released November 17, 2018

Written, Performed, Recorded, and Mixed (the whole kit'n'kaboodle!) by William Bjorndal in Austin, MN and Chaitén, CL.

with:

Peter Bjorndal - Album Art, Digital Guidance, Bass Guitar on Angelica
Jacob Whalen - Vocals on Coffee Table Book
The Hussalonia Founder - Guitar solo on Controlled Burn
Judy Bjorndal - Trumpet on Angelica
Quin Brunner - Speaking on The Mighty Missicedar
Sydney Reuter - Talking on The Mighty Missicedar
Taylor Sharp - Exclamations on The Mighty Missicedar

T H A N K S: Senior Warden Judy Bjorndal, Lee Bjorndal, Cheryl Collins, Gary Meyer, Amnia Culpa, Jesse Mank, Josh Whalen, Kevin The Janitor, Ada Hayden, Elliott Earls, Nefarico™, The Humans of the JCHNC, and The People Who Put Dreams By The Cranberries Into Playlists For Places Like Airports And Drugstores
...FOR: pipe organ access, guitar and mandolin instruction, percussion instruments, musical camaraderie, strange viscous fluids, sonic suggestions, the first Prairie Clamor live performance, after-hours piano playing and in-depth Beatles discussions, actual prairie, opportunity and horse metaphors, appearance of The Hussalonia Founder, office pranks/humanity, and dreams. Respectively.

prairieclam.org
friendlypuppymusic.com

Exit Now.

~~Album Origin/Explanation by Friendly Puppy Music Staff~~

William Bjorndal Meets Prairie Clamor Eastside [2017] was a forged artifact. A collection of four noise-pop/pastoral electronic tunes, the EP was released digitally by Friendly Puppy Music LLC in July 2017. The release’s liner notes suggested that the EP was a collaborative/split release between William Bjorndal and long-broken-up midwestern jam band Prairie Clamor.

In a lengthy “interview excerpt,” Bjorndal claimed to have met Prairie Clamor guitarist and ringleader “Chaz” while chopping ice in his driveway. After a number of neighborly jam sessions, Bjorndal convinced “Chaz” to revive the beloved Prairie Clamor moniker, eventually resulting in a full reunion of the band. William Bjorndal Meets Prairie Clamor Eastside [2017] was supposedly the result of a collaboration between a reunited Prairie Clamor and Bjorndal. Of course, that wasn’t the case at all. Prairie Clamor never existed. The entire EP was composed and performed by Bjorndal with a few contributions from family members. The “interview excerpt” explaining the origins of the EP was only a figurative peg in the metaphorical cribbage board of false mythbuilding, calculated, composed, and it’s-my-crib’d by William Bjorndal.
But why did Bjorndal create the seemingly-deceptive EP?

“I guess I was just trying to keep myself entertained. Long story short, I had written this song called 'Belly Up' that featured myself singing rather prominently, something that I wasn’t totally comfortable with at the time, and came up with the idea of just attributing it to a fake band. The whole thing just kinda grew from there. Few people listen to my music anyway, so I thought it’d just be fun to create this whole sort-of alternate history or something. Almost for my own entertainment, really. I thought it was clear that it was a fabrication. I figured the rather ridiculous story where I namedrop JamBase and everything would just be a good chuckle for the listener… But I might’ve dove a little too deep into the mythbuilding.”
-William Bjorndal

Immediately following the release of William Bjorndal Meets Prairie Clamor Eastside [2017], Bjorndal relocated to Chaitén, Chile for the remainder of the year. Deeply immersed in layers of fog, torrential rain, volcanic ash, and sopaipillas, Bjorndal didn’t hear much feedback about William Bjorndal Meets Prairie Clamor Eastside [2017] until his return to the United States in January 2018.

“I have some really incredible friends. I’m talking about my friends who not only take the time to listen to my music, but also take the time to read the liner notes of my musical releases. They’re pretty much the only people other than myself that I think of when I make music. They freaking rock and I'm lucky to have them. Anyway, It was Februrary or March of 2018 when I finally chatted with some friends about William Bjorndal Meets Prairie Clamor Eastside [2017]. I was eager to hear their reaction. The feedback was mostly positive if I recall correctly. But every time, I heard a variation on the same thing. Basically, they all said how ‘it was really cool how you got that band back together, just by hanging out with your neighbor!’ I heard this a couplefew times at least. Are you getting what I’m saying? My own friends believed what I wrote about Prairie Clamor, Chaz, the interview with the JamBase namedrops, everything. I felt like a total dolt, moron, DummyfaceMcLoserhead, everything. It was supposed to be a big grin-‘n’-wink, but in the end, I’d straight-up lied to my friends. When I wrote the fake interview, I mentioned actual truths right next to total falsities. Like how I returned to Austin (MN 55912 [Not Texas]) after graduating from the U of M to work as a substitute teacher. That’s totally true. Meeting some guy named Chad, or Chaz, whatever, while chopping ice outside? Totally false! I’d distorted reality, but too well. Or actually, I’d probably not distorted it enough. I felt like a major sad sack explaining to my friends that the story of the EP was false.”
-William Bjorndal

Not wanting his fabricated tale of Prairie Clamor to appear malicious, Bjorndal decided that he needed to redeem himself. On an overly-lengthy jog for such an overly-cold day in late February 2018, Bjorndal had a revelation: he had to make Prairie Clamor a real band. Obviously, he couldn’t go back in time to create a mid-00s Jam Band with a cult midwest following, but he could recruit a local group of musicians to play Prairie Clamor’s songs. To an outside observer, such a choice isn’t the most logical path to redemption, but it’s what Bjorndal believed at the time. Immediately following the aforementioned run, Bjorndal reminded himself that he really needed to wear way less-breathable sweatpants on days with such gnarly windchills, posted a couple ads seeking local musicians, and began composition of what would become the first of Prairie Clamor’s new songs.

Winter had hardly yielded to spring, and spring had hardly even considered rolling over to summer by the time Bjorndal had recruited three local musicians to assemble a four-piece band. Comprised of local musicians with seriously varied levels of musical skill, the group was a plucky blend of precision and punk. Practicing biweekly in The Bjorndal Basement, the band easily mastered the songs from William Bjorndal Meets Prairie Clamor Eastside [2017], and began orchestrating new songs based on the demos Bjorndal was frantically writing and recording.
Ready to kick it into full-on We’re-A-Band-Mode, the band that had become Prairie Clamor decided it needed a retreat of sorts. An escape from the oft-shouldn’t-be-but-still-end-up-being-tumultuous daily life that got in the way of the progress that Bjorndal had envisioned for the group (at this point, he hoped to be able to record a full album by the end of the summer). In early July 2018, the four members of Prairie Clamor made the journey to a semi-remote rustic cabin near Thessalon in the Algoma district of Ontario, Canada.

“Look, I feel like I need to make it clear that we weren’t trying to go for the whole guy-goes-to-a-cabin, makes a heart-wrenching album thing. Obviously we had the formula all wrong if we were trying for such a thing. I mean, it was only a week, and there were four of us. It wasn’t even winter! I was definetely broken in some way, though [laughs]! Anyway, it was a great detox from technology and the endless hubbub of our normal existences. I love not checking my email [laughs]! I’d brought my mandolin and melodica, and one of our main pastimes was sitting on the porch of the cabin, making up silly songs about The Cabin, our own little microregion of Algoma, and all that. It was fun, it was wacky, but it shouldn’t have been any more than that, are you getting me?
-William Bjorndal

After their relaxing trip to to The Cabin, Prairie Clamor returned to their (then) home of Austin, Minnesota. After a busy back-on-the-job-after-a-week-away-week, Bjorndal sent out an instant message to the other members of Prairie Clamor to organize their next rehearsal. He received no response. Bjorndal also had no success with phone calls. It wasn’t until the following week when Bjorndal found an email from Prairie Clamor’s string-instrument-specialist in an email inbox he rarely checked. It read (abridged, lightly edited for style):
~~~~~~~~
Hey Will,

Hey man honestly your whole concept album about Austin MN thing isn’t really jiving with the rest of us, and really neither is [the current political climate of the United States]. We’re going back to the Algoma district of Canada and you can’t expect us back soon.

Best,
[Name Withheld] & the rest of Prairie Clamor
~~~~~~~~

In William Bjorndal’s own words (not edited for style by request):

Seriously, they decided to expatriate. I mean, I get it. it’s not like I’m happy with how things are going in the United States right now, but I mean, crap, that doesn’t mean I’m gonna opt out of my duty to help get things fixed down here in the states! We can't run away from the issues, we’ve gotta face ‘em. It’s not like Canada’s perfect, anyway. I mean look at what happened with Trudeau. He promised Canadians change and then took away the penny [laughs]! Zing!

After a few stressful phone calls to the library in Thessalon, Ontario, I managed to get in contact with the guys (did I mention that they used my U of M email when they first emailed me? Frick, I haven't used that thing since 2016! I don't even know how they got it instead of my regular email). They planned to completely move to Canada, legally or otherwise. I don’t know anything about long-term visas up there, and I don’t think they do either, but that’s beside the point. The real issue arose when I found out that they had plans to continue to use the Prairie Clamor name to release music. That is, their music, which at that point had devolved into some kinda weird blues-folk-punk glorifying “the Canadian way of life.” I’d always felt that Prairie Clamor’s music was uniquely American in some way, which had suddenly become revolting to the other members of the band. It’s like that one trip to Canada won them over in a bigger way than I could have ever imagined. But seriously, it took me a minute or two to realize it, but I’d been KICKED OUT OF MY OWN FAKE BAND. I had to do something. It’s not like I’d copyrighted the name Prairie Clamor or anything, or had them sign any contracts or blah blah blah but It’s not like we could both use the name 'Prairie Clamor.' Obviously, I was going to keep pushing on with the project, but I still had a big chunk of work to go before I’d be able to finish a record, and the rest of the guys had a lot of material that they’d already recorded, apparently.

Look, I could go through every single detail on how we worked it out and made the agreement, so I’ll just skip ahead. We made a compromise. They would relinquish the Prairie Clamor name to me, but only if I would produce their first album under their new name, Butter Tart Boys. AND I had release the album on my record label, Friendly Puppy Music. The process was pretty arduous, so I’ll spare you the details there as well. Well, arduous, but not that long actually. We were able to grind it out in about a month. I just had to get it out of the way. It’s been out since August or something. FPM0009 in the Friendly Puppy Music catalog [https://buttertartboys.bandcamp.com/]. I mean, don’t get me wrong. I actually warmed up to the music in the process of production. The album’s named after the french name for a certain kind of bug spray. Pretty ridiculous [laughs]! Not to mention I’m cool with the Butter Tart Boys these days anyway. We exchange post cards. I think they’re attempting to do one of those ‘live off-the-land’ type things. One of the guys told me that the only time they come into town is to go to the library to use the internet to browse back-to-the-lander/homesteader forums.

After the release of Butter Tart Boys’ first record, Bjorndal to returned to Prairie Clamor alone. Redemption cannot be found through fake bands and forged artifacts. Only through music can Bjorndal find redemption.

I am Prairie Clamor, probably.
-William Bjorndal

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Album FAQ:

Q: It's called Next 7 Exits, but there are 8 songs. What the heck?

A: If I could have made the track numbers 0 to 7 instead of 1 to 8, I would have. The first track is a prelude. The following seven tracks each correspond to one of Austin, MN's seven exits off Interstate 90. Here, I'll break it down. Let's say we're eastbound on I-90...

Volcano - A de-remembrance of the 'Next 7 Exits' sign itself
Next 7 Exits - Exit 175
Coffee Table Book - Exit 177
Controlled Burn - Exit 178A
Angelica - Exit 178B
D.B.T.C. - Exit 179
Hayden Prairie - Exit 181
The Mighty Missicedar - Exit 180B

Q: Nice try. The exits are out of order; 180B comes before 181. You also didn't take Exit 180A into account, which some might argue is actually a completely separate exit, admittedly only accessible when westbound on I-90.

A: First off, I said I was eastbound, so the 180A thing shouldn't even be an issue. It's only an exit if you're westbound on I-90. It does have an eastbound on-ramp, though. Maybe 180A only counts as half an exit. I guess MNDoT rounds down; it'd be 'Next 8 Exits' otherwise. And yeah, they're out of order on purpose. The actual Exit 180B has an enormous electronic sign over it that reads "EXIT NOW." It has existed in one form or another for as long as I can remember. "EXIT NOW" is also the final lyric on The Mighty Missicedar, and the whole album itself. Clearly Missicedar has to be associated with 180B. It works since Exit 181 feels like it's not within the actual city limits of Austin, even though it really is. The corresponding track, Hayden Prairie, is actually about northern Iowa anyway. Blinking wind turbines along the border, rustling grasses, forbs, and thoughts. Though if one really wanted to get to Hayden Prairie from Austin, it'd probably make more sense to take Exit 183 and take Highway 56 south towards Chester, IA. But Exit 183 isn't really one of the "7 Exits." Cripes. We're getting too technical here. Do I need to keep going?

Q: No, you don't. I think if I have more questions, I'll send an email to the address of will@prairieclam.org

A: Cool, sounds good. It's fun to get emails that aren't normal email drudgery. Take it easy!

Q: Will do, Later!