I’ve known about the Olympia folk-punk band, Pigeon Pit, since late high school, thanks to my friend who was utterly obsessed with them. I didn’t really get it then…but recently, I really do. Maybe it’s one of those things about Olympia that sneaks up on you. One day you’re listening to codeine crazy by Future and ripping Juul pods, until suddenly you blink, and you’ve been listening to Milo by Pigeon Pit on loop, chain-smoking on your porch while the rain threatens your cigarette. And now your socks are wet.
I recently had the chance to talk to Lomes Oleander, frontwoman, and creator of Pigeon Pit, on the same day the band released a new surprise album , titled Leash Aggression.
Leash Aggression captures the beauty and restlessness of everyday life. It laments an existence where you’re forced to work to survive, and reflects on humble gestures and joys of togetherness. In a world where much popular music works to reaffirm and legitimize capitalist systems of domination, Leash Aggression feels honest, relatable, and most of all, it feels real.
You guys just released an album today. From my quick post-work listen, I think my favorites are Go ahead then! Beat me to death!, Rearview Mirror Blues, and Tangerine.
What did the songwriting process look like for this record compared to previous ones?
All of the records that I’ve done have been at least a couple of years in the making, if not more. And this one I wrote entirely within the past year or less. It’s all from this year, it was really fast.
It’s the first time I’ve ever done something like that. Writing usually takes me so long, just sitting with lyrics and editing them over time. But this one I was just kind of trying to be maximalist in the output of the music and trying to kind of get it out as quickly as possible. And I don’t think it’s less good. So that’s cool. It was really fun to write.
So do you write all the songs or what, who does what when it comes to writing?
Generally I write the songs, usually just at home or while I’m traveling. I pretty much write the songs and then think about how I want it to sound like in my head. I feel like a lot of writing music for me is like trying to remember how a song goes. And being like wait, what’s the next part after that? So I kind of have a vision of how it sounds in my head, and then I explain it to the rest of the band. Then, because they’re a lot better at like their instruments than I am, they have all these ideas that I would never have.
Was the album recorded live? Because some transitions between the songs were pretty seamless.
All of the songs that go into each other, we just recorded in one tape together. We record just on analog tape, not digitally at all. So we only have a certain number of channels. We have to get the whole band together in a take that we like, which is a lot harder to do, but you end up with an energy that I don’t really think you can get when you’re all just recording individually. And then I record the vocals over the top of it.
How many tracks did you guys record on?
It’s just a four track, but two of the tracks are left and right instrumental, and then two of the tracks are left and right vocal. There’s essentially just two tracks, but they’re stereo.
I’ve been wanting a four track for so long.
They’re ******* awesome.
What’s your favorite song off the album?
I mean, honestly, the 2nd to the last song, Return of the White Knuckle Angel, is probably my favorite. Just because the harmonica and the drums together, I don’t know. There’s just something about that song and how it came out that I think is my favorite thing that we’ve done so far. But also, Go Ahead Then! Beat Me to Death! is my other favorite. Just because I wrote it super fast and it just flowed out of me. Sometimes I think about songwriting like journaling, but a lot of the times it kind of feels like you’re puking up something, and it’s really uncomfortable.
I think my favorite line off the new record is : “Who can you really trust who isn’t 86ed from Ralph’s”
It’s for the Olympia girls.
What’s your guys’ relationship to Evergreen? You guys played a show there last year, right?
Yeah, it was earlier this year, actually. We played at Red Square, and it was really fun. I used to go to Evergreen. I think most, or I guess half of us, have gone to Evergreen and two of us have graduated from Evergreen. I never graduated, but I was doing zoology there. I love Evergreen. I go to the woods behind Evergreen almost every day. It’s ******* gorgeous.
Who’s your favorite professor?
I really like studying with Allison Styring and Amy Cook.
What have you been listening to that’s been inspiring you, and how has it been interacting with your songwriting?
I’ve been listening to a lot of old country music. Don Williams and Graham Parsons have been super on repeat for me.
There’s a lot of political messaging in your music. Why is it important for your art to be political?
I mean, to me, art is just a way of living your life. The art that you make is just everything that you’re making out of the world. All of the shit you’re doing in the world to rearrange reality: when you’re decorating your room, when you’re gardening, when you’re making food, all of that is art.
By the way that you live your life and how you demonstrate what you think is beautiful and what you think is good, is all inherently political also.
What’s your favorite cutty spot?
Oh, my favorite cutty spot?
I’m trying to think of what my favorite cutty spot is to put in a public paper… I mean, this is one that’s super public and super well known. But the rainbow tracks is such a classic Olympic spot to drink beer and watch the light change. I think it is underutilized. I don’t see kids hanging out there in the way that I used to when I first moved to Olympia. So that’s a spot that I would like to bring more attention to.
I think that it’s really cool when spots that are cutty, or just spots that aren’t accessed in a legal way are loved and utilized by the community, without its use being dictated by the state. It brings people together who maybe wouldn’t relate to each other otherwise. I think that it can be a really cool jumping off point for talking to people about shared political interests, things like stopping gentrification and fighting back against development.
When you meet someone in a spot where you’re technically not allowed to be, it feels like you’re on the same page, at least to some extent.
That’s why I love generator shows so much, it’s not just a show, you’re all committing a crime together, which is so cool.
You guys just got back from Europe, a month ago or something? What were your favorite scenes you guys played for?
It was awesome. I was really surprised by how stoked people were. I mean, I feel like when we play places far away, people are always stoked because it’s inherently cool that you’re coming from far away. And I saw some like really amazing shit in Edinburgh, Scotland. Before the show, we took a bunch of mushrooms, and we were up on this big foggy mountain that was actually just fucking huge and covered in heather. It was amazing. And then we ate a bunch more mushrooms and played the show really high. All the kids were going crazy, that’s one of my favorite shows I think we’ve ever played.
This or That
Vics or Oldschool?
Oh my God, 100% old school. A 1000% old school.
The old brewery or under 4th Ave.
I think the old brewery just because it’s more cutty and more rare.
The Brotherhood or the Crypt?
Honestly, the Brotherhood, just because I don’t run into every single person I’ve ever met there.
So true…
Peter Thiel or Elon Musk?
Next question…
I feel like Peter Thiel, the insane way he sees the world is funnier to me because he’s so obsessed with the antichrist and the idea of trying to become this rich man who has scientifically defeated death. And it’s giving so evil wizard, it’s more cartoonish, I feel like.
Peter Thiel is super like, he’s like super vampire or an evil warlock.
I think he’s secretly 7000 years old. What a ghoul.
Lucky Strikes or Parliaments?
Parliaments
The Mortuary or Le Voyeur?
I mean, Voyeur is just classic, you can chill in the alley with the door open and watch bands from the back and see the kids go crazy. I think I have to say Voyeur, but I love the Mortuary.
Any Shout-outs?
I want to shout out that we’re playing our new record, Leash Aggression, the whole way through on the 15th at the mortuary. So I should have said the mortuary to promote that….
And I also just want to shout out all the efforts to save the west side quarry from development.
There’s also a new group organizing in Olympia to stop the Olympia city contracts with the Flock cameras. Flock is building a nationwide like system of surveillance, and they
sell that information directly to ICE, who has been abducting people in Olympia the past couple weeks. I would urge people to get involved in the Deflock Olympia organizing movement. Also, if you see Feds in Olympia, please film them, Please make them feel uncomfortable.
Oh, final question. Can I rip your guys’ logo for the article title?
Yeah, definitely.
