If you don’t know who Bryan John Appleby is then, cool, most people probably don’t. But that’s a time in your life that’s destined to be over– starting now. Bryan is one of the northwest’s fastest rising stars, opening for bands like Deep Sea Diver and Lemolo, playing both Seattle’s Bumbershoot and City Arts Festival in the last year, and getting praised far and wide for his first full length solo album, “Fire on the Vine” (See a review here!). His music is dramatic, original, and best served with a cup of coffee and a cigarette in the morning, or with a crowded room and a cold beer at night.

In less than a month, Bryan and his band set out on their biggest tour yet, opening up for local hero’s The Head and The Heart on a month long, dominantly West Coast tour. Bryan and I sat down and talked about the ups, downs, and his future on the road. Here’s how it all went down.

Dom: When you’re on the road, do you guys have any pre-show routines, superstitions?

Bryan: I don’t know if there’s anything we buy into like that. There’s a few traditions that we try to get going. Like, these are just little rituals; something we call Kentucky Communion. It’s just taking shots of whiskey before we go on. But yeah, like pre-show stuff, not so much. I find myself in a pretty weird mood right before, the two hours leading up to a show. I sort of isolate a little bit. One, if I talk too much it starts to mess with my voice for singing. So I try to avoid people. I wish there was more like, “Alright guys! Let’s do it!” Well, I don’t know if I wish it, but it would be fun.

D: Like Stillwater from Almost Famous, when they’re in their huddle together?

B: Yeah, totally. And it depends on the show, I think sometimes it’s nice to be relaxed about it. Instead of treating it like a football game or something. More like something that’s natural and that you’re trying to move through naturally. I think there’s been a few big shows where we’ve been like, “Holy shit this is crazy, let’s really get ourselves there mentally,” but most of the time I think it’s more of a matter of trying to relax, and move into it organically. I try to be scarce and, you know, a walk every once in awhile does good. Especially in these little towns you’ve never been too, it can kinda be fun. To go around like four blocks just by myself and then come back is just something I like to do. Um, yeah, or just sit. We always generally have a cigarette, but that’s not unique to just shows, but it’s a good way to relax right before.

D: Absolutely, I don’t even smoke and sometimes I do that. Is there anything new you’re planning on doing this tour? A new song maybe, or new arrangements off of “Fire On The Vine”?

B: Yeah, we spruced up “Lake”, one of the songs on “Fire On The Vine”. On the record it’s cello, percussion, and guitar only, and so we made it a full band thing, which we tried on the last tour, so I think we’ll try that again coming up. There’s one new song with the full band. I have three new songs in the works, but I think only one of them will end up on the next tour. And, yeah, it’s a little different, not quite as folky as before.

D: Does re-tooling the music energize you?

B: It actually makes me more nervous. So my process has always been: write a song, like the bare bones of a song, on acoustic guitar. Chord progression, structure, lyrics, melody. Then once I have a batch of those bring them to Kevin, the guy who’s produced both the EP and the Full Length. We then make a record, and it’s during that process that the instrumentation gets sort of spelled out, flushed out, and then the record’s done. And then at that point I bring it to the band. I say, “Here’s how we did it. I want to get as close to this as possible.” Then you sorta tweak stuff, sorta make it work with the band–but the band’s been the last step. And so, with this new song, it’s the first time that I’ve worked it out with the band before we’ve really recorded it. It’s a little bit different.

D: Do you find they influenced you a lot, the band?

B: It’s hard, I try and maintain the fact that I–I mean, the reason that I decided to go solo in the first place is so I could have creative control. That was the exciting idea, the catalyst behind the whole thing. I think that there’s an understanding that at the end of the day, who knows what the record will be like, but I’m also–I’ve been playing with these guys long enough to trust them a little bit more. They know what I like, they know what I listen too, they know what I’m going for, for the most part. And so as we work these songs out in a live setting with the band first, the idea is–I want to hear all their parts, I want their creativity to be a part of the process. But when I go to make a record, I tell them I may or may not choose to use what they come up with. If it’s a sweet part and it makes the song awesome, like, let’s use it, give you credit and do that whole thing, it’ll be great, but I make it clear that they can’t be mad if I edit every single part and decide differently. So, it’s been the closest it’s ever been to writing with a band, and making them a part of that process, but yeah, it’s still not a band, a proper band. It’s like this in-between proper band and me just hiring a bunch of dudes. ‘Cause they all work really hard and they’ve done a lot of work and they’ve put a lot of effort into this on their own dime. They didn’t have to do that. If they were just hired musicians–you know,  I wasn’t able to pay them for the first, almost year, or all the money we made went to the band van. So yeah, I trust them and they’re more involved than just like a hired gun.

D:  In the last year, you’ve been on tour with Lemolo, Deep Sea Diver, and now you’re headed out with The Head and The Heart in September. How does playing with these bands–bands that have a lot of hype attached to them–affect your performance each night? Is there a sense of healthy competition, anxiety, or do you just Zen out on playing live?

B: There’s definitely not been any sense of competition. My friend Jeff O’Neil has been helping us manage–he’s been managing a lot the last six months and he just read a Tom Waits biography, and he saying how Tom Waits, like when he was first getting started, he opened this huge arena rock, not rock, but like arena tour for Ziggy Stardust or someone. I forget who it was, but he opened up for this huge band that was playing to thousands and thousands of people, and at that point he was just playing on his piano, these songs. And everyone in the other bands really loved him and that’s why they brought him on tour, but the crowds didn’t like it at all, like, it didn’t work. It didn’t translate. And he sorta decided after that–that ok, the club circuit is the circuit that my music makes the most sense in. But there was never any sort of animosity of like, those guys are writing big pop songs that only work in arenas, fuck them that sucks, this is real music what I’m doing. And the guys from the pop bands, the bigger bands weren’t like, man he just needs to make a bigger noise, like, what he’s doing is good but it could be a lot better if he just like, got a band behind him, and polished it. What it sounded like from what Jeff was describing was that, well, actually they both recognized that they’re both doing very, very different things and the fact that neither of them could do the other thing doesn’t devalue anything. Tom Waits was like, “Man that guy can write a really big pop song that sounds really awesome in a arena. Not my thing, I do clubs.” And the other people were like, “Man, Tom Waits writes a really intimate, cool, weird, dirty song that like, and it works in a club. That sounds fun, but I can’t do that,” you know? So I feel like that’s sort of the long way around it, but that’s sorta what it feels like. With those four bands, the three bands that you mentioned and us, like, I think that there’s just like really different things going on, and I think we’ve kinda realized that pretty early on. When we toured with Deep Sea Diver it was interesting to see that the more crowded sort of lively rooms, they just killed it, and it was really fun, and everyone was super pumped on it, but then the more intimate, attentive crowds, it felt like, really, really strange, like their songs felt sorta naked, in this awkward way. And the reverse is true for us, we just got stampeded by volume in those rooms and are songs didn’t work, our dynamics didn’t work in those loud rooms, but in the quiet ones they really did. So, yeah, I think that’s like the cool thing to sorta realize, that none of us could do what the other’s doing, none of us needs to, just let it be different.

D: Do you think that there’s more value in touring with bands that sound more like you so that you have the opportunity to get a bigger audience? Or is it better to tour with people you know, who you are comfortable with, who are your friends so that experience of touring is positive?

B: Yeah, at this point, I’ve had a hard time touring. It’s been like, emotionally draining. I mean that’s normal for anyone I think. But I’ve also had a great time. And I think the difference is: it hasn’t been the shows that have done that, it’s been the stuff in between that’s made or broken a tour. I think about this last tour, and the shows with Lemolo.  The shows weren’t huge, they were good, they were fine, none of them were like insane, epic shows. There was one that was really shitty, but most of them were like, nice, normal shows; like what you might experience on a weekday at the High Dive (Seattle Venue), or something. Like 50 – 100 people, maybe more, maybe less. Some people really into it, some of them not. Just really normal stuff, but it was probably my favorite tour that we’ve ever done just because the stuff in between. Like I felt really comfortable with my band, in the van.  And we stopped and swam a lot, and hung out, and I know that stuff isn’t very ambitious, but it really, I don’t I know…

D: Feeds the soul?

B: Yeah, exactly! You know, and more and more that’s important to me. I’ve seen my friends hustle and be sorta like, you know, do good work. Like, The Head and The Heart is the best example of that like, really tireless, ambitious hustle, that pays off. Those boys have worked so hard, and yeah, it’s really paid off. But it’s–I don’t have the same–the trajectory that they’ve taken doesn’t sound like something I want.  And therefore the hustle that they’ve been able to maintain, that’s like a means to the end of it that I don’t want. My perfect–a Damien Jurado model is exactly what I’m looking at. Like, he doesn’t play huge rooms, he probably never will, I mean, maybe, but I’d rather only be on the road two months a year and be at home writing. All I really want to do is write. I just want to write good music and hone my craft, you know? So, touring’s good. It’s necessary to sorta sustain, and get to a place where all I’m doing is writing. Like yeah, it’s true, I’m still working 3 days a week at a restaurant and I don’t want to do that eventually, but at the end of the day I’m looking for the more tempered, even, and steady sustainable sort of climb rather than like, pulling yourself up the sheer cliff, fist after fist, pulling the whole weight behind you. I’d rather–I don’t want anything flashy, you know? So yeah, the personal element is vastly more important to me than like, making sure like, oh, stylistically we’ll get twenty-percent more fans if we do A, B, and C.  I just can’t, I just don’t have the energy to think about all that stuff. It’s beyond me.

D: Absolutely, I think sustainability is the key. A band like Built To Spill that has been around for a long time, influenced so many people. They tour every once in awhile, play a show here or there. But they really just stay low, release an album every couple of years, and they’re still doing it. I’m sure there’s been some really memorable shows while on the road, what’s it like on stage during those nights when you know you’re on top of your game, and the crowd knows it, and everything is just hitting on all cylinders?

B: Oh, I mean, it feels pretty good getting caught up in something like that you know? Any performer sorta knows it, that sort of buzz you get, that thrill. But yeah, I guess it’s always a little unexpected too, it’s like when you find a communication, a line of communication between you and the audience, like, oh my God, when it’s rowdy they’re moving and when it gets soft it’s’–I’m a sucker for really dynamic music and I try and model my music that way where there’s like a lot of dips and a lot of plunges and then back up and back down, you know, loud and soft and that sort of thing. That’s really hard for a crowd to follow, so I never blame them when they’re loud the whole time or quite the whole time, either one can be kinda weird for us. So, those few nights when they’re really just, for an hour, giving their undivided attention, sucking it all in. You can tell, you can feel it. That feels, it always feels, I don’t know, grateful. And yeah, I always try to think about what I’m saying when I’m singing, even though I sing this stuff all the time. So when they start to listen, I start to listen too, instead of hitting autopilot. Like, what am I saying that’s affecting these people. And like, at some point I wrote these things because they affected me too, so I try to let them affect me again, even though it’s an old message. But yeah, depending on the song, it ends up feeling really personal.  And I don’t know, on stage? I think we’re getting there as a band. I think we’re still crafting it. I don’t know if there’s been–I think there’s only been one or two shows where the entire show everyone was on and everyone felt it. That’s still really rare for us as a band.

D: Well you’re a six piece right?

B: Yeah, so it’s strange sometimes. I’ll be like, “That felt great!” and then Kyle will be like, ”Felt pretty good… felt pretty good.” And then other times I’ll just feel shitty and they’ll be like, “Thought that was awesome!”  So I don’t know.

D: Are there any shows that you’re particularly excited to play this tour? Any dates or venues?

B: I’m really excited to play Santa Cruz.

D: Hometown…

B: Yeah.  It’s our hometown and it’s a really big venue in our hometown. And I think we’re doing main support down there too. Blitzen Trapper dropped off for a few of the dates so we got bumped up to main support for like five of the gigs. That’ll be cool, yeah, I’m really excited about it! I don’t know, these are potentially some of the biggest rooms, I mean they’re all–every single room is as big as the biggest room we’ve played. So it’s a really exciting tour.

D: Yeah, It’s exciting for your fans too.

B: Yeah, it’s going to be cool. It’s gonna be totally different. There’s a lot of long drives, and I’m really glad it’s with The Head and The Heart for that same reason. I think they’re a good band, I like their songs, but I’ve heard those songs so many times, so it’s not like I’m excited to see them every night.  I love what they’re doing, I love what they’re writing even now, but that’s not the thing that I’m excited about with them. It’s like what you said again, it’s the personal element. I know that they care about us, and we care about them. It’ll be fun. So yeah, Santa Cruz. Big Sur too! We’re playing this tiny place in Big Sur.  I don’t even know if we’re playing actually, it might just be The Head and The Heart. We might have a day off then. But Big Sur is like my favorite place probably in the world.   I love Big Sur. Big Sur and Davenport (CA). Those are my two favorite places. I think we’re going to do some camping down there.

D: Yeah, I went there for the first time on a tour down the coast. I had never seen it before, and it was like, so this the California Coast that Jack Kerouac talks about. It was sorta magical. What’s the mood like when you travel? What are you guys listening to? Do you handle business/emails on the road, or stay focused on the music?

B: Two tours ago with Deep Sea Diver, to save money we both packed up in one van. So it was all of them and all of us. So nine of us, no trailer, all the gear, one van. It was a blast, but that was the one I was just exhausted from because you can’t–there’s nowhere for you to go. And after two weeks, it didn’t work for me [laughs]. I was  breaking down in the shower at night and stuff, just like a shell of a man, ya know? And I love those guys, and it wasn’t like I didn’t enjoy their company, actually I was surprised at how much we got along and they’re great friends now. But yeah, in the van, we didn’t even have a radio.

D: Didn’t one of your windows break?

B: Yeah, everything kept breaking–the windshield wipers didn’t work. So, it was very memorable for those reasons. I just got cabin fever a little bit, with that many people in that small of a space. This last tour was sort of a dream in regards to that. There were only five of us, just our band this time in our van. We took out two of the bench seats and Jesse made a big bed that fit two people comfortably. So one of us was always sleeping or reading up there, like a loft. It just made it really easy, it was perfect. I try, I always try, like when we set out I think, “Ok I’ll bring my laptop, we’ll have all these hours in the car, I’ll get all this work done, it’ll be great”. But I end up never touching anything. I can’t, I don’t know why. I guess it’s that thing you were saying, trying to like, stay relaxed, look out the window, you know, try to take it in, enjoy the company of the guys around me. And that’s the other thing, we play music together but I don’t hang out with those guys that much when we’re in town, especially now that I live farther away, I see them maybe once a week. So I think it’s a good time to catch up with them too, just as buddies. Sorta like, ‘What’s going on with your family? What’s going on with this and that?” I like that.

D: That’s definitely one of the most enjoyable experiences of being on tour that I’ve found, the comradery, the conversation. If you could take a couple bands from the local area on tour, who would it be?

B: I’m starting to get really obsessed about my friend’s band Flying Childers. Have you heard them yet?

D: No I haven’t. Local?

B: No, they’re from San Francisco, and Kyle Skelton is the main guy. Flying Childers. It’s the name of a racehorse from like 100 years ago or something. And the band’s super mysterious. He just finished up an EP, but he didn’t tell–he sort of like, he’s trying to create this thing around it that, it’s almost the opposite of that hustle we’ve been talking about, like, ”I just want to write these songs and create this mood and just leave it there”. We played a show with them in San Francisco, and they didn’t announce it, and they didn’t announce that the EP was done and that it was available for name your price download on bandcamp (check it out HERE!). He sorta just wants to let it grow, it’s sorta like this experiment almost.  “What would happen if I let this thing organically grow without any–it’s like the difference between a really well-manicured lawn with everything perfectly in a row, the hedges trimmed and the beauty of that, versus the beauty of just like, throwing some seeds out in a field and coming back in a year and seeing what happened. So he’s sort of taking that second model and just sort of, come what may. Like he says he’s starting a cult [laughs].

So, it’s super spooky, really low-fi… yeah. It’s only five songs right now, but I would love to take him on a tour. I was so into it when they played with us live and he’s a good–he’s probably my oldest friend, like, we grew up in Santa Cruz together, I was his youth group leader when he was in junior high. Like that old. So, it’s funny just ’cause he’s now trying to start a cult and I’m writing songs about why I don’t believe in Christianity anymore [laughs] and that’s where we started together.

D: Any dream openings? Anyone you would really love to open for, if you could have it your way?

B: Yeah, I still want to open for David Bazan. I still want to open for Sufjan [Stevens]. Um… Bon Iver would be fun.

D: David Bazan though, you could make that happen.

B: I know! I’m like, “I got to do this soon!” I don’t know, opening would be awesome but, It’s more like–I haven’t listened to Sufjan Stevens for like 6 months or something, and I was just listening to some his stuff this morning actually, and it’s just, this guy is really, really good, still. And, these songs are good. So anyways, those are just some.  Ah, Bon Iver is a new sorta like–I’m recently enamored with him, especially after seeing him live, but those other two are sort of–I’ll go months and months without listening to either of them but, for years and years, continue to be impressed by them and engage with their music on different levels. Oh! And of course, Paul Simon. Cuz that would be it, that would be the one.

D: Yeah, That’s Julia’s [Julia Massey, bandmate of Cortese] hero, one of her biggest inspirations, she’s always talking about him.

B: Yeah, if we’re talking anything could happen, then Paul Simon.

D: So, what’s the future look like for you guys, locally? Releasing anything? Got any shows coming up?

B: Yeah. We’re playing Bumbershoot.  We’re playing the Paramount with The Head and The Heart. Playing The Tractor in November.  So that’s what we got this year. Yeah, the nice thing about still being independent is that I don’t have a deadline, so I would like to have a record by the end of the year, I mean, have the songs ready for the record by the end of the year. But if it takes longer than that, then that’s ok. There’s a cycle, Damien [Jurado]was the one that sort of brought it to my attention; you can make the cycle as long as you want. Like, again, Bon Iver. He toured that first record for like four years.

D: The Head and The Heart! They’ve been touring this record for a while.

B: Right! So it’s sorta like, I would love to be prolific enough to put out something every year; but it will probably be sometime next year.  I would love to be able to release a summer record next year. Just ‘cause, that’s sort of the feel of the three songs I’ve written–sorta have like late summer, early fall feel to me, so that would be nice.

D: Good time of year.

B: Yeah.

D: Cool, last question. What’s the band’s favorite in the van snack?

B: Well, Kyle likes Italian cheese, what are they called, Gardetto’s or something.

D: Delicious.

B: Yeah, Kyle’s super into those. Um, I like yogurt covered raisins. Jesse is sorta into carrots and stuff, no, Jesse likes these dill sunflower seeds. That’s his thing. Cole never eats, unless we stop for Mexican Food. He doesn’t really eat in the van. Joe? Joe doesn’t really eat in the van either.

D: Cool. Well thanks man!

B: Yeah, no problem

You can listen to all of Bryan’s music on BANDCAMP. He and his band play Bumbershoot on September 3rd and are kicking off their latest tour in Seattle, opening for The Head and the Heart at The Paramount on September 15th.