Built to Spill Brings Idaho Indie to "The Late Show with David Letterman"

Built To Spill was on "The Late Show with David Letterman" Thursday night. They, Built To Spill, are a five-man band out of Boise, Idaho. Billed as an Indie band, which can mean just about anything just as long as the music is independently produced or controlled (which it still is, even though they're presently with major record label Warner Bros.), they performed their tune "Oh Yeah" for the Letterman crowd.

And blew them away.

They blew me away as well, sitting at my computer, just after listening to Letterman interview Don Rickles.

The sound bled psychedelic blues. It was so Pink Floyd-esque, I jumped from behind my desk and stepped over to view the television (it's in a different room, so as not to be too distracting).

Built To Spill certainly looked like a bunch of guys from Idaho, all bearded and rough looking. Or maybe they had that Pacific Northwest look. Whatever, the sounds they were making were pure ear magic.

I had never heard of Built To Spill, but that meant nothing until I found out that "There Is No Enemy" was their seventh full length album. Priding myself on knowing my fair share of artists, from Halestorm to Porcupine Tree to Kamelot to John Legend to Lynyrd Skynyrd to Metallica, not ever having heard of such a great band piqued my curiosity.

So I did what most people would do when trying to find a cure for ignorance. I checked them out on Wikipedia and read about how the boys from Idaho formed in 1992. Then I went to Billboard and read a little more. I dropped in on the Built To Spill MySpace page and listened to the four songs they have available there and then I went to YouTube to listen to some of their music (and watch a few videos), to see if it was as good or comparable to "Oh Yeah." Because deep down I was hoping they were as good and creative as they sounded. Truthfully, I have been listening for a Pink Floyd heir for years and was hoping I'd found them.

But I had not found a new Pink Floyd. Still, it didn't matter. Although their music is difficult to truly categorize, Built To Spill is a band worth listening to. What I found sounded like Graham Nash and Neil Young as an intertwined vocalist over well-crafted alternative rhythms. There's a definite Beatles influence to their harmonies, just as there is influence from The Cure and The Smiths in their song structures. The music is minimalist, clear, every note trackable -- something that is rare in this day of distortion.

Although I didn't find the next Pink Floyd, I certainly found a great band, thanks to David Letterman. And of all the songs I listened to (roughly fifteen or so), I still found "Oh Yeah" to be my favorite. It was the slide screaming halfway through the song that hooked me...

"There Is No Enemy" was released on October 6. It debuted in the Billboard Top 200 this week at No. 50, the Billboard Rock Albums chart at #21. "There Is No Enemy" is Built To Spill's highest charting album to date.

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Built To Spill's "Oh Yeah" performed on "The Late Show with David Letterman" on October 15.

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Sources:

Billboard.com
"Built To Spill," Wikipedia.org
"Built To Spill," MySpace.com
"The Late Show with David Letterman," CBS Television