complete ethos is just like what mine has been all through my life, which is obsessive writing, obsessive releasing. I haven’t all the time executed this, however I believe my greatest work is once I’ve tried to subvert the songwriting course of in a roundabout way. I went by means of a spell within the mid-2010s the place I form of drifted away from that form of method of approaching artwork and music. The final two data, I’ve come again round to that extra cryptic, subversive, virtually surrealist method of approaching music. I believe that I join with Bob’s music in that method.
Do you suppose that is the perfect report you’ve ever made and is that one thing you say with each report you launch?
ERIC: Any pressures I ever felt making data have been self-imposed. I believe at instances I might get too wrapped up in attempting to make one thing that may appease an viewers. Once I step away from that fully is once I make my greatest work. With the final two data, I’ve fully executed that. I’ve stepped fully away. I don’t know that it’s my greatest work. A human’s power goes to alter all through their life in numerous methods relying upon what they’re doing. While you’re younger, after all, your power is spinning very quick and also you’re in a position to faucet into energies you can’t essentially faucet into as you become older. I don’t know that I even see it that method – greatest report this, greatest report that. I believe it’s extra that every report is a snapshot of the form of power you’re tapping into at the moment. And a few individuals are going to love that loads. And a few folks aren’t. I believe a number of instances, as a result of younger folks have a lot time to take heed to music, they’re those which are driving the artists. They’re going to gravitate to artists which are the identical age as them and which have the identical form of power. It’s attention-grabbing for me to see the change within the energies of my life and within the music I make and to see how others react to that. It truly is mysterious to me. I’ve mates who’re of their early fifties, however who’re having the height of their profession. All people’s musical profession journey is so distinctive. I’ve come to appreciate they’re all totally different. It’s so bizarre.
Setlist.fm lists a number of the covers that you simply’ve executed through the years. Those that caught out to me have been the ’90s covers you do of bands like Blind Melon.
ERIC: We did a grunge medley. We have been in highschool when that complete factor occurred. I went into highschool in ’91 and bought out in ’95. That complete chunk of time, I used to be in highschool. I noticed Blind Melon, Pearl Jam and Neil Younger all on the identical invoice. I noticed Soundgarden. I noticed Radiohead. I noticed all of these guys at the moment of their prime. So, we did a grunge medley that had a few of “Black Gap Solar,” a few of a Blind Melon music, a few of a Pearl Jam music after which a few of a music from Nirvana’s Bleach. It was actually enjoyable.
I hold seeing an advert for a t-shirt that claims, “I Could Be Outdated However I Noticed All of the Cool Bands” and I take into consideration how true that’s for folks such as you and I who have been in highschool or school within the early ’90s.
ERIC: I noticed Beck’s very first tour. He performed for like 150 folks after which when he took the electrical guitar off and put the acoustic guitar on, 100 folks left. He performed “Loser,” and after he performed it, 100 folks left and there was possibly 60 of us left.
I had the identical actual expertise seeing Beck! He performed “Loser” about halfway by means of the set and when he was executed, half the gang left.
ERIC: That was an ideal present. I’ll all the time bear in mind going to that as a result of, on the time, it wasn’t like we knew he was going to be Beck. I bear in mind listening to “Loser” at a celebration. My band in highschool was enjoying a celebration after which one among our drunk mates was like, “You gotta verify this out” and places the CD on and all the youngsters that have been in the lounge, all of us erupted into an prompt dance celebration when “Loser” got here on. We’d by no means heard it. I bear in mind a month later we heard that he was coming to this tiny membership in Portland and we have been like, “We must always go to that.” For the primary half of this set, he simply had a microphone and a guitar that wasn’t even plugged in. He had two bass gamers and a drummer. That was it. After which he will need to have had tracks. They weren’t actually enjoying; they have been simply enjoying round whereas the tracks performed. After which when that was executed, he had an acoustic that he placed on, the band left, and he sat on the sting of the stage, and everyone gathered round and many of the crowd left. All of us gathered round, and he performed a bunch of acoustic songs. It was the craziest factor.
With a pleasant little life that you simply’ve constructed for your self through the years, what’s driving you to exit on the highway lately?
ERIC: I do earn a living at it, however I make extra at my day job. I believe I simply actually prefer it. I’m an artist at coronary heart. I do a number of drawing and portray. I identical to making data after which whenever you make a report, you’ve bought to tour. It’s only a complete factor. You do the entire ball of wax as a result of that method I can hold making data. I actually love performing now, too. I used to have a love/hate relationship with it, however now I actually like it. And the fellows I’m enjoying with now are simply so good and we will form of do something that’s in our minds. It’s been actually fulfilling the final couple of years.
You’ve had lineup modifications; the unique guys are not within the band. If it’s not too private, have been these modifications as a result of folks couldn’t decide to persevering with this way of life or have been there different elements?
ERIC: Some folks have been drained out or moved away. And a part of it’s I wanted a smaller band so as to make it monetarily possible to play out. So, I made some modifications to tighten all the pieces up, and I additionally wanted to guarantee that every participant might do a minimum of two issues, play guitar and sing or play keys and sing. I needed everyone to have the ability to do a number of various things in order that we might have a number of choices. I sing many of the songs, however there’s two different singers now which are additionally singing lead on songs. I’m form of spreading the workload out a bit bit and it’s simply funner that method. It’s positively modified through the years.
Do folks at work find out about this different life that you’ve?
ERIC: Most of them do now. I don’t typically inform folks. Individuals would slowly determine it out or they might have mates be like, “Wait, I do know who that dude who’s your boss is.” After which folks I labored with can be like, “Why didn’t you inform me?” These are folks I’ve labored with for 2 years. A few of them might be like, “I noticed this video of you.”
Have you ever ever gotten to the purpose the place you suppose you’ve put out sufficient songs and regarded stopping?
ERIC: I positively don’t write as a lot as I used to. I’ve written songs for therefore lengthy and so many who I don’t have something to show to myself anymore. I’ll all the time take pleasure in writing songs and trying to make them pretty much as good as I can and as genuine to what I’m feeling and considering at the moment, however I don’t have the ambition I had once I was in my 20s. I don’t know that I might ever cease writing songs however I’ve stopped clinging to the concepts round writing songs which, in a sure method, I believe helps the music. All the things has an arc and runs in a cycle and I’m at a sure level within the cycle the place I’ve diversified my creativity.
With the touring you’ve bought arising in 2024, you don’t must stop your job, do you?
ERIC: No. I often solely do two weeks of touring at a time they usually let me do it. I’m one of many founding folks of the nonprofit. I’ve been there for the reason that starting. I’ve a number of leeway and I’m a supervisor of a number of packages so I can form of work from wherever a bit bit too. Two weeks is just not a giant deal for me, which is sweet.
Does your work life cross over into the music?
ERIC: The work that I do may be very emotionally intense. It’s not as a lot for me anymore as a result of I’ve actually acclimated to that form of work during the last six years. And I’ve actually good boundaries lately. I believe that I’ve discovered a lot from working in that area, working with the homeless and in housing and native governments and simply the entire thing. I don’t suppose there’s any method it wouldn’t work its method into the tales and narratives and stuff, and even simply into my primary view of the world.
Was working with the homeless one thing you fell into or did you are interested or ardour to do that whenever you have been youthful?
ERIC: No, I simply fell into it. I used to be firming down the touring again in 2018, simply wasn’t touring as a lot. I wanted to make a bit more cash and I had a buddy who was working the evening shift at a Veteran’s shelter. They solely had 45 beds and he’s like, “It’s actually chill, man. You simply hang around all evening. You possibly can take heed to music and it’s not a giant deal. It’s best to test it out. There’s a gap.” I went in and talked to the fellows who have been the founders of this nonprofit, they’re very cool, they usually’re like, “You can begin subsequent week if you’d like.” And that’s how I bought it. I had no clue what I used to be in for. And it was intense, man. It bought into a number of loopy folks doing loopy stuff. It was a steep studying curve for me. However I form of simply saved doing it. After which when COVID occurred, it was like, “I suppose that is what I’m doing now.” I went even deeper and have become a case supervisor after which break up off with one other couple of individuals and began this different nonprofit. I form of fell into it, form of just like the music profession.
Do you see issues getting any higher or is it nonetheless a tricky state of affairs?
ERIC: I’m a really agency believer within the cyclic nature of all issues however I believe that there are cycles inside cycles. I believe that the truth that we’re on the base of the grand cycle, typically referred to as by the ancients the Kali Yuga, signifies that the form of issues that we see throughout us, that we’re used to, nuclear wars and large dying and every kind of horrible issues that we form of don’t even fear about in America as a result of we’re Individuals, I believe that that’s simply the cycle we’re in. And I additionally suppose that the entire religious poverty of all of humanity at this level, in each sense, can also be a perform of the place we’re at within the Kali cycle. And so these days I see the homeless downside as simply form of a symptom of this higher indisputable fact that we’re within the midst of the fundamental worst, the black Yuga, you realize, the Kali Yuga. And in order that’s form of how I see it. I don’t suppose there’s some form of silver bullet for any of these items. For me, it has extra to do with connecting with people and seeing how I can assist them in no matter meager method I can. However I’m not exempt from the religious poverty of the world we reside in. I’m simply as a lot part of it as everybody else. And so I don’t have any delusions of grandeur relating to serving to folks. It’s a band-aid form of factor at this level to me. And I believe issues will solely worsen till we fully baseline after which we’ll most likely begin our upwards swing of the cycle, no matter that even appears to be like like. And that may very well be 100 years from now. That’s form of my overarching view of all of it at this level.
