The band has performed on Carson Daly's show, opened arena shows in England and been selected as iTunes' Single of the Week. After a busy summer that included the Lollapalooza, Sasquatch!, and Outside Lands festivals and a high-profile slot opening for fellow Portlanders the Decemberists on select dates, Blind Pilot is embarking on a national headlining tour to support their magnanimous debut, 3 Rounds and a Sound, released last year on Expunged Records. Initially a duo of Nebeker and drummer Ryan Dobrowski, the group now includes Kati Claborn on banjo and dulcimer, Luke Ydstie on upright bass, Dave Jorgensen on trumpet and harmonium, and Ian Krist on vibraphone.
Nebeker and drummer Ryan Dobrowski first met as college students at the University of Oregon. They played together in the occasional band, but the roots of Blind Pilot didn't take hold until the two friends spent a summer abroad in Newquay, England, a laidback surfing town in the coastal county of Cornwall. Nebeker says, "The first night we saw a musician playing on the street. A cop came up and we thought, 'This guy's going to get busted.' But the cop stood and listened, then flipped a pound into the guy's case and walked off. So we said, 'Oh, we're doing this!'" Nebeker strummed an acoustic guitar while Dobrowski, a fine art student, kept time on a makeshift percussion kit constructed out of a sketchpad and pencil tin. "I used that sketchpad more as an instrument than for artwork," laughs Dobrowski. "By the end of the summer, the tin was all flared out from me hitting it."
After that summer of busking by the English seaside, it was a couple more years before Blind Pilot became a serious endeavor, but when Nebeker and Dobrowski decided to focus on making music as a duo, they again sought the ocean air for inspiration. In2006, the pair relocated to the dramatic landscape of Oregon's Pacific coast, a few miles north of Gearhart, Oregon, where Nebeker grew up. His hometown memories are strung throughout the lyrics to 3 Rounds' "Things I Cannot Recall": "We took off sleeping by the river and the beaches in your car/Up where you taught me how to drive a stick and told me your family secret."
In the fishing town of neighboring Astoria, Oregon, the pair camped out on the top floor of an old cannery to prepare songs without outside distraction. The building jutted out into the water, not far from where the Columbia River's broad mouth collides with the Pacific Ocean. Against that tumultuous backdrop, the gentle songs took sturdy formation. Nebeker's honest delivery, accompanied by Dobrowski's uncluttered timekeeping, steered a batch of very personal songs to completion--much like the river's pilot boats, from which Blind Pilot derived their name, guide the mammoth, freight-laden barges up the Columbia.
Both avid cyclists, Nebeker and Dobrowski decided their next move would be a tour by bicycle. Once the songs were together, and a batch of CDRs was readied and hand-pressed, the two embarked without a map or any gigs scheduled. They biked down the West Coast, playing wherever they could along the way. The effort of touring by bicycle was reward in itself. "If we rode all day and we couldn't find a show, or we played for just ten people, we still felt good about our day," remembers Dobrowski.
The first Blind Pilot bike tour started in Vancouver and ended abruptly in San Francisco after their bikes were stolen. But when 3 Rounds and a Sound was finished in Portland last year, they toured again by bicycle, this time making it all the way down to San Diego with new members Claborn and Ydstie in tow--Ydstie's upright bass lumbering behind in a coffin-like trailer. Says Nebeker of touring by bike, "Ironically, the harder you worked, the more fun you had, as long as it's good work for a good reason. When you just sit all day in a van, that's not as much fun." Of course, for this upcoming national tour, Blind Pilot will be traveling by van--a circumstance borne out of practicality, and a necessary side effect of the group's remarkably quick success--but they hold future hopes to tour by bicycle again as soon as possible.
In the meantime, the songs of 3 Rounds and a Sound have stood up after countless miles of road- travel, and Blind Pilot has evolved into a live unit whose group dynamic elevates the music. On record, songs like "The Story I Heard," and "Go On, Say It" are intimately personal meditations, but in the live setting, they take on a communal, celebratory air. Nebeker's voice is buttressed by Claborn's and Ydstie's soaring harmonies, and the folk-spun, roots-inspired arrangements take on both the austere gorgeousness of classical chamber music, and the breathing, perspiring qualities of a great rock 'n' roll show.
"They're playing our song/Can you see the lights?" sings Nebeker in 3 Rounds' title track. "Can you hear the hum of our song? I hope they get it right/I hope we dance tonight before we get it wrong/And the seasons will change us new."
Those lyrics are of careful optimism--but Blind Pilot already has much to look forward to. Very near the start of their journey, they've reached a broader audience than they'd ever imagined, yet they're not willing to make themselves comfortable, even insisting that their first European tour will be via bicycle. "And one of the things I'm most excited about recording the next album is to see how different we can make it,"
Nebeker adds. "The sound that we have going is working really well right now, but I'm totally excited to mess it up."
Always
Blind Pilot Lyrics
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Catch as catch can 'til we get it right
Always in this dark light, always
Tell me more than what you can guess
Feel like thunder then quick to forget
Always looking for what is not yet, always
Hit the steps for the morning light
Always looking for a new life, always
The lyrics of Blind Pilot's song "Always" describe a journey on a "holy road" that is uncertain and elusive. The metaphor of "catch as catch can" refers to the idea that they're taking what they can get and doing their best to make it work until they find the right path. The repeated phrase "always in this dark light" suggests that their journey is fraught with danger and difficulty, and that their efforts to navigate it are hindered by a lack of clarity and illumination.
The next stanza implies a frustration with their situation, as the singer asks for more information than what they can guess, in order to better understand their circumstances. The imagery of feeling like thunder and then forgetting suggests a fleeting sense of insight or inspiration, followed by a loss of direction or purpose. The final line, "always looking for what is not yet", further emphasizes the idea that they're searching for something that they haven't found yet, and that their journey is ongoing and unresolved.
The final stanza introduces the idea of leaving behind the safety and security of their home, locking the keys inside and "hitting the steps" towards an uncertain future. The phrase "always looking for a new life" suggests that the journey is a transformative one, and that they're seeking a different way of living, one that is not yet within their grasp. Overall, the lyrics of "Always" convey a sense of wandering and uncertainty, a journey that is difficult but necessary, and a persistent search for something better.
Line by Line Meaning
Holy road we are on tonight
We are embarking on a journey that feels sacred and important.
Catch as catch can 'til we get it right
We are figuring things out as we go, learning and adjusting until we find success.
Always in this dark light, always
We often find ourselves in difficult or uncertain situations, but we keep pushing forward despite the shadows.
Tell me more than what you can guess
I want you to communicate openly and honestly with me, rather than making assumptions or giving vague answers.
Feel like thunder then quick to forget
Our emotions can be intense and powerful, but they often fade quickly and may not have a lasting impact on us.
Always looking for what is not yet, always
We have a sense of curiosity and a desire for new experiences and knowledge, always seeking out what we have yet to discover.
Lock the keys in my house tonight
I am intentionally leaving behind the things that hold me back, breaking free from the cages of my own making.
Hit the steps for the morning light
I am taking proactive steps towards a better future, even if it means a difficult journey awaits me.
Always looking for a new life, always
We are constantly seeking to reinvent ourselves, looking for opportunities to grow and make positive changes in our lives.
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: AARON NEBEKER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind