Big Thief Return to Their Roots

Big Thief Returns to Its Roots On a Boston tour stop, the indie superstars riffed on sustainable success, artistic integrity, and more during an interview on campus.

By

John Mirisola

April 25, 2022

Big Thief (left to right): Buck Meek B.M. '10, Adrianne Lenker B.M. '12, James Krivchenia B.M. '14, and Max Oleartchik

Image by Kelly Davidson

This room used to feel bigger, Adrianne Lenker B.M. '12 said as she and her Big Thief bandmates took their seats for a live interview in a Berklee recital hall earlier this spring. Everything did.

This new sense of scale checks out. That same evening, Lenker, guitarist Buck Meek B.M. '10, drummer James Krivchenia B.M. '14, and bassist Max Oleartchik, would step onto another stage at Boston's Roadrunner concert venue, where they would play to a sold-out crowd of 3,500. Over seven years and five albums-most recently this year's sprawling success, Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You-the band has amassed the sort of influence and acclaim thats fast approaching indie landmark status: Think of a band like their label-mates, the National. Think Arcade Fire. Think, if youre bold: Radiohead. If they haven't quite reached that level of clout yet, give it a few years.

Theres always someone who shreds better. Always. You cannot be the best. But what you can be is you.

- Max Oleartchik, bassist, Big Thief

The conversation that afternoon, which was presented for a group of high school musicians and moderated by Berklees dean of admissions, Damien Bracken, began at the very beginning, reflecting on the members earliest musical influences-Meek, for example, would play the broomstick along with Raffi VHSs-and following their paths through Berklee. Lenker recounted the story, now legend, of tracking down Bracken and playing him her original songs to convince him that, despite the fact that she couldnt read music and didnt know any theory, she deserved a spot at the college. (Bracken, to his great credit, knew how to spot a generational talent even if she couldnt yet sight read.)

Throughout the interview, it was easy to see that these were musicians attuned to the mystical, tough-to-explain side of their craft, and accustomed to the art of jamming. They drew energy from each others ideas, pulling out themes, and bridging the spaces between their individual experiences. What emerged over the course of that hour was a set of glorious, Big Thief-flavored riffs on many topics: origins, friendship, self-criticism, authenticity, sustainable success, vulnerability, and much more. What follows are some of the highlights from that conversation, edited for length and clarity.

On Berklees Greatest Lessons Before they ascended into the Pitchfork pantheon, most of the band members were right here, taking classes, jamming with new friends, and coping with the impostor syndrome that can take hold when you realize just how many good musicians a school like Berklee can gather in one place. Krivchenia remembered the experience of a good, solid ego death during his first year. Coming here, you really realize youre not the most special musician ever, he said to the room of potential future Berklee students-not to be a downer, but to offer a different way of seeing things. Theres a lot of really special musicians, he said, adding that it took him a while to shed that system of competition.

Theres always someone who shreds better. Always, said Oleartchik. You cannot be the best. But what you can be is you.

These were insights the whole band cosigned, encouraging the audience to find the instructors and friends who recognize you for who you are and understand the sort of artist you want to become.

Meek: It all starts with friendship...building an honest trusting friendship with someone and playing music from that place . When I really look back at all the things that you could call achievements, they all started with just a friendship.... Friendship is the most reliable way to build a career.

Listen to Buck Meek discuss his solo work, making the Big Thief album U.F.O.F., and meeting Joni Mitchell:

Lenker also spoke of learning self-validation through her time at Berklee:

Lenker: There were so many opportunities to think that I was not good at music, or failing, or not shredding hard enough.... It gave me an opportunity to reaffirm my own sense and compass for what I think is cool and good.... Its music, so if it feels good in your guts, youre doing it fine, youre doing it right.

These things [practice techniques, class content, etc...] are supposed to be mechanisms to get me closer to myself, and to expressing myself in a more fluid way. But if theres something that doesnt feel like its resonating, or a way of learning that doesnt feel right, thats okay, because its not about getting that thing right, its about connecting to...your inner pulse.... The real gold that we have is those sparks of awareness and feeling and little curiosities that we get. Thats the treasure.

On Big Thief's Beginnings After meeting as teenagers during a summer program at Berklee, Meek and Oleartchik fell out of touch. But when Meek, Lenker, and Oleartchik wound up in New York City, a chance encounter brought them back together. I just decided to smoke a cigarette next to this tree, Oleartchik recalls, and randomly-or maybe not randomly-I look to my left and Buck and Adrianne are walking towards me.... It had been 10 years. No text, no nothing...so it felt, like, from the stars. The band began in that moment, and it wouldnt take long before the current-day lineup solidified with the addition of Krivchenia on drums, who passed his audition without ever picking up a pair of sticks.

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Lenker: James came

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