No Filler Music Podcast - Sidetrack - Neva Dinova's Songs Written For No One

Episode Date: November 18, 2019

On this week's Sidetrack we're checking out Jake Bellows and his band Neva Dinova, a group that basically wrote songs for no one in particular, until Conor Oberst (of Bright Eyes fame) shined a light on them back in 2004, showcasing them on "One Jug Of Wine, Two Vessels". We focus on one song from their 2005 release, "The Hate Yourself Change", and talk a little bit about Jake Bellows' reflection on his lyrics during the Neva Dinova era, and how as a solo artist he is now actively working towards writing and sharing more positive and optimistic tunes with the world. This show is part of Pantheon Podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Followed her from Brooklyn From Brooklyn's where she ran Breaking hearts Stealing cars Smoking cigarettes She's pretty and skinny And she hasn't got a clue That I'd be staring at her coffee

As the cup begins And welcome to No Filler. The music podcast dedicated to sharing the often overlooked hidden gyms that fill the space between the singles on our favorite records. My name is Quentin. I've got my brother Travis with me as always. And we are continuing into our distortion-free November. Am I right? Yeah, that's right, man.

I think that's going to hold true for the next two artists. we got planned. Yeah, I hope so. We kind of take a breather after you just shoved metal down our throats for a month straight. I think what you meant to say is shoved metal up your ass. Oh, yeah, that's right. If we're going to, you know. Yeah, right up the key store.

If we're going to do a call back to Metallica. Oh, yeah, that's right. That was the name that they intended for Killem All to be to be called until the American markets were, probably not going to like a name like that. I'm sure you had that planned as a question on your metal pop quiz, so I would have missed that one too, dude. So this one's going to be short and sweet. I don't have that much information on this band.

This is a band called Neva de Nova. You remember our dear friend Larry. We had him on our podcast to cover Nick Drake. You know, it's funny. The intro song that you played, I was actually kind of reminded of Larry Lodge's vocals a little bit. Do you think he was influenced by them? It's possible, dude.

Yeah, yeah. He was the one who showed me these guys. And the song in our intro was called Brooklyn, which was on their debut album, which was self-titled that came out in 2002. So it's around the same time period as, you know, when Coldplay kind of. This was the kind of music that was, you know, the, indie bands were making back then. Like this was kind of,

this was it, you know? This was that, what do they call it? The whole, like, you know, quiet as the new loud movement. Yeah. I think this would be in line with that. It's not necessarily in the same spirit as what Kings of Convenience were doing.

But that same idea, you know, softer rock music. So the thing about these guys, well, the main, the main guy, his name's Jake Bellows. And according to an interview that came out in, I believe, 2003, yeah, he had already been performing as Niva Dinova for 11 years before their first album got released on a major label. And from what I gather, it's kind of one of those things where he just kind of, he was almost purposely kind of steering away from the spotlight. He liked to release his own things.

He really didn't have any, like, ambitions to take this, you know, to, like, go on tour and, like, just blow up. He just, that's just not something he wanted to do. He's very connected to the music scene and, like, the community where he started the band, which is in Omaha, Nebraska. I thought that was interesting that, and that's crazy to think about, being in a band for 11 years, years before you get your first quote-unquote major, you know, record label release. A lot of his music is very melancholy and sad. A lot of the lyrics are honestly pretty depressing, at least under Neva de Nova. Let's see.

The last full-length album that Neva de Nova released was in 2013. which was called New Ocean. Since then, he's stepped away from that, and he's doing kind of his solo, doing a solo thing now. And he's kind of realizing, like he's looking back at, hang on, let me see.

He says, looking back, I noticed that much of my older music was referencing the sadness and the pain that exists in the world. I felt like that was the opposite effect that I wanted to have. So I took some responsibility for my actions and decided,

I wanted to change. I want to help make the world into a nicer place to be. Interesting. Yeah, his solo stuff is a lot more positive and pessimistic and optimistic. And any, like, there's one interview that I found with this guy that honestly isn't worth, like, sharing for this episode, but he just seems like a super down-to-earth guy, you know, really humble and all that stuff. but he doesn't seem, I don't know, dude.

You know, there's a lot of singer-songwriters that are kind of... Up there on butts, dude. Yeah. He seems kind of like the opposite of that. That's cool. Yeah. So anyways, there's not a lot out there on the internets with this band. Well, I was going to say, if you go 11 years just kind of grinding, you know,

doing your own thing and, like, just making music. having not been picked up by a major label. I feel like that says that you're not in it for the fame and like the notoriety. Otherwise, you would have given up already, you know? Yeah. If you're doing it for 11 years straight, like you're doing it because you love making music, you know? Yeah. There was a, actually, I'll post a link to this video in our show notes.

So there's this thing called the Lilac sessions where they post a high, quality video of a concert. And this is local to Omaha, Nebraska. And they kind of splice in segments of interview clips with the artist that they're covering. And Jake Bellows performs at a local, like, tiny little bar in Omaha. And one thing he likes about touring is he likes the idea of being able to share his message, you know, or like just being able to spread good vibes.

to as many people as he can across the country. Like that's how he thinks about touring. So it's not about, you know, selling records or whatever. I mean, I don't think any band would say straight up, oh, dude, I'm just torn for the, you know, to sell records. But, you know, like, it's just, when you listen to this guy, like I said, he just seems like a super chill, normal-ass dude, you know, super humble. And anyways, this is just a super nostalgic band for me, you know,

and I kind of felt like it, like his, His voice kind of reminds me of Chris Martin, and it came out around the same time. That's honestly the only reason that I picked Neva de Nova to be a sidetrack for Colbley because there's nothing else really tying them to Colby. But I wanted to share one of my favorite songs from Neva de Nova that came out on their 2005 album, The Hate Yourself Change. And we're just going to play the whole song, because why the fuck not?

this is a song called She Can't Change. It's a great song, man. It's got such a good vibe to it, you know? Yeah, I'm a sucker for those harmonies, dude. Yeah. Well, it's interesting because he kind of goes back and forth with himself.

You know, like he'll start singing at the end of, you know, a phrase that he just said. Yeah. It's sort of overlapping, almost delay, you know, to his vocals. Yeah. it kind of reminded me of like the same kind of feeling that a lot of REM music kind of conveys that kind of like really yeah I would have never thought REM but you're a much bigger REM fan than I am I mean I'm not saying

that he sounds like like Michael Stipe or anything I have I'm just saying like it it's got that same vibe as like that 90s rock era, at least that song. But this came out in 2002, you said? No, this came out in 2005. This was on, this wasn't on their debut record, which is, the song that we introed in was from their self-titled debut from 2002. This is on an album called The Hate Yourself Change, which came out in 2005. And also, one thing I wanted to point out, in between this,

album and their debut, they released a record called One Jug of Wine, Two Vessels, which came out in 2004, and it was a collaborative effort with Bright Eyes. Basically, it was Connor Oberst, which is, he's the main dude, the singer-songwriter for Bright Eyes. So they're all good friends now. Connor Oberst, who I believe is also hails from Omaha, had heard Neva de Novo before and was super into them. And from what I've read, it's kind of like, uh, Connor brought Neva de Nova in with him to record this album, just helping out friends because he felt like they needed to be heard. And yeah, so, so since then they've been, they've been released on Saddle Creek records.

You've heard of that record label, right? Mm-hmm. Yeah, bright eyes. I know, um, Frilo Kylie, which is Ginny Lewis's band. They were on Saddle Creek. They were all kind of super close-knit. This is what I've gathered from that, like, collective. You know, they all kind of show up on each other's records. I know that Jake Bellows was pretty, he contributed heavily to Bright Eyes album called Casa Daga, which came out in 2007.

So anyways, they're all like really close-knit. So I feel like that's kind of what got put Neva de Nova on the map or at least you know made them a little bit more well known like in the like indie world you know of music was that bump

from Connor Overse anyways that's all I've got for Neva de Nova and I think we should dive into some watch your hurts dude we got time let's do it. Oh we got nothing but time we got nothing but time dude yeah so hey real quick

dude, before we get into our What You Heard's, let's take a quick break. And we're back and you want to start us off this time, dude? Yeah, let me start. Let me start us off here. So I watch this great documentary on Netflix that I highly recommend to anyone who is a music lover. And if you're listening to this podcast, chances are you're a music lover. So it's called Echo in the Canyon. And it is a documentary about music from,

um, from this area in California called Laurel Canyon, which is where, uh, bands like, Crosby Steel's Nash came up, beach boys came up in Laurel Canyon. So wait, like they, they started out and were like residing in Laurel Canyon?

Basically, yeah, it's this, it's this, it's this, It's this neighborhood in Los Angeles called Laurel Canyon where I'm just going to list off some of the names here. The birds, the beach boys, Buffalo Springfield, Mamas and the Pappas. They all sort of started in this area. It was kind of like Greenwich Village, right? I was about to say, like this sounds like almost the, this sounds like the same bands that were hanging out in Greenwich Village. Yeah.

Okay. This is kind of where it was like a mecca for musicians and stuff. So anyway, this just sort of covers those particular albums that were kind of made out of that neighborhood and the artists that would sort of run in that circle, you know. So anyway, this documentary was hosted by Jacob Dillon as in Bob Dylan's son. It's in the wallflowers, right? Exactly, as in the lead singer for the Wallflowers. So he put together a concert and an album to sort of be a companion to this documentary where he and musicians like Beck and Fiona Apple, Cat Power, Regina Specter, Nora Jones.

Eric Clapton, dude. Right. They all contributed to this record and showed up on the record or played live with him when he did this show. So anyway, Josh. Josh Hommi's on here too, don't. Really? Well, he didn't show up on the documentary.

Well, he's on one of the, he sings, there's a song called She on this album. It's Jacob Dillon and Josh Hami. There you go. I kind of wish he had featured him in the documentary. Anyway, so there's one song in particular. It was a cover of a Mamas and the Papa's song called Go Where You Want to Go. and this is Jacob Dillon and Jade Castrinos,

who was in a band called Edward Sharp and the Magnetic Zeros. So anyway, let's give it a listen to it. Yeah, like I said, this is a somobas and the Papa's cover. Man, there's some pipes on that girl, dude. Yeah, that's kind of one of the things I really liked about it. You got to watch the documentary, man. It's just a really cool location. that era and like how this particular neighborhood sort of spawned all of these these albums like

Mama's and Papa's that song that that that they're covering there is off of their debut album so yeah they wrote their debut album around that time you know in in and around that neighborhood you know hanging out with the you know famously we've talked about how David Crosby and Mama cast would um essentially you know partake and partake Is that where we're going with there? Just stuff like that. I'm still really pissed off at fucking Crosby. It was the 60s, man.

That's what they were doing. You know what, though? Come on. Anyway. Yeah. You know what? Okay. So I'm a big fan of Bob Dylan.

And it's one of those things I've learned about how people feel about Dylan. You either love him or you hit him. and it all comes down to his voice. Yeah. And the only reason I bring that up, maybe Jacob being his son and all, you know, like, took some influence from Bob's,

like, the way he sings. Jacob's voice is just so much better than his dance. Oh my God, yeah. That's something I... It does sound like Bob Dylan. He's got some of Bob Dylan's, like... Cadences. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But yeah, he's got a great voice, man. Man, I love the wallflowers, too. That's that one song that always, that you always think about when you think of the wallflowers. I can't think of it right now, dude. What, their one song? Yeah, let me look it up. If you can think it, unless you can think of it off the top of your head.

No, it's a one headlight. One headlight. Dude, I love that song, man. Yeah, it's a good thing. He's got such a great, you know, know, he's got some, like, some depth to his voice, if that makes sense. Like, he's got some soulful. He's got some Bob Dylan vibes, dude. But it's not like, you know, as tortured and, I don't know. Yeah. I mean, I'm a Bob Dylan fan, but his voice isn't great, you know,

it's not great at all. It's shitty. Yeah, sure. I mean, it's also, you know, he was, it was more about his lyrics, right? I mean, and more about, like, the story. He was. stories he was telling and all that good. Totally. Totally. Thank you. At least you, thank you for saying that because, yeah, sure. Yeah, thank you. Because there's a lot of people that just don't understand how you could, how you could like Bob Dylan at all. Yeah. It's like, well, it's about the storytelling. Like, that's, you know, just, you got to get past his voice. I mean, yeah, that's all it is. That's all there is to it, you know. He was a great songwriter. There we go. All right. So, anyway, I just, I just, you know, I just, I really like that it's Bob Dylan's son.

And the thing is, he's interviewing all of these musicians. So he interviews David Crosby. He interviews Michelle Phillips of Mamas and the Pappas. He interviews Tom Petty. So this was made before Tom Petty died, obviously. He interviews, what's his name from the Beach Boys? Fucking Brian Wilson. Yeah, he interviews Brian Wilson.

So anyway. Cool. I'll check it out for sure, man. Definitely watch it. It's a great documentary. you get to see Beck, you know, do a cover with Dylan

and Regina Specter. It's just really cool. Again, so that documentary is called Echo in the Canyon. It's on Netflix. You can probably find it elsewhere, but go check it out. Cool.

What's you got, Q? All right, so this is a band called Squid. Ever heard of them? I have not. So this is a five-piece. they hail from London they're under the post-punk category

but as soon as I heard this song dude I got like these heavy B-52 vibes I think you're gonna really like this song dude okay um I I feel like they've got like some LCD sound system vibes as well um I don't know much about them

but the only thing they have so far is single so like they're brand new Like, you know, they don't have any full-length album yet. And I'm just going to let the music play for itself. This is a song by Squid called The Cleaner. Yeah, dude, I liked it. So I was trying to keep track out all the different, like, sounds or, like, influences that I heard there. Oingo, Boingo.

Whoa. Okay. Modest mouse. Yeah. At least the vocals. talking heads a little bit. I was hoping you were going to say that, dude, because I'm not as big a talking heads fan as you,

but yeah, I was getting those vibes as well. I was getting, the reason I said Oringo-Bongo was it kind of reminded me of, you know, weird science a little bit. Yeah, dude, they're definitely pulling from the 80s.

When I found out that this was a brand new fucking song, it blew my mind when I heard it. Yeah, that's good. I liked it. Yeah, it's cool. Like it's one of those bands like, man, I got to see them live. Like, I bet they put it on a show.

Yeah, it's a good, it's a good mashup of, like I was seeing, kind of a bunch of different influences there, you know? Yeah, yeah. I'm excited to see what else they got for us. Because like I said, like they've, they've only released like a handful of singles. Yeah, so that's a, that's a band called Squid. And that was a song called The Cleaner. So that's it, man.

That's all I got for today. We're going to bring another beloved indie band. to you next week for a full length. Who would that be cute? I'm not going to spill beans, dude. Come on. But let's just say that there's a song on this album that was part of a movie soundtrack. A couple of their songs were heavily featured in a very well-known indie film.

Yeah. Basically, in the film, the character references the song. Like, it's not that it was just in the movie, like it's a soundtrack. Like, she mentions the name of the band in the movie and says the song's going to change your life. And I feel like I just gave it away, but whatever. Well, that's the thing, man. It's like, you know, if you have an idea of what we're talking about, the director slash screenplaywriter slash one of the stars of the film, like his music is all over. I almost feel like he made a mix CD

and then he's like Hey you know what I'm gonna put all these songs in my movie Yeah anyways but I'm so excited to play Some tunes from this record It's a it's a great record man It's got a lot of great It really does capture that That indie sound

Like when you think about the term indie music And how broad it is now You know and how it really is hard to nail down A certain sound I feel like there are a couple of albums that to me like encapsulates the indie music sound and that's one of them. Oh yeah, dude. And we'll get into all this. And you know what?

I wonder if when we do this and like purposely not mention the band and just continue to talk about them, like do people hate it? Are they like, God, just fucking tell me what band you're talking about? Dude, we gave lots of clues here. Yeah, you're right. Lots of clues. So we're going to close us out with another song from Neva de Nova's 2005 release, The Hate Yourself Change. And that's it for today.

As always, check us out on the Pantheon Podcast Network. Go to pantheonpodcast.com. There you'll find all of the awesome podcasts that are in our network. It's all music podcasts. That's what I love about being part of this network, dude. we're just surrounded by a bunch of music nerds just like ourselves. You are sure to find another podcast within this network that you will love. Hop onto our website, no filler podcast.com.

There you can see our track lists, all the songs we covered. We've got links to all of our resources and we'll throw some music videos and interviews on there as well. And that's going to do it for us today. Again, we're going to close us out with a another Neva-Denova song. This song is called Blackest Heart. And thank you so much, as always, for listening.

We will shout at you next week. My name's Quentin. My name is Travis. Y'all take care.