“I am and can be a difficult person to get along with. It takes a certain personality, but with the right one, we get along very well.”

“I think that anyone who still subscribes to the idea that licensing your music is ‘selling out’ is quite out of touch these days.”

There is one official member of Seattle band, Say Hi. There were others, 37 different band members to be exact. Despite the frustration of his band breaking up as often as the seasons have changed since starting out a decade ago, founding member, Eric Elbogen soldiers on, recording, touring, and releasing records on his own. Elbogen will tell you he’s a tyrant. After losing or booting so many band members, one might think he’s right, especially considering extreme instances when Elbogen has simply left a band member behind in whatever city the disagreements escalated. However, tyrant is really the wrong word. Elbogen is a perfectionist. He’s profoundly dedicated. It’s not the band to which Elbogen shows his loyalty, but to the music.

As a songwriter, Elbogen won’t compromise when it comes to musical arrangements or the way they play out on stage. With seven records under his belt, most of which were released on his own label, and constant touring, Elbogen’s unwavering devotion to his art has lent him a wealth of experience through failure and triumph. Forbes Magazine has even recognized Elbogen as a model example, citing his hard work and “do-it-yourself efforts” as essential components to success in the music business. It doesn’t hurt that Elbogen creates great music along with a dose of self-deprecating humor to make it all bearable.

It hasn’t been easy. Elbogen admits, “I am and can be a difficult person to get along with. It takes a certain personality, but with the right one, we get along very well.” There have been few tours from which he’s returned that he didn’t think about totally giving up. Once he calms down, he realizes, “I’m in a great position that I should be grateful for, being able to play music to pay the bills. I just try to make better decisions.” He attributes his persistence to “diluted optimism” and having the stamina a guy has in his 20s. Now in his 30s, he concludes, “I’m old and realize I will never be happy,” in his witty, half-serious manner.

Say Hi’s latest release via Barsuk Records, Um Uh Oh, released on January 25, is mostly about the ups and downs of his past 20 years in music. It also speaks to just being in one’s 30s. The album deviates from the vampire and Star Trek themes of his past records and shines a more personal, organic light on topics that still carry an element of the ridiculous, but are dealt with more maturely. It’s about making the same mistakes over and over, and the realization that reality will never match up with our hopes.

The album opens up with “Dots on Maps,” which immediately sets a pained tone to the record with long organ notes that make way for the steady strumming of a rich guitar, before Elbogen’s voice comes in, full of regret, heart, and acceptance. The chorus stings deep, as he serenely sings, “When she says, ‘oh, tell me is this all it’s gonna be,’ and I said, ‘oh, I don’t know just how it’s gonna be,’ … If there’s a trigger somewhere, let’s pull it.” Even the upbeat songs that be-bop, like the spectacularly infectious “Take Ya Dancin’” pull at heartstrings. The fun beat and candid wordplay can’t mask the soulfulness and depth behind Elbogen’s voice. The songs are immaculately crafted, clever, and catchy with perfectly synced guitars, synth, drums, bass, and harmonies, all of which are played and recorded by Elbogen alone.

Since 2002, when he formed Say Hi in Brooklyn, Elbogen has recorded all the instrumentation and vocals himself in his bedroom studio and released records on his own label, Euphobia. The band was known as Say Hi to Your Mom until 2008, when he released The Wishes and The Glitch and felt the need to remove the less-than-serious part from his band name, as he had in the recordings. Elbogen moved his operations to Seattle in 2006 and soon after started releasing music on Barsuk. The label took on the business end, allowing Elbogen to focus his efforts on the music.

Recording is the most gratifying aspect of being a musician to Elbogen, who tends to find it rather mortifying to perform live. He explains, “Performing is a hard thing for me. Those times of the year [touring] are when I feel most out of my element and very vulnerable. I try my best to put on a good show. But, usually I feel very naked and unloved.” Very rarely does Elbogen experience a good night, where the sound is right, the touring band clicks, the venue is good to the band, or the crowd is responsive. However, with each tour he feels, “I’m getting better at getting past it and being able to perform well without worrying about all the variables involved [in touring].”

Not having a steady group to tour with Say Hi contributes to Elbogen’s trepidations on the road.  Every year that a tour starts, Elbogen needs a week or two to settle into being in a “new” band. It gets even more stressful when personalities clash and Elbogen needs to leave someone on the side of road! He laughs and says, “There’s mutual animosity. Early on, I didn’t have the experience to pick up on personality tell-tales and took someone on tour that wasn’t right. Now that I’ve been doing it a while, I’ve gotten better at gauging a person’s personality.”

Losing band members on the road hasn’t been the only stumbling block in Say Hi’s career. Elbogen took it personally when Pitchfork didn’t post very favorable reviews of his early albums, and he lashed out by publicly posting a retort to their opinions on his website. He made no secret of his distaste for Pitchfork, but in hindsight, he doesn’t think it was the best approach to take. He divulged, “I was very, very young and very stupid. I wouldn’t recommend that. If you’re putting music out, you have to understand that not everyone is going to like it. It still stings, but I try not to read much of it anymore. For the record, I would love for Pitchfork to give me a good review on the new record. I’ll wager that’s not going to happen.”

Despite his tendency to self-loath, his music is well received. A Say Hi fan site has even launched, called SayHiToEric.com. His song “One, Two…One” was featured on a Cadillac commercial and his new single, “Devils” can be found on an episode of Gossip Girl. He reveals, “’Devils’ is played during a pretty hot section. It makes me sexier than I actually am.” What does Elbogen say to critics that suggest he’s selling out? In a matter-of-fact voice, he says, “I think that anyone who still subscribes to that idea is quite out of touch these days.” Elbogen licenses his songs out through a company called Bankrobber, and it’s the only way he can make a living as a musician. He concludes that it’s either license his songs or get a day job. The choice is clear.

www.ilikesayhi.com