When Nickel Creek mandolinist/vocalist Chris Thile entered the studio to record the band’s third album, Why Should the Fire Die?, due August 9th, he did as he always does: took a shot of Jameson’s and lit a candle.
“The studio needs to be dark,” Thile says. “I don’t want to be reminded by my surroundings that what I’m singing about isn’t happening right then. I like to really dissolve into the story. But the Jameson’s I use more for keeping my vocal cords relaxed and clear.”
Recording in Los Angeles with producers Eric Valentine (Third Eye Blind, Smash Mouth) and Tony Berg (Aimee Mann, Michael Penn), the California bluegrass trio — Thile, guitarist Sean Watkins and violinist and younger sis Sara Watkins — approached the sessions with a newfound confidence after winning a Grammy for 2002’s This Side. “As a band we have started to come to terms with what we have to offer,” Thile says. “On our first two albums, we were concerned about the perceptions of what we could do as a bluegrass band or a country band. This time, we felt completely at ease with those perceptions.”
The result is an incisive collection of traditional bluegrass and alt-country rock that Thile says was inspired by relationships, both intimate and removed. “The title alludes to dissolution,” he says. “The deeper you get in with anyone, certainly the darker and more complex it becomes. It seems like most relationships, particularly romantic, inevitably deteriorate . . . including, recently, my marriage.”
Among the new songs are the Celtic-infused “Scotch & Chocolate” and a delicate cover of Bob Dylan’s “Tomorrow Is a Long Time.” But it’s the storytelling and swirling instrumentation of “Helena” that Thile considers “the ultimate climax” of the record. “All moments in the album point to that second when the drums begin to swell,” Thile says. “As a songwriter, I was happy with the development of the character and how he deteriorates before your eyes and exposes himself to be the desperate, conniving asshole that he is.”
Despite Nickel Creek’s success, Thile doesn’t feel any outside pressure. “All the pressure is self-imposed,” he says. “We feel incredibly confident that we can beat what we did last. And we have. We obliterated the last one.”
The trio will head to Europe before kicking off a North American tour on September 30th in Burlington, Vermont.
Nickel Creek tour dates:
9/30: Burlington, VT, Higher Ground
10/1: Burlington, VT, Higher Ground
10/2: Portland, ME, Merrill Auditorium
10/4: Philadelphia, Electric Factory
10/6: Boston, Orpheum Theatre
10/7: New York, Nokia Theatre Times Square
10/8: Charlottesville, VA, Charlottesville Pavillion
10/9: Washington, DC, 9:30 Club
10/11: Baltimore, Rams Head Live
10/13: Charlotte, NC, Ovens Auditorium
10/14: Atlanta, Fox Theatre
10/15: Nashville, War Memorial Auditorium
10/16: Nashville, War Memorial Auditorium
10/17: Lexington, KY, Singletary Center for the Arts
10/20: Columbus, OH, Newport Music Hall
10/21: Cleveland, House of Blues
10/22: Ypsilanti, MI, Pease Auditorium
10/23: Indianapolis, Egyptian Room
10/25: St. Louis, The Pageant
10/26: Chicago, Vic Theater
10/28: Milwaukee, WI, Pabst Theater
10/29: St. Paul, MN, Fitzgerald Theatre
10/29: Minneapolis, State Theatre
10/30: Madison, WI, Orpheum Theatre
11/1: Kansas City, MO, Uptown Theatre
11/3: Dallas, Gypsy Ballroom
11/4: Austin, Stubbs Bar-B-Q
11/5: Helotes, TX, Floores Country Store
11/6: Tulsa, OK, Cain’s Ballroom
11/8: New Orleans, House of Blues
11/10: Louisville, KY, Brown Theatre
11/11: Birmingham, AL, Alabama Theater
11/12: Greensboro, NC, War Memorial Auditorium
11/13: Norfolk, VA, Norva Theatre
11/15: Charleston, SC, Charleston Music Hall
11/16: Knoxville, TN, Tennessee Theater
11/18: Orlando, FL, Hard Rock Live
11/19: Tampa, FL, Tampa Theater
11/20: Jacksonville, FL, Florida Theater
12/1: Denver, Fillmore Auditorium
12/2: Park City, UT, Eccles Center
12/3: Spokane, WA The Big Easy Concert House
12/4: Seattle, Paramount Theatre
12/6: Portland, OR, Roseland Theater
12/7: Portland, OR, Roseland Theater
12/10: San Francisco, Warfield Theatre
12/11: Reno, NV, Reno Hilton Theatre
12/14: Tempe, AZ, Marquee Theater
12/15: San Diego, House of Blues
12/16: San Diego, House of Blues
12/17: Los Angeles, The Wiltern LG
Source rollingstone.com.
