Tampa Calling

Ever since putting out their 2006 transcendant masterpiece, Yellow House, Grizzly Bear has enjoyed boundless fan adoration, respect from peers and from veterans like Paul Simon (who invited the band to play for five nights during his month-long residency last April at the Brooklyn Academy of Music) and Radiohead (which had Grizzly open some dates on the second leg of its ‘08 North American tour), and plentiful praise and accolades from pretty much any music critic with taste (this one included). ‘Course, putting out a perfect record is a double edged sword, earning you instant credibility and an overeager fanbase while also adding that heavy weight of worry that any subsequent music you produce will not live up to that last bit of genius.

Since Yellow House, Grizzly Bear has not clocked much studio time — a Daytrotter Session, a Friend EP there, some live appearances at various festivals and special events. Daniel Rossen did his fabulous Department of Eagles thing and put out In Ear Park, a captivating hint at what a new Grizzly Bear album could be. But up until last week, the band’s been rather mum about an actual follow-up to Yellow House. But last Friday, they revealed the name (Veckatimest), the new album cover (pictured), the release date (May 26) and the track listing. Today, Pitchfork.com published an interview with frontman Ed Droste. Here are some highlights:

Pitchfork: A lot of the early speculation surrounding Veckatimest has set it up as potentially being your big moment. Do you feel any kind of pressure, like you have to live up to something with this?

Ed Droste: I don’t think any band doesn’t feel pressure when they’re releasing an album, whether it’s on a small scale or a giant Coldplay scale. There’s always going to be some pressure and nervousness about how it will be viewed. But I’m excited to be finally releasing something. We certainly take our time, so there’s a little bit of anxiety, but that just comes with the territory. I don’t feel like I have to prove that it’s as good as Yellow House. I think it’s better. I think it’s stronger. But who know what other people will say?

Pitchfork: You say you have your own philosophy on leaks. What is it?

ED: My philosophy is that, people buying records is dying. Generally speaking, at the level we’re at, most of the people who buy our albums do it because they want to support us. Or they’re a new fan and they haven’t heard us before. But let’s put it this way: If we were putting out music in the early 90s, I don’t think you’d be interviewing me. I don’t think we’d have the fanbase that we have if it were not for out songs being able to spread around the internet and gain attention. I think it’d be harder, if not impossible, for a band like us to have gotten where we’ve gotten. So I’m incredibly grateful for the internet age.

Of course, the amount of work and effort we’ve put into this album is staggering. And sometimes it’s a bit disheartening to think you can just download it really easily and dismiss it if you don’t like it. But that’s also the nature of the beast. You just have to deal with it. Of course I’d love to sell a ton of records and chart and stuff. But realistically speaking, it’s going to leak. I think a lot of people who I’ve spoken to if they really like it, they’ll buy the vinyl or they’ll go buy the CD to support us or on iTunes. Other people support the band by coming to a show. So, of course I’d love to sell a lot of records and chart and stuff but realistically speaking, it’s going to leak.

Pitchfork: How long have you been actively working on the songs?

ED: A year. The first song we wrote for it was about a year ago, actually. [Drummer Chris] Bear and I took a little weekend trip and just started working on ideas, and the songs came from that. We’ve all taken little trips together and made permutations and formations of the band. We’ve also gotten all of us together. It’s also been more collaborative this time. People are much more involved in the writing process, and everyone is more open to their ideas being changed. Everyone has just grown up. All of us know our strengths and are comfortable with them.

Pitchfork: Are you just sick of “Knife” entirely now? Are you not going to play it live anymore?

ED: No, you have to play the older songs. Maybe there will be some shows where we don’t play it for the first time. I think we’ve done it at every single show we’ve ever played. It’s not like it’s banished or anything, like anyone actually hates it. It’s just that that’s the song they’ve wanted us to play on late night, and it gets a little old. Once you’ve seen it, you’ve seen it. We put mustaches on the second time to try to spice it up.

Pitchfork: Are you planning a regular tour as well?

ED: Yeah, when the album comes out we’re going to do a national regular tour with a few festivals thrown in for good measure.

Pitchfork: You were saying the album was mostly just the four of you. But you guys have done so many collaborations with different people in the past, like having other bands cover and remix your songs on the Friend EP. At least for an experimental rock band, you’re very, very collaborative.

ED: I think we just have a lot of fun. It’s not necessarily the main project we’re always doing. The Friend EP is an odds-and-ends kind of thing, but it was meant to be fun. We’re always looking for those kinds of things.

We had Victoria [Legrand, of Beach House] sing these backing vocals on “Two Weeks” [on Veckatimest]. We wrote the song, and during the chorus there’s this vocal line that’s distant and a little odd. I remember Dan [Rossen, guitarist] being like, “This is such a Victoria part; we should totally get Victoria to come in and sing this.” It just made sense. She came up and did the part for us. But she’s the only other voice. Other than the girl’s choir and Victoria, it’s just the four of us.

For the complete interview, click here.

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