Tumultuous tour lands Chicago's Bound Stems a new album

Four cramped months on tour can wreck havoc on any promising band, and it isn't a stretch to say that Bound Stems' elongated tour two years ago almost drove them to the point of parting ways. On top of that, amid the road-warrior lifestyle that coincided with bunking in a van and on strangers' floors, singer Bobby Gallivan decided to return to teaching after leaving it to go on tour.

"People weren't thrilled about it," Gallivan says, noting that the decision raised a lot of questions about the future of the band, which had been lauded in The New York Times and on Spin.com for its debut album, "Appreciation Night." The last thing they wanted to do was see the project grounded.

Though breaking up loomed as a distinct possibility for some time, the Bound Stems (Gallivan, Dan Fleury, Dan Radzicki, Evan Sult and Janie Porche) decided the best way to work things out was to write and record a new album. It wasn't easy, but a year and a half after returning from that fateful tour, their second album, "The Family Afloat," serves as proof that the Bound Stems aren't going anywhere anytime soon.

"It wasn't the end of the band, just a different way to move forward." Gallivan says now. And for the record: "I want to say that Flameshovel, our label, was so supportive of everything throughout our entire weird year."

Coincidentally, Gallivan's teaching career appears to be in good health, as well. The Bound Stems'

Wikipedia page lists Gallivan as "the best history teacher ever!" (exclamation included).

Q: A big part of this album's story is your returning to teaching. What was the tipping point - or enabler, as it may be - for that decision?

A: We were leaving on tour for, I think, four or five months straight. It was December, and - I had been thinking about it. It's just that being on tour is the most inefficient way to spend one's time, and I had been teaching for two and a half years up to that point. So to have that gone and my days were driving 10 hours to play 45 minutes of music and then sleeping on a floor and then waking up and doing the same thing the next day; I like having something to balance that out. That can be fun to drive 10 hours and then play a 45-minute set and sleep on the floor, but - it just seemed like there was something a little more that could be going on in my life. So we got back and we had this big talk with the band. My old boss was like, "There's an opening. Your old job is basically back if you want it." So that was put out there for me, and it seemed like it would make me happier.

Q: If you had to make this decision again, would you go back and teach?

A: Yeah, I think it's been really positive. I spoke with a woman who lives in Toronto who's a manager and she - asked why I did it, and sort of defending myself made me feel even stronger about going back. All of us went back to jobs, and I think for the most part, all of us are much happier with that. Like we can't wait to go out on tour, because it's a vacation now. Now it's not a job. We celebrate. It's like, "Yes, we get to go out on tour!" not this like drag of, "Oh, we have to do another 30 dates in a row."

Q: I'm sure it really helps the live show too.

A: Yeah, I feel like it's a celebration of the process.

Q: The name of the album is "The Family Afloat." What kind of family are you writing about here? Your immediate family? Your band mates? "Family" is such a big term.

A: I like to write about family. For instance, I come from a really small family, and I'm just recently engaged to someone who comes from a huge family. Just spending time with that person and their family is fascinating. The last song of the record is about my family and her family and (uniting) the family in the Midwest which is where my background is and where her background is, so there's some family in that sense. The title of the record, "The Family Afloat," also refers to us as people. We went through hell and back as far as being on the road and the band almost coming to an end. When I went back to teaching, everyone didn't know what that meant. We got back home, mended our differences, recorded this album, and it was just like, "Yeah, we did this thing. We came out on top."

Q: You mentioned the last song. It very much feels like a finale. Tell me about how that came about.

A: That was the only song that we all agreed on should be last, because it has that very last thing that Janie and I are singing together. We did this thing, we finished, it's done, and then the last part just seems to be such a joyous moment on the record.

Q: How did your singing relationship form between you and Janie?

A: We were friends with her before she was in the band, and she recorded these really beautiful acoustic songs. I just knew that it was going to work as far as our voices together; it was just a matter of working it out. We did a lot of the harmonies in the studio; just throwing out ideas. She does a really nice job and she does these really interesting things. If I was going to write a harmony, it wouldn't be some of the things that she's chosen, which is great.

Q: Looking back on the album, is it joy for what's next or relief that it's over?

A: I think a little bit of both. I'd be lying if I said it was this smooth, easy process to record after coming home from such a long tour. To be on tour, to be in a van together with five people, to come home and expect to all of a sudden write right away and get along and have it be as smooth as it was before would be impossible. And it was tough. It was two-thirds of the way though - and the process was smoother. It was a sense of relief and a sense of joy.

Q: You're releasing the album first on vinyl. I've talked to a lot of bands who say they're not sure if they want to release an actual CD at all.

A: That was a conversation that Flameshovel had with us, whether we were interested in doing that. We weren't sure yet. We were a little weary of that, and we came up with this idea of doing the vinyl first. It's nice to have this beautiful piece of artwork attached to this music that we made. The artwork looks so much better on a big flat surface than a little tiny CD.