Blind Pilot takes bikes to the road to share music

By Jo Rafferty, Staff Writer
Tuesday, September 16, 2008 | No comments posted.

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Spirited musicians pedaled their way into Coos Bay on Wednesday in time to have dinner at Shark Bites and give a performance at Broadway Rock Hall.

It was four members of the Portland indie folk rock band, Blind Pilot, who have been enjoying newfound success after their song, “Go On, Say It,” was named iTunes song of the week in July and they released their first album, “3 Rounds & a Sound” later that month.

During the recording sessions for their album, several musicians showed up to be guest artists and the two-member band grew to nine.

“It’s so great,” said Ryan Dobrowski, the drummer, of all that has happened in the last several months. “It’s something we never expected.”

It was the second tour down the coast for original band members Dobrowski and Israel Nebeker, guitarist and lead vocalist, who have been performing together as Blind Pilot for two years. But this time Kati Claborn, who sings and plays tenor banjo, mountain dulcimer and ukelele, and Luke Ydstic, upright bass player and vocalist, came along. The musicians pulled their instruments behind them — Ydstic with a coffin-like carrier for his bass and Dobrowski with a set of drums that he designed that fit inside of each other.

The musicians were on their 10th scheduled performance out of 25, but they expect to do many more spontaneous shows along the way. They left Bellingham, Wash., on Aug. 16 and plan to arrive in San Diego on Oct. 13.

Coos Bay welcomed the band “with open arms,” it says in their journal — available online at www.blindpilotmusic.com. The travel and tourism bureau put up a “Welcome Blind Pilots” sign and gave them a free room at the Red Lion. At the Broadway Rock Hall, it was “an intimate setting with a small crowd feeding off and returning the energy of the band’s songs,” — exactly what they want to convey in a documentary, they said.

Although they admitted they’re tired by the end of the night, bicycling on their tour instead of driving actually energizes them.

“It creates a great energy,” Dobrowski said. “It just feels good to get somewhere through your own power.”

Along the way, they mostly camp, but many times are invited to stay at people’s houses, Nebeker said.

The group of 20- to 30-year-olds includes other members who didn’t go on the tour. Those members play instruments such as, violins, a trumpet, vibraphone and a pedal steel guitar.

The band was influenced by the groups Neutral Milk Hotel and Arcade Fire, according to Nebeker, who writes the lyrics and music, while the whole band helps out in the arrangements.

“I write the bare bones of all the songs,” he said.

Their catalog includes 14 songs, “and growing,” Nebeker said.

Dobrowski and Nebeker met in 2000 while attending the University of Oregon — Dobrowski was an art major and Nebeker was studying music. They graduated and began playing together while living in Astoria, according to Hannah Nebeker, band organizer and the lead singer’s sister.

She said the band’s name came from them watching boat pilots along the Columbia River.

“It was boat pilots, not in an airplane,” she said. “It was during the time they were first coming together.”

There are several reviews posted on Blind Pilot’s Web site, including the following from the Portland Mercury:

“It is a genuine surprise to be completely hooked, again and again, by the songs of Blind Pilot’s Israel Nebeker over the course of their debut, ‘3 Rounds and a Sound.’ Blind Pilot is one of Portland’s best new bands.”

The tour will help with publicity, but most of all they are just having a good time and doing shows wherever they go, Hannah Nebeker said.

“They are just having an adventure,” she said.
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• For more information on Blind Pilot, visit www.blindpilotmusic.com.
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