Disaster Bird is a torrential downpour of folk sounds and rock music. Their debut album ‘Til The Stars Give Up was just released, and KRCU’s Jason Brown spoke with Brian and Jess Perry from the band to find out among other things, what a “Disaster Bird” is.
“I have pretty poor penmanship, says Brian, and we had kind of started the band and were looking for a good name for it, and I was just writing down a bunch of ideas in a notebook.”
“I couldn’t read anything that he had written, says Jess, but I thought that he’d written ‘disaster bird’ and I asked him, ‘Does that say ‘disaster bird?” and he said ‘no, but I like it.’”
They’re a married couple and they’re the songwriting team for the 6-piece band. Jess says they now completely embrace the name, and it defines the music they play.
“You can say a bird kind of represents the folkiness and gentle side of our sound and at times we like to get pretty epic with things, so that could be the disaster.”
The band formed out of bands that Brian used to play in without Jess. He wrote for those bands but admits that he saw his limitations as a songwriter.
“But then making it actually interesting… that’s where Jess steps in. I’ll show her something and she’ll give me the harsh criticism of it. She knows a heck of a lot more about music than I do.”
They’re both school teachers, but Jess happens to teach music. You might wonder if listening to an album written collaboratively by a married couple would be like intercepting love-notes between high-school sweethearts, but their own relationship is subject matter that the band for the most part stays out of.
Jess says, “I think we’ve only happened upon one so far, and that’s the song “While The Skies Change.” “Most of our songs have relationship-metaphors but that one song is pretty close to my heart.”
For a lot of their songs they look outside for inspiration, exploring the effects that seasonal change and time has on people. And writing in Minneapolis is bound to summon commentary on the profound experience of a Minnesota winter.
“The anger there is just about the weather, as silly as that seems,” says Brian. I’s just about being ready to move on, to have some sunshine, to have some brighter times in your life.”
Disaster Bird’s debut album is titled ‘Til The Stars Give Up, and is out now. You can keep up with them at their website.
