Interview: Justin Rice of Bishop Allen

Hey Robots readers, remember when I said I'd lay off the Bishop Allen for a while? What's that? You remember that, and you believed me? Suckers! The following is an interview with Bishop Allen singer and guitarist Justin Rice, also featured in the new film Mutual Appreciation. And just for good measure ...

Bishop Allen - Like Castanets (from the new September EP, buy here)

There's a scene early in Andrew Bujalski's film Mutual Appreciation that reveals the daytime occupation of its star Justin Rice. Rice, singer and guitarist for Brooklyn indie-pop band Bishop Allen, plays Alan, singer and guitarist for Brooklyn just-broken-up indie-pop band The Bumblebees. Alan and college radio disc jockey Sara (Seung-Min Lee) sit in a college radio station booth as the Bishop Allen track "Things Are What You Make Of Them" comes from the speakers. Rice's face lights up, slightly and subtly. It's the face of a musician who is pleasantly surprised, even after the hundredth listen, that he was part of making something so good.

It's a moment indicative of Mutual Appreciation's quiet grace, and it shows up elsewhere as the film's protagonists – including Alan, Sara, grad student Lawrence (Bujalski), and his girlfriend Ellie (Rachel Clift) – slowly enter each others' lives.

Alan, both by design and because of Rice's acting style, is unsure but in search of happiness. The tone is one Bishop Allen employs in most of its songs, which are full of sweetness, longing, and living in the moment.

Rice, who lived with Bujalski in Cambridge, Mass., was introduced to film while working as an assistant to Fog Of War director Errol Morris.
"I sort of did odd jobs that he needed done," said Rice. "A lot of the time I would do pre-interview stuff, or go to the library and do research."
Then came the day when, while working with Morris on a Southern Comfort commercial, he appeared on the other side of the camera.

Rice said working with Morris and Bujalski was similar in many ways.
"It's mostly the sense of doing something because you're excited and interested, and not because it's your job," said Rice.

He also related this camaraderie to Bishop Allen, whose ever-rotating lineup (with mainstays Rice and Christian Rudder, star of Bujalski's acclaimed debut Funny Ha Ha) is hard at work on its monthly EP project.

Bishop Allen's music made its way into Mutual Appreciation, and Rice said his musical performances – including playing a pair of Bishop Allen songs with drummer Kevin Micka - didn't feel different because of the camera whirring away to his side. The camera's presence in the awkward conversational scenes – Bujalski's specialty – was a little harder to get used to.

Mutual Appreciation has opened in a handful of cities, with many more on the way, but Rice is keeping more than busy these days with Bishop Allen. The EP project started in January, after the unexpected new possession kickstarted creativity.

"For some reason, things were conspiring against us to put something out," said Rice. Then the band stumbled on a piano sitting outside a Brooklyn school. The piano became the subject of their track "Corazon," which appeared on their first EP, January. It didn't stop there.

"All of a sudden, in the process of learning an instrument, we started coming up with new songs," said Rice, adding that the decision to put out a monthly EP "was this one-upmanship. We both talked each other into doing this crazy project."

The result, so far, is nine EPs – the most recent being August, which is actually a 14-track live LP recorded at Cambridge's famed Middle East club, and the just-released September.
Writing songs quickly, said Rice, took some getting used to. The sheer pace required for the project taught him not to over-work a piece.

"A lot of songs that I go into skeptically turn out the best," said Rice, bewildered. "At the same time, if it
doesn't, you think, 'That's okay, it's one of 48 this year.'"
Highlights in the series so far include the boppy "Click Click Click," the heartbreaking "The Bullet And Big D," and the nostalgic "The Same Fire."

The idea for a live recording from the Middle East – only a few blocks from the Central Square apartment the band shared with Bujalski – came naturally to Rice and Rudder.
"It was a really fun show. The people there were really excited to have us back … It was that kind of feeling that made us choose the venue," said Rice.

The band will continue the EP project for the foreseeable future, and while the long-delayed Charm School follow-up Clementines is officially off the docket, many of its songs will get reworked for a different LP. This also is the case for some of the tracks from the EPs, which Rice hopes to update with different arrangements.

In short, Bishop Allen fans, sit tight for that new LP. In the meantime, there's enough Justin Rice to go around.