Built to Spill: a best-kept secret

By Ben Rheault

I practically stumbled across Built to Spill by accident. I was returning a warped record I had purchased from what was then Vinyl Connection (now Orange Records.)

They didn’t have another copy of the record I originally bought, but the clerk, who was a friend of mine and knew my taste, directed me to “Keep it Like a Secret.” “You’ll like it…it’s poppy boy-punk,” she said to me.

I took it home, peeled back the cellophane wrapper, and put it on my turntable. What happened next changed forever what I thought modern music should sound like, and saved me from a life of listening to anything that didn’t make me feel…something.

I was fortunate to be able to connect with Built to Spill’s founder and songwriter, Doug Martsch, over the phone during a break in the band’s touring schedule, to chat briefly about what the band has been up to, his songwriting process, and what fans in Fargo can expect to see on their, as of this writing, nearly sold out June 22 show at The Aquarium.

High Plains Reader: It’s been a year or so since the release of “Untethered Moon.” Is a new record on its way soon, and what can we expect from the new material?

Doug Martsch: Well, we hope to make another record. That’s the plan. But we’re a long ways away from putting out a record.

To me it’s just another batch of songs and I don’t know that they’re anything different than anything we’ve done before or, you know hopefully they’re a little different. They feel a little different (laughs). But, um, yeah, I can’t speak to what the record will be like. That kind of has a lot to do with how the recording process goes and stuff. A lot of songs kinda get their personalities from that. I just feel like our songs could have been on any of our records. I kind of just think they fit together as a record because they’re recorded together and experienced together. They just happened to be a collection of random songs.

HPR: I’d imagine the music is informed by the people you’re working with at the time too…you’re going to have a different feel with different players.

DM: Absolutely. Totally. So if I were to say that these songs sounded like one of our records it would be because of the recording style or something. It’s too early to tell that. There’re rockers and there’s slow songs. There’re pop songs. Same kind of stuff we always put down I guess.

HPR: Can you tell us a little about your process? Do you write kind of stream-of-consciously or do you have a pretty good idea of what you want it to sound like?

DM: Well, there are a lot of stages to the writing process. And we take our time. We do a lot of rewriting and a lot of listening back to jams and things like that. And I also do have a guitar sitting around and a little tape recorder and just record every little thing that seems like a halfway decent idea. I’ll strum random chords and sing random melodies. I come up with a lot of songs doing that. Not any sort of thought at all. Not any direction. Or sometimes there’s a song that we have and I’ll try a different melody over that. There is a lot of rewriting. That seems to increase the older I get. When I was younger it didn’t seem like I did that stuff as much.

HPR: Unlike other 90s bands that have since become parodies of themselves, Built to Spill has managed to maintain its integrity. To what do you attribute this?

DM: That’s where we were kind of lucky. We never had a hit. It seems like the people that know about us, you know, they’re people who are really into music. There aren’t many casual Built to Spill fans. If you got into it, you really had to find it.

HPR: What can we expect at The Aquarium, are you playing a mix of songs from every album, or are you focusing on newer material?

DM: Definitely focused on newer material. We’re doing a lot of the songs off “Untethered Moon” and we do a few brand new songs. Actually, a couple of them are songs that didn’t make it onto “Untethered Moon.” They were recorded for “Untethered Moon” and just left off to make the record a little more streamlined.

But there will be a mix of things from other records. There are a few things that we can’t play at all. There are a couple songs that are a struggle to play now as a three-piece that we play anyways because it’s kind of challenging and fun. Hopefully we’ll have a cover by the time we get out your way.”

With eight studio records and one live album, Built to Spill have consistently put out music since 1993, and they show no signs of stopping. They will bring their brand of quirky indie-pop to The Aquarium Wednesday, June 22.