Holy Crap Travis Speaks!!!

FALL 2007

http://www.ascap.com/playback/2007/fall/radar/okkervil_river.aspx

Radar Report
Okkervil River
Rolling on the River The members of indie folk's newest wondergroup OKKERVIL RIVER come to terms with the success they're (maybe) having When Okkervil River asked Travis Nelson to fill in on drums for them at the 2003 South by Southwest festival, he was skeptical, as his experience ran more towards punk rock. But he reluctantly agreed to the gig and later became a full-on member of the then largely-unknown alternative country act. He had no idea they would go on to release a pair of critically- adored albums and play in front of mammoth crowds. "When I joined I thought they were the biggest group of nerds I'd ever met in my life," says Nelson, speaking from his Austin, Texas home, having just returned from a six-week North American tour which kicked off with the band performing on Late Night with Conan O'Brien. "I had played in punk bar bands, and these were guys who stayed home reading books on Friday nights. I don't think anyone imagined we'd play for more than a couple hundred people a night." But with 2005's Black Sheep Boy – a dramatic, sometimes-desperate peek into the psyche of lead singer and songwriter Will Sheff – the group graduated from break-even tours to filling 800-1400 person capacity clubs around the world. The band's newfound fame is a focus of its latest disc, The Stage Names, a less tortured effort than its predecessor. "Black Sheep Boy was so popular, I thought people would think Stage Names was a joke," Nelson says. "I thought they would say we were trying to make a pop record that was going to sell a lot of albums. But I haven't read a single review, I don't think, that talks about us selling out." The band's spike in popularity has lent a peculiar ring of prophecy to its name, which is borrowed from the title of a short story written by Leo Tolstoy's great-grandniece, Tatyana Tolstaya. The story focuses on a Russian bureaucrat's fixation on a past-her-prime singer, and a main theme is the separation between fan and artist – the same theme that informs the band's new album. "Everything came full circle with Stage Names," says Nelson. "It's interesting to see real life copy a fictional story." That's not to say that Nelson and Sheff – the primary members of the regularly-rotating sextet which also includes Scott Brackett, Brian Cassidy, Patrick Pastorius, and Jonathan Meiburg– are expecting to fall from grace any time soon. But they are clearly feeling the burden of high expectations. On "Our Life Is Not A Movie Or Maybe," the first song on The Stage Names, Sheff's emotive, fragile cry conveys a need to unburden himself:
From the speakers your fake masterpiece is serenely dribbling.When the air around your chair fills with heat, that's the flames licking. Nelson is a former booking agent who handles the majority of the band's business. Though he's less concerned with the creative side of Okkervil's records, he regularly wrestles with fan issues and complaints. "On a message board I read that people were angry that we were playing larger venues on this tour," he notes. "People were saying, ‘It's not all about me any more. It doesn't feel special any more.' To that, I would say, ‘Would you prefer it if some people couldn't get into our shows?'" Outgrowing small venues, of course, is a desirable problem to have. Yet, two years into their run of success, Nelson still maintains the mentality of an unknown, and is amazed when he's recognized on the street. At an Okkervil show in Washington D.C. not too long ago, one of his second cousins came to see the band without realizing she had kin manning the drum kit. "She was like, ‘What are you doing here? You guys are like my favorite band!'" There have been celebrity admirers, as well. A year ago or so Sheff received a call from Lou Reed's manager. The king of downtown was a huge fan of Black Sheep Boy, it turns out, and arranged for the group to open for him at a New York show. The guys got to meet him afterwards. "He said, ‘You're a great drummer. You guys are one of the best bands around,'" Nelson remembers. Okkervil River may be on top of its game, but its members are vividly conscious of the perils of fame. Two of The Stage Names' standout tracks are fall-from-grace stories. "Savannah Smiles" focuses on a former rock groupie and porn star who committed suicide after she was disfigured in a car accident, while "John Allyn Smith Sails" details the plight of poet John Berryman, who jumped off a Minneapolis bridge in 1972. Though critics tend to go for such bleak themes, Nelson worries that the band's fans might eventually tire of them. "It does seem kind of a natural progression to write more poppy and accessible songs," he says. "Most people don't want to be depressed. It's hard to be a popular band and do really depressing music." Yet somehow – to its credit — Okkervil River seems to have found a way to maintain its vision and do exactly that. — Ben Westhoff TOP