The Scope

Pilot to Bombardier is another live band that evolved from an RPM project. Bryan Power recorded his debut RPM album under the PTB alias back in 2009. In 2010 he stunned us with the beautiful folk country follow up Background Wrangler. Since then he has been focusing on the live incarnation of Pilot to Bombardier which consists of a rotating, all-star cast of local musicians and has been playing live shows a plenty over the past couple years. Bryan is currently gearing up to record his third RPM album inspired by… brace yourself… an online dating site. Here’s what he had to say about it.

What motivated you to get involved with RPM?
Friends. We challenged each other to get one done and it worked! I think the trick was that we set that date of our listening party and none of us wanted to be the one who didn’t get it finished. I need a deadline or nothing gets done.

Where will you be recording this year and using what gear?
The dining room. I have no need for a dining room so I fill it with instruments, recording equipment and a stereo. Everything gets recorded to the laptop through Eddie and into Reaper. Nice and basic.

Will you be writing the material in February as well or do you have songs ready to record?

Both. I have this wonderful voice recorder on my phone that catches ideas as they fall out. I’ve found some gems on there including ones time stamped at bewildering hours on weekend mornings and some really, really nice ideas I’m happy I didn’t lose.

Do you have any particular concepts or ideas you want to explore on your RPM 2012 album?
I want to write an album based on the profiles found on Plenty of Fish. I’d create back stories of lost love and broken hearts and title them names like “girlfromdarock83”, “watuseeiswatuget”, and “Babmalicious” or those kinds of names. Disclaimer: I have nothing against this site. I think inspiration can come from anywhere and I think the idea is funny. Short answer: Not really.

Where do you generally draw inspiration from during RPM for song ideas and lyrics?
I make life altering decisions as frequently as possible.

Any advice for new RPMers?
Don’t worry about recreating the White Album. Chances are about 40 people will ever hear it and most of those will be your friends. Your friends will like it because they like you. And the sense of accomplishment is great. You’ll have a great rest-of-the-year because of it.

Today’s track “Pilot to Bombardier” is from the self-titled 2009 RPM album. Listen to and download the rest of Pilot to Bombardier’s RPM discography at the links below.

http://pilottobombardier.bandcamp.com/album/rpm-09

http://pilottobombardier.bandcamp.com/album/background-wrangler