Flying Away On A Paper Crane with Birdhouse

Flying Away On A Paper Crane with Birdhouse

Birdhouse is definitely writing the next glorious chapter of indie pop rock, channeling timeless collectives such as The Smiths and Radiohead.  Featuring the superb performances of Cillian Leddy on vocals and guitar, Wiley Alden on bass, and Oliver Janns on drums, this trio is ready take the listener on a vibrant auditory adventure.  Birdhouse has released three standout singles, and are working on their debut EP.  To kick off the summer, Birdhouse would headline an Education Through Music (ETLMLA) event in Burbank, where Highwire Daze caught up with the band for this interview.  Let’s fly away on a Paper Crane (a Birdhouse single) and into the intriguing sonic realm of Birdhouse.  Read on…

We’re here with Birdhouse. Introduce yourself and tell me what you do in the band.
Wiley: Hey, I’m Wiley, I play bass in the band, and I do various social media and production things.

Cillian: I’m Cillian – I play guitar and sing in the band.

Oliver: My name is Oliver, and I play the drums.

Give me a little background on Birdhouse and how long the band have been together.
Cillian: We’ve been a band since sophomore year in high school – so around 2-2 ½ years.

Wiley: We all met because we all go to the same school, and we were all sort of playing music in this music room they have at the school. And then one day we were like, “Hey do you all just want to jam together?” I had been learning bass, and we went over to Oliver’s garage and just played some tunes.

Cillian: It went great. We rocked out.

And let’s hear about the first show.
Oliver: It was kind of an interesting show. It was my sister’s party she was throwing. And she was nice enough to let us play a set in her garage. It was all covers at the time. And that was our first show.

Playing house parties vs playing clubs. Which one do you like the more?
Cillian: I think both are great. I love the intimate, kind of personal feel of a house party show. We played show on Friday of this weekend and there were 10 people there. But we also love the vibe of a club. The gig today I think is an amazing space and we’re excited to play.

Wiley: This is probably the most people we’ve played for. The great thing about small shows is that it’s less exposure, but it’s higher quality exposure. We got more followers for the 10 people than we did for 50 people, so it’s a really interested trade off. So, we’re really excited to play for this many people – I don’t know how many people will be here today 50-100-200- who knows. But it’s going to be a really cool experience.

Let’s talk about a few of the songs you’ve released. Paper Crane – give me a little background on that song.
Cillian: That one I wrote a while ago. Initially, it was born out of a desire to move to escapism. The lyrics are like flying away on a paper crane and flying to a better life. The mundane kind of stuff you don’t want to do during the day or you’re having a hard day – or you’re having a tough moment. Sometimes you want to dream, and you want to imagine a place that is free of responsibility and sad emotions that come naturally in life. That was kind of an expression of that emotion. For me, the big thing is having the lyrics tell a story while also being accessible to everybody. It’s a situation that anybody can relate to.

Wiley: That song is really bittersweet.

And the other song you have released is entitled Moon. Talk about that one.
Cillian: That one was a very personal song for me. I wrote it as sort of a comfort song for my friend in Ireland. Her father had passed away from cancer. At the time – in a situation where somebody is going through that – it’s really hard to know what to say – until you’re like stumbling over your words or your kind wondering how they will feel about your interactions with them. So, I think that song was kind of my way of saying “it’s going to be okay – you’ll get through this.” It was like a comforting thing to her. You should know in order to heal, you have to feel something real. It’s a line, but for me it felt more real than any other way I could have helped her at that time. So that’s where that song came from.

If Birdhouse could open for any band either now or from the past, who would it be and why?
Wiley: My favorite band is Radiohead. I love Radiohead. I know our music – it’s not necessarily that, but I think since we could open for multiple different styles. I would love to open for them. I love their music, and I take a lot of inspiration from them – in production also – just different ways of using sounds. I get really excited about the weird rhythms they do.

Cillian: They are so many different bands that we love. I think I would go with Velvet Underground or The Stooges. Because on one hand I love the raw rock and roll energy of Lou Reed and that band – and then I love the kind of pure three chords ethos that embodies The Stooges music. And also, other softer singer-songwriters – Nick Drake or like a Patti Smith or an Adrianne Lenker. There are so many different people that we love, but I think that our music is a combination of all those different influences.

Oliver: I have to agree with Radiohead. Whenever Wiley brings out his keyboard and he gets all ethereal with it, it’s always a lot of fun. But I like The Smiths a lot – because we played those songs for so long – and I was into The Smiths when I was writing a lot of the drum parts.

What’s up next for Birdhouse?
Oliver: We’re actually going to Valencia for a Berklee College of Music Summer Camp for jazz and pop and rock performance. We’re all going at the same time, staying at the same hotel – and we’re going to have a lot of fun.

Wiley: And this summer we’ll be finishing up our EP. We have 8 songs that we have recorded and are really excited about – and we’re going to try and release them over the summer. I’m not sure what the EP will be called, but we’re excited to put the rest of the music into the world.

(Interview by Ken Morton – Photos by Jack Lue)

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