In the 2009-10 season, the band visits a long list of venues including Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall (where they debuted in Zankel Hall in 2007), the Somerville Theater in Boston, Old Town School in Chicago, the Herbst Theater in San Francisco, UMS Ann Arbor, Duke University, the University of Wisconsin in Madison, and many others. They have performed recently in nearly every conceivable format and space, from small clubs (they have a regular series at the Living Room in New York and have played frequently at Largo in Los Angeles) to concert halls (Benaroya Hall in Seattle, Sheldon Hall in St. Louis, Mondavi Center in Davis, Pabst Theater in Milwaukee, the Allen Room in New York, in addition to Carnegie) to festivals of all kinds (Bonnaroo, Ravinia, Aspen, Telluride, Spoleto, Savannah, Chamber Music Northwest). Their shows include an unpredictable mix of original songs written by the band, the 4-movement chamber suite The Blind Leaving the Blind (composed by Thile), traditional bluegrass and folk tunes, arrangements of Bach and Mozart, and covers of Radiohead, The Beatles, The Band, The White Stripes, The Strokes, and multiple other sources. In the fall of 2011, the band embarked on a tour opening for music legend Paul Simon, occasionally accompanying him on "The Boxer."
Punch Brothers return with their second album, Antifogmatic, June 15 on Nonesuch. The record is the follow-up to the band’s highly praised 2008 debut, Punch, which The New Yorker calls “...wide-ranging and restlessly imaginative...” A special deluxe edition of the album will also be available. Included in this package is a four song instrumental EP, All of This Is True, as well as a seven song DVD, Live from the Lower East Side: It’s p-Bingo Night!, which was filmed during the band’s residency at NYC’s The Living Room. Pre-orders of both the standard and deluxe editions are available now at www.nonesuch.com and www.punchbrothers.com. The first 500 orders of the deluxe edition will include an autographed official Punch Brothers cocktail recipe guide.
At home in a dizzying array of settings even outside of their expansive core activities, Punch Brothers are the subject of an upcoming feature-length documentary called How to Grow a Band, have appeared on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and were among three finalists in ESPN’s cut-throat, fan-voted battle of the bands in interpretations of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame”. The band members’ diverse backgrounds and extraordinary talents make the group impossible to describe and thrilling to experience.
Chris Thile has changed the mandolin forever, elevating it from its origins as a relatively simple folk and bluegrass instrument to the sophistication and brilliance of the finest jazz improvisation and classical performance. In the 2009-10 season, he premieres his Mandolin Concerto with six orchestras in the US. For more than 15 years, Thile played in the wildly popular band Nickel Creek, with whom he released three albums and sold two million records, was awarded a Grammy® in 2002, and traveled the world on sold-out concert tours. As a soloist he has released four albums, as well as performing and recording extensively as a duo with double bass virtuoso Edgar Meyer and with fellow eminent mandolinist Mike Marshall. He has written a duo for Meyer and pianist Emanuel Ax; recorded with Yo-Yo Ma, Renee Fleming and Joshua Bell; and collaborated with a pantheon of bluegrass innovators including Bela Fleck, Dolly Parton, the Dixie Chicks, Jerry Douglas, and Sam Bush.
Although initially drawn to the electric guitar, by his mid-teens Chris Eldridge had developed a deep love for acoustic music, thanks in part to his father, a banjo player and founding member of the seminal bluegrass group The Seldom Scene. Eldridge later gained in-depth exposure to a variety of different musical styles while studying at Oberlin Conservatory, where he earned a degree in Music Performance in 2004. During his time at Oberlin, Eldridge studied with legendary guitarist Tony Rice. Before joining Punch Brothers, he was a founding member of the critically acclaimed bluegrass band The Infamous Stringdusters.
Paul Kowert is from Madison, WI and graduated from The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. As a classical musician Paul has performed with various orchestras as a soloist and as a section member, most recently playing in the Verbier Festival Orchestra in Switzerland in the summer of 2008. He was one of the performers at Edgar Meyer’s Carnegie Hall workshop in 2006, and since then has appeared in concert with Darol Anger’s Republic of Strings, Tristan and Tashina Clarridge, Alex and Tatiana Hargreaves, Futureman’s Black Mozart Ensemble, Jordan Tice, Brittany Haas, and Jeremy Kittel. Paul can be heard as a member of the “Big Trio” with mandolinist Mike Marshall and violinist Alex Hargreaves, a group that released its first album in spring 2009.
Noam Pikelny (born Noam Pikelny) hails from Chicago, IL where he picked up the banjo at the age of 8. He studied old-time and bluegrass banjo at the Old Town School of Folk Music. Throughout high school, he played all over Illinois and Indiana with several traditional bluegrass bands, who occasionally required him to wear a uniform. Noam studied music theory at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana. In 2002, he became the principal banjoist with the award-winning Colorado ensemble Leftover Salmon. His debut solo record, In the Maze, was released on Compass Records, and though it did not have much success on the billboard charts, it made a splash in the world of postmodern progressive three-finger style five-string banjo. He relocated to Nashville, TN in 2006 to play with New Grass Revival bassist and vocalist John Cowan. He starting performing and recording with mandolinist, fellow Cubs fan, spiritual advisor, and life coach Chris Thile in the fall of 2005. Noam relocated to Brooklyn, NY in the spring of 2008.
Gabe Witcher began his musical training at age five, learning classical violin and bluegrass fiddle simultaneously. By age six he was performing professionally with his father in the bluegrass band The Witcher Brothers; over the next decade, he gained renown as both a member of that group and as a multiple winner on the California competition circuit. In 1994, Witcher was recruited by veteran musician Herb Pedersen to fill the shoes of three-time national fiddle champion Byron Berline in the group The Laurel Canyon Ramblers. By age 17, Witcher was recording for heavyweights such as Randy Newman, Bernie Taupin, and producer Don Was. He has since contributed to more than 300 records and countless movie and television scores, including 2006 Oscar® winner Brokeback Mountain. Over the last five years, he has solidified his place at the forefront of the progressive acoustic music scene by playing with 12-time Grammy® winner Jerry Douglas.
I Blew It Off
Punch Brothers Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Through a crack in the window shade
I blow it off
I blow it off
'cause I keep outside
In the eyes and ears
Of friends I've never met
I blow it off
There's nothin' to say
That couldn't just as well be sent
I've got an American share
Of 21st century stress
Your trouble vibrates the table
Interrupts my reverie
I blow it off
I blow it off
'cause if it's that bad
It ain't gettin' better
Face to face with me
So I blow it off
I blow it off
There's nothin' to say
That couldn't just as well be sent
I've got an American share
Of 21st century stress
Go ahead and bloody up your knuckles
Knockin' at my door
I'll blow 'em off
I'll blow em off
'cause there's nothin' to say
That couldn't just as well be sent
We've all got an American share
Of 21st century stress
See the oceans rise and leave the nations
Cryin' at heaven's door
I blew it off
The song "I Blew It Off" by Punch Brothers is a reflective piece about the overwhelming nature of the modern world and the stress that people experience as a result. The opening lyrics describe the feeling of the sun hitting the back of the neck, and how the singer simply blows it off, symbolizing how they choose to ignore or neglect the stressors of life. The use of the phrase "blow it off" is repeated throughout the song, emphasizing the importance of letting go of stress.
The singer also acknowledges that they keep themselves separate from others, living through the eyes and ears of friends they have never met. This could represent a sense of isolation or disconnection that many people feel in the digital age. The chorus, "there's nothing to say that couldn't just as well be sent," highlights the idea that communication has become impersonal and often lacks genuine connection.
The second verse contrasts the idea of personal presence with the stress of having to deal with other people's troubles, which interrupts the singer's 'reverie.' The phrase, "Your trouble vibrates the table," is a powerful metaphor for the way stress and negative emotions can affect our environment. The song ends with a cataclysmic warning of what the future could hold, but even in the face of something as terrifying as rising oceans and nations crying at heaven's door, the singer chooses to "blow it off," implying that even in light of the worst possible outcomes, sometimes it's easy to ignore the problems and move on.
Line by Line Meaning
The sun hits the back of my neck
I feel the sun shining on me from behind
Through a crack in the window shade
There is a small opening in the window covering letting the sun in
I blow it off
I choose to ignore it
I blow it off
I refuse to acknowledge it
'cause I keep outside
I choose to remain disconnected
In the eyes and ears
Through the perspectives of others
Of friends I've never met
Of people I don't really know
I blow it off
I choose to not let it affect me
I blow it off
I refuse to engage with it
There's nothin' to say
There is no new information or insight to add
That couldn't just as well be sent
It could just as easily be communicated through a message or email
I've got an American share
I have my fair portion
Of 21st century stress
Of the daily anxieties and pressures of modern times
Your trouble vibrates the table
Your problems are affecting the environment around us
Interrupts my reverie
Interrupts or distracts me from my thoughts
I blow it off
I choose to not let it affect me
I blow it off
I refuse to engage with it
'cause if it's that bad
If the situation is truly terrible or unmanageable
It ain't gettin' better
It's not going to improve by addressing it now
Face to face with me
If we discussed it in person
So I blow it off
I choose to avoid interacting with it
I blow it off
I refuse to acknowledge it
Go ahead and bloody up your knuckles
You can try to physically engage with me
Knockin' at my door
By knocking on my door
I'll blow 'em off
I'll dismiss you and not let you affect me
I'll blow em off
I won't respect your intrusion or demands
'cause there's nothin' to say
There is no new information or insight to add
That couldn't just as well be sent
It could just as easily be communicated through a message or email
We've all got an American share
We all have our fair portion
Of 21st century stress
Of the daily anxieties and pressures of modern times
See the oceans rise and leave the nations
Watching the effects of climate change
Cryin' at heaven's door
Experiencing collective suffering and despair
I blew it off
I have ignored these problems and refuse to engage with them
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: Christopher Curtin Eldridge, Christopher Scott Thile, Gabriel John Witcher, Noam David Pikelny, Paul Frederick Kowert
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@bethcaballero3943
'cause if it's that bad
It ain't gettin' better
Face to face with me
So I blow it off
I blow it off
There's nothin' to say
That couldn't just as well be sent
I've got an American share
Of 21st century stress
Go ahead and bloody up your knuckles
Knockin' at my door
I'll blow 'em off
I'll blow em off
'cause there's nothin' to say
That couldn't just as well be sent
We've all got an American share
Of 21st century stress
See the oceans rise and leave the nations
Cryin' at heaven's door
I blew it off
@monologtube
the sun hits the back
of my neck through a crack
in the window shade
I blow it off
'cause I keep outside
in the ears and eyes
of friends I've never made
so I blow it off
there's nothin' to say
that couldn't just as well be sent
I've got an American share
of 21st century stress
your trouble
vibrates the table
interrupts my reverie
I blow it off
'cause if it's that bad
it ain't gettin' better
face to face with me
so I blow it off
there's nothin' to say
that couldn't just as well be sent
I've got an American share
of 21st century stress
just go ahead and
bloody up your knuckles
knockin' at my door
I'll blow 'em off
'cause there's nothin' to say
that couldn't just as well be sent
we've all got an American share
of 21st century stress
see the oceans rise
and leave the nations
cryin' at heaven's door
I blew it off
@andrewmaddocks1006
They're world-class lyricists too. "The sun hits the back of my neck through a crack in the window shade ..I blow it off...Cause I keep outside with the ears and eyes of friends I've never met."
How about that for words about technology in our lives?
@saraemily7397
'Cause there's nothing to say, that couldn't just as well be sent...
@Trumpetgeek240
I don't know about everyone else but I love how my taste of music evolves with their ever evolving sound. I love this song to death, keep them coming, can't wait to hear whats next!
@jannertfol
I have total faith in these guys. I find their songs all grow on me more and more, every time I hear them—even the ones that aren't initially my favourites. I don't think they can put a foot wrong, because they are doing what they genuinely love ...making music. And they don't pay attention to genres. They are The Beatles of their generation, as far as being innovative leaders who know how to have fun and who don't let themselves be sidetracked by what other people think or expect of them. And I think they are fabulous.
@dantegreco1
Good to see Chris and the guys constantly moving and changing..this is an artist to listen to for a lifetime...those of you who don't like the pop aspect will prob not like many of the things he will do as he discovers his passions and that's ok...I don't think he really cares what we all think in the end...a true artist creates what is inside and hopes others vibrate with it but in truth artists really only care what they create and how it feels to them...and the thoughts of others ( outside of the artists they colab with or respect ) are just that...this song will be just one of hundreds he will produce in his lifetime...so we can either enjoy it or discard it...we will see him colab with all sorts of artists and genres as he grows so hang in there folks...
@dmangoman
I love it! The harmonies almost made me think of the Beach Boys. Musically they're so talented.
@dylanwesburry
+dmangoman exactly what I thought. Love it
@natehoop14
If you've ever actually listened to punch brothers, this isn't a pop effort. They write brilliant music. Music that makes you pay attention. This is a purposeful pop song with specific lyrics.
@daniellouisduffy
Absolutely phenomenal as per usual. How are they even human?
@cynthiahawkins819
Thile has always been about mixing genres - it would be unlike him not to chase a more pop sound after doing jazz, classical, bluegrass... Music is music. Crash through the walls. And all good music is a joy. Miles Davis knew that too.