From time to time a band comes along with the unique ability to inspire you to get up and do something spontaneous or unexpected. Blind Pilot (BP) does this quietly, with subtle mannerisms, diverse sounds and great lyrics. Whether it’s the story of them traveling on tour by bike, with all of their gear, from Bellingham, Wash., to San Diego, or how they evolved from a two-instrument band to a six-instrument ensemble, Israel Nebeker and Ryan Dobrowski, much like a blind pilot maneuvering a plane, haven’t always had a clear path to follow. The Portland, Ore. duo are, however, finding some clear skies ahead. Recently featured on Carson Daly, BP is coming to Denver’s Hi-Dive March 11, amid a U.S. tour that includes a spot at Austin, Texas’ coveted South By Southwest Music Festival. One half of BP’s whole, Ryan Dobrowski, stopped pedaling long enough to talk to The Met about the duo’s current success and ongoing travels.Enrico Dominguez: How was it being on Carson Daly?
Ryan Dobrowski: It was really fun. I had a great time and everyone was really nice. The sound was good, and that made all the difference. We were excited just to have a show in Los Angeles.
ED: I read you guys hopped on your bikes, with all your gear, and pedaled from town to town on tour. But it didn’t say how long you were gone, or how far you rode.
RD: Isreal (Nebeker) and I had done bike tours a couple times. The first time it was just the two of us. We started in Vancouver and we were going to ride down to Mexico, but our bikes were stolen in San Francisco, so I’m not quite sure the mileage on that trip. It was definitely shorter than we wanted, but it was still an amazing trip. Then we came back and started working on 3 Rounds and a Sound, and got that album printed. This last time we started in Washington, just south of the border, and ended with a show in San Diego. It rounded out to just (more than) 2,000 miles.
ED: How much did you guys prepare for the bike tour? Or did you just go?
RD: You sort of just go out there and do it. We’re normal people. We really don’t work out all that much. We eat burritos and drink beer. But we like to ride bikes. The first few days we kept to shorter distances. The first few days are really tiring, but then you get use to it.
ED: Did you write very many songs while you were on the road? It’s easy to imagine the open road while listening to your music.
RD: There’s definitely a feeling of travel and a sense of place in the music that comes out. We get a lot of ideas for songs, and when we actually have a little bit more time to sit down and work on them, (they) get filled out into proper songs.
ED: It said in your profile you met in college. Were you roommates or did you meet around campus?
RD: We had a couple mutual friends. Israel had a band in high school, and I was a grade ahead of him, and there were two other guys in his band at the time. At first they wanted me to be the drummer of that band, but we had one practice, and after … I thought that just the two of us should start something. There was nothing against the other two guys, they just didn’t have the chemistry and it wasn’t the music we wanted to be making. It was pretty casual at first. Then we went to England for a summer and we played pretty much every night.
ED: How was it playing on the streets of England?
RD: It was fun. You get a really honest reaction from people when you play on the streets, and it was fun hanging out with the other street musicians. We are always pretty fond of that summer.
ED: So in five years, where do you want your music to be? Do you want to stick to indie or do you want to get with a major label?
RD: As things pro-gress, more people need to be involved to make the project grow, and to get more people to hear the music. A lot of people talk about labels disappearing altogether. We’ll see later down the road. We’re pretty grateful to have the label that we have, as small as it is. It’s a big help to have things taken care of on the business end a little bit more because it is a pretty complicated business. It definitely seems we’re more of an indie band than a major commercial band, but we’re also not really afraid of growth at all, and want to play for as many people as we can. So if we did end up on a major label, it would have to be under some certain terms that we wouldn’t be giving up to much of what we do.
ED: You seem very passionate about your music. How long have you been involved in music?
RD: I started playing music when I was 8 years old. I just like creating stuff. Initially, when Israel and I started playing together, I was doing a lot of painting and he was writing a lot of songs. We would work on things together and sort of bounce things off of each other.
ED: What inspires you to go from just playing an instrument, to creating a band, and creating a lot of your very own music?
RD: There’s something intimately better to me about playing with other people. I’ve seen a lot of other bands play with pre-programmed beats. There’s definitely an energy you get playing with other people that you just don’t get on your own.
The Broken West, Blind Pilot and Magic Mice
3.11.09
8PM @ the Hi-Dive, $12, 21+
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