Blitzen Trapper: ‘just banging stuff out’

Horsing around (sorry, we couldn't resist) with Blitzen Trapper (Credit: Annie Musselman)

Vocalist-guitarist Eric Earley and his fellow travelers in Blitzen Trapper bonded in the Pacific Northwest over the love of, well, pretty much everything. Their 2007 self-released album “Wild Mountain Nation” (and first for Sub Pop, who released it internationally) found the Portland, Ore., group hop-scotching across Pavement, Grateful Dead and onward, veering from cluttered and manic to ethereal and winsome in the blink of an eye. It’s a postmodern collision of sonic styles that has inspired all kinds of clever descriptors (more on that below) and much anticipation for Blitzen’s next effort, "Furr" (out Sept. 23 on Sub Pop), which the prolific Earley says he just "banged out" between tours.

Despite the abundance of his musical output, Earley is a man of few words. But he did shed some light on the band’s influences and the origins of that offbeat name.

Did you happen to read the All Music Guide review for “Wild Mountain Nation”?
No, I didn't actually.

Dig this: "It's a dizzying lo-fi psychedelic prog rock power pop alt-country indie rock jam fest."
[Laughs] I don't know what that means, actually. But it's funny.  

Is that how you would describe your music?
Uh, sure. But it would take awhile to say all of that.

So how did Blitzen Trapper jump off?
We all grew up playing music in Portland. We've been in different bands together. It all started out pretty casually.

Where did the name come from?
Well, Blitzen is German for lightning, and the first Early to come to North America was a fur trapper.

Awesome. That erases the vision I had of the reindeer Blitzen mangled in a bear trap.
Oh yeah, well, there is that, too.

What did you all listen to?
We listened to all kinds of stuff. Everything from noise rock like Sonic Youth and Pavement to country music like Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson, and all the way to hip-hop like Run-DMC. We listened to everything.

How about Southern rock? The guitar solo on "Murder Babe" sounds like it was sampled from the Lynyrd Skynyrd riff catalogue.
I don't know about that. I'm not into Southern rock, although I love riff-rock like Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath. I also like the James Gang. Are they Southern rock? No, wait, they're from Los Angeles. I have no idea, man.

Well, one thing is for sure: you guys are prolific as hell.
Yeah, we've already finished a new record ["Furr"]. We put together a tour EP of six songs that we are selling during shows, and there is an iTunes EP, which is a compilation of live radio and acoustic stuff. And that's really just me, a guitar and a harmonica. And then there is the full-on record we put out last year. There's a lot of material going around.

So where does all this productivity come from?  
Just sitting down with my guitar and banging stuff out. Just writing songs, you know? It's tough to explain.

You seem to pretty closed about your creative process.
[Laughs] You could say that. But not about the tour. We're playing in our Pacific Northwest…then heading out on tour to the rest of the world shortly after that.  

Have you slept?
Uh, no. [Laughs] I'm kidding. We actually had January and February off before this. So we rested.

So what do you think about the Portland scene? The artistic and natural environments seem to be pretty fertile.
Yeah, the Northwest is beautiful, and we grew up here. It's a great place to live and have a band. And I think Portland has a lot going for it: it's still a relatively small place, things aren't really expensive there and you can live and play pretty cheaply. People come from all over the country to live and make art there.

So no plans to move to Hollywood?
No way. It's all good in Portland. It's a pretty mellow place. I can't explain it. People should check it out for themselves.