Okkervil River flows along
Austin band — a HoCo Festival headliner — has stellar new album
By Kevin W. Smith
KSMITH@AZSTARNET.COM
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 08.30.2007
It was a Thanksgiving circa 2003 when members of the Austin indie rock act Okkervil River found themselves cooking dinner for a fan in Tucson.
Okkervil was on tour in late November and put out a call at its Phoenix show for a Thanksgiving host in Tucson. Soon enough, the members found themselves shopping at an Old Pueblo grocery store for fixings and bumping into Calexico's Joey Burns in the process.
Due to a turkey famine in stores that day, chicken was consumed, yet for Okkervil frontman and principal songwriter Will Sheff, the experience remains a fond memory.
"It was one of the best Thanksgiving dinners I've ever had," Sheff said from Austin, where his band was rehearsing new songs for its upcoming tour. Okkervil will headline the national stage at this year's HoCo Music and Film Festival.
Okkervil's stellar new album, "The Stage Names," has received a swell of attention since its release earlier this month, something Sheff is somewhat perplexed by since his band has been developing its articulate, passionate, folk rock for nine years. Okkervil's 2005 dour, dark and dramatic "Black Sheep Boy" was well-received critically, but "Stage Names," an energetic, fun yet still substantive listen, seems to be opening up a whole new set of listeners.
"People knew who we were with 'Black Sheep Boy,' but they were sort of late to realize what it was," Sheff said. "So now, it's not even like it's the record. It's like it's the band. Everyone's sort of saying, 'Well, this is where we're going to now officially recognize that Okkervil River exists.' "
Sheff calls "Stage Names" the band's best album, yet the wide reception it has been getting has Okkervil exploring some new terrain, particularly in the online community. There is a fevered, somewhat Fascist feeding chain on the Internet composed of critical music bloggers and message boards that consume indie music like life water.
In this hyper-fickle environment, which can launch a band's career, today's popular indie act is tomorrow's whipping post.
"Somebody forwarded me this whole discussion on a message board about why I've dyed my hair now that we're big and successful," Sheff said. "And it's so funny to me because I've never dyed my hair in my life."
Perspective is important at a time like this, when you're a hardworking band, with a terrific new album, being discussed by music junkies around the world like never before. You have to realize most of the writers, talented or not, posting things about you are just unpaid fans, Sheff said.
"When you realize that, it becomes sort of like this 'Wizard of Oz,' man-behind-the-curtain," he said. "Where there's all these gigantic, floated, inflated, green heads barking and booming reverberated voices at each other across the expanse of the Internet.
But really, you look at it and it's just one dude sitting in his bedroom."
Enduring the faceless indie elite is a new reality for many successful acts — and Sheff has no regrets with the musical turn-of-direction on "Stage Names."
"All I can really do is say, 'Am I following myself in my new direction? Am I feeling like what I'm doing is exciting to me?' " Sheff said. "That's the barometer of absolutely everything I do."
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