RR: Obviously, this is a different songwriting outlet, as opposed to your longer, more complex, progressive and improvisation material with Umphrey’s McGee. Did you always feel like you’d do a project where you would focus on concise songs, moving from one song to the next, or, was this something that clicked with Jeff?
BB: I think in the back of my mind I always felt like I’d do something by myself—very song-oriented like a solo acoustic album. I didn’t have a timeline, and I figured I didn’t need one, probably accumulate songs over the course of ten or fifteen years, and maybe put one out. That’s about as much thought as I put into it. When this project came up, it gave me an opportunity to simplify. A lot of this stuff when I’m writing for Umphrey’s is a totally different approach because I’m thinking of how it’s going to apply to six people, where is it going to fit in the set with the other stuff we have with all the songs. Sometimes with Umphrey’s, if I’m working on something that I don’t think we’re going to play live, I feel like I’ll just put it off to the side because it’s not worth the time. We make the bulk of our career off playing live with ticket sales. If it’s a simple song that
we’re probably not going to do, I’ll put it off to the side, and maybe get around to it later.
RR: Let’s discuss three more songs written by you from the album: “Return Item,” “Get in Line,” and “Backbone.”
BB: “Return Item” is actually an older tune. I have to think about that. I guess when I was trying to churn out a bunch of acoustic stuff for 30db that was the one that came out real quick. The whole thing happened in 10 or 15 minutes, and I thought, “Maybe it’s too mellow for this project.” But I just put it on a CD I sent to Jeff with 15 songs or whatever, and he really liked that one. I was surprised because I thought it was a little too mellow, but I figured I’d just add to the pile, and it’d make for a better album if we had more songs to pick from. That was a really quick song that came in 20 minutes. Done. And I wish they were all like that.
“Get in Line.” We did the studio sessions in two main sessions. I came home from that first one, and was pretty jazzed up about having the full band and everything, so I wanted to write something that had a straight, driving drum beat, and a good song to listen to in the car. I always wanted to use an open tuning, and I had never written a song with an opening tuning, so that song was more of an experiment—there are only two sections, but trying to make it interesting over a four-minute period. When I sent it out to the 30db guys, they all really liked that one. That one means a lot to me.
RR: All down the line in your career, I’ve noticed a consistent strand in your lyrics. There appears to be a bit of an afterglow of a conversation as if it is a conversation which is taking place after something has happened, or something might have happened. I find that to be a very strong consistent theme in your songwriting.
BB: Yeah, I guess it is. I think a lot of it is a conversation…I guess it is things that I would have liked to have said to either a close friend, or an ex-wife, or whoever it is. A lot of it, I guess, is conversations that I wish could have taken place, or things I wish I could have said that I really never had the opportunity to, so I guess it’s my way of having that conversation—even if it is a one-way conversation with all me talking.
RR: “Backbone” has a beautiful guitar solo. I was very impressed. Was that recorded in a single take?
BB: Thank you. Yeah, actually, it was great because we tracked the basic track, and I remember it came time to make that solo, and I get really nervous in the studio when there’s a bunch of people watching, because I feel like I’m holding them up if I have to do a million takes, I get really self-conscious, but that was literally the very first pass. Did one pass, listened to the playback, and I walked into the control room, and said, “I don’t think I can do it better. I could do a half-hour of takes, and I think we’re going to stick with that one.” So it was really cool—the only pass.
RR: Very early on in the solo, it sounds like you made a mistake in a transition.
BB: Yeah.
RR: I loved that you left that in. It definitely reminded me of some of Jimmy Page’s work where he left mistakes in the song because it blended with the arc of the piece.
BB: Yeah, he has a good, sloppy quality about him. You could get nitpicky about every note, but I felt really good about it. I could probably do better, but I probably won’t. (laughs)
RR: You’ve been playing with Kris Myers for quite some time in Umphrey’s, and he has a distinctive feel on drums. What has it been like to play with Cody Dickinson?
BB: Yeah, it’s a very different approach. It’s super rock steady, and it’s super straight where I don’t have to worry about where The One is. If I want to lose concentration for a minute, I can come back and know exactly where it’s going to be—like a solid train. Kris has more of a Houdini approach where he’ll disguise The One. For this project, the songs are more straightforward, and it works really well with Cody’s style.
RR: On that note, how did you and Jeff determine a set for your live gigs?
BB: We talked about, well, do we start acoustic, and then bring everybody out? Jeff was really big on doing everybody at once. We had been talking about playing together, and we’re all in the same place, so we might as well come out with the band. That made more sense. Last night [at the tour opening gig at Minneapolis’s Caboose on May 7], we came out and did an hour with everybody, and then Jeff and I did about 10 or 15 minutes, and then we brought everybody back up for another 15 minutes.
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