Rilo Kiley's Blake Sennett Says Band Broke Up, Blames 'Deception, Disloyalty, Greed' ::

 

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"Rilo Kiley are not on hiatus. They're not taking a break. They are officially broken up. Following an extensive tour supporting the band's last release, 2007's 'Under the Blacklight,' the band reached a boiling point and never quite came back from it. "I just felt like there was a lot of deception, disloyalty, greed and things I don't really want to submit myself to," guitarist Blake Sennett tells Spinner. "I had related that frustration to music but I just thought, 'I'm not going to put myself in that position again,' so I said, 'F--- that, I can't do this anymore.'" "That being said," he continues, "it was probably immature and that came from a place of ego. I think that stuff will rear its head in anything you do, depending on the personnel you surround yourself with; things change overtime and people change and relationships change." Sennett doesn't point any fingers at specific band members, including Jenny Lewis who has had a successful solo career and currently records with boyfriend Johnathan Rice as Jenny and Johnny, but it was clear that this wasn't the same band that started in 1998. "Relationships, like Woody Allen said, are either moving forward or they're moving backwards, they either degrade or they grow and it was degrading to some certain extent in Rilo Kiley." Angry at the band and music, in general, Sennett sought distance from both. "I was mad at music -- and it wasn't music's fault," Sennett says. "It was our fault as bandmembers, or partners, or friends."

 

With his time off, Sennett ventured into other forms of art, primarily writing and directing a short film which made the film festival rounds. He has also found comfort in the Elected, a side-project he started in 2004 to help him reconnect with his first love. (Interestingly enough, Rilo Kiley drummer Jason Boesel has played in the Elected, which should give rise to a flurry of rumours regarding Sennett's Rilo Kiley beef.) "I'm a drug addict and I need my drugs," Sennett says facetiously. "I need my art, so I'll probably participate in every type of art. It took some distance and some growing up to remember that I don't care and that I like music regardless of what it costs me in the end."

 

With Rilo Kiley out of the game, Sennett is taking would-be Rilo Kiley songs for himself. "'Babyface' [off of the Elected's new record 'Bury Me In My Rings'] would've gone to Rilo Kiley, but there's no Rilo Kiley output to be funnelled to," says Sennett. "That's what the Elected started off as, the stuff that didn't make the Rilo albums or just didn't make sense in that world." That being said, Sennett says Rilo Kiley have a plethora of unreleased songs that might still see the light of day. "I think we're going to try and release a two-disc set of 40 songs, or something. I think that can be more considered like our last release, to me. But I don't know." As for Rilo Kiley's last record -- at least as it stands -- Sennett admits to not being the proudest. "I don't think it was our best record by far," he says of 'Under the Blacklight.' "I think that it could have been our best but I think we were under pressure. There were some of our best songs on that record but some of our worst songs. "Like, 'Dejalo' and '15' -- I didn't like those songs. They're OK, but we have a ton of old tracks that are better than a lot of the stuff that did make the record." (Via Spinner)

 

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I couldn't seem to find a pre-existing thread on these but I do remember some members being fans. Clearly not the most shocking news of the day! Did anyone really think they'd return from their hiatus? I haven't listened to any of their albums in months, even years but I'm still rather disappointed - they were one of the first bands I really listened to and enjoyed. Perhaps I'll spend the rest of the day listening to 'The Execution of All Things' and pretend 'Under the Blacklight' doesn't exist. Well, I did like it at the time (and I'm sure songs like Breakin' Up and Under the Blacklight are still lovely). Oh well. Jenny Lewis just needs to get her act together because both 'Acid Tongue' and 'I'm Having Fun Now' were a bit rubbish.

One thing that remain unchanged is that Jenny Lewis is still hot! B)

Rilo Kiley are one of the few bands that I still listen to regularly (I appear to have 'gone off' music as of late) and surprisingly I quite liked 'Under the Blackout' (probably because it coincided with when I first heard of them.) She should work with The Watson Twins again because when they work separately they are both really poor.

Rilo Kiley are one of the few bands that I still listen to regularly (I appear to have 'gone off' music as of late) and surprisingly I quite liked 'Under the Blackout' (probably because it coincided with when I first heard of them.) She should work with The Watson Twins again because when they work separately they are both really poor.

 

'The Execution of All Things' is easily their best album and I've actually spent most of the day with 'Spectacular Views' on repeat. IT'S SO FUCKING BEAUTIFUL.