Punch Brothers: Basking In The Glow (Interview)

The Punch Brothers have been described as a “progressive bluegrass band. Armed with banjos, fiddles, mandolins and guitars and led by Nickel Creek’s Chris Thile, the quintet blends elements of country, folk, mondern classical, jazz and bluegrass into a sound that is truly unique. The band recently headed into the studio with producer T Bone Burnett and emerged with their latest album The Phosphorescent Blues. The 13th Floor’s Marty Duda spoke to guitarist Chris Eldridge recently about working with T Bone Burnette and about the “technology vs humanity” concept behind The Phosphorescent Blues.

Click here to listen to the interview:

Or read a transcription of the interview here:

MD: So you’ve been doing some shows in Europe, is that what’s happening?

CE: Yeah we did 5 shows and just promo, we did promo stuff over there and it was great. It went really well, it was the first time we played a lot of this material live.

MD: And how does it translate live?

CE: It was great. I got to say, we were thrilled having like an unusual amount of fun playing this stuff. So we got about 2 weeks off now, then we start our US tour.

MD: Right.

CE: We are all very psyched to get out and do this.

MD: So my understanding is that the album itself has some kind of overarching concept to it or theme which is kind of a technology versus humanity thing going on. Is that right?

CE: Well I wouldn’t necessarily simplify it that much, but definitely there is a theme that’s kind of about how technology is changing the way we relate to each other and how we communicate with each other and how we are present with each other. We tried not to be overly preachy, not saying technology’s bad,  because it’s not, and we all use it, it’s inescapable, it’s here to stay. There’s definitely musing.

MD: From what I’ve gleaned some of the inspiration is from just noticing fans out in the audience staring at their cell phones lighting up their faces.

Punch BrothersCE: Yeah. They’ll be taking a video…you’ll be on stage playing music and they will be taking a video of you so they can post to YouTube later or they’ll be face timing with they’re friends so they can see the show, which is, you know, it’s a nice intention but the side effect, other than the fact that we see these kind of crazy, you know, phosphorescent, blues and pinks like one of the lyrics, well its the name of the record too…

MD: Yeah.

CE: …their faces are lit up in this funny way and everybody behind them, you know, might be watching their video too. It removes them from the moment, that’s the other side effect. So that’s the kind of stuff that we’re thinking about.

MD: Does it affect your performance as well?

CE: No, no. I wouldn’t say so. I mean we’re still just kind of doing what we do.

MD: Right.

CE: But it is, it’s noteworthy because it’s always happening in this day and age.

MD: Right. Now from what I understand when you went to come up with the songs for this record, you guys go into some kind of writing retreat. Is that right?

CE: Yeah, well. This time we finished our touring from the last record and about 2 years ago it was like February of 2013 and we as a band had been going steadily since we started in 2008 and without really much of a break. So we wanted to kind of take our time writing this next record. Just get off the never-ending Punch Brothers wagon and just let ourselves write a record without the pressure of having to produce a record immediately and then get back on the road. So we came up with this idea of, yeah there’s these writing retreats where we get together you know, about once a month or every 3 weeks or so for a week and get together and work on music and we wanted to schedule enough of them so we wouldn’t feel this intense pressure to have to be productive in every moment, that we could write in a more relaxed manner and it was great, it was really good. We would book a show somewhere and the proceeds of the show would allow us to rent a house and just hang out there for a little while and then try and be creative together.

MD: I see. That sounds idyllic as far as song writing goes. Is there a tendency, if you don’t have a deadline in front of you to kind of not get around to writing so much? That’s kind of human nature I guess.

CE: Probably different for different people. I know I’m certainly like that, you know, Chris Thile on the other hand is like the most, you know, hardworking prolific person I know. So I’m sure he would use every second of that, but I think that is important especially when you’re in a band with 4 other people and everybody has lives, you have to put things on the calendar, you have to figure out when you’re gonna do this.

MD: Right.

CE: But that’s actually good, it is good. It motivates you to say, ‘alright we’re going to do this’.

Click here to listen to Julep from The Phosphorescent Blues:

MD: Because a lot of band members also have other projects that they’re involved with. You have a duo that just released an album last year. Chris obviously had his Nickel Creek things happening. Other guys do either solo stuff or other sessions. Does that other outside work influence the band? Is it a good thing for the band, is it healthy or does kind of take away from the focus?

CE: No. It’s very positive, it’s very, very positive because it allows…those other projects I think allow us all to indulge what it is that got us all excited about music as individuals, you know. When you’re In a band your job is to be part of the team and kind of do what’s best for the band, what’s best for the team and that’s awesome, but sometimes in doing that you don’t, there are aspects, facets yourself that don’t get to be expressed that are really important and kind of keep you engaged and interested. So I think that, that time away from the band where we can all explore things that we don’t get to do in the band,  I think that kind of allows everybody to come back with kind of fresh energy and purpose and Ideas.

T Bone Burnette
T Bone Burnette

MD: Gotcha. Now we got one more question for you. Unfortunately I have to do another interview in about a minute and a half. Hopefully you could just briefly comment on the input that T Bone Burnett has as a producer. I mean we’ve all seen what he’s done in the past. What is it that he brings to the table as far as you guys and this record?

CE: T Bone, he’s incredible. I mean, more than anything, to have a partner in the creative process who you know is keeping an eye on the forest. He’s not missing the forest for any trees ever and to be able to have somebody like that, you know you can trust just automatically makes life a lot easier. Also T Bone is a master at getting everybody to relax and be their best selves, which is extremely important when you’re recording music.

MD: Right.

CE: You know, what you’re trying to capture is a certain humanity. The greatest recording artists, I feel like you don’t hear what they play, you hear what they want you to hear or you hear what they’re thinking about, I would actually know if they play or sing. So T Bone was really good at getting us all to kind of relax and be our best, least encumbered selves.