Conor Oberst

Conor Oberst's music is dynamic, deeply smart, captivating, funny, and sometimes biting. His extensive catalogue dates back to the early '90s and includes music with Bright Eyes, Desaparecidos, the Mystic Valley band, the Faint, Commander Venus, Monsters of Folk, a collaboration with Phoebe Bridgers, and of course his solo material.

On today's episode Justin Richmond and Conor Oberst discuss Conor's deep catalogue, and Conor recalls how he got his start by sending valentines to his favorite indie labels. He also explains how he was able to build an independent musical movement in his native Omaha, Nebraska.

You can hear a playlist of some of our favorite Conor Oberst songs HERE.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:15):
Pushkin Today, we're welcoming to the show, Connor Oberst out
of my interview with Connor, I spent two weeks catching
up on albums of his that are perennial favorites, or
albums that I missed, or albums and EPs I just
haven't heard in a long time, And in that two
weeks I remember just how wonderful his catalog of music is.

(00:36):
Often his music gets pegged as being maybe only sad,
But Connor's music, whether it's with Bright Eyes, Deciparcidos, the
Mystic Valley Band, Monsters of Folk, Commander Venus, his solo works,
or his stuff with Phoebe Bridges, is not one dimensional.
It's dynamic. It's deeply smart, captivating, funny, sometimes biting, and

(00:57):
because it's a lovely blend of all these things, along
with yes, sometimes melancholy, it's above all joyful. His catalog
is also deceptively large, especially when considering it age, which
overwhelmed me a bit going into this conversation. Where do
you start with someone who's been making music and writing
songs at a high level since around nineteen ninety five?

(01:18):
And I guess the answer is you start at the beginning,
which is what we did. But I hope longtime fans,
new fans, and even people who've never given his music
a shot get a lot out of this episode. Connor's
a real force in music, and at the risk of
sounding trite all the way from his earliest records through
his latest five dices all threes, he's done it his way,
on his terms, and there's a lot to respect in that.

(01:41):
This is Broken Record liner notes for the digital age.
I'm justin Richmond. Here's my conversation with Connor Oberst and
to see the full video version of this episode, visit
YouTube dot com slash Broken Record Podcast or click the
link in the episode description. You spend more time in

(02:03):
la these days or more in Omaha?

Speaker 2 (02:06):
Or it's probably half and half because we have the
studio here. I can't see you, but up through my
backyard there's a fence and Michael Mogus, who's in Bright
Eyes with me, has his house and his studio there.

Speaker 1 (02:23):
So and how long have you guys had that arrangement?

Speaker 2 (02:27):
Oh? I guess it was like two thousand and six. Okay, yeah,
almost twenty years.

Speaker 1 (02:33):
What was the first stuff he recorded there? Do you remember?

Speaker 2 (02:37):
Yeah? I think we recorded the tail end of Casadega,
which was the Bright Eyes recorded. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (02:46):
I came out, I guess the next year two thousand seven.

Speaker 1 (02:49):
Yeah, that's one of my favorite brid Eyes records. Yeah,
I did see you on that tour though. Actually, now
that I know that I think about it.

Speaker 2 (02:57):
I was the one we all had like the white
seats and stuff, and my friend was doing the old
like hippie projection when we put the little colored water
and big so yeah, yes, our pseudo psychedelic stuff kind of.

Speaker 1 (03:14):
Felt like, yeah, these guys were up there kind of
like you know, the Flying Burrito Brothers or something.

Speaker 3 (03:19):
I love that.

Speaker 1 (03:21):
You know, I been a fan of your output since
I don't know, around two thousand and two, one or
two or you know, things come out piecemeal and you
just kind of listen over time. But you know, it
was interesting to be able to listen to like kind
of like the whole catalog in one and like you know,
kind of over the course of like a week and
a half and kind of like the enormity of it

(03:43):
was like it slipped by me until until like we
were about to have this conversation and I was like,
you know, like.

Speaker 3 (03:49):
Jesus, you know, I'm I'm impressed you got through all.

Speaker 1 (03:54):
I was like, how old is this guy? Again? Like
how does this like? You know, it's almost like a
Neil Young left ful of output, Like we're just like
and it just it escaped me. How do you How
do you hold that all in your your head these days?

Speaker 2 (04:08):
I mean, it's very much. I wouldn't say it's a
blur because I have a lot of specific memories over
the years. But you know, I started touring and presenting
my music at like age I guess like thirteen or fourteen. Obviously,

(04:28):
like in high school, I kind of just toured in
the summer and like when I could, and then I
went to college for like a year, and so I guess,
like around fevers and mirrors, I think I was like nineteen,
and that's when I got kind of quit school and
music became my full time job and just never stopped.

(04:54):
So it's I feel lucky to like have the longevity.
I mean, I've had older musicians sort of you know,
just tell me that there's always like peaks and valleys
when it comes to like career things and creativity and

(05:15):
really the ultimate triumph.

Speaker 3 (05:18):
It's just just still you're.

Speaker 2 (05:21):
Doing it after you know, I'm forty four now and
played too many shows to even count and made so
many records of various people. So yeah, it's really it's
been my entire life. So it's hard to it's hard
to like know what life would be like without music,

(05:44):
you know, science Like people have like ask me that
in the interviews, like if you can play music, what
would you do, And it's like I have like no idea,
I have no like skills.

Speaker 1 (05:53):
So after getting to the first couple of Bright Eyes Records,
I remember somehow, I don't remember how someone earned it
for me or I founded a record shop like the
Command of Venus, but the Commander Venus, I didn't know
you were fifteen, sixteen seventeen in that grip, Yeah, like
that's crazy.

Speaker 3 (06:12):
Yeah, we made the first record.

Speaker 2 (06:14):
There's like two Commandervenius records, and the first one, yeah,
I made it like when I was like fourteen, and
Tim Cashers, like the main guy in Cursive, was in
that band at first, and it was after Valentine's Day.
We went to like Target or whatever and bought all
these heart shaped boxes and then we wrote like love

(06:38):
letters to the record labels we liked.

Speaker 3 (06:41):
So it was like You're Murdered or My Sweet Mr
My Sweet Manator or whatever, slipop, whatever we liked at
the time, and we sent it out. And there was
a record label long gone but.

Speaker 2 (06:55):
Called Grass Records from New York that put out like
a lot of great records, Brainiac and the Wrens and yeah,
just a lot of They put out the spam from
Omaha called mouse Chaps. That's why they were kind of
like on our radar. But this woman, Camille, who was
kind of the an r that signed bands. I remember

(07:15):
she called my parents' house and it was like a
landline and my brother was like, Connor, you got a call.

Speaker 3 (07:24):
And I'm like, he's like, this is live on Grass.
I'm like, oh my god, they like listen to this.

Speaker 2 (07:32):
And she's talking to me and I tell her that
I'm like a fourteen year old boy, and she just
like screams because she had thought that I was like
a twenty year old like female.

Speaker 1 (07:47):
That's hilarious.

Speaker 2 (07:48):
My voice hadn't changed.

Speaker 3 (07:52):
Me.

Speaker 1 (07:53):
Yeah, and that wind ends up being like wind up right.
At a certain point, which was was kind of blooming mine.
I was looking at their catalog and it was like
the same year they put out Your guy's second album
was like there's a Teddy Pendergrass record, a Doctor John record,
a record from the Wrens, like you mentioned their own grass,
and then and then a Creed Like Creed's first record

(08:15):
came out like a month after your guys second record.

Speaker 2 (08:17):
It's like, yeah, those like this guy, Alan Meltzer, who
was just a really rich guy, bought the label, bought
Grass and then like basically like got rid of most
of the bands and and then obviously took it in
a total different direction. But he was always very sweet
to me. He's passed away now, but I remember him

(08:38):
showing me Creed. And his wife was very eccentric as well,
and they're just super New York. He was like very overweight,
stout man, and then his wife was like a you
know model from the seventies that was still like antarexic.
They were just very crazy to look at, but they
would like fly me out. They flew me and my

(09:00):
girlfriend out there to New York for like my eighteenth birthday. Anyway,
they were sweet, but I remember them showing me Creed
before it even came out, and I was like, I
really liked them, and I was like, you guys, sounds
like a really bad pearl jam and I don't I
don't think it's not, you know, And like the lady

(09:20):
was like Diane and she was like, you know, he's
like Jim Morrison.

Speaker 3 (09:24):
You know, he's like new Jim Morrison.

Speaker 2 (09:28):
I was the guys. And then sure enough they put
it out and it's like the biggest thing in the world.
So another reason not to ever you know, trust my rush.

Speaker 1 (09:39):
Maybe maybe not your commercial judgment, but but your ears
were kind of spot on and they were kind of
like exactly like a bad birl jam. But funny to
imagine I bet yeah, probably Scott Staff was probably telling
her the news. Yeah, I imagine.

Speaker 2 (09:55):
You know, yeah, I remember like on that trip, you know,
just like I mean, I've been to New York, but
it was still like you know, my aging birthdayn with
my girlfriend. They were like they would like drive around
like limousines like smoking weed and stuff, and like, I
don't know, it was very it was a surreal little

(10:17):
period of time there.

Speaker 1 (10:19):
Where was your head at I mean, I guess maybe
even specifically on that trip, like eighteen flown to New
York on a rep you know, on a label that
could actually fly in New York and driving around in
a limit. I mean, like, what were your thoughts at
that time?

Speaker 3 (10:33):
I mean.

Speaker 2 (10:35):
We, like my group of friends and all the bands
like that were associated with Saddle Creek. It was like
all this was kind of happening at once, Like we
had started Saddle Creek and like we had the first
record came out on that and we were all trying
to you know, support each other and had this like
little scene. But then we also realized like, oh we

(11:00):
we maybe we should get on real labels, was like
the thinking. So some of the bands started signing to
other labels, and then eventually we kind of like sort of,
I guess shortly after that, came back together and decided
just to like really put out our own records. Like
I'm mostly I'm talking about right Eyes, Cursive with Faint,

(11:22):
they were kind of we were that was kind of
the big three bands, and and then yeah, it just
got weird, like we just we you know, we grew up.
Like there was a record store here called the Antiquarium,
and it was like like right out of the movies,
like you know, the old guys smoking cigarettes behind the desk,
like making fun of what you're trying to buy. You know,

(11:43):
it's so like militant like punk rock, indie rock, and
so you know, we love Discord and we were like
trying to like fight the power and stuff and get
to do it on our own.

Speaker 3 (11:54):
So I actually all that stuff with like Grass and
wind Up.

Speaker 2 (11:57):
I was kind of like it's like I was almost
like I was enjoying it in the sense of like
observing this is crazy, but I was, you know, a
little like too cool for cool, you know, like and
that was our vibe.

Speaker 3 (12:12):
Like all of our friends.

Speaker 2 (12:13):
We were like, I don't know, we just thought we
were like such bad asss and we're like change in
the world, like make you know, like little little engine
that could from Nebraska and all that stuff.

Speaker 1 (12:26):
So I mean, you kind of not wrong thom. You
guys did have a pretty strong scene going. I mean
think about those three, I mean the Fing and Cursive
and Bright Eyes, and you know it's like that's a
pretty that's a pretty strong core you know as a ray,
and you can just kind of on and on. You're like, wow,
it's like a whole yeah.

Speaker 2 (12:45):
Yeah. And like the you know, the bands didn't really
sound like each other, which I think is interesting. Was
a lot of like scenes, you know, from certain areas
like North Carolina or Washington, DC. You know, there's like
a vibe they like hold music together. But I felt
like what held us together was just that we were
all like friends, and we all were like we all

(13:09):
realized at an early age, like you know, the whatever
DIY stuff was like that wasn't really a choice. We
you know, we knew that no one was gonna like
come find us, you know, so we like gotten bands
and dull everywhere and played you know, living rooms and
basements and all this like back when like you know,

(13:31):
south By still mattered and like, uh, what was the
one the college music the CNJ Festival in New York
all that stuff, Like, I mean it was we're talking
the nineties here, yeah, long ago.

Speaker 1 (13:45):
How were you aware of all, like the sort of industry.
Was it just through reading magazines or like how did
you know where to go to kind of be seen?

Speaker 4 (13:53):
I guess like we were big fans of music, so
it was always kind of like those labels I was
mentioning before, you.

Speaker 2 (14:04):
Know, we listened to all those records, so I was like, oh,
I don't know, like Spoon's playing this thing, like it
must be cool we got to try to play that
or you know, like so it was mostly just like
kind of network. And then once we started traveling, like
you meet just a lot of musicians in different cities
and so, I mean for a long time we kind

(14:25):
of booked our own things, and it was like easier
back then. And even though it seems like it'll be
easier now with the Internet, it was actually I think
easier for us because there wasn't as much things happening,
or at least you didn't know about it, and you know,
you could like if there was like a cool like

(14:46):
you know, punk rock venue in some city, you could
like send a cassette tape or send a CD and
like someone would actually like listen to it and call
you back and be you know, a lot of word
of mouth basically. And then eventually we got you know,
real booking agents, and then that kind of changed everything

(15:08):
because then you're playing clubs and you have guarantees and
you're on you know, real tour.

Speaker 1 (15:15):
So yeah, we were talking about like the mense amount
of kind of stuff you've done over the years. In hindsight,
do you think having Saddle Creek as kind of like
a home base this kind of independent thing that you know,
you guys sort of all created. Was that to your
benefit over the years, like being able to work with
independently as long as you did.

Speaker 2 (15:35):
Yeah, I mean I think that that kind of those
kind of golden years. I would say, between like yeah,
you know, nineteen ninety nine up through probably like Sadega
and stuff, it was like everyone was unified and it
really felt like a collective and then, like anything money

(16:00):
and personality, the label kind of ended up belonging to
like this guy Rob Nansel who was in He was
actually in Communityvens, but he was kind of the one
that was like organized in business minded and the rest
of us were just more into making the music. So
at a certain point it started to feel like didn't

(16:23):
belong to all of us anymore. And I think that's
when things started to fray. Like I made my first
solo record like on Merge because I was kind of like,
I don't know, I just didn't feel like connected to it,
and then been on a lot of other labels since
with different projects, and you know, I mean I fondly

(16:44):
looked back at those times, but I mean, who's who's
to say, but I think that we missed out on
some opportunities again because we were so like militantly independent,
like I remember the past of like tons of money,
and they were like primed to be because they were
a little ahead of the dancing chronic dance like before

(17:08):
a killer and floor like, oh, it's like a lot
of that stuff. It got really huge and and they
like said no that these major labels to stay on
the our label, and same with me, and same with
same with Cursive to certain degrees. So maybe we made
a mistake. Maybe we should have like struck while the

(17:28):
iron was hot. You know, that's all hindsight now.

Speaker 1 (17:33):
I remember talking to Rick Rubin one time and like
basically talking. We were talking about the Faint and how
much we love the Faint, and he was like, I
tried to sign the Faint. Yea. I was kind of
I remember it, just being kind of shocked by that,
you know, because I do, like remember, I mean, listening
to them when they're out. It was like I didn't
assume anyone I was listening to was on any major
labels radar or I mean, I guess it wasn't like
a major major, but you had like major distribution, et cetera.

(17:56):
You know, So It's just kind of wild to hear that.
Even at that time I was you know, it was
new and everyone was listening to it in the underground records.
It was like, oh shit, this was on the radar
of like other other people were trying to swoop in,
you know. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (18:11):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (18:11):
Rick's always been super cool, so he like actually when
I was making we were making Castle Deega, I was
in La.

Speaker 3 (18:19):
It's like before I lived there, but yeah, he.

Speaker 2 (18:22):
Like did the send me send a car down to
LA and I went up to Malau House and like,
you know, did the whole thing, like playing him songs
on acoustic guitar. And obviously we didn't end up working
with him, but I remember I was like, we had
a lot of songs recorded, and he actually helped pick
the ones that were gonna that we're gonna be on Castadaga.
I was like really yeah, I was like right, like

(18:45):
what you know, it's it's Rick Rubin. I was like,
what do you think the songs? So he actually did
like help pick songs for that record, which is I
hadn't thought about that till now. But and then he's
always been really cool, Like when I did some solo records,
at Shangri La and when Nah, actually we made the
Monsters at Shango Lad before he owned it. But then

(19:06):
I went back solo record and he cut me a
good deal and it's very sweet.

Speaker 1 (19:12):
Yeah, yeah, very nice about that. Very nice about that.
Was that around because I remember going to see you
right after a Wide Awake Its Morning came out and
it was like the vibe was you know, going to
see Bright Eyes before that was like is everyone was
like my age at the time or maybe a little older,
and then going there it was like there was like

(19:32):
sixty year old dudes and I was like, what the
fuck is this? You know, so I have to imagine
it is maybe and you were like on the cover
Rolling Stone, I think if I remember correctly.

Speaker 2 (19:41):
Like it was, Yeah, that whole time with that record
was you know that was obviously like the kind of
commercial peak too.

Speaker 3 (19:52):
I guess my.

Speaker 2 (19:53):
Music in general. I learned a lot about kind of
the way the real industry worked. And yeah, we were
every label was trying to sign us, and yeah, it
was like I remember the kind of fun thing is
we you know, we put out those two records on
the same day, so we went on the Wide Away

(20:14):
tour first playing all the songs and it was like,
you know, it felt like the Beatles or something, and
we'd walk out on stage and be like like flash
flash flash flash flash craziness, and then like like you know,
six months later, we come back to these towns and
like I remember, in between those tours, there wasn't a

(20:35):
lot of time, and the thing became our band for
the Digital Ash shit, and I remember I took all
the clothes I had and threw them into a bucket,
and the pose one of the guys in the faint
helped me, like die them all black.

Speaker 3 (20:48):
Okay, there you go, so all my clothes are black.

Speaker 1 (20:53):
And we went and.

Speaker 2 (20:54):
Just basically played I mean, we should have been smarter
and like played songs from Bulls, but we were like,
this is this tour, this is this tour. So we
go back and people don't know, they're expecting us to
play the Wide Awake stuff, and man we had some
upset yeah, ticket ticket fires like.

Speaker 3 (21:13):
The Digital Ash. So yeah, I don't know, was.

Speaker 1 (21:17):
That the like did people feel more strongly about IM
Wide Awake than a Digital Ash?

Speaker 2 (21:21):
Oh? Yeah, I mean as far as the general I mean,
that was the only record I feel like when we
put well maybe lifted, but when we put it out,
it was like I would consider like well received, you know.

Speaker 3 (21:35):
Like everywhere.

Speaker 2 (21:37):
Yeah, it's like all of our pretty much all my
other records. It seems like even to my fans, like
you know, make these records and it's like ten years
later people are like, oh my god, I love like
Upside Down Mountains, like one of my solo records. I'm like, man,

(22:00):
no one seemed to care when it came out, and
same with like, I mean a lot of those records.
That's like this delayed effect to even like the fan base.

Speaker 1 (22:09):
I'll say, I'll be one hundred percent honest, I did
not ever know about Upside Down Mountain or listen to
it until until over the weekend. Yeah, I think this
might be my favorite album of your that's fucking amazing.

Speaker 2 (22:26):
Yeah, I mean, how did I miss its ten years ago?

Speaker 1 (22:29):
How the fuck did I miss it?

Speaker 2 (22:30):
Yeah? And I signed it like none such, which is
like a big cool label part of Warner Brothers. But yeah,
I mean that's that's sort of where I learned, is
like no matter, I don't think I and I don't
say this as like you know, boohoo. It's like I
don't think, uh, my music was ever really meant to

(22:55):
be to like achieve a certain like I've watched my
friend's bands, and like people I know, people have toured
with get way bigger than me, or my bands have
like as far as like where they play and how
many records they sell or whatever, like those sort of
like empirical data or whatever. But I don't know, I

(23:20):
like that it's not it's like exists in sort of
its own thing. And and I've also seen a lot
of bands like be It Real Hot and then like
Fizzle Away. You know, so just the fact that I'm
still making records now and can go you know, it's
not always like tons of people, but just you know,

(23:40):
to be able to play to like, you know, a
couple thousand people and like most cities in like you know,
in our whole world.

Speaker 1 (23:49):
But you know, amount I'm sure.

Speaker 2 (23:53):
I mean, so that itself, I guess is like a achievement.

Speaker 3 (23:56):
You know, So that's.

Speaker 1 (23:58):
Well yeah, I mean I don't know, it seemed kind
of sad if you only had like a few records
and then kind of like everything else, like the quality
dropped off. And and but I mean it's like like
I said, like listening to was a like mind fuck,
like Jesus Christ, Like you know, it really is like
listening to like Neil's Young's catalog or something like there's
shit that's like wildly different, but it's all kind of

(24:18):
a certain quality. None of it's like there's like a
baseline quality for everything. Nothing's like trash, you know, and
then there's some stuff that's just like like upside down Mountain.
It was just like a complete surprise, like I just
didn't know about it, and I didn't know. I don't
know what single thing about Jonathan Wilson, but I was
just kind of checking him out this week and because
I was just like that record blew me away.

Speaker 2 (24:39):
Yeah, thank you very much. That's uh Yeah, he's a
he's a magical man. He spent the last few years
playing in Roger Waters band and like the Big Crazy
World Tour and he uh he did uh David Gilmore's
like arts like sang the fucking like teenage dream come true.

Speaker 3 (25:04):
For Wilson.

Speaker 2 (25:04):
He was like in Pink Floyd for like that's insane. Yeah,
did you check the show out or you know, I'm
I regretted to this day he like I have like
a standing like come to any show, but like I
just I was never in like the right city when
it was happening. I should have just flown to do
it because everyone that saw I was like, oh, I know,

(25:26):
it's like the craziest thing. But I kind of blew it.
But yeah, I've heard a lot about stories about it.

Speaker 1 (25:36):
So yeah, I just saw David Gilmour for the first
time a week ago, and uh, that kind of that
really blew me away. I wasn't expecting it to be
that that increase. It was really good. It was like,
really really good. Yeah, that's all. It's a strange thing
that they both tour and kind of play the same songs.
But yeah, and I think they're I think they hate

(25:58):
each other. I mean I have no, I don't. It's
not like I take a side. I just you know,
like he was around and actually had time, so I
was like, let me go to see what, you know,
what it's like, and it was. It was incredible. But yeah,
now I want to see Roger Waters and see without
you know, because I know, I don't even know if
he's going to do that anymore. But he was like
frying the pig out over the crack. The whole thing
was I want to say that, you know.

Speaker 2 (26:16):
Yeah, they they're describing like the the well visual part
and like even like this, like the PA.

Speaker 3 (26:27):
It was like something crazy like like.

Speaker 2 (26:29):
The you know, biggest like most like high fi like
PA like ever like used kind of thing like he's
like you know, he's he's always been like I think,
into like technology and like the next thing. So I
think it. Yeah, now I'm just getting more sad that

(26:50):
I didn't go.

Speaker 1 (26:51):
But man, sorry, would you would you do another record
with him?

Speaker 3 (26:56):
Oh? For sure.

Speaker 2 (26:56):
Yeah. He we used to actually be roommates in l A.
And then he he moved to Topanga and built like
a cool studio you out there, So I want to add,
great to go make a record there some time.

Speaker 1 (27:15):
That's that's cool. The new record's really cool too. I
particularly love fell in love with the second half of it.
I kind of got stuck on a loop with the
first half of it when it first came out. Then
I graduated finally to the second half and I think,
like it just is like it's it's really good man.
Thank you listening back. You've collaborated with a lot of people.

(27:37):
I mean, you have Alex Orange, drink who you're co
writing a lot of record with. You haven't really done
a full album where you're co writing with someone on
a Bride Eyes record before.

Speaker 3 (27:46):
Right, Yeah, not on a not on a Bride Eye record.

Speaker 2 (27:51):
I mean other than sometimes network musical stuff that Nate
and and Mogus do. But yeah, I mean I've been
in obviously like just Parcitos and like the Better Oblivion
Community Center with TV and Monsters of Folks, So I've

(28:12):
been in collaborations. But yeah, Bright Eyes for a long
time was just I just would bring the songs completed
and then we'd arrange them together. And yeah, this one
just it was kind of just happenstance, like Alex was
staying with me in LA and just I don't know,

(28:33):
I was kind of in a weird spot and wasn't
really writing, and he got the ball rolling and so yeah,
he's a big reason why the record got made.

Speaker 1 (28:43):
You know, So were you even thinking about writing or
were you like trying to write and couldn't and then
that's how it.

Speaker 3 (28:48):
I wasn't really thinking about it.

Speaker 2 (28:50):
I was just like, I don't know, I go as
sometimes I go through well a lot of you know,
mental whatever ups and downs, and you know, I definitely
suffered from like what's the point of all this, like

(29:10):
not just music, like of everything, you know, so of
all life. Yeah, I mean basically. But I mean I've
always been like that, so it's not really anything new.
But sometimes yeah, I get a little paralyzed and you
gotta It's why it's good to have friends to shake
you out of it and you know, get back at it.

Speaker 1 (29:33):
Yeah. Yeah. Does it still take you by surprise, like
when when that happens like that feeling?

Speaker 3 (29:40):
Yeah, yeah, I mean.

Speaker 2 (29:43):
I think music is a to me. It's still like
a mystery because it's like if I could sit down
and write a great song that I was proud of,
like every day, I'd be doing it, you know, but
I just it's not it doesn't work that way. It's
kind of you got to like wait for like the

(30:03):
tide to come in and it's all like waves and
you know of it. I find that like I don't
really write if I'm having like a sort of heightened
emotional or like mental experience good or bad, I don't
really I don't feel like writing. It's more like in

(30:27):
like the ordinary times when I have the ability to
like look back at things and see it from a
more like objective state of mind. I like, I like
to write lyrics from that place because well, I just
think they're better. I mean I have written songs like

(30:49):
when in the height of whatever, being in despair or
like being in love or something, you know, but I
feel like I always in the like worse than the
ones that are a little more like I mean, not
like clinical, but just like have like a perspective that
you know, I don't know a little after the fact.

Speaker 1 (31:11):
Yeah, exactly are there are there songs that have made
records that have been written at the highest size or
lowest lowser.

Speaker 2 (31:20):
Sure, I'm trying to think, like, well, I mean one
kind of obvious example is that when the president talks
to God, so like I just wrote that A is
like I was pissed off and it was like a
commercial for like a way of thinking. It's not a
good song at all. But it was like I was

(31:41):
booked on Jay Leno and I was like, I want
to do something. I don't want to just like play
first Day of my Life, you know what I mean.
I was like I thought things mattered and splaining like
political world. So yeah, I got my tour manager at

(32:01):
the time, Like I did the sound check for that
just like in my hoodie like normal like me. And
then in between me and that, in the shell, I
was like Bill, this guy Bill Sullivan was my tour
manager at the time. I was like, Bill, Man, I
don't know about this.

Speaker 3 (32:16):
Can you give me like a Cowboys sudent?

Speaker 2 (32:20):
And He's like like if we were in La so
he like, you know, it's easy to get order.

Speaker 1 (32:26):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (32:26):
So I put on the Ryan Stones and went out there.

Speaker 3 (32:31):
And my theory was like I'm singing this song.

Speaker 2 (32:35):
It's like anti Bush song, and it'll be like some
guy in like the Midwest to the South, like kind
of half watching.

Speaker 3 (32:43):
J Leno was like, you know it real quiet and
be like hey honey.

Speaker 2 (32:47):
And like this Scott looks all right, turn this up.

Speaker 3 (32:52):
So I don't know.

Speaker 1 (32:55):
What was that. Do you remember what the reception to
that was.

Speaker 2 (32:58):
I mean it was it was like, just like you
expect the people that were on that side of the
political divide, it was great. And everyone that wasn't, you know,
just tried their best to like make fun of me

(33:19):
and all.

Speaker 3 (33:21):
That stuff, you know, And that was that.

Speaker 2 (33:24):
I mean, that was right in the middle of kind
of like right away, so it was pretty There was
a lot of whatever, I guess.

Speaker 3 (33:34):
People with opinions around that time.

Speaker 1 (33:39):
We'll be right back with more from Connor Oberst after
the break. We're back with more from Connor Oberst. Do
you remember people saying like the second coming of Bob Dylan?

Speaker 2 (33:57):
Yes, and you know, obviously we all know that that's
like a ridiculous thing to say about anyone, and then.

Speaker 3 (34:07):
Said about a lot of people.

Speaker 2 (34:09):
Actually, my booking agent, who's been my booking agent for
like twenty years, he gave me this. It was like
from the New York Post and it was like around
at the same time. It's like a framed article or
you put it in a frame like an article. You
just said, picture of me, and it's a Dylan wanna
be So I got that like framed.

Speaker 1 (34:30):
Well, there's a lot of those two, So that's cool.

Speaker 2 (34:34):
But yeah, that guy's one of the crimes. I don't
think there's any worry about that.

Speaker 1 (34:42):
Yeah, I mean I remember even just thinking like, wow,
how do you you know, like getting like the attention
the record was getting the critical and sort of the
polarizing opinion of like when the president talks to God,
and then like yeah, just being called the New Day,
it was just like wow, that is fucking nuts.

Speaker 2 (35:03):
Yeah it was. It was definitely like, you know, a
mind fuck for sure, and just like I mean, I'm
kind of lucky, I feel like because what happened to
me was like every stage, it was very gradual, from
like you know, command evenings, high school all the way.
Everything kind of kept building and so it wasn't like

(35:26):
it was an overnight thing, because I think that's what
really makes people go crazy. Like I just every record
we put out, like feld a little more and the
two of the shows got a little bigger. So I
guess by the time that was happening, I was somewhat
prepared for it already, but it was still still very surreal.

(35:48):
And you know, also like that realization at some point
that it's like this is my livelihood. And it's like
also like you know, just some degree, it's a business.
Like a lot of people, you know, count on me
to make music because I make money that they need,

(36:12):
you know. Yeah, yeah, and like it's like a weird
you know, you lose a lot of innocence and so
you it's like you gotta I try to like replenish
that somehow. How much do you.

Speaker 1 (36:24):
Think about that, like the the I guess, just the
way that people might depend on you, the way people
would depend on a corporation for you know, it's like
not not that depends on you in a bad way,
but how often do you think about that like that?
There are people who.

Speaker 3 (36:38):
I mean I think about it a lot.

Speaker 2 (36:40):
You know, when we tour, it's like there's obviously the
band that there's all kinds of people that work on
the tours and the labels too. You know, I'm not
really like working for any kind of faceless thing that
I can be like, I don't care what happens to them,
you know, all like intertwined with my actual life. So yeah,

(37:03):
there's times when I would maybe not do something, but
I'd like people need like people need the money mogus.
There's always worried.

Speaker 1 (37:15):
About mocuss things going on though, right Yeah.

Speaker 2 (37:20):
No, yeah, those guys, those guys can I mean, they
don't need meat.

Speaker 1 (37:26):
But uh.

Speaker 3 (37:28):
Yeah, it's like my dad's like been my business.

Speaker 2 (37:33):
Like he used to work at Mutual Roma when I
was a kid, and then as soon as I got
enough stuff going on, because he already did.

Speaker 3 (37:42):
My taxes just because he's like my dad, you know.

Speaker 2 (37:45):
But I like, I was, like, everyone was like, you
need a business manager, and like, you know, there's people
that'll do that for like five percent of your income.

Speaker 3 (37:53):
That's what most people do.

Speaker 2 (37:55):
And I don't know if I want a stranger like
with all my bank passwords and all my stuff, you know,
like my mortgages and shit.

Speaker 3 (38:04):
You know.

Speaker 2 (38:05):
So I was like, Dad, you just help pay you salary,
you do this, and so quit his job. I mean
I was, I will like yeah around then two thousand
and four or five, you know, and he'd been going
to that same sad building for like my whole life.

(38:25):
So that's one thing I'm like proud of that. He
just gotta like, you know, deal with my stuff and
like have like more time to show. And he likes
being around, you know. He likes to know, like what's
up with the music and you.

Speaker 1 (38:42):
Know your parents music people.

Speaker 2 (38:45):
My dad was a musician. Yeah, he like played in
like I mean, I guess semi professionally because it was
like his side gig to his actual job.

Speaker 3 (38:55):
But he would play.

Speaker 2 (38:56):
Like in like wedding bands and you know it's like
cover bands. And my mom was not a musician, but
there was always music at my house and my oldest
brother played in bands. So I was lucky I didn't
have to like go you know search. You know, I
didn't like get my first guitar. There was just like
guitars in my house, like from when I was born.

Speaker 1 (39:19):
So it did everyone have different music like your three
brothers and your mom and dad liked, everyone have their
own kind of thing that we're listening to.

Speaker 2 (39:27):
Yeah, I mean my mom and dad, you know, they
were fully like right there, like seventies for you know,
Jackson Brown, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young all that type of
thing and Dire Straits and Steely Dan. And my oldest brother,
Maddie was like into like, you know, I guess eighties

(39:51):
alternative you know, Rim Smith here whatever, all that kind
of like one hundred and twenty minutes like and that's so.
But he was like six years older than me. So
and then my brother justin real close in age. We

(40:11):
kind of liked all that stuff. But then we sort
of found like like the North Carolina stuff like Super
Chunk and like I meant, the DC stuff for Gauzi,
and I don't even remember all the all the things
but that was like the things we learned about at
the record store, and then also like older records like

(40:34):
getting into like Poundsman's Aunt and John Prime and Lennon Cohen,
you know, things that were of the time that my
parents would listen to, but they weren't really that hit,
you know, they kind of commercial stuff.

Speaker 1 (40:50):
But right I don't want to let I want to
go I want to talk about some songs to the
new record, but I want to go back to that
feel like I let it drop. Did you write when
the President talks to God? For like that was specifically
for that I guess.

Speaker 2 (41:03):
It wasn't for Leno, but it was after the election.
Actually went to Europe to to do press for like
the two records, Wide Awake and Visual Ash, Like it
was like a press tour, but I was playing like
little acoustics shows like as part of the press stuff.

(41:24):
I remember I wrote it like on a faery because
I wanted to play something that like acknowledged it because
like I don't know if you remember back then, but
there was a you know, I guess it's a good
lesson for right now. It definitely it felt like the
end of the world kind of like I had gone
on tour with like Springsteen and like rim like vote

(41:46):
for change. You know, we're going hard for like Carrie
if you can imagine that. But yeah, it was it
saw anyone wanted to talk about was like how crazy
it was that Bush got reelected, you know and now
we've just now you look back at Bush and you're like, oh,

(42:08):
the good old days.

Speaker 1 (42:09):
I know it it's so point man, it's like what
the fuck?

Speaker 2 (42:13):
Yeah, And then like Leen, I was like I'll be
like right, you know, close to when I got back.

Speaker 1 (42:21):
It was.

Speaker 3 (42:21):
It was definitely like the Wide Awake tour because I.

Speaker 2 (42:26):
Remember because they were like, really want me to play
First Day of My Life? And I was like, no,
I want to play this song and they're like it's
not on a record, and and it kind of went.

Speaker 3 (42:37):
Up the the.

Speaker 2 (42:39):
Chain of command. But yeah, so it went up and
they cleared it. And I remember that night before the
show or before the paping, like Leno came and knocked
on the door and he was like very nice. He's like, yeah,
I heard the song you gonna play, and he's like
told me like a story about like him and stand

(43:00):
up comedians, like touring along the Canadian border during like
the Vietnam War and like all this stuff.

Speaker 3 (43:09):
Damn all right, Jay, I.

Speaker 1 (43:11):
Always remember me. I always heard that from people that
played that show that it was like or that and
then we play like Letterman and I was always like
a Letterman fan, but I always heard from people that
played the shows it was like Lena was like the
cool like drop in and like talk to you and
hang and like it was the opposite, you know, with Letterman.
I guess you expect.

Speaker 2 (43:28):
Yeah, I played Letterman like many times and yeah, you
don't see him. He's only like says hi to you
on the stage. All those guys are, you know, different
levels of like engagement, I guess. I mean Conan is.

Speaker 3 (43:43):
My favorite as like a person. He's just cool.

Speaker 2 (43:46):
Yeah, Allen's really nice. I mean they're all nice. Kimmel's
n they're they're they're all good, great political answer.

Speaker 1 (43:56):
Them all.

Speaker 3 (43:59):
I like them if they like me, you know, yeah, exactly.

Speaker 1 (44:02):
What was it like hanging with Springsteen on that Vote
for Change tour?

Speaker 3 (44:06):
It was amazing, same kind of thing.

Speaker 2 (44:10):
In the first show, we were super nervous and he
came to our dressing room. It was just like, so,
we're happy to have you here and he would go
out like because it was us Rim and then fucking
E Street bands like pretty crazy and we were was
part of this vote for chain, so we were doing

(44:31):
shows as like a three band thing, but they were
like Pearl Jam I think was like with like my
morning Jacket and like, I mean it was like a
whole wow, like all the all the tours were like
I mean, it was really organizing. People put a lot
of like blood, sweat and tears, you know, I mean
like di rap war and you know, it was like

(44:53):
it really did feel like we're making a stand. But
he came out and would introduce us, like before we
went on stage. He would be like go because he
usually doesn't only has a lot of opening people. Normally
he just plays for like four hours, but like special thing.
So but he's like talks to the audience. He's like

(45:14):
usually my friends from Nebraska and this is a no
brucing zone because I guess they yelled Bruce and it
sounds like the billing that's like You're like, Bruce, sounds
like a right. Oh he yeah. He was very very gracious.
That is like maybe the most gracious man in rock

(45:36):
and roll.

Speaker 1 (45:37):
You know, did you get to talk about like like
did he listen to your records?

Speaker 2 (45:41):
And yeah, I mean I don't know how much he's
listened to our records, but I've seen him, you know
since then, like came through Omaha once and like invited
me down and like I sang a song with him
and like in Omahan and.

Speaker 3 (46:00):
Like what did you sing uh on the road? And
I was like, oh my, he's like he's like, look
he showed me like they're.

Speaker 2 (46:08):
Setlist, like like you know, like I like I loved
thunder Rug and I'm like, wow, there's a lot of words.
You know. I think it wasn't my finest hour. I'm like,
I should have picked Dance in the Dark.

Speaker 1 (46:23):
Did your dad see that?

Speaker 2 (46:25):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (46:25):
I think so.

Speaker 1 (46:26):
Actually that's a probably pretty proud dad moment right there.

Speaker 2 (46:30):
Yeah. And we also got to play a couple of
times the Bridge School the thing that Neil Young ship.

Speaker 1 (46:37):
That's right. I saw monsters at Bridge School.

Speaker 2 (46:39):
Like yeah, and you know that back then. I don't
even know if they do it anymore, but since pass
they don't. They don't do that anymore, sadly, But yeah,
the thing is you would go on Friday night. We
did it once Fridays and then did it Monster. But

(47:00):
you go on Friday night to the ranch and everyone
hangs out, and then Saturday and Sunday you play the
show as a way to kind of like deflate egos
and everyone, you know, so you're also just like hanging
out in Neil Young's house, you know, which is like
pretty cool. But one year, I think it was the
Monsters of Folk year, like my parents came out and

(47:21):
they gotta like go to Neil's house and like kick it.
So that was I got some some sun points for
that one.

Speaker 1 (47:29):
Oh yeah, yeah. It's just it's kind of wild that,
you know. I mean, Neil Neil, Neil doesn't even tour
that much anymore. Just kind of it's like everyone's just
kind of like.

Speaker 2 (47:39):
No, I mean in the way it's just like seems
like every day something else. Quincy Jones, I mean like
just like, I mean, I guess it makes sense all
that era is like getting into like eighties and nineties
and stuff. I mean, the John Prian one got me
pretty hard because I've done a bunch of shows with
Tan and he's like coolest guy. Wow, Like yeah, it's

(48:05):
like the whole pandemic there was there were everyone's drop
on my fly.

Speaker 1 (48:09):
How did you survive the pandemic?

Speaker 3 (48:12):
I was, well, took it very seriously.

Speaker 2 (48:17):
I didn't at the time. I was like living with
my girlfriend in LA and we just we're like hold
up at the house, you know, like everyone ordering ordering
food and you could go like drive like right before,
like grocery stores would clothes. You know, it's like you know,

(48:38):
like right at the end and like run in and
grab stuff. And I mean it was just like it
was such a Yeah, I don't know, times are I
guess living in interesting times.

Speaker 3 (48:50):
Someone I heard something it that way, It's for sure.

Speaker 1 (48:55):
After the break, we'll be back with the rest of
my conversation with Connor Oberst. Here's the rest of my
conversation with Connor Oberst. I love your song. I hate
it's really that's a phenomenal song. It does something for

(49:15):
me that I don't know that many other songs that
sound like it. Do you know what? Uh can you
tell me about writing that song?

Speaker 2 (49:25):
Yeah, that was one actually that started with a musical
idea from Nate Walcott and I kind of sat with
it and then yeah, I don't know, I started. I
had the first couple of lines and then I just thought,
you know, that's like a pretty I guess songwriting device,

(49:49):
you know, sort of start every line with the same
same word phrase.

Speaker 3 (49:55):
It's actually kind of easy to write that way. It
was just a list of.

Speaker 2 (49:57):
Things, you know. Yeah, but yeah, that was one that like.

Speaker 1 (50:04):
Is this sincere? Like I mean, the first two lines,
I hate the.

Speaker 3 (50:13):
I mean it is it is sincere.

Speaker 2 (50:16):
I mean, I guess I'll like qualify it with you know,
everyone's beliefs if it takes them to a place that
creates more empathy or understanding or comfort. You know, I'm
not I don't mean to deride that, you know, I

(50:37):
think about like my grandma, like praying the Rosary and
stuff like that. But to me, like organized religion and
even like the pseudo religions, the cults, and I mean,
to me, it's just the some good versus evil to humanity.

(50:58):
Is It's pretty clear to me. I think that they
all just like just riddle the world with division and
ignorance and bigotry. And so yeah, I stand behind all that.
I think it's I think it's interesting that like it
seems like whenever someone like quote unquote like gets a

(51:21):
message from God, it's like God always says like, have
sex with all the women and children, take all the money,
and kill your enemies. You know. That's like God's like
same message, and it's like God's a twisted fuck, you.

Speaker 1 (51:40):
Know, you know it's kind of true. Yeah, some wild ship.

Speaker 2 (51:50):
Man like, yeah, it's a it's a strange thing. But yeah,
that was one that the label. There was two songs
that the label was like weird about. There was one song.
It's like it's like, actually like it a lot, and

(52:14):
I think it's catchy, but it's like it's like a
SKA song.

Speaker 3 (52:18):
It's called First World Blues.

Speaker 1 (52:20):
Oh make the record.

Speaker 2 (52:21):
You didn't make the record because they were like, you
put this on the record. All anyone's gonna say is like, right,
I just you know, go scar or something. I don't
know what they but I was like and then hate
for like obvious reasons, I guess, like offending people or something.
But I I capitulated on the SKA one, and then

(52:43):
I was like, hate's going on the record up there,
so that's gotta that's gotta be there.

Speaker 1 (52:49):
So yeah, bright Eyes ghost Scar might have been a
kind of an appealing line in a way, drawn some
drawn some listeners in I think with that one.

Speaker 2 (52:58):
I mean, it's definitely gonna see the light of day
one of these days.

Speaker 1 (53:02):
But in the form that it's in now or re recorded. Yeah, Okay,
you have like we.

Speaker 2 (53:07):
Have like good like eight songs that we recorded that
like didn't make the record.

Speaker 1 (53:12):
So so how often do you revisit stuff? Like you
were saying you had like many more songs for Casadega
and you know, Rick helped you little whittle that down,
Like did did those extras ever come out? Or are
they still somewhere tucked away?

Speaker 2 (53:28):
I think like some of them did, some of them didn't.
Some of them are like promo for that record, but
I mean I guess you could find them on the
internet probably, but like like weird things like oh they
sent out a song to like the mailing list is
like a treat or something, you know. Yeah, yeah, I
don't know, Like but yeah, there's there's songs weighing around

(53:53):
for sure, but yeah, yeah, I don't know. I kind
of want to do I definitely want to do something
with the ones that didn't make this record, because I
think some of them are like like some of them,
like I don't know what the best they're ones I
like wow, So, yeahs, have.

Speaker 1 (54:12):
You heard from anyone that is a fan of yours
that you've been surprised by?

Speaker 3 (54:18):
That's a good question. I'm always surprised.

Speaker 2 (54:24):
I don't know a lot of times like they'll be
I feel like you make like weird like too. Like
a lot of times, like when you're on these like
festival circuits, like eure Ape festival circuits, you end up
like like watching a band that you never would and
kind of like even like hang out. Like I remember
like one summer, like every place we played was like

(54:46):
incubisc was playing. I like never listened to Incubists, but
I'm like, they're really nice guys and they're like, you know, it's.

Speaker 1 (54:54):
Like stuff like that.

Speaker 2 (54:54):
It's the weird, weird like tour friendships. I feel like happened,
you know.

Speaker 1 (55:01):
Bringing up Incabists reminded me that there's a some some
record scratches on the time I Have left. I'm pretty
sure is that at the end of the time I
have left, which was an unexpected touch.

Speaker 2 (55:13):
Yeah, I think it's like that one and went out
and I think tiny suicides too.

Speaker 3 (55:20):
But there's this guy.

Speaker 2 (55:23):
Named ebabs uh okay Eric, but he's just he's like
a hip hop producer, DJ scratching guy here in Omaha,
works with like a lot of hip hop groups.

Speaker 3 (55:40):
My friend Mars Black.

Speaker 2 (55:41):
Is like one of like his main collaborators. But uh yeah,
he came in like worked on those songs and yeah
it's just something we hadn't tried before. And he's a
friend of ours. So I think he did it. Like
he took it super like seriously, and like like he
was in the studio for a whole couple of days

(56:03):
and he's still like I was like what he did?

Speaker 3 (56:05):
I like, I thought sounding great.

Speaker 2 (56:06):
I was like it's good, and he's like, you know,
just like take it home and like think about it
a little more.

Speaker 3 (56:13):
Like like he took it super seriously.

Speaker 2 (56:15):
So I mean it's like they're like subtle things, but
if you I think they add like just like a
cool different layer to it.

Speaker 1 (56:24):
Like it really works and it's really it is super subtle.
Do you know what he was scratching? Because it is he.

Speaker 2 (56:30):
Has this thing that he used that it's like a
digital you can basically load any sample into it and
it has like a essentially like a fake record on it.
I don't exactly know how it works. For that song,

(56:50):
like you know, he had Matt Berninger's separated vocal and
he just ran it into the thing and then you
know scratched it.

Speaker 1 (57:00):
And scratching Matt's vocal over Matt.

Speaker 3 (57:04):
Interesting, Yeah, I remember back for Lift.

Speaker 2 (57:09):
Did this is like so crazy that we were like this, well,
there'd be way easier ways to do this now. But
we heard that Portishead had thrust tracks of their record
and then like like fucked up the record with like
sandpaper and stuff and then like played it back into

(57:32):
the tracks. Like that's how they made like some of
those like classics, And so we did that. We got
like tests you can get like test pressings made without
press you know, without making a whole record. So we
had like separate tracks and we got test pressings like
records made, and like we did we.

Speaker 3 (57:50):
Just basically like stole that idea.

Speaker 2 (57:52):
And so like when you hear like if you listener
Lifted and you hear like the pops and the crackles
and like the drums on like Lover and stuff, Yeah,
those are all onto a LP and then like recorded
back into the tracks.

Speaker 1 (58:08):
Wow, the drums on Lover are fucking really good. Are
really good that's that whole record.

Speaker 2 (58:16):
We had like a kind of a drum corps like
approach where you had like three drummers and a marching
band kind of style.

Speaker 3 (58:26):
Yeah, we like we're into some weird stuff.

Speaker 2 (58:31):
There's a Leonard Cohen album, Death of a Lady's Man
that Phil Spector produced that we're trying to ammunilate that
out as well. But like, but like I'm like, you know,
they have like real stuff happening there, and you have
like the you know, the equivalent of our like sixth
grade orchestra.

Speaker 3 (58:51):
Back then, like like early bride as, it was like.

Speaker 2 (58:55):
Oh she owns a viola? Can you know? It was
so yeah, it was kind of like if you had
an instrument that was like interesting, we'd like record it.
So it's cool. It sounds like kind of insane, but
you know, later on, like when Nate joined the band,

(59:16):
fully it kind of graduated to like go on to
Capitol Studios and recording like actual orchestras.

Speaker 1 (59:23):
But yeah, you guys did a great approximation. I mean
even you know, like cursive man, like some of the
string arrangements and I don't know how arranged they actually were.
I mean, you know, or not, but they sound like it.
They're you know amazing, you know, yeah it would and
like all that.

Speaker 2 (59:40):
I mean it's just like whoa, you know, yeah, the
interplay between those guitars and the cello with like very
kind of special special combo.

Speaker 1 (59:49):
I feel like that the Ugly Ugly organ. It's a
record that doesn't get enough love, you know, it's a.

Speaker 3 (59:55):
That's a great one.

Speaker 2 (59:56):
I think my favorite is actually, uh Happy Hollow, which
is like the next one after that.

Speaker 1 (01:00:02):
Yeah, are you still gonna tour in the new year?

Speaker 2 (01:00:06):
Yeah? Starting but januine I want to say sixteenth or
something like that in Phoenix, and so it's like us
were kind of the first half of the year and
then go to Europe in summer. Yeah, kind of hit
the hit the road and play play this new record

(01:00:27):
for the people.

Speaker 3 (01:00:30):
Cool?

Speaker 1 (01:00:30):
Is there anything between like that tour ending and that starting?
Like with your voice, I know you have like we're
having some vocal issues, like are you having to do
certain things or avoid certain things?

Speaker 2 (01:00:43):
Well, I like yeah, I mean, you know, this has
actually been such a nice conversation. I was prepared for
like doom and gloom with you know, the election and things.

Speaker 1 (01:00:54):
Like figure out how to avoid it, you know.

Speaker 2 (01:00:56):
Yeah, it's just like, well, like physically, I feel a
lot better than I did a couple of months ago. Yeah,
it was like it's I had like a problem with
my esophagus and so I kind of see like into
a lot of doctor's appointments and they stuck some robotic

(01:01:21):
shit down my throat and so.

Speaker 3 (01:01:24):
I yeah, fingers crossed.

Speaker 2 (01:01:26):
But I've been just singing around here and it feels
totally back to normal.

Speaker 3 (01:01:34):
So hopefully, yeah, we'll just get back out there.

Speaker 2 (01:01:37):
It was. It was definitely like a bummer that kind
of coincided with like when the record was coming out,
but really it was always meant to be. The shows
in the fall were kind of I don't want to
say promo, but they were.

Speaker 3 (01:01:52):
They were.

Speaker 1 (01:01:52):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:01:52):
They were like yeah, like smaller venues and like sort
of doing press for the record, and then the actual
tour tour was always in twenty twenty five, so it
was and we're gonna hopefully make up. We're gonna go to.

Speaker 3 (01:02:09):
All those cities again like that we missed.

Speaker 1 (01:02:12):
So cool. I haven't asked any questions about this Barcidos.
I do want to ask about that, and I guess
I'm curious. You know, those songs were very political in
their way when the President talks to God political in
its way. Did those songs sound like that when you
first wrote them or were they like radically different when

(01:02:33):
you initially wrote them before taking them to the band.

Speaker 2 (01:02:37):
No, like THEOS songs were like a different process, Like
we we wrote them all. I mean I would maybe
have a chord progression or Denver Dally who was the
other guitar player, would have like some musical thing, But
we wrote them all like in the band room, like
loud so and I would I would have like a

(01:03:00):
we'd make like I don't know, I guess the first
record whatever we had at the time, like mini diss
or some kind of recording device, and I would just
kind of sing scream like gibberish to get like a melody,
and then I, you know, write write the words to
the melody. And yeah, it was always kind of and

(01:03:21):
we knew what we wanted to sing about, you know,
and kind of just I guess going towards that tradition
of you know, political punk rock, pop punk, whatever you
want to call it, hardcore.

Speaker 1 (01:03:38):
I guess it didn't feel so pop punk to me,
but yeah, yeah, yeah, I guess whatever.

Speaker 3 (01:03:46):
That is the story of guitars and screaming.

Speaker 1 (01:03:49):
Maybe little little cap and jazz ish yeah in a way. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:03:55):
So but we had a trouble. We had trouble, like
just stay in a band for very long. I think
we were like a band for a couple of years
at first, and then we kind of like broke up.
And then we made another record only fifteen and right
when we we like finished, we like mixed the record,

(01:04:16):
and then like nine to eleven happened, and it was like, oh,
we made this like slightly anti American, like anti capitalists.
There was a.

Speaker 3 (01:04:28):
Flag on every house in the world, and like and on.

Speaker 2 (01:04:32):
Yeah, we went on tour, and I mean people that
came to our shows were like, you know, I think
on the same page to some degree. But yeah, doing
interviews and things, it was it was like a classic
classic bad timing but or maybe good timing. I always said,
like I was like, well, the most American thing you

(01:04:55):
can do is like descent, you know, so I think
right in that sense, there's the right time. I just remember.
After that it was things started getting really crazy and
Bride Eyes World like moved to like touring on a
bus and like playing like a lot of bigger shows.

(01:05:15):
And I mean and to a certain degree, Discursus was
always a side project because you know, I guess Bright
Ass was just kind.

Speaker 3 (01:05:25):
Of my main thing.

Speaker 2 (01:05:27):
But I really did, like I still love like playing
loud music and like screaming.

Speaker 3 (01:05:32):
I'm getting like a little too old for it, but.

Speaker 1 (01:05:35):
Yeah it's funny man. When Lifted came out, I just
remember thinking like this is the most commercial fucking you know,
not like the music, but just like the way the response.
It felt like, holy fuck, this is a big record,
you know, and like I don't even know how much
I don't even know to which degree Bright Eyes fans
even connect to that record or know that record. You know,

(01:05:57):
there's so many sets, you know, but the time I
was like, whove, you know, this is a this is
a big record, you know.

Speaker 2 (01:06:04):
Yeah, definitely, it was definitely a change.

Speaker 3 (01:06:07):
It was like.

Speaker 2 (01:06:09):
You know, real like had a tour manager, had a
sound person, had touring a bus, had a real booking agent.
It was like we're moving out of the van and
out of the truly like yeah, why space into like oh,
we're like a band that's in magazines and yeah those

(01:06:33):
real shows. Yeah, that was it.

Speaker 3 (01:06:36):
Was a transitional time.

Speaker 1 (01:06:40):
Yeah, yeah, pre I guess that area you were talking about,
like that re election of Bush, there weren't many people
voicing what you were on that right, you know, like
I don't want to be ashamed to be American. I
feel like being ashamed of an American was very common
by like two thousand and five or six or seven,
but you know, and the time an American idiot. Yeah, by

(01:07:03):
the time of an American idiot, I feel like that
was a very popular sentiment, but in like two thousand
and two thousand and one, that did not feel very
commonplace at all. You know. Yeah, well then very anticipatory
in that way. I don't know, you know, yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:07:18):
I remember, well, I guess it kind of makes sense.

Speaker 2 (01:07:22):
I don't know. I remember being like all these like
British journalists coming to interview us, like Uncut and Mojo
and all that stuff. It's almost like they it made
more sense to them, I think than like US press
or something. Yeah, they were like into it, you know,

(01:07:43):
They're like political punk is bad, you know, and I
think here it was kind of just I don't know
they I think people liked the music, but maybe weren't
didn't care that much about the words, you know.

Speaker 1 (01:08:00):
Yeah, were you always a pretty political person?

Speaker 2 (01:08:03):
Like or not? Really? I would say no, I mean
definitely not. I think that like my awareness of politics
started really like right around two thousand.

Speaker 3 (01:08:16):
I remember being on tour when.

Speaker 2 (01:08:19):
The first Bush election happened, and you know, it's like
weeks till we knew who the president was. I just
remember being like, this is strange, Like something is like
this should it be like this?

Speaker 3 (01:08:34):
Like?

Speaker 2 (01:08:35):
And so I started kind of paying attention. I mean
I was only like twenty, and then like nine to
eleven happened, and then it was like we were all
in it, you know, I mean make.

Speaker 3 (01:08:45):
Sure remember just it was like it was like.

Speaker 2 (01:08:50):
Everything felt very different and very real and very terrifying.
And started to think about, like, I don't know, have
a more global perspective.

Speaker 3 (01:09:06):
And yeah, and.

Speaker 2 (01:09:08):
Then I got and I got kind of more and more,
you know, became kind of a news junkie and all
the rest of it. But you did, yeah, I mean
for sure, like after I kind of just felt like
I needed to understand like what was happening, you know.

Speaker 1 (01:09:26):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it was all especially back then. I
mean now everything feels anything that's happening feels more or
less very central to the US, Like it's all kind
of like what's happening here? And how do we figure
it out? But yeah, then it was kind of like
what like whoa like a Sunni and a Shia and
you know, a bath and like it's like like what

(01:09:47):
are these? You know? And I mean perhaps or should
be ashamed, but yeah, who knew? You know, I barely
knew what a Democrat and Republican? Was it that exactly
know anything? But yeah, weird weird times you were talking
about how you mentioned how you were cool. Yeah, we
can wrap up. What do you What do you do

(01:10:10):
to warm up? Vocally?

Speaker 2 (01:10:12):
Typically, I've never done I've been on tour with people
that do the vocal you know that. No, no, Nony Noon.

Speaker 3 (01:10:24):
All like do it to like the tapes and stuff that,
you know, never did that.

Speaker 2 (01:10:31):
I just I mean, my I don't really have any magic,
magic tricks. It's like a lot of a lot of
like tea and I mean I've tried all kinds of
like things like various potions and singers, saving Grace and

(01:10:52):
like low quad and all the stuff you can get
at the health food store. And then if you're really
desperate and you gotta play a big show, the secret
is the rock doc. It will come to your show,
depending on what city you're in and give you a

(01:11:13):
cortizone shot and like a beach well shot in your ass,
and then you can sing like you've never sang before.
But the problem is when your voice gets sore, it's
your body telling you to like rest it.

Speaker 3 (01:11:29):
And like if you get a steroid shot.

Speaker 2 (01:11:32):
You can sing loud and great, but you're just you're
just you know, you're taking your your vocal cords and
your throat and everything to like a place they shouldn't
be taken to, just like physically speaking. So I've had
like times where I'll like I'll resort to that and

(01:11:56):
then you know, the next morning, I'm like, really, I
can't talk, you know. So it's kind of a that's
like a desperate desperate times situation. But you always hear
like remembers about like there's some people that get one
before like every show, you know, the older like Steven
Tyler or something.

Speaker 1 (01:12:17):
You know, I remember walking in on someone one time
was done it. It's like the first time.

Speaker 2 (01:12:23):
I was kind of like, oh ship, Yeah, it's it's
it's really fun like the show you play on it
because you're like all like, you know, roid it out
and I feel, you know, you didn't rip your shirt
off and scream your lad.

Speaker 1 (01:12:40):
And yeah, we're waiting for that era. Connor Oberst. Man
like the jiu jitsu d.

Speaker 2 (01:12:48):
Connor Trent Reznor can lift weights? You know, I don't
see why I can't.

Speaker 1 (01:12:55):
It's a great point. It's a great point, cool man.
Thanks for thanks for indulging me.

Speaker 2 (01:13:02):
Man.

Speaker 1 (01:13:02):
I feel like I took little more time than I
needed to, but just it was fun to talk to.

Speaker 2 (01:13:07):
You, and it's great talking to you the music, So
thank you so much for doing it.

Speaker 1 (01:13:16):
Thanks to Connor Oberst for taking time out of his
vocal rest to have a chat about his new album,
Five Dices All Threes and to talk through his lengthy career.
You can hear some of our favorite Connor Obersts and
Saddle Creek songs on a playlist in the episode description,
and be sure to follow us on Instagram at the
Broken Record Pod. You can follow us on Twitter at
Broken Record. Broken Record is produced by Leah Rose with

(01:13:38):
marketing help from Eric Sandler and Jordan McMillan. Our engineer
is Ben Tolliday. Broken Record is a production of Pushkin Industries.
If you love this show and others from Pushkin, consider
subscribing to Pushkin Plus. Pushkin Plus is a podcast subscription
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ninety nine a month. Look for Pushkin Plus on Apple

(01:14:00):
podcast subscriptions. And if you like this show, please remember
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Our theme music's by Kenny Beats. I'm just enrichment