Episode 022 : Piebald
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The first time I heard Piebald was about four years ago when my wife and I were visiting Seattle and at the house of my friend Marion Seymour. Her sons, Harrison and Hamilton, were doing some web design work with music blaring, and I said, "Who is this? They're good!"
It turned out to be Piebald and it turned out that they were from Boston, or north of it, to be precise. Over the last few years, I have picked up all their past CDs and they just recently released a DVD and B-sides CD called "Killa Bros and Killa Bees" on SideOneDummy Records.
The DVD includes live performances, off-stage antics, tour and studio video, several live songs filmed from Piebald's U.S. and European tours, and a behind-the-scenes look into the sessions for their last studio CD, "All Ears, All Eyes, All The Time."
The band is Andrew Bonner on bass and vocals, Luke Garro on drums, Travis Shettel on vocals and guitar, and Aaron Stuart on guitar and vocals. Founded in Andover, Massachusetts by Shettel, Bonner, and Stuart, Piebald made their recording debut while still in high school with the 1995 EP, "Sometimes Friends Fight," and have subsequently released "When Life Hands You Lemons" (1997, Hydra Head Records), "If It Weren't For Venetian Blinds It Would Be Curtains For Us All" (1999, Big Wheel Recreation), "The Rock Revolution Will Not Be Televised" (2000, Big Wheel Recreation) and "We Are The Only Friends We Have" (2002 Big Wheel Recreation). Piebald went into the studio with veteran producer Paul Q. Kolderie (Pixies, Radiohead, Dinosaur Jr.) to record "All Ears, All Eyes, All The Time" (2004, SideOneDummy Records).
Lumped in the emo-core category early on, I'd go out on a limb and say that Piebald has matured in recent years and started to branch out in some unexpected ways. The CD of B-sides further proves this, pointing in some directions that tell me their future could be more akin to Talking Heads, Wilco, and Ben Folds.
I thought about including music from a variety of Piebald's CDs, but decided to focus on their latest release of "Killa Bees" as I think it shows the band's development over the years. Not quite as rockin' as some of their earlier releases (my favorites being "When Life Hands You Lemons" and "We Are the Only Friends We Have"), as a collection the songs stand together great and are a good introduction to the uninitiatied.
After seeing their sold-out, Thanksgiving-weekend, homecoming show at The Middle East in Cambridge, Massachusetts, I caught up with Piebald at Stone Hill College in Easton, Massachusetts for a quick interview before their concert there.
But, instead of asking the obvious questions, I thought it would be fun to delve into the classic The Book of Questions and learn some things that their fans might not know about the four members. Happily, they were up for the challenge and the resulting interview is a very entertaining one, where I asked questions such as:
* What is your most treasured memory?
* Would it disturb you much if, upon your death, your body were simply thrown into the woods to rot?
* Which sex do you think has it easier in our culture? Have you ever wished you were of the opposite sex?
* When you tell a story, do you often exaggerate or embellish it? If so, why?
And the questions are all answered in the order of Travis, Luke, Andrew, and Stuart.
Music featured in the interview from "Killa Bees" includes:
1) (in preview) Hard Kid
2) There and Back Again
3) Jula Bell
4) Waste Your Time
5) Waiting on the Rays
6) Anthem of New Boston
7) Ants go Marching
8) Part of Your Body
9) The King
10) Timing is Everything
11) Catch You
12) Cities
13) Song About Sex
14) Put Your Slippers...
If you like this interview, give a listen to the Well-Rounded Radio Interviews with Mission of Burma.
