![]() "These things are supposed to be mechanisms to get me closer to myself, and to expressing myself in a more fluid way. It's music, so if it feels good in your guts, you're doing it fine, you're doing it right. It gave me an opportunity to reaffirm my own sense and compass for what I think is cool and good. Lenker: "There were so many opportunities to think that I was not good at music, or failing, or not shredding hard enough. Lenker also spoke of learning "self-validation" through her time at Berklee: Listen to Buck Meek discuss his solo work, making the Big Thief album U.F.O.F. Friendship is the most reliable way to build a career." ![]() When I really look back at all the things that you could call 'achievements,' they all started with just a friendship. Meek: "It all starts with friendship.building an honest trusting friendship with someone and playing music from that place…. These were insights the whole band cosigned, encouraging the audience to find the instructors and friends who recognize you for who you are and understand the sort of artist you want to become. "There's always someone who shreds better. "There's a lot of really special musicians," he said, adding that it took him a while to "shed that system of competition." "Coming here, you really realize you're not the most special musician ever," he said to the room of potential future Berklee students-not to be a downer, but to offer a different way of seeing things. Krivchenia remembered the experience of "a good, solid ego death" during his first year. On Berklee's Greatest Lessonsīefore they ascended into the Pitchfork pantheon, most of the band members were right here, taking classes, jamming with new friends, and coping with the impostor syndrome that can take hold when you realize just how many good musicians a school like Berklee can gather in one place. What follows are some of the highlights from that conversation, edited for length and clarity. What emerged over the course of that hour was a set of glorious, Big Thief–flavored riffs on many topics: origins, friendship, self-criticism, authenticity, sustainable success, vulnerability, and much more. They drew energy from each other's ideas, pulling out themes, and bridging the spaces between their individual experiences. Throughout the interview, it was easy to see that these were musicians attuned to the mystical, tough-to-explain side of their craft, and accustomed to the art of jamming. (Bracken, to his great credit, knew how to spot a generational talent even if she couldn't yet sight read.) Lenker recounted the story, now legend, of tracking down Bracken and playing him her original songs to convince him that, despite the fact that she couldn't read music and didn't know any theory, she deserved a spot at the college. The conversation that afternoon, which was presented for a group of high school musicians and moderated by Berklee's dean of admissions, Damien Bracken, began at the very beginning, reflecting on the members' earliest musical influences-Meek, for example, "would play the broomstick along with Raffi VHSs"-and following their paths through Berklee. If they haven’t quite reached that level of clout yet, give it a few years. Over seven years and five albums-most recently this year’s sprawling success, Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You-the band has amassed the sort of influence and acclaim that's fast approaching indie landmark status: Think of a band like their label-mates, the National. ’14, and bassist Max Oleartchik, would step onto another stage at Boston’s Roadrunner concert venue, where they would play to a sold-out crowd of 3,500. That same evening, Lenker, guitarist Buck Meek B.M. ’12 said as she and her Big Thief bandmates took their seats for a live interview in a Berklee recital hall earlier this spring. “This room used to feel bigger,” Adrianne Lenker B.M.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |