The Decemberists in July

Now that you’ve put out your fifth album, do you find that different artists influence your music today than when you were starting out?

I think we’ve always listened to what we’ve listened to. I think we’ve gotten more confident in our influences. And maybe some of those have become more in vogue now too. I don’t know that is a matter of comfort or the way the world is leaning, in terms of our contemporaries. The freak folk scene that is now is "cool" was not that way eight or so years ago—kind of hard to remember that now.

Part of our musical past was folk music. I used to work at an acoustic music shop in the late 90s, so I was super into bluegrass and the songwriters of the Northeast. Mainly bluegrass and old-time stuff and that just wasn’t cool—not that I was trying to being cool. [laughs] I remember meeting Colin. He and I were roommates and I was going through his record collection, and I was like "wow, you have Jackson Browne records," and he liked the Eagles and stuff out of that time period. This was back when it was cool to be listening to stuff like Belle and Sebastian and Yo La Tengo—I think that is kind of the crowd we got lumped into, to a point. I think the influences have kind of always really been there, and we’ve brought it along and become more comfortable in exploring those. And Colin is more adventurous in writing them. When I listen to some of old records, I think wow, we could have played a folk festival back then, with our pedal steel and upright bass.

I think we—always from the get-go—weren’t as traditional. And I’m not saying we set the pace either. All due respect to bands that have the same instruments that we do, but bands like Beirut or Arcade Fire are around now and can be roughly seen as bands doing similar things. At the time, we felt like weirdos. There weren’t many bands doing anything like we were doing. The closest to us, I guess, would be a band like Camper Van Beethoven that had honest-to-god bluegrass in it. But in Portland, you can’t swing a guitar without hitting a band like that—which I think is awesome. But to get back to your question, I think we’ve always had the same influences.

I will say that for a while I lost touch with the acoustic music world I was talking about, and I think Colin got way, way, way more into exploring British folk music right around the time of The Crane Wife. I think we are definitely a band influenced by what are listening to. I don’t think we’ve ever really tried to fit into the "indie" genre. I think things just kind of come full circle sometimes.

A couple of weeks back, we had an interview with The Builders and The Butchers, and one of the topics we covered was their relationship with your band and you in particular [as the producer of their latest album]. How did that arrangement come about?

I had produced—"produced" is a really strong word—other bands historically. I just heard them and thought they were great. I wrote them on MySpace and told them I was thinking about working on a record with other people, and let them know I’d be interested in talking about that. I think we have a similar sound and a lot of the same influences, but I was really drawn to their rhythm section and subject matter, which is really akin to a lot of the folk music I like—the old-time themes and murder ballads. Producing is a cool way to stay connected with what’s happening in the Portland music scene. It’s really fun for me to check out new bands there.

How do you find out about new music?

I still try to read the music blogs and see what people are talking about. When someone’s super hyped I’m never immediately drawn to it, because I feel that nine times out of ten I’m let down by "the latest buzz." For me, people were always telling me about Bon Iver and was thinking I’m probably not going to like it. And when I did listen, it just completely blew me away. For that reason I still try to read stuff and keep up on new music. I’m open, I want my world to be turned upside-down every time I play an mp3 file. I also try to research older music. We all like to collect older records. That’s always a fun way to pass time on the road, looking through weird record shops and looking through vinyl.

At what point did you all feel that you were successful in establishing yourselves as your own entity? Essentially, when did the omnipresent Neutral Milk Hotel comparisons take a backseat to fans and critics discussing the band on your own artistic merits?

Every review was that way for three years or so, I guess. I was flattered. I absolutely love those records. I think when Colin’s songwriting took a turn even more to the weird narratives, even though that’s been there since our first EP, a song called "My Mother was Chinese Trapeze Artist." When he came over to show that to me to record it, I was like, "Wow, is that really about your mom?" I didn’t understand. [laughs] I think that maybe with songs like that, more people started getting away from the Neutral Milk vibe. Or hearing them so strongly as an influence.

I think it’s a fair comparison. I think Colin’s voice has some of Jeff Mangum’s qualities for sure, but we were never that lo-fi or, if I dare say, that interesting. You know, [laughs] I was like, wow, that is really bold comparison. Jeff’s one of my musical heroes for sure. I think if you keep putting out records and people like them and keep coming to your concerts, you start to take on your own myth and legacy--"legacy" is a strong word. [laughs] People’s memories are short. People will soon forget Jim James and focus on Fleet Foxes or something, [laughs] and I love both of those bands, don’t get me wrong. For the record, I love Fleet Foxes. I own all of their records on vinyl. But I think probably around the time of Picaresque is when people started to hear us more for our own merits. That said, I still don’t feel like we’ve really established a certain sound, we're still evolving.

What are some of your favorite things to do in Seattle?

I always like to go to Lark in the Morning next to Pike Place Market. They have a bunch of weird instruments in there, that are inexpensive and up my alley. I also like to go to the Trading Musician. Seattle has great food. We probably mostly end up in the more touristy places, sadly—by the market or on the Sound. On tour, you know, you just do the dumb things people that live there recommend. Like when people visit Portland, they’re like "Oh, yeah. I got coffee and I got donuts from that [Voodoo] donut shop." But I usually just go the music shops and get some food, chill out, and see friends. We’re never played Redmond before, so I have no idea. I’m very excited. If you have any recommendations for Redmond, let me know.

What else do you all have planned for 2009?

We’ve got the tour we’re just starting and then we’ll do another tour in the fall. We’ve got some festivals then we’ll hit England for a spell, part of Europe, and I think we’ll be heading to Australia for the first time. And that will take us right up to 2010. Basically, just tours and probably start working on the new record early 2010, as we have some songs ready to go.