Robert Wynia stays afloat in Central Oregon

Published 12:00 am Thursday, July 11, 2019

Floater is afloat again thanks in no small part to Robert Wynia’s solo career.

The long-running hard rock trio, which formed in Eugene and scored a minor hit with “The Sad Ballad of Danny Boy” in 1995, had been somewhat dormant in recent years (despite regular Central Oregon shows). Wynia, the band’s bassist and vocalist, turned his attention to a new solo album. The largely acoustic “Brave the Strange,” co-produced with King Black Acid mastermind Daniel Riddle, came out in 2017.

Wynia has spent the last few years touring solo and with The Sound, a collective of musicians that at times also features Floater guitarist David Amador (the band played the Domino Room in 2017). Drummer Mark Powers was among the many musicians to feature on “Brave the Strange,” and joined Wynia in The Sound. When Floater’s founding drummer Pete Cornett stepped away from the band in late 2017, Powers was a natural choice to join the trio.

With a new drummer in place, Wynia could finally focus on “The Thief,” the first new Floater album since 2010’s “Wake.” The album was recorded before Wynia embarked on a nine-month solo tour of Europe and Asia that wrapped up in April.

“I’m quite sure that if I hadn’t made ‘Brave The Strange,’ then I never would have made the move to make ‘The Thief,’” Wynia said via email. “It was like I had to have one to then be able to have the other.”

Floater will headline the Bend Summer Festival on Saturday (the festival, which will include three days of live music on two stages in downtown Bend, runs Friday through Sunday). Wynia and The Sound will return a month later to play the Sisters Saloon Summer Concert Series on Aug. 10.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Q: Quite a bit has changed for Floater since we chatted in 2015. Mark Powers has been playing with you guys since late 2017/early 2018. What has he brought to the trio? He joined after playing with you in The Sound, correct?

A: I started working with Mark during the recording of my album, “Brave the Strange,” and was blown away by his versatility. He’s also just a really easy going fellow, and it makes touring with him really great. He’s just as happy slamming out metal as he is playing brush jazz or African dance rhythms, and watching him shift between styles never gets old.

Q: Speaking of which, the members of Floater are now all in The Sound. Does that come into consideration when writing set lists for either band — does The Sound avoid Floater songs now, for example, and just stick to your solo albums?

A: The name “The Sound” really encompasses a fairly large collection of players, and there’s a lot of luck involved in who plays at any given show. Schedules conflict often with that many people, so it has become a bit of a catch all name for the backing band, so that people understand it’s not just me solo for the night. We stay flexible and really enjoy a wide range of material, so I like to leave it up to the band feeling, the audience, the show vibe, etc.

Q: Tell me about writing and recording “The Thief.” The album was a long time coming — what finally got you guys into the studio?

A: The songwriting process had been going on for a long time, and some of the songs on that album had been part of our live shows for quite a while. There was an odd confluence of several things that pushed The Thief as an album out into the world during that time. Certainly a big one was working with Mark Powers on drums, because his energy was so positive. I had struggled with some very heavy depression and he played a big role in pushing that until it turned into movement. I had also discussed my plans to head out on a year of solo touring and there was a mutual feeling that if I was going to go away for so long it’d be nice to spend some time before that focusing on a new album. The music was there and it felt like if I didn’t tackle it, then it might be gone by the time I got back, so I wanted to capture it while I could.

Q: You’ve mentioned in interviews how the album has an overarching theme or concept — what is that concept?

A: The time leading up to that album’s creation was pretty dark, and much of the loss and helplessness I was feeling shaped the music. We knew that “The Thief” had to be the title track, which is something we’ve never done before, as soon as the song was written. So some of the songs came together as natural transitions from one musical movement to another. Trying to create a persona for something like loss became the goal. Time slips away, loved ones die, friends abandon you, childhood evaporates, and we can’t point to anyone or anything and blame it or bargain with it. So I found myself exploring who this person or being might actually be, if they were embodied.

Q: Tell me about recording and writing “Brave the Strange.” What led you to want to record a second solo album?

A: In large part it was such a struggle to get the band together to work on Floater songs, or to tour, and I found myself unable to sit still. The harder it was to make the band get things done, the more I worked on solo material. I was playing a lot more solo shows than shows with Floater, writing alone most often, and it felt natural. I also really enjoyed working with Daniel Riddle and we found ourselves both diving into making that album with such enthusiasm that it was clear it had to happen.