In this week’s music feature, WW chatted up ubiquitous multi-instrumentalist Peter Broderick (via email). As is usually the case when catching up with interesting Portland music-folk, he said all kinds of fun stuff that we couldn’t fit in the ol’ print edition, so—for all your indie-chamber-folk superfans—here’s the full, uncut (and ever-so-endearingly enthusiastic) Q&A with Broderick:

WW: How did you start listening to Efterklang?
Broderick: I first heard Efterklang in a friend’s car at the beginning of 2005. I was intrigued and asked what it was. He showed me the CD, which was an album called Tripper, and I went to the record store later that day and bought it. Over the next few months it became one of my very favorite albums. And I was obsessed with the group, checking their website everyday for updates, trying to show them to other people, etc.

From there, how did you make contact with them and start touring as an extra member?
Well, it’s a ridiculous story, and to this day I can hardly believe all that’s happened. Basically sometime at the beginning of 2006 I requested Efterklang as a (gasp) MySpace friend. I didn’t send them a message or anything, but the lead vocalist in the band actually took the time to listen to my music and sent me a nice little note saying he liked it. So then I freaked out and asked if I could mail them some CDs. And ever since then we’ve kept in touch here and there, and I’ve sent them every new thing I’ve made. But never would I have thought they would invite me to join the band!!! And then when they finished their new album earlier this year, they were looking for a new violinist to tour with them, and I guess they were just kind of joking about the idea of asking me to join, thinking I would never actually say yes. So they just threw this wild idea out there, and I think I responded within 15 minutes of receiving the email saying something to the effect of “YES!!!!! THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING MORE I WOULD RATHER DO IN THIS WORLD!!!! THIS SOUND’S LIKE A COMPLETE DREAM COME TRUE TO ME!!! AHHHHHHHH!!!” And from there we had two months to figure out if it was possible, and here I am now, taking a train between Gothenburg and Copenhagen on one of my last days off here before going home for Christmas!

What does Efterklang mean?
Directly translated it means “after-noise,” but more loosely it means “reverberation.” Haha, I can remember reading that on their website a couple years ago.

Efterklang’s video/album teaser for Parades featuring “Horseback Tenors” looks pretty high budget. How big/successful is the band in Europe?
I don’t know the exact story with that clip, but I believe it was actually already made, and they just got the permission to use it. But regardless, when I first got here, we had a full-on music video shoot out at a military base for an entire day, with one of the most popular film directors in Denmark at the moment, and there were children actors and tons of explosives and everything! But Efterklang isn’t huge here…Part of it is that these kinds of things (the arts in general) are so much more supported here! If you’re a Danish band that wants to make a video, then you just apply for a couple grants and seek some fundings. Not to say that Efterklang are unknown, though. We’ve done sold out shows (500 or so people) in numerous places on this last tour, such as London, Madrid, Leeds, and Copenhagen. I think they’re doing great in those middle sized venues. And in Denmark they’re actually starting to get quite well-known, with features in all the regular magazines and papers.

What do you get out of playing with Efterklang that’s different from your experiences recording and playing with the Portland bands you’re a part of?
Well, it’s an eight person band, and almost everyone is singing and playing at least a few different instruments, so it feels almost more like a chamber ensemble sometimes. But it’s also the most “rockin” band I’ve played in as well. You might not guess it from hearing the records, but we have some very fun and loud moments. All of the Portland bands I’ve played in have been rooted in folk music, and I love that, but while Efterklang definitely has some folk influences, it’s something else entirely.

Can you describe your best and worst moments on the road in Europe so far?
Best: A random audience member just walking up to me and giving me a huge hug after my solo show in London. Having a day off in Madrid and eating wayyyyyy too much amazing food. Meeting so many musicians and artists that for so long I’ve only known by email. Driving through the Norwegian countryside. Going out to with a local DJ after our show in Norkkiping and dancing my ass off! Making and getting to know some of my best eight friends on the planet. Staying with a kind family in Manchester who were coincidentally putting up Akron/Family the same night, and having a ridiculous jam session with them until about 5 in the morning. Worst: Being put up in gorgeous hotels by the local promoters and then not getting there until 2 am and having to leave at 6 am! Not being able to speak Danish!!! Crying in my bed in Glasgow because I missed my cat (OK, I’d had a little too much whisky…). Getting pulled over on the only day off on our UK tour because our van was over the legal weight limit!

Did the band help get you to Europe, or did you have to pay your own way?
I had to save up enough money to buy my flight and to make it through the first month in Denmark when we were just rehearsing. But that was no problem once I sold a bunch of my things, and I happened to be finishing up a film score at the same time, so it worked out quite perfect. And then since we started touring they’ve been paying me quite well. More than I ever made making pizza, that’s for sure! I think we all realize how ridiculous the whole situation is, but I can safely say that none of us in the band have any regrets, and this whole transition couldn’t have worked out much smoother than it has so far. I’m thankful for that.

Did you have to make a decision regarding whether or not to remain a member of Horse Feathers when this opportunity arose?
That was hard. I didn’t want to leave Horse Feathers. But I couldn’t turn this down. But it wasn’t completely permanent. At this point I’d like to think I’m still a member of Horse Feathers. I didn’t join on the last tour, but while I’m in Portland in December we’ll be in the studio finishing up our second record together! It might even be possibly for me to squeeze a tour with them next year as well.

How much of the songwriting process are you involved in with Horse Feathers? Does Justin [Ringle] write the songs and you play his parts, or is it more collaborative?
I think it’s always been pretty collaborative. In the end I think it’s Justin’s vision, and that’s why he can continue without me if he has to, but the way we came up with songs was always pretty collaborative. The song was always his, and he would bring it to me, sometimes finished, sometimes not, and then I would usually just start messing around, improvising some ideas until something clicked. Often times he would have an idea for an arrangement, and then I would try and translate that and we’d come up with arrangements together. Pretty much all of my parts were my own though.

Have you always made music on your own, as well, or is your own songwriting something that’s developed out of your experiences playing in Portland and with Efterklang?
I’ve always written my own music. I don’t think I really start to take it seriously at all until the end of 2006. In the past it’s been more of a little side project. But it’s always been there, and slowly I’m realizing it’s what I like to do most.

How did you end up in Portland to begin with? And how did your relationships with the bands you play with here (mostly Horse Feathers and Norfolk & Western) evolve?
I grew up only an hour from Portland, and I moved up after high school to study film and music. I started off playing in a band with my sister and her boyfriend at the time, and one thing led to another. That band led me play in Loch Lomond, and Loch Lomond kind of led me to play in Norfolk & Western. And then Adam Selzer started asking me to come in to his studio and do session work quite often, so I’ve met a lot of great people that way as well, such as Laura Gibson. And Horse Feathers kind of popped up in the middle somewhere. Justin moved into the house I lived in after my other roommates moved out. And I really liked the songs of his that I’d heard, so I was eager to try and play some music with him.

What was your reaction when you found out (presumably in Europe?) that Horse Feathers’ sophomore full-length would be release on Kill Rock Stars?
Well, the Kill Rock Stars thing has been brewing for a little while yet, but seeing it actually happen was a real eye opener…I really think of that label to be completely legendary, so it’s really hard to believe we’re actually working with them. And humbling. I couldn’t be happier about that.

There are a lot of musicians, especially in Portland, who describe themselves as “multi-instrumentalists,” but who maybe play guitar and a little trumpet or a similar combination. As a result of your live shows with N&W (during which I’ve seen you play a slew of instruments) and your contributions to Horse Feathers, you’ve become something of the quintessential Portland multi-instrumentalist. What do you think of the tag? What all do you play?
Haha. It all started with me just collecting instruments. Trying to learn them little by little. I think I have this problem with sticking to one thing. Sadly I don’t have the patience to practice one instrument and get really good at it. Instead I’m constantly switching around and hacking my way through too many instruments. At first I was really just barely playing most them, but then someone would see me play something, like the saw or the banjo or something, and ask me to come record, and so I’d say yes, thinking, “Shit, I’m not good enough to play this thing on their record,” but I did it anyways, and I think this pressure actually made me learn a thing or two on those instruments. In 2005 a friend of mine dared me to make an entire album that was nothing but musical saw. So I did, and while those are ten completely pointless songs, I learned a thing or two about the saw! And I’m still a sloppy saw player.

Your MySpace lists piano as your favorite instrument. Is that primarily what you prefer to write your own music on?
I’ve been writing so many songs on the piano, and I’ve made two piano-based solo albums now, and now I have a lot of film score work coming up, which will most likely involve piano. So I’m thinking the next time I make an album, I won’t use piano at all. And maybe not violin either for that matter. Those are the two instruments I rely on most I think, so it might be a challenge to make an album without either of them. I did play most of the instruments on my upcoming full-length, but there are a couple guests on a few songs, mostly just adding more strings and a little back-up vocals.

I think “melancholy” would be a fair word to describe your solo music, yet you seem a young man with a helluva lot to be excited/happy about.Any thoughts on why your music tends toward a sad tone or emotion?
It always feels silly to talk about your own music…but someone wrote a really nice review of my show in London, and I really liked the description he gave of my music. He called it “melancholic yet inspiring.” I think that sounds nice. I’d like to think that even though the music may be kind of sad sounding, that there is a great deal of hope in it as well. And at my shows there has been a really positive atmosphere. It’s not just me sitting in the corner playing a sad song on the piano. I’m smiling a lot and running out into the audience and making it more of a celebration than anything else.

You’re about to turn 21, which is pretty young considering all the projects you’ve already been a part of. How does it feel to be the “kid” among most of the musicians you play with? Do they tease you about it at all?
They tease me a little. Adam [Selzer] and Rachel [Blumberg, of Norfolk & Western] used to call me “The Whipper!” for whippersnapper. But it’s all in good fun and I think I’ve been very fortunate to have a lot of adults actually take me in and treat me as one of them. Sometimes I think I like being the young one, but mostly I feel ready to just get it over with and be a little older, haha. It’s been such a pain in the ass being under the drinking age in the U.S., just for touring, and for my (lack of) social life, so I find it quite ironic that I’ll actually be in Europe when I turn 21.

Broderick celebrates the release of Float Thursday, Dec. 13, with Ethan Rose at Mississippi Studios. 8 pm. $8 advance, $10 day of show. 21+. Photo: Broderick at “one of [his] favorite cafes in Copenhagen, Bang & Jensen,” taken from his MySpace.