Ollie Byrd

Ollie Byrd started recording songs on a Fostex 4 track in his dorm at the Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. In 2000, he became the bass player/singer of Seattle's Yeek Yak Air Force, which received accolades from both Seattle's weekly magazine, The Stranger, and airplay on Seattle's KEXP. Yeek Yak also recorded a full length album with Phil Ek, the producer of one of Ollie's all time favorite albums - Built to Spill's "Perfect From Now On." This was a real thrill for Ollie. In spite of the critical success of Yeek Yak Air Force, Ollie found himself increasingly drawn toward the simple two chord structures of his hero Lou Reed and toward the less harsh and warmer textures of his 4 track compositions. By the end of 2004, he came to feel that he didn't belong in a post-punk, math rock band, and that he really had been a singer/songwriter in exile all along. He left Seattle and Yeek Yak, and moved to Brooklyn to becoßme a full time singer/songwriter. He abandoned 4 track recording for multi track computer recording after years of naysaying. This led to a slighlty clearer and more polished sound, though no medium seems to be able to conceal a kind of innate wobbliness to Ollie's songs.