While music director at WSBF-FM in CLEMSON, SC, we celebrated the release of OF MONTREAL‘s latest CD by trying to interview as many band members as possible. By adding BRYAN POOLE to our collection, we had two out of five.
Among his other musical endeavors, Bryan is the guitarist for Of Montreal. Join me on college radio as we talk about gumball machine metaphors, his many musical projects, and how he got his wings.
Note: the interview starts about a third of the way through the file.
Full Transcript: (Audio)
Nichole Bennett: You are listening to WSBF-FM Clemson. I am Nichole Bennett, the music director of the station, and I have something very special for you. In the background you are listening to a track of off Of Montreal’s latest release Skeletal Lamping. The band is currently on tour, and they were kind enough to let us do a phone interview. In a few minutes we will be calling Bryan Poole. He’s the guitarist of the band, but that’s not all he’s been. He’s involved in the whole Elephant Six Collective era of music in Athens. He was the bassist for Elf Power for many years and one of the founding members of Of Montreal. He’s also been involved with Olivia Tremor Control and Great Lakes, to name a few. Additionally, he has a side solo project title The Late B.P. Helium, and hopefully we’ll get a chance to ask him a little bit about that.
Right now I believe they are in Florida. We’ll double check with him. If you want to catch Of Montreal in this area, you can catch them on the television. On December 18, they will be on the David Letterman show. Over winter break you can catch them December 30th and 31st at the 40 Watt Club in Athens. That should be an interesting New Year’s show. I’m sure to be there if I can get a ticket. If you miss them at their New Year’s show, you can catch them January 4th at the Grey Eagle in Asheville. Seems like they are circling around the U. S., and then they are headed to Europe.
The way that Of Montreal has worked lately since the release of Sunlandic Twins, Kevin Barnes has just been doing the records himself, and the band has just been a touring band. We’re mainly going to talk to Bryan about some of the stage stuff. If you’ve never seen an Of Montreal show, it’s pretty theatrical. Personally, I’ve been seeing them since my freshmen year, so over time it’s gotten even more and more bizarre. For instance, Kevin Barnes actually hangs himself during the show.
We are going to give Bryan a call, and see if they are ready for an interview. I apologize because the interview was originally supposed to be at 1PM, but I think that Mr. Poole’s phone was dying.
If you are a fan of Of Montreal, you will probably like his work as The Late B.P. Helium. Elf Power shares some of their psychadelia, but it’s a bit darker. About every person who lives in Athens is in Elf Power. Speaking of bands that everyone in Athens is in, I believe Bryan plays with Dark Meat, and I’m going to ask him about that because hopefully they will be coming to Clemson in the spring.
It’s ringing—good. Well, I will give you sample track while we are waiting for Mr. Poole.
I am here with Bryan Poole of Of Montreal and also The Late B.P. Helium. Hey Bryan, how are you?
Bryan Poole: I’m pretty awesome.
NB: You guys are on some sort of crazy tour right now.
BP: It’s pretty good. It’s like a gumball machine. We keep spitting gum out for people to chew. Only good balls, not like pre-chewed gum. It’s like one of those things at the mall that has a big spiral. It’s a big event. You watch that gumball go around and around, and you finally get it. And you’re really happy, hopefully. Unless you wanted the pink one and then you got the purple one.
NB: I keep checking your tours, and you guys keep coming around here. You guys are actually going to be at the 40 Watt for New Year’s?
BP: Yeah, we actually added a second show because I think that one is almost sold out. We added a second show the day before, on the 30th, which isn’t technically New Year’s. But if you wanted to celebrate two New Year’s.
NB: New Year’s practice?
BP: No, it’s going to be a totally different show. We have The Gerbils.
NB: OH.
BP: Yeah, The Gerbils are going to play with us, and they are not playing on New Year’s Eve. They are old friends of ours, Elephant 6 compatriots.
NB: We talked with Davey Pierce last week about the stage performance. It looks like it’s gotten even more and more theatrical.
BP: Yeah, since you’ve talked to Davey, we’ve probably added a cannon or two. We’re not shooting out people, though. We’re shooting out objects that keep you warm and satiated.
NB: I was wondering if you guys pick your own stage costumes, because I’m a really big fan of the wings that you have.
BP: Yeah, we all figure it out. Those came to me when I was in Tuscon, Arizona about a year and a half or two years ago. I walked by this girl’s shop and looked inside and there they were. They weren’t open, but she let me in. I was her first customer, and I bought those wings. She’s made me a few other sets since then. She’s really awesome.
NB: So you guys are in Florida now?
BP: Actually, we are still in Athens now. We are leaving slowly…slowly. Oh, I was about to say a bad word. We are driving right now, and my little shortcut got messed up. Detour. Road’s Closed. Yeah, we are leaving tonight and going to Florida. We are playing five shows. Florida always seems to get its own tour because it’s the penis of America. Nobody really likes to go there unless they have to. Wow! I say that, and I’ve come across this big truck that says “humpin’ to please” on the side of it. It’s really awesome. It’s kind of a one-of-a-kind. It’s got a camel with a 66 and the stuff that might come out of somebody’s private parts.
NB: I’m really glad you are on-site to report this for our listeners.
BP: Yeah, this is what is happening in Athens. I’m sure this is happening all over Clemson, you know.
NB: I hope. I really hope.
BP: Do you guys know about Greenwood, South Carolina?
NB: Yeah, it’s relatively close.
BP: We have lots of friends from Greenwood, and there are probably some Greenwoodites that decided to go to Clemson instead of Lander. And I’m saying you probably made the right decision on that.
NB: Actually, a lot of the music lovers from Clemson travel to Athens. It’s only about an hour and a half away.
BP: Now, why doesn’t Clemson have the same music scene that Athens does?
NB: That is a very good question…that we are working on. We have good radio!
BP: Yeah? How many watts are you kicking?
NB: We’ve got three thousand.
BP: We’ve got 26,000. But 3,000 is better than 300. I’ve definitely been on some stations where you couldn’t get it past the parking lot. Or cable FM. I played a benefit once in Richmond, Virginia, and we wanted to tune in. They were like, it’s only on the cable.
NB: A lot of stations are internet-only as well. We went to CMJ this year, and I realized how lucky we are.
BP: There’s this thing called Orange Twin. That’s a group of friends of mine, loosely affiliated. My solo records are on Orange Twin Records, and it’s kind of run by Elf Power. It’s turning into this land conservation project. It’s starting to be a grand eco-village on the outskirts of Athens.
NB: I’m so glad you mentioned that. A couple of weeks back I was at the No Age show in Athens, and I got to meet Jim of Dark Meat. They were talking about the conservation project.
BP: Dark Meat is a band that I play in when I can. You must have partied all night to stay at the Secret Squirrel.
NB: Yeah, we are trying to book Dark Meat for our spring concert. Maybe you’ll be able to visit if you aren’t busy with your things.
BP: Yeah I haven’t talked to Jim lately. They got to open up for Quintron and Miss Pussycat, but I was out of town. Dark Meat, one of Athens’ finest.
NB: This is a nice segue to talk about some of your solo work. How do you balance the many bands you are in?
BP: It used to be that we would just tour in the spring and the fall during the normal times that bands tour when colleges are in session. We’re lucky to have a following that we get offers to tour in other times of the year. Once an album comes out, we tour for at least a year or a year and a half almost straight for each record. Then we’ll finally take six months off and recover and Kevin can work on a new record. And then we do it all again. Before, it was a lot easier to be able to have my own band and play with other bands, but to be honest now it’s kind of hard. In fact, I was talking to my friend Josh McKay of this band, Pancha. I don’t know if you’ve heard of them. They were the great band of Athens from the early to mid 90’s to the 2000’s. We have a band, and we play ESG covers in Athens. It’s kind of a party band. We have an original project that we’ve been trying to get off the ground, but our schedules never meet because he tours with his band too. I told him we have to do it because I’ve been doing interviews, and I’ll be a liar if this doesn’t happen. I miss Athens and my friends and being a part of the scene when I’m not here, so it’s difficult.
NB: Well I guess we were talking about camels earlier. My favorite interview question to ask is if you were an animal, what animal would you be and why?
BP: Besides human being or space alien? I think I would be a space alien because hopefully they are smarter than we are. Supposedly the Egyptians and the Mayans were hanging out with them. They probably come down every now and then, but they’r probably hard to spot. They like doing their own thing. They probably like to be voyeuristic gods. I’d like to be a space alien, and I think that qualifies as an animal if they are living matter. I can’t say from what planet or star system.
NB: That’s justified. That’s good. With that, I’ll say I cannot wait to bring in the New Year with you guys, and I’ll let you get on with your busy day. Thank you so much.
BP: Yeah, for whoever’s listening. If you are looking for a good party, we are having one…or two. Spend the night. Hang out at the Secret Squirrel. Take care. Party on.
