During her career, bassist Joanna Bolme has worked with the likes of Elliott Smith, Quasi and former Pavement lead singer Stephen Malkmus.
And for the past twelve years, Bolme has worked with Malkmus as a member of his band Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks, created shortly after Malkmus’s former band Pavement broke up. Since helping Malkmus record his solo debut album, _Stephen Malkmus_, in 2001, Bolme has worked with the singer on each of his past five albums. Malkmus and the Jicks’ latest album, _Mirror Traffic_, was released in August 2011.
Bolme is also currently a member of the band Quasi and has worked with The Minders.
Bolme took time to talk with MOVE Magazine about touring with Malkmus, while also looking back on her career as a musician. Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks will play at The Blue Note on Feb. 18.
**MOVE:** How far along are you and the band on your tour?
_JOANNA BOLME_: Well, we’ve only played one show so far in Salt Lake City, and that was great. It’s super fun to be playing again.
**M:** How many times have you toured with Stephen Malkmus?
_JOANNA BOLME_: I’ve been in the band with him for about 12 years, so I’m going to guess 24 times.
**M:** How does working with Malkmus compare to playing in the other bands that you’ve been in?
_JOANNA BOLME_: Every band is different. People just have different approaches to the way they play music, so I think the main difference playing with Steve (Malkmus) compared to some of the other bands I play with is there’s a large degree of unpredictability with how the set’s going to go when we play it live, and I mean that in a good way, not in a bad way. He’s got a real quirky style, so I probably had to work a little harder to get to the point where I could play well with him. That’s the unpredictable part. Now I can sense some parts that are about to change. I think I can play with him a little bit better now than I could at the start.
**M:** What’s your favorite part about playing in a band with Malkmus?
_JOANNA BOLME_: The music. It’s great. The songs are good, it’s really fun to play those songs. He’s a good guy, and we all get along great and back each other up and have fun together. That’s the best part about being in this band, really, the chemistry between everybody.
**M:** How do you think _Mirror Traffic_ stacks up compared to previous Jicks albums?
_JOANNA BOLME_: This one was lighter than the last one. After touring (in support of) a dark record we made the conscious decision to lighten things up a bit. That was a big difference.
**M:** What’s it like to have worked with Malkmus and Elliot Smith?
_JOANNA BOLME_: It’s great. I’ve also worked with Sam Coomes from Quasi, and he’s pretty prolific as well. It’s pretty great to be surrounded by creative people, trying to keep it that way.