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."
Get It Out
Blind Pilot Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
We were lost in an hour, everything came apart
In the middle of nowhere, "oh man, hey look where we are"
I know your teeth are shut and proud
But there are rhythms in the city, make your head feel loud
So get it out, get it out
Right here this water is mean but it's the same as your own
You'd better swim for your life, it's both at the same time
It was a wild idea to start
A drip on the head got it wet in the heart
And it looked just like a river but was a freeway in the dark
Boy were you always so ready?
I never want to call it off
I have never been this ready in my life
The lyrics to Blind Pilot's "Get It Out" describe a situation where the singer and possibly another person have embarked on a wild idea that has led them to being lost in the middle of nowhere. The opening line describes the idea as 'wild,' which could suggest it was impulsive or dangerous. The second line provides a sense of disappointment or frustration as everything falls apart. The next line - 'Oh man, hey look where we are' - shows a sudden realization of their physical location, possibly in a remote or unfamiliar area.
The second verse describes the singer's attempt to encourage their companion. The reference to 'teeth shut and proud' may suggest the person they're addressing is proud and unfeeling. But the singer suggests they should listen to the rhythms of the city, which will make their head feel loud - this could imply it'll make them feel alive or more present in the moment. The singer urges them to 'get it out' - perhaps referring to some pent-up emotion, feeling or expression.
The third verse returns to the theme of being lost, but this time the lyrics take on a more metaphorical tone, referring to the person's location as a long way upriver from home. The singer acknowledges that the water is mean - again, possibly describing some kind of danger or challenge. But they reassure the person that it's the same water as they're used to or familiar with, and they urge them to swim for their life. This line could be read as an encouragement to embrace the challenge rather than running from it.
Some possible interpretations of the song's overall message could be about taking risks, dealing with disappointment or failure, embracing challenges, and attempting to find meaning or connection in difficult circumstances.
Line by Line Meaning
It was a wild idea to start
The beginning of this journey seemed reckless and uncertain
We were lost in an hour, everything came apart
Things went wrong quickly and unexpectedly
In the middle of nowhere, "oh man, hey look where we are"
Realizing the severity of their situation in a desolate location
I know your teeth are shut and proud
Acknowledging someone's unwavering determination and resilience
But there are rhythms in the city, make your head feel loud
The city has a unique energy that can awaken and inspire
So get it out, get it out
Emphasizing the importance of expressing oneself
You are a long ways up river from home
Being far away from what is familiar
Right here this water is mean but it's the same as your own
The challenges faced in this new place are similar to those back home
You'd better swim for your life, it's both at the same time
Survival is dependent on adapting to the unfamiliar while also holding onto one's identity
A drip on the head got it wet in the heart
A small moment had a profound impact on their emotions
And it looked just like a river but was a freeway in the dark
Things are not always as they seem
Boy were you always so ready?
Expressing surprise and admiration for someone's preparedness
I never want to call it off
Not wanting to give up or quit
I have never been this ready in my life
Feeling more motivated and prepared than ever before
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: AARON NEBEKER, RYAN DOBROWSKI
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind