| Ollie Byrd started recording
songs on a Fostex 4 track in his dorm at the Evergreen
State College in Olympia, Washington. In 2000, he became
the bass player/singer of Seattle's Yeek Yak Air Force, which
received accolades from both Seattle's weekly magazine, The
Stranger, and airplay on Seattle's KEXP. Yeek Yak
also recorded a full length album with Phil Ek, the producer
of one of Ollie's all time favorite albums - Built to Spill's "Perfect
From Now On." This was a real thrill for Ollie.
In spite of the critical success of Yeek Yak Air Force,
Ollie found himself increasingly drawn toward the simple
two chord structures of his hero Lou Reed and toward the
less harsh and warmer textures of his 4 track compositions.
By the end of 2004, he came to feel that he didn't belong
in a post-punk, math rock band, and that he really had
been a singer/songwriter in exile all along.
He left Seattle and Yeek Yak, and moved to Brooklyn to
becoßme a full time singer/songwriter. He abandoned 4 track
recording for multi track computer recording after years
of naysaying. This led to a slighlty clearer and more polished
sound, though no medium seems to be able to conceal a kind
of innate wobbliness to Ollie's songs. |
