Between conducting an interview with yours truly and playing a memorable set in Portland, Bryce Avary did a little exploring. As he walked down the hipster mecca of Hawthorne Boulevard he was stopped in his tracks by a sound.
The Rocket Summer frontman—who is known for playing a number of different instruments, even looping them during his concerts—was caught off guard by the mesermizing cello sounds of Martin Watkinson, a tall, light-skinned, dreadlocked street performer who likely was driven by his love of music and hope for a few bucks.
It takes a nice, aware person to stop and listen to a street performer. It takes a lover of music and people to throw a few dollars at the person. But it takes a particularly special individual like Bryce Avary to invite that performer to join him for a song or two on stage.
There's a good chance that many of the people who clapped and cheered loudly as Watkinson accompanied Avary had passed the cellist on the street earlier that day. But it was Avary's endorsement that revealed the man's sheer, undeniable talent.
You see, Bryce Avary isn't in the music game for fame, fortune or even a timeless song. He's in it to change lives. And before he divested all his passion and energy on the stage last month in Portland, he sat down with me to talk about this season of his life, which he believes contains the greatest art of his life.
The last time I saw you was the Creation last summer. What is life like? What's been going on with Bryce the past few months?
We've done a couple of tours since then. We've mostly just been touring and writing and trying to figure out the next step.
You're two years now into being independent?
Yeah, which has been a pretty wild experience.
Still feeling good? Still feeling great?
Yeah. I've learned a lot. I've learned so much about the whole thing. The reality is that being on a label can be really great, and it can be a total drag. And having your own label can be really great and it can be a total drag. The experience has made me not want to be as involved even though it's probably the lesser of two evils. I think in a perfect world I would be on a label that was just 100 percent into what I was doing.
I really knew we were supposed to do this, and it's been cool. I think it's still really freeing and it's really great. The older I get I want to become more of a hippie and just play music. There's a healthy balance.
You released three B-sides singles from Life Will Write the Words over the last couple of months. I hadn't heard anything about it. I just discovered them today. Good stuff. How many of these are you going to do?
There are only three of them ("
The Cars and The Pixies", "
Anna" and "
Not Right"). Some people think that some of those songs are better than some of the ones that made the album. I learned from that experience that I'm not good at all at picking songs for albums. I definitely need someone to be like, "No, these are the songs that go on your album," just because I don't know. I write them all. I need some extra input on that kind of stuff.
So one of the songs is "The Cars and The Pixies." What was the place you were at when you wrote that one?
Honestly for me it's a funny song. I was just over a lot of things and that's why it starts with, "Can I be honest? I'm ready for this year to die." But the whole thing is about... well, The Cars and Pixies are bands, and it's The Cars and Pixies and The Cure ain't gonna fix me. It's just a light-hearted song about seizing the day.
There's a lyric, "Who says it has to be the New Year to start a New Year?" I wrote that a while ago. It was just a weird day when I did that. Sometimes my favorite songs are the ones that are poppy and catchy, musically, but the lyrics are heavier. Even though I referenced the band in it, I feel like The Cure did that really well: really dark lyrics, but the most impossibly happy-sounding songs sometimes.
Did you write these at the same time, obviously, as the rest of the songs?
I think that was another reason why I just felt like the album felt a little more cohesive without those three songs. It was almost like all three of those songs ... were less spiritually charged, and I felt like the other songs made for more of a full-package album.
So there's the song, "Anna"... is Anna a real person?
Perhaps. I changed the name to protect the innocent.
Really it's not even about the person, though is it? It's about conflict, transforming.
A lot of our fans connect to that song. I've been asked that question a lot. For my own sake I'm going to say I just don't want to deal with that person hitting me up when I see them.
Then all your friends stay away.
That's always the worst. I had a song once, one of my friends hit me up immediately thinking it was about him and it was drama. I thought this whole being a songwriter is weird. You put your life's stories into songs, but it can make people in your life feel uncomfortable if they read between the lines.
But really it's irrelevant who the subject is. So much of it relates to you personally. It's like dealing with all of the conflict and then seeing how it transforms you. Would you say you've come out of the season of heavy conflict or do you say you're still in the middle of it?
I think I'm in a really good place right now. I don't know what's next. It's a really interesting time, but I'm really excited to see what God's going to do. It's kind of a freeing experience to know that the possibilities are endless right now. Depending on how you look at it, it can either be bad or it can be really good, but I think it's going to be good. I think the last time we talked there was a lot of spiritual warfare going on.
What would you say you're learning and experiencing right now from the Lord these days?
I've had this revelation that everyone knows, but it's actually real to me all of a sudden: If I ask and I want God's will first in my life, then He's going to guide me. That's the craziest thing to think that. If I wake up every day, I'm just like, "Whatever it is you want me to do, the answer is yes. Whatever you want, that's what I want, God," and I can trust that where I'm at is where He wants me to be and He's going to guide me.
That's been a pretty big eye opener, even though everybody knows that. I think there are things in the Bible that are really clear that we don't fully grasp. I just feel that that's one of those really obvious things that I finally just understood.
I take it you're probably constantly writing. When are we going to see some new stuff?
I've got over 80 demos in this iPad. I have all these little half songs. I've never felt so creative, but I'm wondering if it's going to look a little bit different the next go-around and I'm just trying to figure out what that is. I'm going to make a record and then decide...
...Decide if you want to release it?
I don't know. I'm not going to say too much right now.
You should just do all 80 songs. Go for it.
I'm hoping that I can make the record of my life. That's the goal. We'll see. For me I just feel like it's still the beginning, even though I think that makes some people laugh when I say that because I've been doing it for 10 years, but I feel like we haven't actually gotten to the place where we've peaked. I don't believe we've really had that happen yet, but who knows. Maybe we have.
How can anybody who sees this interview, how can the Church be praying for you?
Thank you, first of all. Just clear guidance. I think that's it. Really wanting to know what it is because that's where I'm at. Whatever you say, God, the answer is yes. Just tell me what it is.
I got into that head space probably a year ago or longer. I started praying that prayer and in the back of my head, the whole time I'm thinking obviously this is going to mean that I'm probably going to end up doing something more, congregational ministry. I'm praying this every day, and it's weird, because I really feel like God is actually showing me that's not what I'm supposed to do. It's mind-blowing, and it's like all these other doors have been opening and continue to open in "the world."
Some people call it the secular world or mainstream, whatever. That's another thing about like the desires of your heart, putting God first. I love rock music and I love all kinds of music. I love worship music and I love art. I love Radiohead. I love going to church and worshiping God.
But I feel like my gifts are more in storytelling and the rock-and-roll kind of thing. It's been cool getting to that point where I'm like, "God, I'll do whatever." So you think when you're doing that, it's almost like Moses. He takes me to the mountaintop. I feel like that's happening in my life right now, which to me has been a really big blessing—a little more clarity.
I play at my church when I'm home now. That's been really cool. There has been clarity in my life, in that department, which I just never would have thought that would have happened going into it, whatever it is.
It's all being a missionary.
It's just crazy. The songs that come out of me, a lot of them aren't necessarily "Christian," but a lot of them are. To me that's real life, talking about whatever.
Well, we're not talking about shaking your booty or anything.
(Laughs.) Right. Of course I'm not doing that.
Life stuff.
Yeah.
