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Like most of the music industry following the coronavirus pandemic, The National is easing back into the swing of things. The Cincinnati and New York-based outlet just wrapped a European leg of its tour last month, and will be hitting various cities across the U.S. for the rest of the summer. Drummer Bryan Devendorf says he feels pretty lucky, considering the impact the pandemic has had on the industry as a whole. So far, he says life on the road has been pretty smooth sailing in 2022.
"For us it's been great, because we just got back to it when all the restrictions in Europe were lifted," he notes. "You know, we've got our little bubble and all that, but it actually worked out OK."
While it’s been a few years since their last record, the band of brothers hasn’t been resting on their laurels. At this point, each of the members has so many personal projects that you might almost call The National a supergroup.
Frontman and lyricist Matt Berninger released his solo debut album, Serpentine Prison, early on in the pandemic. Devendorf and his twin brother, Scott, joined with Beirut’s Ben Lanz and Aaron Arntz to produce LNZNDRF’s second record — aptly titled II — and the Dessners have somewhat hit the mainstream. Guitarist and composer Bryce Dessner’s collaboration with the Australian String Quartet (Impermanence/Disintegration) was just named Best Classical Record by the American Association of Independent Music. And along with brother Aaron, he most recently wrote the soundtrack to Cyrano, last winter’s romantic musical drama starring Peter Dinklage. The Dessners also reconnected with Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon to put out their second album as Big Red Machine, called How Long Do You Think It’s Gonna Last?
Aaron Dessner is perhaps best known now for his work as a producer. In 2020, he helped introduce The National to a whole new set of fans by partnering up with Taylor Swift for her mega-hit lockdown records, Folklore and Evermore. The latter was largely produced at Dessner’s Long Pond Studio in the Hudson Valley.
"For Aaron, specifically, it really was a boost," Devendorf laughs. "And I think Aaron having his studio, it's evolved from the early days to now, where they have really, really high-end equipment, and they get really good sound there. But yeah, [the pandemic has] rearranged my whole concept of what to do with the time that I have."
In addition to his work with LNZNDRF, Bryan Devendorf put out his own record, Royal Green, last year — but he’s reluctant to call it a pandemic project, as he says the record was largely written before the onset of COVID-19. Rather, he says he spent much of the last couple years preparing for this tour.
"Between the shows, and obviously we're all pursuing different things, and we're getting older...For myself, I was concerned that I'd be a little rusty," he notes. "So I embarked on probably a year-and-a-half of just trying to get the physicality or the athleticism back. I'm 47 now, and it's a very physical position on the stage, behind the drum kit. So I had to do a lot of lifestyle and diet changes that coincided with an exercise program, which totally helped."
On the side, Devendorf says the band has slowly been working together on a new album. Fans looking at the tour’s setlists so far might notice a few unfamiliar titles, like “Ice Machines” or “Tropic Morning News.” Devendorf says they have anywhere from four to six new songs ready to test out live, but there’s more where that came from.
"Yes, the record is in process, and mostly done," he clarifies. "We've had a late burst of activity, because we met up periodically throughout the past 12-18 months, or did a lot of remote recording, and now that we're back together and like, working and seeing each other, I think it led to a burst of productivity and creativity — especially from Matt, who's delivered some of his best stuff. It's up there with all the other stuff of his I like, you know?"
Any full-length record would be the band’s ninth. They’ve come a long way since the early days of balancing their day jobs and jamming in various projects between Brooklyn and Cincinnati. My own introduction to the band, 2013’s Trouble Will Find Me, will soon celebrate its 10th anniversary. The band’s fourth record — the fan-favorite Boxer, thought by some to be the album that “solidified” their sound, turned 15 this spring.
“Things have changed completely for us as individuals and the world. I mean, there’s things happening that we could have never imagined back then," says Devendorf. "I just feel like there was less things intruding on the music-making [during Boxer]. I guess we were just more focused, and it felt like our lives kind of depended on it in a way? And now, with perspective, it’s like, 'Oh, there’s hundreds of thousands of years of human history, and we’re just briefly here for a moment in time. It doesn’t really matter.' But at the time, it was everything. I don’t know if ‘immersive’ is the right word, because we would have never thought of that word back then, but just like, we didn’t want to miss our chance. That’s a little post-historical commentary. I don’t think…we didn’t openly say ‘This is our chance guys!’ But in hindsight, that was our chance.
And thankfully, the record did OK," he adds. "We were able to make another, and another, and then leading to Trouble. Trouble was when we were all kind of starting to move out of New York [City]. Several of us had become fathers, and life had become a whole different thing. But the tracking for that was really fun! It was at this place called Clubhouse in Rhinebeck. But it was a very nice place, very camplike. We had a lot of meals together and would just hang out. Boxer I feel there was more anxiety. Trouble, there’s always some anxiety — it’s just like, ‘Oh, what are we doing? They gotta climb the mountain again’ — but I think there was way more anxiety for Boxer. But we still...we never really feel like we're ‘there,’ whatever ‘arrival’ would mean. Like, we’ll never get there.”
It’ll be interesting to see where this new era of The National takes them. Fans of the band are no doubt familiar with the dramatic behind-the-scenes tales from those first few records — but through it all, they’ve always managed to stay consistent to their particular sound, even when experimenting or bringing in new collaborators. At the center is always that push and pull: the lush orchestration against Berninger’s reflective and sometimes blunt storytelling, the bursts of emotion coupled up with those equally-heart wrenching moments of restraint. You know it when you hear it — whether it’s Matt Berninger or Taylor Swift behind the microphone.
As for the tour, Devendorf says they’re just happy to be back on the road. Audiences can expect the same rocking, “good clean fun” (as he calls it), with a few gems mixed in between the old favorites.
“The whole thing is fun now, because I didn’t think we’d ever do it again, so I’m just trying to realize to love every moment," he says. "But 'Bloodbuzz Ohio' — or we call it just ‘Bloodbuzz’ in the band — it’s kind of fun to play that. And really, the new ones we’re doing, there’s one called ‘Tropic Morning News’ that I enjoy, and there’s one called ‘Bathwater’ that’s really fun. The new songs are really fun to play because they’re new, I guess.”
So far, if you want a taste of “Tropic Morning News,” catch them live: The National and Lucy Dacus are set to play the Shelburne Museum in Vermont tonight at 7 p.m., and Brewery Ommegang in Cooperstown, New York on Wednesday.
