The Builders and the Butchers Discuss New Album No Tomorrow and Badman Recording Co.

Transmission 324: Interview with The Builders and the Butchers

The Builders and the Butchers formed in Portland in 2005, emerging from the dissolution of several local outfits to play acoustic sets in living rooms and on street corners. Over two decades, the ensemble has fluctuated between five and seven members, transitioning from unplugged floor performances to a high-energy stage show that frequently incorporates audience participation through call-and-response and the distribution of instruments to the crowd. Their catalog includes six studio albums, with their previous effort, Hell & High Water, preceding tours of 3,000-capacity venues alongside acts like The Dead South.

Title: No Tomorrow
Artist: The Builders and the Butchers
Release Date: 2026-04-03
Genres: Americana, Folk Rock, Indie Rock
Label: Badman Recording Co.
Description: The Builders and the Butchers discuss their new album No Tomorrow, the changing Portland scene, and 20 years of folk-rock on Badman Recording Co.

The band’s seventh album, No Tomorrow, was recorded at multi-instrumentalist Ray Rude’s Laundry Room Studio. Eschewing the time constraints of commercial spaces, the group tracked the majority of the record live, subsequently layering vocal harmonies and viola across the arrangements. The process involved a deliberate shift toward acoustic instrumentation and lo-fi production techniques, particularly on the closing track, “A Wall/A Fire,” which was processed through a tape machine to retain natural hiss. Songwriter Ryan Sollee revised the lead single, “One Winged Bird,” following its initial solo performance, moving away from its original Spanish guitar structure.

Scheduled for release on April 3rd via Badman Recording Co., No Tomorrow arrives as the band navigates a significantly altered Portland landscape, marked by rising costs of living and a shift from a geography-based sound to genre-specific digital niches. Despite these shifts and the physical demands of their performance style, the core lineup remains intact. The new material is positioned as a response to contemporary political and environmental erosion, prioritizing the communal physical space of the live performance over digital connection.

Featured image: Tari Gunstone

How has the Portland scene evolved over these two decades?

 The Portland scene has remained super vibrant, energetic, and supportive over the past 20 years.  It’s interesting viewing it as an up and coming band in a Folk/Rock scene from 2005-2010 and looking at it as an older band now.  The great thing about Portland is that you have folks supporting music who are in their 50’s and even 60’s, for a city this size Portland has an incredible number of great musicians, bands and clubs.  The biggest difference is how social media has changed Portland (sound) to less mono-cultural based on geography and more genre specific.  Also the cost of living is so much higher, folks really have to hustle to make their art and make ends meet.

You formed because other bands were breaking up; how did you actually meet, and what was the energy like in those first sessions?

When we started the builders we all knew each other as friends or good acquaintances.    We all  wanted to keep playing music even though our previous bands had all fizzled out.  It happened very organically, practicing in the living room, playing house shows and on the street busking.  Then playing in venues on the floor unplugged, then transitioning onto stages.  The energy in the early days was raw and joyful, it still is, and we are as good of friends as ever, at this point it feels like our second family.

What’s the most difficult part of being a five-piece band for two decades?

Actually we usually play as a 6 or sometimes 7 piece.  The most difficult part is just getting all of our life schedules (work & family) to meld with doing shows and recording.   This is super challenging and gets harder every year.  Also aging makes playing high energy shows difficult.  We all have to really take care of our mental and physical well being.

Why record this album at Ray’s Laundry Room Studio instead of a commercial space?

We’ve done traditional studios in the past, and that has been great.  Given our time constraints currently, we can’t go into recording as prepared as we would like to be.  So building a record piece by piece slowly over time works much better at a home studio rather than a pro studio when every hour is costing you money, so there is a lot less pressure doing it at home.

Which track on the album was the most difficult to capture on tape?

The last track A Wall/A Fire we had to work on a lot to make it work, we decided running it through a tape machine with natural hiss and pop and a little lo fi was best.  Bad Blood was also a real pain to mix, since it has 2 distinct different sounding parts, hard to make them sound good together.

Did you approach the arrangements differently this time around?

Every record is so different, mostly based on folks availability and how the song comes together, we did this one very similar to the last record, except that most of the tracking was done live in the studio instead of at home (due to the pandemic).  The philosophy for this one was to try and add more acoustic instruments and let a lot of the songs breathe, also we really focused on vocal harmonies to give different parts some lift.  Additionally we added a viola player to the band and he plays on about half this record, adding strings to a song can really change vibes and make things sound much more emotionally heavy.

Did any of the songs change drastically from the initial demo to the final master?

Yes, especially the song One Winged Bird, it originally had kind of a Spanish guitar feel on the verses, I played it live at a solo show and a friend told me he thought it could be better.  After getting over my hurt feelings, I went home and re-wrote it, in retrospect I’m so glad he was honest with me, it is one of my favorite songs on No Tomorrow.

How do you find a balance between political frustration and musical joy?

Great question.  For me seeing and performing live music is therapy for political/social frustration.  It’s inspiring to be able to bring folks together for a common purpose,  that’s what music has always done, it’s a true honor and pleasure to be a small part of that..

How do you decide which fan gets to hold an instrument during the show?

Generally if someone is singing along during our set, those are the folks I want to participate.  It is a leap of faith, some folks have pretty brutal rhythm, so if that’s the case we hope they don’t get one of the loud instruments….

What was the most intense moment during the No Tomorrow sessions?

As we were mixing we were really up against a deadline for getting the album pressed to vinyl, so the last week of mixing/mastering was a little intense.  

What’s the most essential piece of equipment in your van right now?

A Cribbage board, to make the long drives a little easier. 

Photos courtesy of The Builders and the Butchers

Matteo Damiani

Matteo Damiani is an Italian photographer and author. Curator of the sites Retrofuturista.com; weirditaly.com; china-underground.com and others