Rilo Kiley
Tell us a bit about the new record “Under The Blacklight?”
Well, a broad question I suppose… but I guess it’s a bit of a culmination of songs that aren’t necessarily in the same genre, but seem to compliment each other and have a sense of thematic consistency. (how’s that for a ridiculous answer?) I don’t know.
There’s something true in that. There’s also something true in that it is, I believe, a more visceral, ass-shaking experience than any of our previous records. And what’s mostly true is that I have no idea how to accurately critique it.
How did the twelve minute video for “The Moneymaker” come together?
The interview section, which is at various lengths in the different versions, were the actual interviews, or auditions, that we held for the video.
In documentary style, the concept was to hold an actual casting for what we labeled a ‘soft core porn’, so they were real people working in the adult industry not the wiser that we were actually doing a music video. This was done, obviously, for authenticity. We of course didn’t want to exploit anyone, so we explained after the interview what it was actually for and the could choose to be part of it or not. We then actually cast three people from the fake/real casting for the body of the video (pun perhaps intended). But the whole topic was just one that we focused in on as one aspect of many possibilities of what ‘the moneymaker’ could be. Metaphorically, it could apply to anything where you sell yourself, your creativity, you energy, your whatever for money.
You have released records on Barsuk and Saddle Creek and lately have been with Warner Bros. Are there any big difference on working with the indie labels vs. the majors?
Their is certainly a much larger machine at work for you with a major. Which I feel mostly when we’re traveling. There is always a representative from the label in every town or country you go to, which makes you feel that their are a lot of people involved in a common interest. But at the core of it, the making and recording of the music, there is not much difference, in our situation anyway. We still just make the music we make without intervention. Which is a testament to Warner, in that they trust us creatively whilst (I get to say whilst) giving us larger financial support and that machine to work with.
After “More Adventurous” everyone went off and did there own thing for awhile solo albums etc, did anything change inside of the band?
Certainly things change over time, how much can be specifically correlated to solo projects is open for discussion.
But everyone brought those experiences back to this band. And to note one of the biggest upsides, it brought more or less a cleaner slate to begin work on our latest record.
The big North American tour is coming up. How if any has the live show progressed since you guys were last out on the road?
Well, we’re now underway with that tour, and so far it’s going quite well. We’ve got a little more production this time around, some lights and a backdrop and whatnot, but nothing overboard. I think how we play live is still the same at it’s heart. We’re playing some new songs that make you want to shake it a little more as opposed to rock it, that might be the biggest difference.
What was one the best gigs you ever played?
One of the best was the last show of a tour couple years ago in LA at the Wiltern. On many levels… it was a homecoming, the crowd was unbelievable, and the first time we’d headlined the Wiltern. So many things, but mostly just the energy in the room just incredible. And for an encore, we had Debbie Gibson come out and sing ‘Lost In Your Eyes’ and we backed her up… just surreal.
How much of a progression does “Under The Blacklight” represent for you?
Well that’s hard to quantify. I think that in recording this record we as a band progressed, that is… became better players through the process. We really took our time looking, in some instances, very closely at songs, stripping them down to the bare minimum and going from there. Being very aware of each little piece that went into the songs. And with that, we progressed as a band. The record as a whole is certainly something different than we’ve done in the past, mostly in the more rhythmically driven, dancier songs.Guess that can be called a progression, but mostly just doing something different.
