Meet Bryce Dessner of The National

We recently got a chance to catch up with Bryce Dessner from The National and pick his brain on working with siblings, what's playing on his ipod, and his latest inspirations and influences...


1// What are the best and or worst things about working with a sibling? [Ed. note: There are 2 sets of brothers in the band.]
Bryce: Playing in a band is very much like the inner workings of a family. Even for a band of non-family memebers, it works like that. So a band with two sets of brothers, can be really fun and intense. We fight like brothers, which is good because we can be honest, too honest about the music. If someone doesn’t like something we just say it, there is no inhibition you might have with someone unrelated. Maybe Matt suffers a little bit because of that, because we are so harsh with each other and by association, with him to. And then when we are down or in a difficult situation, or when something hard and disappointing happens, we are able to band together the way a family does. This is really really important, because being in a band is a weird way to live, out on the road, away from other loved ones...a different place everyday, the family part of our band makes all that a little less alienating.


2// If you weren't playing music you would be....
Bryce: Once I almost quit music to go to graduate school for history. I was a history major in college and I was pretty obsessed with it. So maybe I would be a history buff? I don’t know, that’s pretty hard to do professionally, harder than being in a band!


3// Are there any instruments you cannot play that you wish you could?
Bryce: I wish I could play cello...its my favorite instrument. If I could start over that’s what I would do. I have written a lot of music for cello to make up for it.


4// If you could have any musician or band (alive or dead) open for you, who would it be?
Bryce: Oooh...One time The Breeders opened for us, which is ridiculous because they should never open for anyone, and they are one of my favorite bands. So that was pretty surreal. The Walkmen are opening for us this September on a few shows and that will be amazing. Owen Pallet is doing a bunch of shows with us in the fall, he is just one person onstage most of the time, and he is ridiculously good.

The National's new album High Violet

5// Do you think your music has been influenced by New York City?
Bryce: I think any musician living in New York has to be influenced by the city in some way. There are so many great bands around, and its a very diverse music scene. I have a lot of friends who make strange experimental music and concert music. Usually those are the concerts that inspire me the most because they aren’t constrained by any notion of a song, or playing to a certain audience or venue. There’s a certain freedom in that which often generates the most interesting music. Its also music that sounds great in concert, and maybe is not so concerned about how to fit on a commercial recording. In New York, because of all the incredible music that has happened here, you also are aware of how insignificant anything you are doing might be. I can imagine that’s different than living in a small town. Not sure really which is better, maybe it would be better to be a big fish in a small pond!?


6// What do you turn to for inspiration?
Bryce: I like old music and new music. I got to hear Prince play a couple times recently which was inspiring. He is such an incredible guitarist. And there is a Brooklyn band named Z’s who I listen to all the time. Which is saying a lot because sometimes they try to do things which are almost unlistenable, but I find it totally addictive. Its ambitious music that is somehow completely raw and refined at the same time.


7// Where is your favorite place to play?
Bryce: I think Portugal is our favorite place to play. Denmark and Croatia are a close second. People in those places are so passionate and appreciative of music, it make us feel so lucky to do what we do. One show in Portugal can make up for 10 bad shows in other places.


8// Where are some favorite places to go listen to music?
Bryce: There is a venue right in front of my apartment called Sycamore. Its a great bar and they have a little listening room in the basement that has great new bands all the time. I have seen tons of shows there, it only fits 50 people or so.

Buke and Gass

9// Best new bands at the moment:
Bryce: There is a band called Buke and Gass that I heard at Sycamore who are amazing. We actually signed them to our label (Brassland) and they have a record coming out in September. Its just two people but they sound like six.


10// On your iPod right now:
Bryce: Well besides the Z’s new record ‘New Slaves’, I have been listening to Bauhaus ‘The Sky’s Gone Out’.


11// Concert you wouldn't want to miss this summer:
Bryce: Our friends the Arcade Fire are playing at Madison Square Garden in early August, and I am missing it! That’s a show I would really really love to see.

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