Over the past few years, I’ve had the pleasure to have stumbled upon and followed a band called Pickwick. What was originally the musical project of Galen Disston has evolved through several stages into it’s current version: one of Seattle’s best new bands. The six man soul group went from a few guys making noise in a basement to selling out Seattle’s finer venues. In 2011 alone, Pickwick released their Myths EP on vinyl, played Seattle’s City Arts and Bumbershoot festivals, Portland’s MusicFest NW, and Orcas Island’s Doe Bay Festival. This evening, they will play to a sold-out crowd at the 1,000 person-capacity venue of Neptune Theater. Galen took some time before the show to talk to us about the past, present and future of their self-described “weird, little band”.
Apes on Tape: First and foremost, the Myths EP was snubbed for a Grammy “Best Album” nod last week. Judging by the fact that “#pickwickriots” is no longer trending, I’m assuming you guys called the troops off. You guys over it now?
Galen Disston: I secretly resent Kory so much for actually winning a Grammy. I fill that miniature golden victrola cone with spider venom every chance I get in hopes it will spill into his bloodstream.
On a more/less serious note, you’re a few days away from headlining a sold out show at Seattle’s Neptune Theater. There’s great buzz going on with the Suzzallo “Blackout” and Sound on the Sound Doe Bay videos. You’ve got to be pretty damn excited, no? Feel free to vent about it…
The 2011 Doe Bay Sessions – Pickwick from Sound on the Sound
We are very excited. It’s amazing that 6 dudes in a basement like us get to play at the Neptune. We’re also honored to have friends like Campfire OK and Jessica Dobson on the bill. I am a huge fan of what they do. It’s weird they are friends with us. They are cool and we aren’t.
So it’s sort of a funny story of how you and I originally connected. A few friends and I tried to start a music festival on an Eastern Washington farm a few summers back. It didn’t work out, but we wanted Pickwick to headline. Do you remember that at all?
I can’t remember anything pre- 1976.
Understandable. Then last fall we met in Greenwood and had a great chat about Pickwick and record labels. At the time, you were working on staging the series of Myths EP releases. Would you mind sharing the thoughts behind that now?
It was our life goal to get a 45 of our stuff pressed. Now our bucket list is full of space transportation and laser eye beams.
Shooting for the stars… And you’ve got a full album in the works! Seattle Times shared that you’re heading to Oregon to finish it up with Richard Swift. How’s that coming? Any word on a potential release date?
We’re working harder than we ever have. We’ll debut some of the new songs at our Neptune show. We’re hoping it will be released in 2012.
One of the most fascinating aspects of Pickwick is how you consciously transitioned from a fairly common Seattle alt-country, folk style band to the unique, soul-infused modern incarnation of Pickwick. You guys have mentioned the influence of Sam Cooke’s “A Change is Going to Come” and I read that covering Grateful Dead for a Tractor open night played a role. But can you pinpoint a specific moment when you guys decided to completely change gears?
It actually happened in the future. We used our time machine to meet with Sun Ra in space, in the future, and he talked us into it. Easy conversation
actually.
On that note, personally I feel a lot of Seattle tunes have been stuck in this sort of post-Fleet Foxes, ambient folk route. So I’ve loved seeing you guys break that mold. Allen Stone has also blazed a similar trail. There are interesting parallels/timing between you guys. Are you pals with him? Have you played with him before? [Note: Allen Stone grew up about ten mins from where that music festival I mentioned was supposed to go down. Small world.]
Allen and I sang at SRO Queen and Stevie Wonder tribute nights. He gave me a ride. We stopped on the way for milk and juice. He loves milk and juice.
Noted. So musically, you’ve gone beyond just a “white boy soul” sound and forged a pretty unique soul vibe of your own. Michael mentioned the new style was “a lot more freeing. Because I don’t know what the hell I’m doing in this genre”. Could you share a few thoughts on finding your guys soul groove?
We credit all that to Sun Ra’s transmigration exercises. After that we see all things differently. Breakfast cereals, etc.
Surely. When we yakked at MusicFestNW in September, you mentioned you had signed to Billions Booking and would potentially be touring outside the Northwest soon. Any updates on that for eager, non-PNW fans?
I think well do a West Coast run in February and go to SXSW in March. But other than that we’ll just keep working on tunes, and playing the lotto. [Note: Pickwick is on SF’s Noise Pop Festival 2012 line-up]
Grammy winner Kory Kruckenburg joining Pickwick was like the equivalent of acquiring Griffey Jr. (pre-Cincinnati). Michael mentioned similar senses of humor, but I’m curious about how your connection with Kory leapt from typical band/engineer to what it is now: Awesomeness.
Like I’ve alluded to before, he passed all Sun Ra’s tests. That’s all it takes for us.
And listening to the discography start to finish, at which point does Kory enter in the chronology? There might be “Enter Kory: Scene 1 (Engineer)” and “Enter Kory: Scene 2 (Full Band Member)”. But was there a certain song when it clicked?
Kory was always more than an engineer. He played vibes on “When Rosa Speaks” on Vol. 1. Then he started playing live with us. Then he moved in. Now he sleeps in the refrigerator.
Lucky guy! Wrapping up, a while back you almost laid Pickwick to rest for good and now you’re selling out one of best venues in town. At risk of a cliché sign off question, any advice you’d offer younger/less established musicians?
Seattle is an amazing community. We’ve been so lucky to be embraced by such talented musicians, writers and creative types. I would say invest in the
community as much as you can. And Sun Ra. Check into his vibes.
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