The Builders and the Butchers: Spanish Death Song

Posted by Charles Stepczyk on Jul 17, 2009 in IR: Daily Dose | 98200 comments2009-07-17+14%3A00%3A31Charles+Stepczyk

The Builders and the Butchers - Spanish Death Song Ryan Sollee: “I moved to Portland in the fall of 2003 from Alaska with my band at the time, The Born Losers, which played rockandroll/punk. After playing a ton of shows and a bit of touring with a lot of expectations, it was time to try something new. During my time playing in the Losers, I started a project on the side called the McGovern Goldwater Ticket, playing with my good friend from Alaska – Brendon Price. At this time I was writing a lot of country and blues songs, and Brendon introduced me to older blues and gospel artists, as well as giving me a lot of feedback on my own songs.

This is where the first Builders and Butchers songs came from, the very first being Bringin’ Home the Rain. At this time I also became friends with Adrienne Hatkin who’s band Autopilot I was a huge fan of. Adrienne and I started playing together and we had an idea for starting a funeral band that played death themed songs. I wrote quite a few songs during this time, Spanish Death Song, Slowed Down Trip to Hell and Find Me In the Air. One day in September of 2005 I was at the home of Alex Ellis and Ray Rude and I played them the songs Adrienne and I were working on, Alex had an acoustic bass and Ray joined in on organ, I think Harvey was over and he had borrowed a Mandolin from Adrienne, Paul joined us the very next time we practiced, and that was the band. We practiced a few times and played our first shows on the Halloween weekend of 2005.

Unlike the Born Losers, the Builders and the Butchers started with no expectations and when after the first few shows people were singing along and responding to the band I was totally suprised. A lot of our first shows were played downtown outside of bars and clubs. One of our first shows was playing outside of the Bob Log III show at Sabalas. In the spring of 2006 Adrienne left the band to concentrate more on Autopilot, but still plays with the Builders on occassion. Analisa Tornfelt, a longtime friend from Alaska also joins us playing violin on the occasional show and practice.” [cdbaby.com]