by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

As a preview to their upcoming tour of Australia and New Zealand, Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberst did a couple lengthy inteviews.  It’s a time for reminiscing for ol’ Conor, now 43, who goes back into the mind vault and talks about his early days. 

The article in The Music, “Australia’s most respected source for music news,” is the better of the two. Written as a feature story, the writer lays down some ancient history. 

Here are the best quotes from that article (which you can read in its entirety right here): 

• — “It’s a running joke – or kinda a half-joke – that we’ll be at an airport with a bunch of guitars, and someone asks us, ‘What kind of music do you play?’ and a number of years ago, I took to saying, ‘Yeah, it’s called confusion rock’, have you heard of that?’ It doesn’t make any sense, and all our records sound different, so if you love one, you’ll probably hate the next one!’ That’s our own genre.”

• — On the recent reissues and Companion series: “It basically happened because we moved our whole catalogue from Saddle Creek – which is the label we started as kids, which ran its course – and we moved over to Dead Oceans and the Secretly Group, and they’ve been amazing.” – Last I looked, Saddle Creek still was very much a functioning label. 

• — “When I listen to or think about an album like [2000 third album] Fever And Mirrors, yeah, there’s a lot of embarrassing things on there – things I wrote and the way I sang and the over-the-top adolescence of it – but then every year somebody goes to high school and somebody’s older sister hands them a copy of it, and this has been happening for 20 years.”

• — “I definitely think the output has decreased over the years. When I was a teenager or in my early 20s, I was writing constantly, and it was the only thing I thought about, or cared about really, at all. Probably to my detriment, in a lot of ways, because I think I’ve probably ruined some relationships and made some bad decisions… I don’t know, all of the stuff that you do when you’re a kid.”

• — “I always joke that I’ve never worked a day in my life, which is not true, but you know what I’m saying, it’s fine. My buddy’s a part-time musician, and if I’m ever complaining about something on tour or about something that happened, he always goes [adopts deadpan voice], ‘Hey, beats pushing a broom’. Ain’t that the truth.”

The Mixdown appears to be another Australian-based publication (there’s not a lot of info about them on their own website). Their interview with Oberst is a straight up Q&A by someone who admits to be a long-time fan. 

The best quotes from the Mixdown interview (which you can read in its entirety here):

• — “Commander Venus – such a bad name.” Come on now, Conor, nothing wrong with that band name. Certainly it’s as good as Bright Eyes.
  
• — “People seem to like our records 5 years after they’re released. So it’s always felt like ‘let’s just make something and wait 5 years for someone to tell us it’s brilliant!’ But when it comes out it’s like ‘this is fucking shit!’ [Laughs]”
  
• — On the next Bright Eyes record: “You know, we’ve been recording it… If all goes well maybe next fall. Knock on wood. Or early 2025. That feels so far away though. So I’m hoping for next fall.”

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Tonight at Ming Toy Gallery (that’s the gallery run by my better half) located at 6066 Maple in the heart of Benson, artist and musician Josh Audiss is playing a set of music. Audiss writes in a modern folk, singer/songwriter style. The free show starts at 7 p.m. and you’ll also get a chance to see (and buy) some of his art, which is on display at Ming Toy through the end of the month.

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Read Tim McMahan’s blog daily at Lazy-i.com — an online music magazine that includes feature interviews, reviews and news. The focus is on the national indie music scene with a special emphasis on the best original bands in the Omaha area. Copyright © 2023 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.