This time last year, The Builders and the Butchers had scored—and had to turn down—a spot at PDX Pop Now! 2007. But the invite was probably the coolest thing that had happened to them as a band until that point.

Fast-forward a year, and the band just got done playing PDX Pop Now! 2008. And the Capitol Hill Block Party in Seattle.

Oh, and the Builders played South By Southwest in Austin in March. And the band opened for Cake at the Crystal Ballroom, the Decemberists and Nada Surf in Seattle, toured with Helio Sequence, was courted by major labels, recorded a new album with Decemberist Chris Funk—and, of course, took the Best New Band title from WW’s annual competition.

Holy shit dudes. That’s quite the year.

I first saw The Builders at Mississippi Pizza in fall 2006. And, like a lot of other people, they blew me away. The band bowled me over again this weekend at PDX Pop Now! and the Capitol Hill Block Party, but for completely different reasons. The Builders and the Butchers have come amazingly far this past year—but not without giving up some important things along the way.

It’s odd to think of it now, but the Builders were conceived as a guerrilla band. The high concept was that the Builders would go to shows by bands whose fans might enjoy the group—and perform outside for the people waiting in line.

One of the Builders’ first shows was the weekend of Halloween 2005 at the Mount Tabor Legacy (or whatever they are calling it these days) back when it was Sabala’s Mount Tabor Theater. Bob Log III was playing, and the Builders set up outside and played a few songs before they were asked to leave. So they moved under a bus stop… and were soon joined by a stranger carrying an upright bass down Hawthorne, in the rain. The band never learned who the phantom bassist was.

That, above all, was The Builders appeal—you didn’t know what was going to happen at the next show, but you knew it’d be strange and fun. There was the show at the Artistery where the audience was so moved that they didn’t just sing The Builders’ traditional call-and-response lines, they came up will amazing harmonies. There was the fabled summer 2007 show on the Rontoms patio, where it was almost like lead singer Ryan Sollee has commandeered the forces of nature for his performance. He sang, “I awoke to the sound of the sky crashing down in the morning,” and the sky behind him lit with lightning. He sang, “Your love is so much sweeter… when it rains!” and it started to rain. And the crowd danced until we were all soaked and the band played until the head on Ray Rude’s snare drum started impersonating a wet towel.

As The Builders have blown up, though, they have had to jettison a lot of what made people notice them in the first place. First the crowds got too big to see them when they played in the round, so they moved to the stage; then the crowds were too big for them to play without amps and mics—the band plugged in. Their album came out and they got fans who knew all the words, but didn’t know which parts were intended for the audience to sing, which made the old call-and-response falter. And as amazing as it’d have been if Ryan Sollee had pied-pipered the whole PDX Pop Now! crowd out of Rotture into the street after The Builders performance last Friday, singing a gospel refrain and playing thrift store instruments… he probably would’ve had trouble just getting off the stage through all the people.

To make up for the decrease in pageantry, the band has had to become amazingly tight, as the shows last weekend (at PDX Pop and at Neumo’s in Seattle) underlined. The Builders and the Butchers used to be a better experience then they were a band—now they’re an amazing band, an oiled and unrelenting musical machine. The Builders still bring the awesome, it’s just more self-contained.

Still. There was a time when you’d see the audience hugging each other and hugging the band after a show, jubilant and feeling like they’d had a hand in creating the good time they just had. And it’s a little sad that had to be left behind in this crazy successful year The Builders just had.

Links
The Builders and the Butcherspace

Photos from the Capitol Hill Block Party courtesy of Brandon Seifert