Slipknot cemented the state of Iowa on the extreme music map. You can’t think 311 without thinking Nebraska. Oklahoma’s Pillar have bigger designs: hauling the entire Midwest to national prominence on their backs, Atlas-style.
“People get so wrapped up in the New York and L.A. mindset,” notes frontman Rob Beckley. “Which I don’t have a problem with at all, because I know the creativity coming out of that area is just ridiculous and many artists move there. But the suits forget that a lot of this country is not New York and L.A. The majority is small-town America and suburban living out in the middle of nowhere. Those type of hardworking people, that’s who we are, that’s where we come from. “We’re all from the Midwest. It’s all about AC/DC and Lynryd Skynyrd. Rock and roll in the Midwest is rock and roll.”
Consider The Reckoning hard notice that Pillar is the latest powerhouse to do the Rust, Corn, and Bible Belt’s rich rock legacy proud. The fourth full-length from the monolithic (duh) four-piece is the kind of staggering evolutionary leap all fans wish upon their favorite bands, but few ever come close to achieving. Sure, preceding albums Above, Fireproof, and Where Do We Go From Here—arriving in reliable two-year intervals since 2000—were solid efforts, marking an assured progression from frothing rap-metal to muscular, hook-laden hard rock, but The Reckoning is truly truth in advertising. “Sometimes” skips with the infectious punk urgency of pre-ubiquity Jimmy Eat World; leadoff single “Everything” attacks like Rage Against the Machine and AC/DC activating wondertwin powers; “Tragedy” deploys scabrous vocal conniptions to mirror the dual guitar runaway train. Clearly, Beckley, guitarists Noah Henson, and bassist Kalel, and drummer Lester Estelle aren’t content just running in place.
“We’re concerned with what our fans think of us,” Beckley grants. “And we don’t want to let them down, but at the same time we know that in order to grow you can’t stay stagnant.”
For the frontman, that meant unshackling himself from Pillar’s preordained formulaic constraints. He found himself using his voice as an instrument for the first time in the haunting introduction to “Last Goodbye,” then nodding to country legends on the melancholy ballad “Angel in Disguise,” a more optimistic take on “Janie’s Got a Gun” with jaw-dropping narrative twists.
“I like Hank Williams and Marty Robbins, just the way they told a story with the song,” Beckley explains. “They made you want to know what happens in the third verse. A lot of Johnny Cash’s songs, they didn’t even have choruses; they were just verses and you’re like, ‘Dang, what’s the last verse gonna be about?’ And that was kind of my goal in that song. It’s just one of those avenues that I’ve never been down before.”
The band matched Beckley’s adventuresome spirit on The Reckoning’s unrelenting second track, “Awake,” in which Kalel’s anchoring bassline conjures Tool’s 10,000 Days, building organically into a hammering prechorus and a soaring, screamed climax. It’s a study in patience and release, one of Pillar’s most mature, yet moshworthy compositional efforts.
“If musicianship sold records, Primus would be gazillionaires,” Beckley shrugs. “Or Bela Fleck and the Flecktones would be the biggest band in the world. I just like ‘Awake’ because it’s every dynamic basically in one song. It shows the musicianship of the guys in the band, what they’re capable of. It’s so much more than just a good hook.”
Take it from a guy who claims that if he weren’t making music he’d be working at Home Depot: Pillar do some Schwarzeneggarian heavy lifting here. Many bands shrink from challenge—give them the opportunity to write the album of their career, and they’ll be content with a passable single and 45 minutes of filler. Pillar’s not having it, now or ever.
“It’s way too convenient nowadays to record music,” says Beckley. “It used to be if you wanted to do it you had to really work at it. You had to be obligated and committed to it. Nowadays it’s just like, ‘Hey man, we’re gonna start a band,’ and in three days, in their dad’s living room, there you go. The mystery of making a record is gone.
“I think that’s why this record is so cool to us—because there’s so much passion in it, because we worked at it. In an era where you don’t have to work to make music, we worked really hard on this record.”
Band Professional Life: 1998 – Present
Band Members:
Rob Beckley - vocals
Noah Henson – guitar
Kalel – bass
Lester Estelle – drums
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