Blitzen Trapper keeps it classic

There’s always been a twang to Blitzen Trapper’s music, though it’s become more prominent over the years. The band, which performs at Sandpoint’s the Hive on Friday, started out producing the kind of eccentric, psychedelia-tinged pop you might have heard from the ’90s collective Elephant 6, which included bands like Neutral Milk Hotel and the Apples in Stereo.

By the time the Portland quintet was signed to the Sub Pop record label, its sound had begun to recall early Wilco, the Byrds’ country-rock masterpiece “Sweetheart of the Radio” and the albums Ryan Adams made immediately after dissolving his band Whiskeytown. But with its latest LP, “All Across This Land,” Blitzen Trapper has shifted to a sound that’s more reminiscent of ’70s album rock than country.

“The new record is very much in the vein of (our earlier album) ‘American Goldwing,’ sort of the more classic rock-type records we’ve made,” said the band’s frontman, Eric Earley. “It’s just rock, guys making music with instruments as opposed to machines.”

Earley points out that each of his band’s eight studio albums have involved more or less the same lineup and instrumentation. The sound of the finished product all depends on what style emerges while they’re recording.

“To me, the songwriting, lyric writing – that’s what’s important, that’s what I do,” Earley said. “It just kind of depends how I treat it on the record. I mean, all our records are just guitars and pianos, you know?”

Earley is the band’s primary songwriter, and he typically writes on his own, bringing his songs to the rest of the band for further embellishment. With the exception of one lineup change – original keyboardist Drew Laughery left the band in 2010 – Earley has been playing with the same group of guys for 15 years.

“We’ve all been friends for a long time, and we’ve all gone through changes, figuring out how to get along and how to tour,” Earley said. “But our biggest worry is lack of money in the industry now, not whether we get along or not.”

The current state of the music business has affected bands like Blitzen Trapper, which has become a reliable touring outfit but will likely never break through to Top 40 radio.

“It’s a blue collar job now,” Earley said. “Our first record sold 70,000 copies, and now if you sell 70,000 copies, you’re a big deal. Nowadays, you’re lucky if you sell nine.”

But Earley says he’s also noticed that the band’s fan base has grown stronger and more dedicated. Whether that makes them any money is another story.

“A lot of our earlier shows were for people who were more into the buzz than the music. Now the fans are into the music,” Earley said. “They’re into our band and into our thing. People see us because they know what we can do and they want to see it. So as far as our audiences, I think it’s better now.

“Our live shows are good. We go a lot of different places. The records are now sort of a marketing tool, and not a very good one. The live show is really the reality of music now and the future. If a band can’t sell tickets, they’re not a band.”

Earley has said that “All Across This Land” was partially designed as a document of the band’s live sound. It’s also an album about the life events and emotions that inspire music in the first place, and how long stretches on the road start to impact your personal life.

“It’s a five-piece kind of record,” Earley said. “It’s a record that’s really easy to play live. The only metric anymore for bands is the live shows, because nobody buys records anymore. … If you can sell tickets, I guess, it determines if you live or die.”