ONLINE BONUS | INTERVIEW WITH CONOR OBERST

It's been 13 years since your last Bright Eyes album. What made you go back to solo after so long?

The main reason is, Mike Mogis didn't play on this new record, and I consider Bright Eyes to be a band with him and myself and this other guy named Nate Walcott. And so, since Mike didn't play on it, I didn't really feel like it would be right to call it Bright Eyes.

So you feel like it was almost more of a semantic thing?

Yeah, it was kind of a misconception that it was a solo project. It started off as a solo project 10 years ago while I was recording off of a four-track back in my basement, but since starting from the second album on, we kind of worked on every record and more or less been on every tour. So I consider it a band.

The album, Cassadaga, is named after the city in Florida with the same name, commonly referred to as the psychic capital of the world. What was the reason for that?

Well, a friend of mine who actually lived in Gainsville told me about it, and it sounded really interesting. It was about a year between the time that she told me about [it] and when I actually went and checked it out, and I think I had kind of built it up in [my] mind as this place I really needed to go to-and eventually I did, and for whatever reason I just found a lot of peace of mind down there. I got a [lot of] reading done and hung out for a couple days. I believe that there's energy in places, and I think there's a reason they've all congregated there and lived there, because there's something that's palpable to me when you're there. I think any place you go where there's enough people focusing their mental energy on something, whether it's in that case like a psychic, you know, ESP-type thing-or think of any kind of like spiritual center where people go and pray or meditate. I think the mind is very powerful and you can kind of feel that when you're in those places.

So you feel like the experience kind of panned out the way you hoped it would?

Yeah, at least it didn't let me down. Like I said, I left with kind of a new peacefulness, I guess, a calmness-and I can't quite explain why it all happened that way, but it made enough of an impact on me that I decided to name the record that. Also I guess because it's a pretty-sounding word.

You didn't go down there necessarily with the intention of doing a record drawing off of those themes?

That came later. This is kind of in the middle, the years before, when I was still writing songs for the record, and then some of those ideas ended up showing up in the songs I was writing, and I mentioned it in one of the songs. So yeah, it just kind of all came together without a whole lot of premeditating.

When you're writing songs, do you go for an overarching theme in your writings?

Usually, the songs kind of come on their own terms, and a lot of times I don't write with the intention of it being a record. So a lot of it is already written, and I'll realize "Oh, I have enough material to do a record.” And then, maybe toward the end of that process-the last few songs I write leading up to recording-I have the advantage at that point of knowing what the other songs sound like, and at that point it can maybe be sculpted more into one larger piece of work. But for the most part, it's just writing songs as they come, and you don't really think much about the next step until it's time to do it.

You've definitely been outspoken about your feelings toward the war in Iraq. Is there any way you could elucidate on the way you think it's affected the American ethos and even our ethic as a nation to be embroiled in that?

Well, there's a different mindset, I think, that takes over when you say we're a country at war, and obviously that was used for political gain for a long time until people started to realize that it wasn't quite going the way it was promised to everyone. Now we're all kind of witnessing the other side of it, where it's becoming much more of a negative thing as far as people who support the war, the politicians who got us into it. People are kind of coming around. But for a long time it was such a tool to, I think, control people and to create income for a certain small percentage of Americans from war contracts and for the oil industry. They had a score to settle and they wanted to make money, and it was done at the expensive of a lot of innocent people, both American and Iraqi. It's really just sad more than anything at this point.

As a songwriter, when you bring these issues out, is it more because it's personally impacting you, or do you feel like there's a responsibility behind the art you're creating?

For me, I don't really have much control over what I write about. I tend to write about what's on my mind, and I never wrote political songs until it really started to affect my personal life and what I thought about on a daily basis. And then, at that point, they just started coming out in the songs. But I never really sit down and say, "I'm going to write a political song or a love song or whatever”; I don't have a message like that. I have to just let the songs come and be what they'll be.

So it's not so much that you sit down, like, "I'm going to prick the American conscience with this”? Is it more like its something that's weighing on you personally?

Yeah, the last eight years have been so intense in a lot of ways. I do a lot of traveling; I spend a lot of time outside of the States answering a lot of questions, trying to explain that we don't all think the same way and that a lot of Americans feel completely the opposite of our administration. And it became a real element of my life, dealing with these issues and thinking about it. I can remember the first time I got interested, about a year before the 2000 election and just the whole situation with the results of the election and the fact that it went to the Supreme Court. And I didn't know much about politics at all, but I can remember thinking how strange it was that weeks had gone by and we still didn't have a president. And then, seeing George Bush speak, it was just-I couldn't believe that this person could truly be in charge of our country. It seemed so ridiculous to me, even knowing nothing about politics-just seeing him as a person I couldn't believe it. And then of course, 9/11 and the Iraq War and everything just sort of snowballed into this really terrifying situation that we're still in. It's easy to forget that's still what happened.

In 2004, you were a part of the Vote for Change music tour. What drew you to that, and what was your goal?

We were looking for different ways to be involved, and that was the most well organized; it seemed like it had the most potential to have the most impact. Michael Stipe was the person who said to me, "You should do this; this is going to be a good thing.” So, yeah, he kind of got us involved.

With the 2008 elections coming up, do you plan on being involved in that process as well?

Yeah, [we've] been talking, having meetings with different managers and that kind of thing. Nothing is set in stone yet, and I actually have a lot of touring already in the books for the record and everything. So, I'm not sure how it will all play out yet, but we're very excited to do whatever we can to help. I've already played shows for Obama and all that, so I'm really excited about how things have shaped up.

The intersection between art and politics has always been very interesting to me. Do you think it's something that becomes incumbent upon you, as you gain a platform, to be an instrument of change, or it is just something that's much more personal like, "Hey, I'd be involved in this regardless of whether or not I had this platform”?

I think it's a personal choice. I don't think any artist should feel obligated if they're not compelled on their own to want to speak about things. If you don't have conviction about it, then there's no reason to do it. I also feel like it's completely within your right as a citizen. Just because you have to be a musician or an actor doesn't mean you surrender your rights as a citizen and your ability to participate in the political process. And of course, if you want to tell a lot of people something and you happen to have a megaphone in your hand, you're going to use the megaphone; you're not going to whisper it. So, if you have a platform to communicate with people and it's something you believe in, then I think that it's completely within your right and completely appropriate to use that platform. People are more than welcome to change the channel or not buy a ticket to the show or whatever if it's not something they feel comfortable with-you know, the mixing of music and politics or art and politics or whatever. But I think with the audience I have, people have been pretty understanding that it's just a part of life, and it's fair game to discuss it.

Over the last eight years, it has been impossible for anyone who is politically aware to miss the increasing influence of evangelicalism and fundamentalism on the political sphere. Could you talk about your feelings on that? I think the frustrations on it come through in your songwriting, and I think they come through in a lot of the way Americans are feeling right now.

To me, the single most dangerous thing that's happening in the world today is the rise of fundamentalism across the board. Evangelical christians, Islamic extremists, crazy Zionists, the Israeli and Palestinian situation and how unreasonable that can be sometimes-all those things coming together, it's terrifying. I think spirituality is really important, but unfortunately, it's hard to look, from a historical standpoint, at organized religion and see much good that it's brought to the world. You know, it's mostly just been something that's divided the world and causes suffering.

Is that in any way a tradition you were raised in? Did you experience that firsthand at all?

I went to Catholic school and my parents were Catholic, so that was my early upbringing. My parents are also pretty liberal people. As soon as I could make an argument beyond, "I just want to sleep in” for not wanting to go to church, they were pretty understanding of that, and they certainly wanted me to make my own way of the world. But it's something they believed in, and so that's how we were raised. I guess it's more just realizing all the things it has brought to people. Of course, good things have happened too, but if you think of all the wars that have been waged because of these differences-to me it's, I don't know, maybe it's human nature. Maybe you can't blame it all on organized religion; maybe it's the human heart that's flawed-but either way, to me it seems like a negative force.

I think something that's alarming to a lot of people is how politicized it's become of late.

Yeah, obviously, more than not it's used as a political tool and as a way to control people and to gain power and wealth and advantage for small amounts of people at the expense of big populations of people. And I think that's kind of the way it's been since most of these religions have been here.

So maybe it's not such a new development; maybe with the Information Age we live in, it's just more apparent now?

Yeah, I think in these times it's easy to look back and say that these things have happened and it comes and goes, but we're in a situation now where just because of the environment and because of the kinds of weapons that exist, there's never been quite a time like this in human history where it's quite so apparent that human beings might not be around forever.

Capitalism-is it still something you have a problem with?

Yeah, it's something that I think about. There's no way to separate yourself unless you want to go live on a mountain somewhere or completely get off t he grid and grow your own food and all that. You have to participate in the modern world, and unfortunately, things are how they are. I don't think necessarily the system is flawed on its own, but it's kind of like organized religion. It is what it is, but placed in the hands of any average person, it becomes something evil pretty fast. It's hard. I don't know the best way to organize a society. We've tried different ways, and none of them have been completely successful. So I don't know, I think the best you can do is live in a way that's compassionate toward other people and do your best to spread positivity and not negativity.

Do you see that as your mission as a songwriter overall?

I don't know if it's quite that clear-cut. For me, I make music-it's all I've ever done, it's all I really know how to do and it's the only thing I've ever really felt compelled to do. So I don't know if I have much of a reason beyond that. I try to do what I can for the people I'm around, and I think it's definitely important to realize that money isn't everything. And I guess it's pretty simple to say that that's what a lot of people would want you to believe, that it's the most important thing, but it's just not. I think happiness and freedom are much more important than money.

The interesting thing with American consumerism is how it's kind of crept into so many facets of our life and really into the realm of social action, for good or for ill-the commercialization of social action and social justice. Do you think that is just a sign of the times?

Yeah, I think people are trying to make the best of the situation-this whole idea that progress will happen through these business models and the way to get people to, say, clean up the environment is by figuring out a way to make it go green or whatever, clean up the environment. To me it's somewhat cynical, the idea that people are only going to do good if they can make money while doing good. I think that's a little shortsighted. I still believe there are more good people in the world than not, and human beings want to help each other if it's just presented in a way that's understandable and achievable. I guess it's like, whatever works-if those things are going to bring about positive change and it has to have a logo on it to get done, then I'm all for it; put a logo on it.

Going back to the idea that there are more good people in the world than not, I do think that kind of optimism and hopefulness comes through in your music while at the same time being able to spotlight the things in the world that need to change. Is that a tension as songwriter to deal with things that can be so daunting and so frustrating, but to still have this attitude of optimism through it?

Yeah, and I think it is as a person just as much as as a songwriter. I'm sure you've experienced that tension of, obviously you can't close your eyes and ignore all of the things that are horrible in the world, but it doesn't do anyone any good to completely focus on only that and not see things that are beautiful. For me it's a day-to-day thing. There are days when I feel really positive and really hopeful and really optimistic, and there are days when I wake up on the opposite side of the bed and I can't get to go those feelings any more; I can only get to the other side, the fear and the horror of these things that go on every day in the world. And I think you're right about [how] a lot of it is how much information there is out there. How before, it was much more globalized. If a tragedy happened in your town, you experienced it, but you didn't have to experience every tragedy that's happening around the world every day. If you pay attention to TV or read the news on the Internet or whatever, there's so much that you quickly get overwhelmed by the terrible things going on. It's pretty much a constant struggle to stay positive and not succumb to those kind of feelings.

On this album, you made the move to Merge records. What brought about that move?

It's just time for change, really. I've released some albums on Saddle Creek; my friends are on that label, and it's something we all kind of started when we were kids-and as time went on, it turned into more of a real label and blah, blah, blah-it's a long story. Essentially, there was no ill will between me and Saddle Creek. It was more the idea of trying something new, and I'm really lucky to be in the position where I don't have to come out with a contract to anyone, so I can release one record with one label and do something else with the next one-there's not a whole lot of obligation. The whole nature of the album is a little bit of an experiment, not having Mike and doing it in a different way, so we thought we'd take it one step further and release it in a different way.

How can people expect this album to be different than stuff you've done in the past?

It wasn't recorded in a studio. It was recorded in basically a house, and it was also the first record I've done in a number of years that never saw the inside of a computer; it was all done on tape. I don't consider it lo-fi, but it wasn't made in a studio, and I think it has a casual feel that I enjoy about it.

Is there anyone new that you're excited about seeing come up and see what they've got?

Yeah, I'm always trying to listen to new music and see bands play, and I also help run a label with some other friends called Team Love-we put out a lot of bands, so it's always exciting to hear something new that is great; that's the best thing. Actually, lately, speaking of evangelicals, there's a band called the Evangelicals. I don't think they're true evangelicals, but I like their album a lot. There's a band called the Police Brothers that we're working with from upstate New York. I don't know, it just seems like there's great stuff happening all the time.