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Singing Unfashionable Truths
iven just one word to describe David
Bazan (an unenviable task, because he's
worth many more), the choice seems
pretty easy: comfortable. That comfort hasn't
come easily for the former Pedro the Lion
frontman; it has been a long, strange journey
from an evangelical Christian upbringing (and
Pedro's music being influenced by such) to an
agnosticism that carries his solo material.
"I've worked pretty hard to process things
in a way that will leave me adjusted," says
Bazan. "It was such a transformative thing to
allow myself to think what I actually think,
rather than have to toe some party line or
adhere to a belief system that didn't fully
, resonate with me. Politics and indie rock and
fashion, all these other sectors, we tend to
conform to norms. It's been so great, and
I have so much more peace than I ever did
when I felt that I had to conform to certain
ways of thinking."
The perception is of a hard shift between
the two kcarnations (Christian vs. agnostic)
of David Bazan. However, he will be the first
to tell you that the shift was far from an over
night epiphany.
"I think all of the ways I've expressed
myself are basically coming from the same
place. A lot of the references to Christianity
in the Pedro stuff were often negative and
expressing disenfranchisement and doubt," he
says. "So, in a sense, you can trace the shift
back to the very first Pedro full-length. But it
really started to come to the surface in 2004
or 2003 when I started questioning some of
the fundamental premises of my faith or my
belief system. And then shit just unraveled
from there in what seems to me now to be in
a very positive way."
As you might expect, fans of Pedro (and
the band's message) haven't all been on
board with Bazan's outlook on the new
record. Strange Negotiations, but Bazan has
found perhaps more allies than he may have
expected.
"I assumed [with Pedro the Lion records]
that exactiv nobody would be interested in
it." taughs Bazan. "I felt like my perspective
on those issues (religion, politics) would be
either offensive to people who understood
tne language I was speaking, or it would just
be irritating to people who didn't understand
the language. But as it turned out, there
were a lot more people who were in the very
same grey area that I was in regarding that
stuff. So, that was nice, and, as a matter of
fact, there are still people who are practicing
Christians who still find something to value in
[the new record]."
Bazan is quick to note that it's not just
intellectual growth he has noticed over the
years. Rather, he has matured as much with an
instrument in his hand as he has a pen.
"Pedro was always a three-piece band, and
I hated my guitar playing all throughout that
period. It really irritated me how incapable
of expressing myself I really was," he says.
"So, in the process of coming out with the
band again in 2009, I just tried to stay away
from that [laughs]. I played bass first in a
five-piece band, and then it was a four-piece
band, and suddenly here we are in 2011, and
I'm back to the exact same format we had in
Pedro: drums, bass, guitar. It was a very mean
dering path to get here, but now I can express
myself more on the electric guitar, and I have
a lot of songs that have more interesting
arrangements than I did six years ago."
It's certainly a paradox: to reach his Zen,
Bazan had to more or less accept that certain
factions of his somewhat split fanbase will
shun him. But to him, his art is now coming
from a uniquely real place.
"People do music for different motivations,
and you see bands that are as concerned with
the faction for what they are doing culturally
as they are the music they are making. I have
a disdain for that motivation of doing music,"
he says. "A lot of times. I'll get reactions from
people who say my music is really didactic and
tell me why that's a stupid way to go about
it, and I don't always disagree with that. But
when the motivation for people is not want
ing to touch on certain things in their songs
because it's unfashionable to others, I can't
understand that."
Alec Wooden
r
WHO: Easter Island. David 3azan
WHERE: Caledonia Lounge
WHEN Saturday, Nov. 26, 8:30 p.m.
HOW MUCH: $12(21+), $14 (18+)
V.)
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Stella * Terrapin Rye • Guinness • Ranger IPA • Bell’s Best Brown
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JHottSat 4pm-2ant
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NOVEMBER 23. 2011 FLAGPOLE.COM 13
