Islands Cover Brian Eno And Themselves, Are Not Trust Funders
Recently Highwayman Nick Thorburn & his Islands stopped by Daytrotter, committing four songs to tape, including Return To The Sea's "Where There's A Will There's A Whalebone" (sans Subtitle) and "Swans (Life After Death," along with Arm's Way's "The Arm." As those who've seen the band live might suspect, they sound great, and a lot like they do on their respective albums. With that in mind, the real treat is a lovely, previously unreleased cover of Brian Eno's "The Big Ship." Yes, Coldplay's Brian Eno. Nick's thoughts:
On the car ride over, I said, I wanna do have something unique. I'm a huge fan of Brian Eno and especially that song. It wasn't something that was planned out. We just jumped in and did in an off-the-cuff sort of way. I think your sound engineer was right that Brian Eno wouldn't have been opposed to how it sounded. I think it would go along with his oblique strategy. I had to really persuade people to do this. Let's enjoy this. It doesn't matter if it's sloppy. Things can be a little rough around the edges if they have heart.
Take a listen to the session here. Meanwhile, your allegations that the Nick's verbal shots at Vampire Weekend were simply "a war of words between two trust fund, untalented little shits" made it back to the faraway Islands, and Thorburn offered a rebuttal with respect to at least one of those charges in a Q&A with PaperThinWalls' Jessica Suarez.
PTW: I've read some of the comments you've made about Vampire Weekend, and their sound. But also about their money. And I know people have accused you of also being a trust-fund kid.NICK THORBURN: Man, I did read some of the comments from that. Look, I thought I was doing an interview with some Denver weekly and the guy was kinda getting my goat. He said, "Do I feel like I missed the boat?" And I felt like that was a really rude, confrontational question, so I told him that I didn't think we missed the boat at all. I said I thought the boat missed us. If I was going to be really arrogant, I'd say we were the boat, but I don't feel that way. I feel like we were just one of many who were doing that, just maybe a little earlier than some. But the funny thing about that interview was that he got me going a little bit, I was riled up, and I guess I said some shit about Vampire Weekend, but I didn't mention the fact that they were paying $40,000 a year for their education and playing in a frat-rock band at Columbia, which was a totally valid point to add to their inauthenticity. But I didn't.
I had done an interview the day before where I mentioned the class thing with them and how Islands is going to wage some sort of class warfare on Vampire Weekend. And then I saw it linked to Stereogum and I saw some comments saying I was some trust-fund kid: "Two rich-kid bands going up against each other. Fuck both of them!" I almost wanted to respond because I come from such the opposite of that bourgeois mentality. It wasn't hurtful, but it was annoying that someone would try to out me as a trust-fund kid. I couldn't be further from that. I'm fucking self-made. I fucking made my own keep doing this thing. I got lucky, a certain amount of luck and contingency went into it. It stings when someone says you're a trust fund-kid when it's so fucking false. But yeah, just for the record. That's my rebuttal.
Read more of of Nick's potent quotables, and listen to a full album stream, at PTW.
Posted at 9:38 AM in MP3
Tags: Brian Eno | Islands
coldplay's brian eno.
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Not "Talking Head's Brian Eno"? Not "David Bowie's Brian Eno"? Not even "Brian Eno's Brian Eno"? That's a far fall down for probably the greatest producer ever.
And I prefer Vampire Weekend more than Islands. Terribly uncool and bourgeois of me, I know.
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Jesus, how is one douchebag comment from stereogum getting so much attention?
The whole idea that you have to address this notion of having money is ridiculous -- as if it somehow lessens your authenticity or the quality of your music. Who Will Cut Our Hair.../Return to Sea will always be excellent albums, regardless if Nick is a homeless guy or a greek shipping heir.
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Yeah, hate on Vampire Weekend because they make mediocre music, not because they have money. It sucks that some people have it far easier in life than others, and I guess it's not "fair" that a bunch of guys who would have had it easy anyways now get to live the lifestyle of everyone's dreams but, well, that's life. It sucks. Write a song about it.
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People are jealous of Vampire Weekend. That is fact.
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land locked islands
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Coldplay's Brian Eno?
Fail.
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James' Brian Eno
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I really can't care what Nick has to say, given that he's just a trustfund baby.
And remember, burn copies of Arm's Way for all your friends: Nick hates it when people buy his album.
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I really can't care what Nick has to say, given that he's just a trustfund baby.
And remember, burn copies of Arm's Way for all your friends: Nick hates it when people buy his album.
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Amen, somebody rob this guy. what a rich whiner.
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Geeze, what a trustfund whiner.
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In a way, money DOES make a difference. When you have the media and music critics all paying attention to the music bred from the trust-fund crowd of ivy league universities and exclusive nightclubs, the advantage is given to people who were born and bred in money. Kids who got music lessons since age 5 and kids that were chauffeured to the backstage of a concert and on weekends sailed around in yachts.
It goes against the hard-workers of the scene, who have toured around in vans and slept on fans couches during tours. Kids who went to state colleges and had parents that busted their asses to buy them their first instrument in high school.
Plus those Vampire Weekend kids wear fucking loafers! IRONY IS DEAD
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well it is a bit weird that so many trust fund bands suddenly appeared at once.
vampire weekend
mgmt
santogold
something fishy is going on
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The way I see you can't win either way, whether your rich or poor. Somebody's always got something against the other. " the poor are bums, the rich are spoiled brats". It's sick. But thats life.
It stinks like a skunk. So be the tomato juice and don't think that way.
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all these comments are ridiculous. sometimes people just make good music and it gets noticed... whether you have money or not. i've seen it happen with multiple friends' bands. money obviously helps, but it can't write songs.
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