Backwords to play pop-folk set

Fresh from the CMJ Music Marathon in New York, Brooklyn-based band Backwords will play in Bloomington this weekend.

Brian Russ, guitar and banjo player, finds it difficult to lump the band into one specific genre.

“Right now, we’re saying we’re a psychedelic pop band with folk undertones and a lyrical set,” he said.

Backwords will play a show at 8 p.m. Saturday at Rhino’s All Ages Club. Admission is $5, and the group will be joined by Indianapolis-based duo Jessie and Amy and local solo act fight well, young lions.

A solid, four-piece lineup, Backwords is completed by Meredith Meyer on keys, Tim Pioppo on bass and John Sheldon on drums, with all providing vocals at some point, Russ said.

Russ is a teacher, as is drummer John Sheldon.

“Our careers as teachers are what got the band through its first five years,” Russ said, adding that all the musicians have side jobs. Sometimes, they’ll get performances through Federal Emergency Management Agency, which Pioppa works for.

When they decided to tour more heavily and make the band more sustainable, they began what Russ called a “grand experiment” with 55 self-booked shows from New York to Los Angeles. Their current tour is three weeks long and runs through the Midwest and the South.

Russ said he is inspired by the kind people the band meets across the country who, despite current economic problems, are willing to help the band out.

The travel has influenced Backwords, he said.

“A lot of bands have historically felt this way about the road and journey everyone’s on — a journey into the unknown,” Russ said. “And everything’s changing. It’s part of being a band.”

Backwords’ upcoming album has a different feel from previous work, Russ said, which was heavier on the folk side. This album is more “’90s grungy with a little bit of surf,” Russ said, and will likely be released in spring.

“Quilt,” the band’s third album, is available free online at http://backwords.bandcamp.com. Russ recalled another memorable recording, an EP titled “Hurricane Irene,” which the band recorded in its basement studio.

Everyone was worried about the potential flooding and “16,000 pounds of water their apartment would be filled with, so we recorded this spooky, foreshadowing song,” Russ said.

He added their fears were partly real — they wanted to record one last thing if the flooding did occur.

The live performance will include songs old and new, with some longer, psychedelic work not heard on the albums, Russ said.