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Rilo
Kiley.
getting lucky

originally published in Meanstreet Magazine, Nov 2001

by Tatiana Simonian
10/18/01

Generally, interviews begin with banal questions like "where did you get your band name?" or "who are your influences?" Very rarely do interviews begin with four band members and a journalist talking with nervous anxiety over the fact that they just met Kim Deal. And so it is, prior to Rilo Kiley's show opening for the Breeders, we retreat up to a small room on The Troubadour's second floor and began the evening basking in the glow/discussing the greatness of Kim Deal.

It's somewhat fitting, the contrast between a revered artist like Deal, long established as a veritable music legend, and sitting with four musicians who have just recently began to taste the fruits of several years of trying to figure out how to find the balance between the business of music and staying true to their ideals.

When asked just why they think it's taken so long (nearly three years to release their first album), Blake Sennett, Rilo Kiley's guitarist/vocalist offers up this explanation,

"Access to the kind of labels that put out the music we like in Los Angeles is not as easily gained as access to major labels. L.A. just isn't a great town for the kind of music we play so I think it took a little while and a little luck for one of the guys in Death Cab to get our CD and give it to the head of their label."

At this point, Jenny Lewis, the band's keyboardist and other vocalist makes a quizzical face and so I ask her why she suddenly made that face, she pauses a second and then turns to Sennett and says, "is that what happened?"

A brief between-band discussion clears it up, and yes, that's basically what happened.

We continue to talk about the struggle to keep at it in music when opportunities aren't as readily accessible as one might hope. I ask if they were worn out by the time their deal with Barsuk came in.

"Ooooh, yeah." Jenny quips.

"Yeah, we were like, 'Shit. This is hard.'" Blake adds.

"We gave ourselves a deadline," Jenny continues. "We wanted to put this record out by summer, and luckily, we made that deadline. It just got to a point where we began to question the validity of our band. 'Do we suck? Is that why?'"

"It seemed weird that we had a ton of kids at shows and would sell a ton of CDs, but no press and no ... I don't know ... whatever that stuff is that makes labels look at you." Blake pauses a bit, "I don't know ... we just had to get lucky I guess and work hard."

In talking with the members of Rilo Kiley, it seems that they are a pretty good example for independent bands hammering out show by show in L.A. After several years of hard work, their resolution to keep things simple and on their terms finally pays off in a record deal that has their album coming out by summer and the elation of getting to open for the Breeders. Perhaps they don't suck quite as much as they had suspected.

 

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