Interview with The Late B.P. Helium!

It's safe to say many people do not get a chance to talk to their favorite musicians. I did today though. Bryan Poole (The Late B.P. Helium) was generous enough to talk to me and answer a few of my questions and I thank him greatly for it! Enjoy.

When you were first getting your feet wet with music, what sort of jobs did you have on the side?

BP: Well, pizza delivery driver was the first one. I delivered for two and a half years for 'Little Caesars'. I worked in a dining hall at UGA as a dishwasher and a food runner before that, and had this terrible boss that hated me. Then I worked at 'Steak Out'. The manager there cried the day I left (laughs). Then I finally got a job at 'Gumby's' which is like the most renegade pizza place in town, I worked there for ten years. It totally supported me playing and being able to go on tour and come back and being able to make money. Probably the craziest stories I have are from pizza delivery driving and not rock and roll.

Could you tell me a little bit about your start in the Athens music scene?

BP: I've been in Athens since 1989. When I came here I was in awe. I decided when I first got here that I would see a band every night. It didn't matter that I didn't know who they were, because I didn't know hardly any of the bands anyway. I knew if I was going to meet people, it would be at these shows. I respected all of them. I had been in bands back in Columbus, Georgia where I grew up. We were terrible (laughs). I never thought I could play in Athens. 'Spawn' was my first band, it was kind of grungy. I played keyboards with the Olivia Tremor Control for a while too. They were the band we all really looked up to at the time, they just sounded so good. It seemed to be coming together at the right time. I lived in a house with Neutral Milk Hotel around that time too. I remember Jeff Mangum on the other side of my wall singing all the songs that would be on "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea", and that was really intense. I was pretty jealous when they went off and made the record. I really wanted to be on that record (laughs). It was a great period though. It's still kind of happening, but it's not the same and it couldn't be.

You did a cover of "Don't Let Me Wait Too Long" by George Harrison on your EP Kumquat Mae. Is George your favorite Beatle?

BP: He is, absolutely. It's easy for me to make the comparison. He's the dark horse you know? When he died, I committed to putting this CD out in Norway with 'Don't Let Me Wait Too Long' on it. I recorded it with Jason NeSmith who is more of an engineer than me and it turned out great. There's just something about that track, it's probably the best recording we've ever done. I don't know what it is about it either.

Did you record all of the instruments on 'Amok' and 'Kumquat Mae' yourself?

BP: Mostly, but I'm not a great drummer. I am blessed with friends who can play the drums really well though. For the most part, it's just Jason and I. You know, if I'm playing a guitar part and I'm not quite nailing it, I'll be like "man, you know what to play, you can play a part here!" (laughs). He's a better guitar player than me and I have no problem with that. It's about 50/50 between us in the studio though. A lot of the crazier solo's on 'Amok' are his. The solo in 'Reminder to Self' is his. That's a crazy solo.

Could you tell me a little bit about your most recent project "Dream Dads"?

BP: We have some stuff, but the problem was that Jim from Dark Meat moved to New York. We still have some ideas and plans though. We had this kind of multiple recording project. It's unfortunate he's not around. We had a lot of stuff and a lot of different concepts and places to play. It's not a band that would play in rock clubs. Actually, it's probably not even a good idea to call it a band. It's not what we are. More of sound sculptors. We have some good recordings, but I don't know when they are going to come out.

I am really enjoying the new James Husband album, "A Parallax I". How much influence did you and the rest of the band have on his solo effort?

BP: He actually recorded a lot of it during the period of 'Aldhils' and 'Coquelicot' in the old 'of Montreal band house. They had this awesome 16-track machine that he would record on in his spare time. It was still overlapping with his days in Great Lakes. I would say of Montreal and Great Lakes have an equal influence as far as his recordings. He sounds more like Great Lakes. It's kind of a continuation of their first record in a way. I don't think you can hear modern of Montreal in Jamey's music. There was a song he and Kevin co-wrote called 'Cast in the Haze'. It was actually mostly Jamey's song. Hopefully we'll have some more of that collaboration with this 'Instant Witch' record.