A brief meeting and some crappy pictures

By the time I had made it back home on Friday (around 5:30 p.m.), I had still not heard from anyone in the band. I had tried for weeks to set something up, both directly with the one band member whose contact information I had and with the publicist from Polyvinyl, the band's label, but nothing had come to fruition.

After a few minutes of psyching myself into it, I decided to man up and cold call Bryan Poole, the band's guitarist, with the number I still had from when I interviewed him nearly two years ago, unsure of whether he'd answer or if he even still had the same number.

To my great fortune, he answered. He basically said that he wasn't sure what would be going on after the show, but he'd try to find some way to talk to me. This was all I needed.

So for the duration of the show, this rendezvous was in the back of my mind. After everyone filed out of the venue, I waited around outside with some friends, waiting for Poole (who also goes by "The Late BP Helium" and, in typical Elephant Six fashion, plays/has played with several bands other than Of Montreal, including a solo project under the aforementioned pseudonym) to cool down before I tried calling him again and left a message.

After about 15 minutes, the five of us wandered to the back of the building to wait by the band's bus, hoping to catch him on his way out, since I wasn't sure when or if he'd be able to call me back. We sat around for probably an hour until he walked down the ramp, where he was accosted by a couple of fans slightly more eager than I was.

After talking to them for a few minutes but before I could get his attention, Poole disappeared back between the buses, out of sight. I figured he'd come back out soon, though, so I waited around a little while longer, and I was right.

As was the case two weeks earlier, I figured 1:30 in the morning right after an energetic concert is not the best time for a musician to do a legitimate interview, so I just quickly introduced myself to him and told him, as I had told those I had met at the show in Pittsburgh, that I had no problem doing actual interviews over the phone, but felt it necessary to make that personal connection beforehand, because it makes the actual interviews that much more organic and productive.

He agreed with my reasoning but, as he had mentioned in a prior e-mail, told me that if I was serious about this, it would be imperative for me to spend some time in Athens to gain everybody's trust. I'll expound more on this tomorrow. For now, I'll put up some of the less terrible pictures I took on Friday. I don't know if it was the camera or the lighting or where I was standing, but they came out pretty weak.