Interview – Rilo Kiley’s Pierre de Reeder
September 12th, 2008 - by Eddie
Last month I got a surprising email in my inbox from the bassist of Rilo Kiley a couple of weeks ago. When I opened it, I read this: “My name is Pierre de Reeder from the band Rilo Kiley. How ya doing? Just wanted to get in touch because I’m a happy 52 Shows visitor and thought you might want to know about a solo record I have coming out on August 12…”
Naturally, I thought it was fake. Why would the dude who plays the bouncy lead guitar to this want anything to do with us? Apparently there’s a softer, less hardcore side to Reeder, which comes out in his first “official” solo album “The Way That It Was.”
First off, he’s still working on a tour and says that “something is tentatively planned for late October.” However, if you’re in the LA area, you may be able to see him open for some other bands for the time being.
“I haven’t paid a lot of attention on [touring] only because I’ve been so focused on the release,” said de Reeder.
The album is definitely a step back from the Rilo sound. In fact, at times you wonder how the bassist for that band could have these songs tinkering in his head. Where Rilo has that hear and now kind of feeling, de Reeder’s solo is more about stepping back, both in attitude and perspective.
This can be heard on “The Way That it Was” (which you could have guessed from the title) and “Young and Old.”
But then there’s also the album’s closer, “Not How I Believe,” which has the lyrics “Every day have a little bit of modesty and honesty/ wouldn’t hurt you in the least/ not that I could take the leap…”
“No one can be perfect, it’s an ideal,” de Reeder said. “Big things for me, being humble and honest. These are things I try to live my life by.”
Right then, it all starts to make sense why he emailed the site and that it’s entirely possible that he visits on a regular basis (I didn’t want the truth and would rather bask in a beautiful lie).
And it’s also why he’s so easy to talk to and why, towards the end, we get into politics (the day before was Barrack Obama’s accepetance speech). A couple of weeks ago, de Reeder wrote a post for the blog Largehearted Boy titled “Why Obama,” which threw down the musician’s reasons for embracing the man of change.
“Last night was awesome,” de Reeder said. “This whole convention is incredible and such a necessity, an eradication of what’s been going on. I felt this…mood, this necessity for change. When Bush got elected I wanted to leave the country.”
From there, we went into concerts and music. Click below to hear de Reeder’s answers.
Hear Reeder talk about his first concert.
Reeder talks about a couple of shows he wants to see live, which segues into the geeky things he and I do at record stores.
Pierre de Reeder – The Long Conversation
* Update: New Tour Dates, straight from the de Reeder
Oct 4 2008 6:00P Eagle Rock Music Festival Eagle Rock, California
Oct 24 2008 7:00P Rio Theatre – with Jenny Lewis Santa Cruz, California
Oct 28 2008 7:00P Herbst Theatre – with Jenny Lewis San Francisco, California
Nov 1 2008 7:00P UCSD – with Jenny Lewis San Diego, California
