Interview: Nick Principe (LittleBear)

NP: I’ve been playing and writing music since the age of 12, although I think it wasn’t until high school that I began to write songs that were listenable. Sometime around the fifth grade I started writing music with my friend Peter [Silberman, frontman for Brookyln indie-rockers The Antlers]. It’s incredibly funny to think of the music we wrote back then. Most of it was based around saxophone and trumpet duets, sometimes with a guitar thrown in. Over the next year I started teaching myself guitar and piano. Shortly thereafter we formed a band that accounts for most of my childhood memories. I assumed the role of drummer and started learning how to record. We experimented with everything from tape decks to Pro Tools… it was a really great place to make mistakes and learn from them.

Stereokill: Who are/were the major influences on your music?

NP: I’m pretty sure that the first album I bought was either 311, Dookie, or a cassette tape of Thriller, but these didn’t have much bearing on my own music. I definitely have a few albums that really stuck with me though while I was growing up: I randomly picked up Grace on a family vacation without knowing anything about Jeff Buckley, which in turn led to a mild obsession that lasted for years, (it still consistently makes my rotation). I remember picking up Elliott Smith on a road trip to Saratoga and also got into Cursive’s Ugly Organ in a similar way. The two kind of blended together, if that’s possible, in a lot of the writing I did towards the end of high school. More recently I would say that a lot of Sufjan Stevens, Andrew Bird, and Iron & Wine has led me in a slightly more folky direction.

Stereokill: Can you tell us a little about how “Army of Trees” came about?

NP: It’s interesting, I initially started recording it with no intention of making a cohesive EP. I had a few song ideas that didn’t really fit with the stuff I had been writing and I figured that I could record them quickly and get them up online while I was working on a larger LP. As I recorded it though, it began consuming all of my time and for a solid month I was basically waking up and recording, layering, getting field recordings, and writing new parts for it. It was all very unexpected.

Stereokill: I understand you basically went underground in a tiny hamlet in NY… what prompted the decision to record the EP in such seclusion?

NP: Music really dominated my childhood and adolescence, and I was extremely torn about my decision to go to college. Although it was a really great time, it forced me to focus my attention elsewhere and for roughly 4 years I was in a perpetual state of trying to find time for music. I continued writing throughout, but it never came first.Towards the end of this past year I finally started to acknowledge that I was really frustrated with some of my choices and thought that by removing myself from any sort of familiar environment I could leave that part of my life behind. It really helped. I had no internet, no cable, no cell phone, and with the rare exception of some visiting friends, I was totally alone. It gave me a chance to focus my attention without any external influences or interference.

Stereokill: How many people were involved with the recording?

NP: The first recording session happened when Pete came to visit for the weekend, and I think that it was that night that sparked the whole project. He played some drum parts and accordion on “The Beaverkill”. Everything after that was self-recorded, mixed, and mastered, though it probably could have benefitted from professional mastering. I’m hoping that I can get the money together before the next release to take care of that part of the process.

Stereokill: Did you find it was easier to write it in an isolated environment? Is there an element of escapism to your music?

NP: I think that the combination of isolation and my mentality going into the summer worked for me at the time, however I’m not sure if it’s something that I could do again right now and get the same kind of result. There’s no doubt that it was a therapeutic project, but it was filled with a lot of self-doubt and uncertainty, especially after a bad recording day. It can be pretty frustrating starting something up again without focussing too much on regret. Looking back on it now it feels like a decade ago (as do many things when you move across the country), but overall the EP was a chance for me to remember that creating music is the most fulfilling and rewarding thing that I’ve done in my life.

Stereokill: Immediately after you finished recording, you relocated to California. Why the sudden change of scenery?

NP: I often wonder the same thing. For many East Coast kids, including myself, California is a sort of ideal stuck in our minds, and especially after four years of Ithaca weather, the concept of constant sunshine was too hard to resist. It was also an excuse to drive across the country, which was totally incredible. America is enormous, empty, and unexpectedly beautiful.Since coming to Santa Cruz I’ve been living with a close friend from high school, and so far it’s been a pretty strange place to be playing music. There’s definitely a small indie scene here, but mostly, it’s just been a good environment to start working on a live act and a new album.

Stereokill: What’s next for LittleBear?

NP: I’m currently working on a new LP, tentatively titled The Old Capital. I’m not really sure what to expect from it, but I’m really excited about some of the songs that are starting to come together. I have a few other projects that are on the horizon with some musicians in the Bay Area, but my focus right now is on writing and recording as much as possible. I’ve recently started a blog to track the progress of the LP as well as to post ramblings and unrelated recordings.

Stereokill: Have you made any plans to tour?

NP: There’s a tentative plan to do a small West Coast tour in January or February, but other than that nothing is really on the radar. I’m hoping to bounce around the Bay Area and California a bit in the next month.

Stereokill: Just to wrap up now, what’s currently on your stereo?

NP: I’ve actually been listening to a lot of different bands at the same time which is strange for me. I tend to get obsessed with one album and then overdose on it before moving on. Currently the rotation is between Miracle Fortress, Efterklang, Neutral Milk Hotel, The Dodos, and My Morning Jacket.

Thanks a lot to Nick for chatting to us, and we’ll be keeping an eye out for the new record. For now, “Army of Trees” is available for free download.