Bright Eyes and Bush Tales

Andy Warhol selected fifteen minutes as the time-period to indicate 'fleeting'. This is how long Gigwise has with Bright Eyes front-man Conor Oberst. He should understand that we can't dilly-dally, for he can famously chronicle the passing of time with the skill of Proust...
"The arc of time. The stench of sex. The innocence you can't protect. Each quarter note. Each marble step" -'I Believe In Symmetry'

Gigwise meets Conor Oberst in a sparsely furnished room in Oxford. Think of it as a friendly interrogation. We start off with the issue that has possibly secured Bright Eyes more column inches than anything else – the fact that Mr Oberst has strongly refused to play in a Clear Channel venue. Of course, they also own many radio stations and billboards. You might remember Clear Channel's refusal to play The Dixie Chicks on the radio, after that band criticised George W. Bush. Who said McCarthyism was over? Have Bright Eyes suffered any consequences?
"We're kind of in a unique situation; we don't really get much radio play anyway, so it's not a big deal to us"

Thankfully, the tolerant airwaves of the UK have been broadcasting Bright Eyes new single 'Four Winds' a hell of a lot more than our counterparts over the Atlantic. A song that boasts such brilliant lines as "The squatters made a mural of a Mexican girl with fifteen cans of spray paint in a chemical swirl," we naturally ask if Conor get a buzz from his art?
"Music I think, you know for me anyway, I enjoy it to the point where I think endorphins or something in my brain's kicking off, you know? I feel kinda high when I'm playing music and enjoy it. It kind of depends on everything, you know? For me to feel really euphoric, a lot of variables have to come alive, like the band and, I guess the audience and the venue and my own mood, I suppose. Everything just to get that special vibe going on, you know? That's always the goal"

'Four Winds' is lifted from the new album 'Cassadaga', which Conor informs us is a place "in sort of central Florida". There was a kafuffle in Florida a while ago, Oberst possibly refers to it on 'Let's Not Shit Ourselves', mentioning a certain "Cowboy President". Anyway, Cassadaga, Florida...
"A friend of mine, this girl Rain, she told me about it a couple years ago and she lives in Gainesville, nearby and so it sounded immediately interesting to me, 'cause it's a real small town but has you know, a really high population of psychics and mediums and it was fascinating, so I thought about it or daydreamed about it for about a year, really wanted to go and finally I got a chance. I went down and met her in Gainesville and drove out. My own little pilgrimage and we went and saw a woman that she had seen in the past and really had a good experience with.

He continues: “It's like in the middle of town, there's a hotel and then a bookstore. You go into the bookstore and there'll be a board that day with whoever's working and their phone number. Just call them up and say come around 2 O'clock or whatever and you walk down the little streets and there's all the little houses and they've all converted their front rooms into reading parlours and you go in and get your fortune told. You have your reading and so I went to see this specific woman, had a pretty amazing experience and just left with a sense of peace. The record's not a concept record about the town. I was just there a couple days. It's more just the feeling that I left there with and then also I just like the sound of the word"

What about that line in 'Four Winds' - "All the way to Cassadaga to commune with the dead"?
“There's definitely mediums that do that (Commune with the dead). I'm always looking for a way to peek behind the curtain"

Spooky, let's go to the other side of America. Bright Eyes recorded some of Cassadaga in Portland, Oregon. How come it's such a band magnet?
"Janet Weiss and M. Ward live there. He's not here tonight, but his drummer (is), this woman, Rachel lives in Portland. She's amazing, too. (Portland's) A really vibrant music scene, you know. There's some venues there, Crystal Ballroom's nice and Roseland, several venues, but yeah, bands and I know friends there, you know obviously Modest Mouse, Shins, Stephen Malkmus and Britt (Daniel)"