PAGE 4 • GO! MAGAZINE
ALL THINGS MUSIC
ThursdAy, AprIl 21, 2022 • ThE BullETIN
“While we were writing
'Clouds,' we missed
our life on the road,
mainly the constantly
changing skies from
the van windows. The
van is where Martin
and I start most of our
songs, and without all
the inspiration that a
variety of skies offers,
we felt stuck at home,
painfully learning why
traveling is so important
to us.”
— Calin Peters, core member
of The Ballroom Thieves
The Ballroom Thieves will perform
Friday at Volcanic Theatre Pub in
Bend.
shervin lainez/submitted photo
Continued from previous page
Their longtime drummer left for other
pursuits, and an empty tour schedule gave
them time to solidify a new lineup and re-
cord an excellent new album, “Clouds,”
which is slated for a July release. In an in-
terview conducted as they were headed our
way, Peters said they’re feeling “extremely
reinvigorated and optimistic about all the
newness, with a set full of unreleased songs,
new singles and our favorite updated and re-
imagined Thieves oldies.”
Here’s the rest of our conversation with
Peters, edited for space and clarity.
GO!: “Clouds” sounds like a departure
from your previous work: Moodier, more
deliberate, more psychedelic pop, less string-
based, less vocal-forward. What’s behind
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this shift?
Calin Peters: Our goal with “Clouds” was
to speak more plainly about the topics we
think so much about (mental health, being
a human in an inhumane world, missing
the road), so we wanted the arrangements
to support our attempt to be more straight-
forward. We stayed away from lush strings
and instead focused on lead guitar hooks
and more linear song structures. We had a
great time incorporating synth into most
of the tracks for the first time, so there are
definitely some wild swirly parts. We were
also so happy to have Tucker Martine mix
most of the record, and he pulled out some
trippy sounds we didn’t even realize we had
recorded, especially on “Trodden.”
In terms of the vocals, we were excited
to sing in the duo format, the way we had
grown to love during the lockdown. We
moved away from the lead vocal with big
supportive harmony and found that sing-
ing in octaves, unison and tight harmony
was very fun and effortless, just the way we
wanted “Clouds” to feel. All things must
evolve, and for us, it was time to refine our
sound and keep only what still suited us.
GO!: Are there any bands or albums or
other works of art (or anything at all, really)
that you feel have influenced your sound on
“Clouds”?
CP: While we were writing “Clouds,” we
missed our life on the road, mainly the con-
stantly changing skies from the van win-
dows. The van is where Martin and I start
most of our songs, and without all the in-
If You Go
What: The Ballroom Thieves and lady
lamb, with riddy Arman
When: 8 p.m. Friday
Where: Volcanic Theatre pub, 70 sW Cen-
tury drive, Bend
Cost: $18
Contact: volcanictheatre.com.
spiration that a variety of skies offers, we felt
stuck at home, painfully learning why trav-
eling is so important to us. During that time
at home (when income was minimal), I took
a job watching over an art gallery during
the slow winter months of Maine. I often
walked around, stopping to admire skies
painted by artists from the 17th century
to the present day, and thought a lot about
how artists have been trying to interpret the
beauty of the world around them forever
and how we are no different.
GO!: You’ve said “the road offers us struc-
ture” that is important to the band and the
songwriting. Could you expand on what
kind of structure it offers and why you need
it?
CP: The two of us often talk about how
the traditional “album cycle” of a recording
artist is satisfying and productive. It mim-
ics seasonal living in that the seasons dictate
different parts of the job. The spring is for
beginnings, big tours and work. The sum-
mer is for festivals, which are full of energy
and celebration. The fall is for more hard
touring, finishing out a busy year and tying
up loose ends, and the winter is meant for
recording albums and resting safely at home
and off the snowy roads. The heavy touring
months gave us a lot of that inspiration and
songwriting time I talked about before, and
during the past two years without that whole
cycle, we felt aimless. After a bunch of dif-
ficult early lockdown months, we were able
to fight through the confusion and write the
remaining 75% of “Clouds,” and having the
chance to record in the early summer was a
special experience that certainly contributed
to the vibe of the record and the fresh start
of 2022.
GO!: What did the break from touring
over the past couple of years teach you about
your relationship to touring?
CP: The problem with the seasonal cycle
of a 10-year-old band is that it leaves little
room to decide if you really even want to be
in a band. There is always something com-
ing up a few months out, and it’s challenging
to get off the train. In that regard, the break
was a positive experience. We needed the
rest, and it gave us an option to stop, which
we had never had before. It turns out we
didn’t want to stop at all, and we cannot wait
to be back in the special town of Bend very
soon!
e
Ben Salmon is a Bend-based music journalist and host of
Left Of The Dial, which airs 8-10 p.m. Thursdays on KPOV,
88.9 FM and streams at kpov.org. You can find him on
Bandcamp and Twitter at @bcsalmon.