Band of Horses main man Ben Bridwell, a shrewd industry operator, cut a deal to jump to a major label for third album Infinite Arms while remaining in control of the master recordings and the band's own destiny. He's ready for the big time, he tells JIM CARROLL
FOR BEN BRIDWELL and Band of Horses, these are interesting times. The band's anthemic take on vintage Americana has already gained them many fans worldwide, via their Everything All the Timeand Cease to Beginalbums and associated tours.
Now, having moved from indie to major label for third album Infinite Arms, there comes a step-up in expectations. From here on in, cult status alone will not cut it. They are, you could say, in a different horse race now.
Bridwell, though, certainly seems up for this challenge. The band leader sees the move as having more to do with responsibilities than expectations.
“The ante is definitely up, and now seems to be the time for the band to make a big leap,” he says. “I think the responsibility has increased. I don’t know if it comes down to fans’ expectations as much as our responsibility to give people a good experience in return for the money they’re giving us. That’s always been what we’re about, though now the numbers have grown.”
The Band of Horses story began in Seattle, where South Carolina natives Bridwell, Creighton Barrett and Rob Hampton fetched up in the mid-1990s.
They were attracted to the Pacific Northwest for the sounds rather than the weather. They earned their spurs in various bands. Bridwell drummed with a band called Carissa’s Wierd before moving on to Band of Horses.
Seattle, says Bridwell, was a good place to start a band, though a music town such as that has its drawbacks, too. “The scene was small, tight and incestuous,” he remembers. “I mean, every bar or club was full of ex-band members and ex-girlfriends. A music town sometimes means you can be lazy, though the bands in Seattle also tended to be hugely competitive about trying to get success.”
Aside from his band projects, Bridwell has his fingers in other pies. Since the very early days, he has run a small indie label called Brown, and he comes across as a very sussed operator in that regard.
“I released two records by Carissa’s Wierd, a solo record by Jenn Ghetto – who was in the band and goes by the name S – and a band called Aveo, who got picked up by Barsuk Records.
“Mostly, it was meant to be a stepping stone for bands to get to a real label. My philosophy was, ‘Hey, let’s give this band a thousand CDs to sell at shows’, and I hoped a bigger label would come along, pick them up and give them proper distribution. Later, I got a distribution deal for Brown, and now I’m trying to get bands out there that I believe in.”
Band of Horses released their first two records on Sub Pop, but the third album is hosted by three different labels: Brown, Fat Possum and Columbia.
“I thought the Columbia connection could possibly help us reach a larger audience,” says Bridwell. “Having that kind of machine behind us internationally would be a huge help. I wouldn’t say we have suffered before on that side with Sub Pop, but there is definitely room to grow, and that’s not a negative.
“With Fat Possum, we hit it off so well with label owner Matthew Johnson that I wanted to work with him in some capacity. He was also interested in helping me resurrect my old label, and he had connections with Columbia too.
“He’s done a great job with Andrew Bird and the newer bands he’s signed lately. Plus I love the old blues stuff he has put out – he has impeccable taste and is a really easy hang.”
There were other, more pressing reasons for Bridwell’s astute wheeling and dealing. “Aside from all that personal stuff, it was the best deal we could find,” he says. “I had funded the record myself, and I wanted to get the best bang for my buck while retaining ownership of the masters, and that configuration made the most sense to us.”
Few other acts in a similar position would take such a long-term view of proceedings. “I’ve made mistakes,” he says. “Not with this band so much. I saw the mistakes I made with my previous band and wanted to avoid those. I have better instincts now. I want to own the masters for my kids and my grandkids and all that shit. And then there was the fact that I was getting all my money back. I put a lot of my own money into this album, so it was good to know that someone was going to up the ante on that score.”
The new album also saw Bridwell flexing his songwriting muscles in new surroundings. Two years ago, he moved with his then pregnant wife to rural Minnesota. “I wrote a lot of the songs when I was living in the woods in Minnesota, on this lake. Three or four of the songs on the record were written there in a week. I was just sitting there looking at the sunset on the lake and the songs came out. Yep, that easy.”
Bridwell then used a home studio set-up for the first time to finesse the songs. “Before this, I was very nervous when I had to bring new songs to a rehearsal room or studio to play them to the others and my playing ability might not have been the best. The fact that I could demo the songs and have them sounding how I wanted them to sound was pretty exciting. Even if it was a weird or stupid song, it was still good to show it the way I envisaged the song to be.”
The growing audience for Band of Horses still catches Bridwell by surprise. “We first came out in 2006, and it was very surprising when we played places in Scandinavia to see how receptive people were to the songs. And that was before Fleet Foxes and Bon Iver took off. It has been surprising since day one to me that people gave a shit about our band over here, and it definitely seems like more people are paying attention now.”
Other acts are also paying attention. The band has collaborated with Willie Nelson (“I don’t believe Willie Nelson was cranking our records on his stereo,” says Bridwell with a smile, “though we did get to hang at his house in Hawaii”) and others.
"You come across these big names mentioning your band, and it's such a thrill. Bruce Springsteen mentioned in some article that he was digging our second album and that was like 'wow'. We got to sing back-up with Ray Davies, we got to play with Roger McGuinn on Turn! Turn! Turn!and we got to meet Bruce as well. That's the biggest thing – when you get that moment.
“I’m more of a fan than I am a band member or songwriter. I always have a stack of records on the go. At the moment, that’s George Harrison solo records, a lot of Ron Wood’s solo records, always the Stones, always Neil Young, Andrew Bird, Flaming Lips and My Morning Jacket. And the new one from Lee Fields & The Expressions, that whole album, front to back, every single song on it, is perfect.”
While some in the industry may be advocating a move from albums back to singles, Bridwell is happy to remain a refusenik. “I’m disappointed in how it has moved back into a singles territory again, people clicking on a single for a dollar and a half. But you can’t fight the times – you have to roll with it. Me personally, I’m an albums guy. I’ll always be an albums guy.”
- New single Factoryis released on August 6. Album Infinite Armsout now
