By Joel Froemming/ Bemidji Pioneer
Who knows what would have happened if Soul Asylum’s Dave Pirner had followed his sister’s Bemidji band camp footsteps?
“When we were little, she went to a band camp in Bemidji,” Pirner said from his studio in New Orleans. “And I wanted to follow in her footsteps the next summer. But for some reason or other, I never made it. I guess this is my chance make up for that.”
Soul Asylum, which will perform April 8 at the Sanford Center, has been making music since 1981. They were part of the Minnesota punk scene in the 80s, which also produced The Replacements and Hüsker Dü. They hit commercial success in the 90s with the album “Grave Dancers Union” that spawned radio and MTV hits such as “Black Gold,” “Somebody To Shove” and “Runaway Train.”
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“I’m looking forward to these shows,” Pirner said. “To be able to bring some great bands on the roads with us, bands I’m excited to watch perform - which is nice because sometimes you get great bands to play with and sometimes not so great bands.”
Bands for the Bemidji show include John Mark Nelson, American Scarecrows and hip-hop artist Carnage The Executioner.
A changing music world
Soul Asylum is currently working with PledgeMusic, a crowd sourcing company much like Kickstarter that works with bands. “This is all pretty new to me,” Pirner said. “I don’t really know much about the whole file sharing thing, but it’s cool that we get to interact with the fans in a new way. And the fact all these people are buying the album already is awesome.”
Launched recently, fans who donate to their new album will receive exclusive music tracks, signed copies of the new album, a rare “Grave Union Dancers” download and other items.
“It’s something new, the music world is changing so much and so fast that bands have to try new things to be able to get their material out,” Pirner said. “I write out specific lyrics of ours to fans for this that they get to keep, and that’s weird to me. But I remember when I first saw a written Bob Dylan song lyrics go on sale, and I thought that was so cool at the time - to see his typos and all - so it’s cool to be able to interact like that with our fans.”
The band is still working on the new album, but Pirner said he hopes it will be finished soon. For more information about their project, visit www.pledgemusic.com/projects/soulasylum
