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Boddicker
 At the age of 16, Caleb Boddicker released his first recording: a 22-track collection of bedroom pop songs, sold via eBay to supplement his college education. Four years later, he's taken his music out of the bedroom and released his debut album, 'Big Lionheart And The Gallant Man' - a rickety pop masterpiece recorded with Brian Deck, best known for his work with Modest Mouse and Iron And Wine.
On the phone from his home in Oxford, Mississippi, Boddicker's voice is filled with excitement, though probably not for the reasons you'd expect. "I'm fantastic!" he exclaims. "There's this new Mexican restaurant in my town and unlike the other Mexican restaurants around here, it's authentic Mexican, so it's pretty good. I just had two tacos; I've been there like three times in the last two days. It's right next to my house. Perfectly located."
Boddicker has been settled in Oxford for a few years now, due to his studies, but his childhood saw him travelling around the world thanks to his commodities trader father. "I lived in Sydney for a month and a half," he says, "and I lived in Malaysia."
It was around this time that Boddicker started developing an interest in music - again, thanks to his father, who has played guitar for as long as Boddicker can remember. "I was always interested in learning guitar ever since I saw him play, and I took lessons in Malaysia when I was around 10 or 11," he explains. "I never really got too skilled at playing it, but I've kept it up somewhat since then. My dad always played a lot of Texas folk, stuff like Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clarke and Steve Earle, so I've always been exposed to that."
At 14, Boddicker began to write his own music, and made his first recordings the next year. "My friend told me you could record and layer stuff, and it kind of blew me away you could do that - I guess I just never put it together that people on CDs were doing that," he laughs. "I recorded something like 60 songs. I'd write the music first and then do some bullshit lyrics; whatever sounded cool. Then I started trying to write better songs, and made them shorter and more focused, because the older stuff sounded good, but there would be some parts that were unlistenable, with 13-minute songs, bouncing from one place to another. So I did 20 or so one minute songs, then sold them on eBay."
Of the thousand copies of the CD sold, one nded up in the hands of Modest Mouse's Isaac Brock, who passed it on to Sub Pop. Suddenly, things were looking pretty bright - he was offered record deals, and even an opening slot for San Diego indie band Pinback. But it wasn't to be; Boddicker decided to stick with his schooling, and plus, he'd never even played live. Nor has he, to date, as it happens.
"I have yet to play a live show, ever," he says. "But we're working on all that - I should be playing pretty soon around here, and wherever else the guys at the label decide to sign me up. I'm excited for it. I've been doing a lot of thinking; I don't think it'll be too hard. In fact, I think when I start to play live, I'll be playing more new stuff that's not on the album. I've basically been writing a whole lot of new songs, and I think those songs are the ones that I'll be able to play live a little bit."
For those who missed it the first time, there's even talk of the fabled demo making a reappearance, Boddicker adds. "Banter Records [Boddicker's US label] were talking about maybe re-releasing it. But, I don't know. I can't just put that out after my first CD. It'd be kinda weird. I listened back a few months ago. Some of it I was like, 'Oh, I kinda like this', but a lot of it was... awkward," he grimaces. "It's pretty cheesy, most of it - about girls and all that. Some awkward memories."
And you'll be glad to know that, despite all the acclaim greeting his debut, the education he was working towards is still very much a priority. "I'm studying economics and managerial finance. Pretty... exciting," he chuckles.
Alistair Wallis
'Big Lionheart And The Gallant Man' out now on Low Transit Industries/Inertia.
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