BON IVER:
Anywhere from Here

“WE’RE FROM EAU CLAIRE, WISCONSIN”
    Many local fans, while happy with all the attention, snicker at the national press’s fascination with Justin’s northern Wisconsin roots. Yes, he recorded the album in his father’s hunting cabin while staying there for the winter. Yes, he ate venison. Yes, he chopped wood. But some writers have made it sound like he was scrounging the woods for food like a savage beast. It was Dunn County, not Siberia.   

    Vernon did contribute to the image with the beard and flannel look, and people latched on to the story of the secluded tortured soul recording a masterpiece in the middle of nowhere (that’s us: nowhere). Yet, the story hooks people, and getting noticed in the music industry is no small accomplishment. 

    Justin even joked about the Wisconsin-woodsman-musician shtick. “I don’t want to start selling blaze orange hats with ‘Bon Iver’ on them,” he says with a smirk of his own. And rather than a “blanket naked harkening” of Eau Claire and Wisconsin, Vernon hopes to spread awareness of the cultural vitality of the places, people, and music in our neck of the woods, so to speak. “That’s what I care about,” he says. “We get up on stage, and I say, ‘We’re from Eau Claire, Wisconsin’ every night. That’s something I’m very proud of. So if they’re pushing the Wisconsin thing I’m all about it, because that’s what it is; that’s what Bon Iver is to me.”

    Defining Bon Iver is no easy task. The name itself – purposely misspelled French for “Good Winter” – comes from an Alaskan greeting used after the first snowfall of the season. That’s the easy part. “Who” Bon Iver is gets trickier. Justin referred to it as a squad. It’s not just the band – it’s the sound guy, the tour manager, the attorney, the accountant, the people at the label, the tour manager in Europe, etc. (The way things keep expanding, I may have accidentally joined Bon Iver by writing this article.) Justin’s even gone to the extent of saying the next promo photo session needs to include the whole crew. This all-inclusive philosophy is more than just backslapping after some success. Even back in the Mount Vernon days, the sound guy eventually became an official member of the band, included in the promotional photos.

    And looking at the Bon Iver roster, it’s remarkable how many of them are from the Chippewa Valley. Guitar player Mike Noyce was Justin’s guitar student in high school; he put college on hold to tour with Bon Iver. Drummer Sean Carey had been playing drums in UWEC’s Jazz I as well as in jazz groups at Shanghai Bistro when Justin called with the offer. Nate Vernon, Justin’s brother, holds tour manager duties. Bon Iver T-shirts are printed in downtown Eau Claire at Melting Pot Prints. 

    Justin’s manager, Kyle Frenette, is a 2006 graduate of Chippewa Falls High School. Interestingly, Kyle’s been on a parallel mission with Justin since he’s been old enough to hold a job. Throughout high school, he built an impressive resume: event coordinator at the Heyde Center for the Arts, promotional manager at Higher Grounds coffee house, and contributor/distributor for Volume One. In his spare time, Kyle played in the indie-rock band Elliston. After earning his associate degree in music business, he came back home and started Amble Down Records – his own label to promote and highlight the music of the Chippewa Valley.  

    Kyle first heard Bon Iver when For Emma was a pre-release online stream. “After two listens I was just...floored,” he said during a recent phone conversation. “It’s very rare that music does that to me. I sat back in my chair and said this is unbelievable.”

    He approached Justin about promotion and distribution. Though Kyle wasn’t a big name in the industry, the two shared the same vision. After hiring Kyle as his manager, they went on to sign with Jagjaguwar (an Indiana-based record label). With his involvement with Bon Iver and Amble Down Records, Kyle senses a surge in the local scene. As often happens in the music world, Eau Claire is now getting more attention since the emergence of one of its bands. The blogosphere is highlighting Amble Down bands (The Wars of 1812, Cranes and Crows, The Gentle Guest, and Meridene). The Gentle Guest is in the midst of a successful East Coast tour. Two other Eau Claire bands, Laarks and The Daredevil Christopher Wright, are also considering signing with Amble Down. Rather than a place to start, Eau Claire has the potential to become a place to be – all ripple effects of the Bon Iver cannonball splash.

    “Anytime I have a new release and send an email out to blogs,” Kyle says, “8 or 9 out of 10 will say ‘Eau Claire, Wisconsin, home of Bon Iver….’ There’s no getting away from it, and I see it as a good thing. It’s definitely bringing a lot of attention to this area. I think it’s deserved. I think we’re really on the brink of something great. We’ve got a lot of time ahead of us, so I’m really hopeful.”