Former Treepeople frontman Doug Martsch formed Built to Spill in 1992 with Brett Netson and Ralf Youtz as the band's original members. In an interview with Spin magazine, Martsch stated that he intended to change the band's lineup for every album, with Martsch being the only permanent member. After the band's first album, Ultimate Alternative Wavers (1993), the lineup changing idea held true, as both Netson and Youtz were replaced by Brett Nelson (not Netson) and Andy Capps for 1994's There's Nothing Wrong With Love. A compilation album called The Normal Years, consisting of recordings by both the first and second trios, was released in 1996. Between recording albums in 1995, the band gained notoriety by playing on the Lollapalooza tour.
Martsch signed Built To Spill to the Warner Brothers label in 1995. Unlike many artists signed to major labels, however, the deal the band brokered with Warner allowed it to retain a large degree of creative control over future albums. Built to Spill produced its first major label release in 1997 with Perfect From Now On. By this time, the band consisted of Martsch, Nelson, Netson, and Scott Plouf. Perfect From Now On met with critical success and caused Built To Spill to become one of the United States' most recognizable indie rock bands. Before releasing another album, Martsch made Nelson and Plouf permanent members of the band. In 1999, the band released Keep It Like a Secret to continued critical success, and for the first time, significant commercial success. In response to fan requests, the Live album was released in 2000. The band's fifth studio album, Ancient Melodies of the Future, was released in 2001. Martsch also released Now You Know, a solo album with both blues and folk elements, in 2002. After 2002, Warner Bros. records signed the band to another album.
Built To Spill did not tour as a band in 2002 although Doug Martsch performed numerous solo concerts in support of his solo album. From 2003 to 2005, Built To Spill toured extensively with over 150 live performances, playing new songs live as early as 2004. In 2004, the band confirmed rumors that they had recorded another studio album in Portland, OR, titled You In Reverse. The album was not released in 2005 due to difficulties associated with the use of a new recording facility, inefficiencies associated with self-producing the album and time constraints. You In Reverse, the first studio album in five years, was released on April 11, 2006. The band's official lineup for the album featured Martsch, Nelson, Plouf, and Jim Roth, who was formerly a touring guitarist only. Former band member Brett Netson provided guitar work on several songs, Quasi's Sam Coomes provided keyboard work and Steve Lobdell, the owner of the Portland studio, plays on almost every song for the album including guitar, piano, vibes and percussion. Netson rejoined Built To Spill as an official member in 2006 after touring with the band in 2005.
The band announced an April/May 2006 tour in February 2006 in support of the new album. In late March 2006, however, frontman Doug Martsch suffered a detached retina that required surgery, causing the band to cancel its appearance at the South by Southwest music festival and postpone several of their tour dates. The band rescheduled the April and May tour dates in the fall, but most June dates on the West were not postponed. At their June 3, 2006 show, their first of the 2006 tour, Built to Spill played four unreleased songs that were not included on You In Reverse. This show also included the dedication of the song "Car" to former band member Andy Capps who had passed away a few weeks earlier that would continue throughout the tour.
In July 2007, Built To Spill released a new 12" vinyl single with two reggae-esque tracks, "They Got Away" and "Re-Arrange". According to Doug Martsch, BTS is not becoming a reggae band, they just "love to play it".
In 2009 Nelson replayed and recorded one song off of each full length Built To Spill album in ""New Wave circa 1982" style with analogue synthesizers and a drum machine having Martsch resing all of the songs and released it July 2010 through CDBABY,Itunes and Junketboy as The Electronic Anthology Project.Nelson's son (Nicholas) did the art/layout with the titles reworked as anagrams by his wife (Stephanie) he plans on future projects under the same moniker redoing other bands music.
Doug Martsch and original BTS drummer Ralf Youtz are also founding members of the much-loved, but short-lived, band the Halo Benders, with Calvin Johnson.
Youtz and Martsch are also brothers-in-law. (Martsch is married to Youtz's sister).
Ralf Youtz was leader of the Portland, Oregon band Ape Shape. He went on to pursue a Ph.D. in Mathematics.
Bret Netson is leader of the influential art/metal Boise band Caustic Resin, which put out a split 10" with BTS in 1995. That album has two different cover photos because a found photo was used without permission for the original version, but the photographer later found out and objected.
Randy Described Eternity
Built to Spill Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
This metal sphere
Ten times the size of Jupiter
Floats just a few yards past the earth
You climb on your roof
And take a swipe at it
With a single feather
Hit it once every thousand years
To the size of a pea
Yeah I'd say that's a long time
But it's only half a blink
In the place you're gonna be
Where you gonna be
Where will you spend eternity
I'm gonna be perfect from now on
I'm gonna be perfect starting now
Stop making that sound
Stop making that sound
I will say I forgot it
But it was only yesterday
And it's all you had to say
The lyrics to "Randy Described Eternity" by Built to Spill are enigmatic and can be interpreted in a number of ways. At its core, the song seems to deal with the vastness of space, time and the afterlife. The first verse describes a massive metal sphere ten times the size of Jupiter, which passes the earth once every thousand years. The singer imagines himself trying to wear down the sphere by swiping at it with a feather, an action which would take a thousand years to complete. The enormity of the task is emphasized by the line "Yeah I'd say that's a long time / But it's only half a blink / In the place you're gonna be," suggesting that our perceptions of time will change in the afterlife.
Line by Line Meaning
Every thousand years
After an expanse of years equivalent to centuries, a recurring event takes place
This metal sphere
A massive spherical object of metallic material
Ten times the size of Jupiter
The metallic sphere is sizeable, greater in volume than Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system
Floats just a few yards past the earth
The colossal metal sphere passes the planet Earth at a close distance, within a few yards
You climb on your roof
The subject ascends to the top of their roof top
And take a swipe at it
They make a feeble attempt to strike the metal sphere
With a single feather
The attempt to harm the sphere is made with the flimsiest of tools, in this case a feather
Hit it once every thousand years
The subject only manages to make contact with the sphere every millennium
'Til you've worn it down
Continued interaction with the massive object results in a gradual reduction in size
To the size of a pea
Over time the sphere, once larger than Jupiter, is reduced to the size of a small pea
Yeah I'd say that's a long time
The timespan involved in the gradual shrinking of the sphere, though vast, is still an insignificant period in the larger scheme of things
But it's only half a blink
The immensity of time in comparison to the blink of an eye reveals how minute the change undergone by the sphere really is
In the place you're gonna be
The subject is referred to the afterlife, which far transcends the concepts of space and time
Where you gonna be
Reference is made to the destination of the subject's soul following their physical demise
Where will you spend eternity
The ultimate fate of the subject's soul is up for contemplation
I'm gonna be perfect from now on
The subject claims that they will henceforth lead a faultless existence
I'm gonna be perfect starting now
The subject expresses resolved intent to commence a faultless existence
Stop making that sound
The subject requests that a distracting sound be discontinued
Stop making that sound
The subject reiterates their request that a distracting noise be ceased
I will say I forgot it
Despite remembering the noise earlier, the subject pretends to have forgotten it in order to cease's the sound's production
But it was only yesterday
Although the subject implies the occurrence was in the past, it was only a short while ago
And it's all you had to say
The resurfaced recollection is the sum total of what was said
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: DOUG MARTSCH
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind