We Interview: Laura Veirs
Laura Veirs has been writing and performing dreamy folk and pop songs for nearly a decade. She graces Seattle with a solo performance this Friday night at the Triple Door.
7:30pm & 10pm (21+) // Triple Door // $17 adv, $20 dos // Liam Finn opens
Seattlest: Can you tell us a little about the solo tour?
Laura Veirs: I start on Wednesday in Vancouver and then the second show will be in Seattle. It's kind of a horseshoe tour down the west coast, across the south, up the east coast and ends in Toronto. It's like three and a half weeks, then I head home to Portland.
You used to play solo a lot, before your band formed. Has this been like a return to your roots?
Well, yes, in a way. I started off solo when I was really beginning, around '99 or 2000, but it really wasn't long before I started playing with Steve Moore on and off, and Karl Blau on and off. Then a trio, then the full band. Two years ago I did a solo tour with Colin Meloy--the first one I'd done in a while. I'm doing a stretch of them right now, and I don't imagine I'll do them throughout my next album cycle, but I am writing my songs with that in mind. It's a good option to have because it's a hard business. Sometimes I need to go out solo to make money and sometimes I just want to go out to push myself musically.
Tell us about the new EP, Two Beers Veirs, starting with the title. Sounds like a college nickname.
It was. It totally was. It was actually my dad's college nickname, but then I told my friends about it, and so it became my nickname as well. We can't hold our liquor. I thought it'd be a fun title because it's kind of country-blues-old-timey songs.
So, Tucker Martine--he's my boyfriend and producer--He had just gotten back late at night from recording Bill Frisell in Seattle. He's all wired and says, "Let's go record the EP!" I'm like, "What? Okay!" So we started at midnight and were done around 4am. It's me covering five of my favorite songs. It's available on the tour and online only. You can get it online at my website, ravenmarchingband.com.
In most critical circles, Saltbreakers has been very well received. It didn't favor so well, however, with Pitchfork. We'll go on record as saying that the only part of that review we agree with is when the reviewer refers to himself as a "bitter, harsh asshole." Is it frustrating as an artist to know that a small group of hipster know-it-alls could possibly affect how well an album does?
Well, I've tried to stay out of that altogether. I haven't read any press in years about anything I've done. I made that choice early on, because I noticed that it was really affecting me. I was getting press for Carbon Glacier, the album I did a few years back, and even though most of it was good, I realized, wait, this is creeping into my consciousness too much. Even when it was a glowing review, it was like, so they see me as this? Is that who I really am? So I just stopped paying attention and it's been really liberating.
But as for your question, I guess yeah, it's always bothersome when anyone has that kind of power of persuasion. But on the other hand, it's nice that people have places like that where they can find out about interesting things that are happening in music. And you know, everyone has a blog these days, so it could be a 14-year-old in Arkansas or the top writer for the New York Times. You could spend your whole life reading what people are saying about you and it will only drive you crazy.
The music in your latest album, Saltbreakers, is very effective in creating not only a mood, but a sense of place. The words themselves are extremely visual and poetic, but we get the feeling on certain songs that, even if the words were stripped away, we'd still be left with impressions of drifting with the tides at night. We don't know what else to ask here, except, how do you do it?
Well, it's that old mystery that's hard for artists to talk about. Like how do you talk about a painting? How do you come up with a poem? I just sit back in my little space and work away at it. I force myself to set some time aside and do something. Most of the time it's not usable. But sometimes it works. And when it works, it's a mystery and I love it. But it doesn't work very often.
How are you enjoying Portland?
We love it. We live in a great neighborhood in the Northeast part of town. We can walk most places and it's a really bike-able city. More bike-able than Seattle, because it's less hilly, and also there are more bike lanes. I don't even own a car, so that's been kind of nice.
Bike-ability is a sore subject up here, for sure.
[Laughs] Yeah.
We're taking our in-laws to Portland in a couple weeks. Any insider tips on cool places to visit?
Oh yes. The Japanese Gardens are beautiful, the Saturday Market by the river, the Pearl District is fun to explore. Or you could take a walk in Forest Park. It's the largest urban forest park in the country. Huge! There's this one sign I saw that says, "This trail goes on for twenty-five miles." I actually got lost and had to hitchhike out of there once.
Photo by Autumn de Wilde
