DCist Interview: Built To Spill

You've said in the past that you believe the band's current line-up is more capable than ever. Has having a five-piece significantly impacted the way you write and play music?

You know, we haven't had too much of a chance to explore that. We basically just tour and then we live in different towns. So we haven't really spent much time jamming or messing around. So these songs are basically songs that I wrote but the band has been messing around with at sound checks over the years. I think live the five-piece is really nice, and I kind of assume at some point we'll make a record that's collaborative between all of us. You In Reverse was more collaborative and more indicative of the five-piece than this record I think.

What would it take for a more collaborative record? More time together?

Yeah, we'd have to have time to get together and jam. I don't really know what's going to happen with that stuff. Maybe we'll write some songs on this tour that we have coming up during sound checks. Or maybe not, maybe we'll spend our time learning old songs and concentrating on the tour. I hope at some point we make a collaborative record that's really truly a focused effort with all of us. We haven't really done that yet.

In recent years, there have been a lot of '90s indie rock band reunions, but you guys never stopped. What about Built To Spill has allowed you to stick it out all these years? Are you just more determined?

I think most of it is just the fact that we're all able to get along with each other. That, and people have continued to show up and respond to us. If we lost one of those two things, I don't think we could do it much more. It's fun to play music, and it doesn't matter if people show up, but once you've grown used to people showing up, it would be pretty demoralizing and we probably wouldn't do it anymore.

You've toured a lot, for a very long time. Do you have any interesting stories from the road?

Oh, probably, but mostly it's pretty mellow. We're a pretty mellow group of guys, so we don't get into many bizarre situations.

That probably contributes to your longevity. How do you think the world of underground music has changed since you became a part of it in the early 90s, if at all, and how have you had to adapt?

The early '90s was about the last time I really paid much attention to the world of indie rock. I grew up on that stuff when I was in high school in the late '80s. Then around the early '90s I kind of stopped paying attention and worked on my own stuff. There were a few bands I liked, mostly my friends' bands. In the late '90s, I pretty much was done with alternative rock, except for mostly my friends bands. I became interested in the blues, old soul music, and reggae – things I really didn't like at all when I was younger. I hated reggae when I was younger, and I became obsessed with it when I got older. I haven't really paid much attention to that stuff at all, it's not interesting to me at all.

What have you been listening to more recently?

The same. Old soul and stuff. I got an iPod a few years ago, and I loaded it up with all of the things I loved when I was younger. I don't really follow too much new stuff. There's a few things that I'll hear and I like. I liked that Arcade Fire record when it came out, that first one. I liked the MGMT record, I thought that was cool. Someone turned me on to a video, and I liked the video so much that I watched it a few times and started to love the song and bought the record, which I think is really good. And like I said, there's a few of my friends' bands that I think are really great. Otherwise, I'm not very interested. You know I don't listen to music that much, and when I do, I want to hear soul and reggae.

Has the music industry changed much since the '90s?

Probably. Again, I don't pay any attention. I don't even really understand what Warner Brothers is. I don't even pay attention to our own record label, I'm not interested in that stuff. I think I'm going to have to start paying attention to that stuff though. Everyone is trying to figure out what's going to happen to records and online stuff. Now I'm kind of interested only out of my own survival, but as an intellectual exercise, it doesn't interest me at all.

Having been at this for a while, do you have any advice for younger musicians?

Yeah, my advice would be: get really lucky. Have incredible luck, and you'll be set. That's pretty much my secret.

Built To Spill play the 9:30 Club tomorrow night, 10/17. Late show -- doors at 10 p.m. $25.