VANGUARD 2012

VANGUARD 2012
2012
LOCAL MUSIC GUIDE
3
Editor-in-Chief
Joshua Hunt
Editors
Vanessa Wendland, Erick Bengel, Randall
Thiel, Joseph Mantecon, Meredith Meier
Art Director
Colton Major
Production Manager
Ben Patterson
Copy Chief
Kathryn Banks
Photo Editor
Adam Wickham
Graphic Design
Ben Patterson, Colton Major,
Tom Cober, Elizabeth Thompson
Photographers
Saria Dy, Drew Martig, Karl Kuchs, Miles
Sanguinetti, Corinna Scott
Copy Editors
Wild Flag
Band profiles
local music store guide
choose your venue wisely
we dance the body electric
Punk rock and metal
VANISHING ALL-AGES VENUES
KPSU LOVES THIS!
EAR Splittingly good
bang the drum as loud as you want!
so you’re in a band... now what?
make your own damn record
street beats
a fight for fair trade music
Sasha Fahrenkopf, Emily Gravlin
Cover Photo
Adam Wickham
20-23
13-25
4-5
6
7
8
9
10-11
12
26-27
28
29
30
31
Contributors
Desmond Fuller, Randall Theil, Alex
Mierjeski, Rosemary Hanson, Isaac
Hotchkiss, Kali Simmons, Sam Lloyd,
Gwen Shaw, Nicholas Kula, Mike Allen,
Alex Moore, Nilesh Tendolkar, Holly
Laycock, Melinda Guillén, Joshua Hunt
Adviser
Judson Randall
Advertising Adviser
Ann Roman
Advertising Manager
Iris Meyers
Adveritising Sales
Sam Gressett, Erik Weiss, Brittany Land
Advertising Designer
Laura Shea
Distributors
Brittany Castillo, Brandy Castillo
2012
4
LOCAL MUSIC GUIDE
2012
LOCAL MUSIC GUIDE
LOCAL MUSIC
STORE GUIDE
If you’re going to be a shameless consumer
of music, at least do it right!
Nicholas Kula
Online auction sites have now made the “unprecedented deal” obsolete
in specialty shops around the world. Perhaps none are affected more than
your friendly neighborhood record store. What once was a Sun Ra collection that was modestly priced because the clerk on duty never heard
of him is now a treasure trove of expensive wax slices.
That said, specialty stores, without the draw of the cheap rare find,
have to rely on other means—specifically, selection and relative pricing.
What one owner might have found for $20 and sells for $40, another
may have found for far cheaper, and the price reflects that.
What follows are, in this writer’s opinion, the best record shops in the city.
Mississippi Records
5202 N Albina St.
RECENT HAULS
Lickgoldensky, Lickgoldensky $4
Drowningman, Still Loves You $3
Still Life, From Angry Heads with Skyward Eyes $4
By now, I’m sure you’ve heard
the tale of the Portland vinyl-ite
that went to a sidewalk record
sale in NYC and pulled from it a
holy grail—a Velvet Underground
acetate. This is his shop.
Aside from being one of the
Mississsippi Studios
best record stores in the city,
one can regularly find the stellar
releases from the record label of
the same name. Plus, they have a
“discount punk rock” section. It
doesn’t get much more punk rock
than that!
5
All photos Saria Dy/Vanguard Staff
Exiled Records
Crossroads Music
RECENT HAUL
Bruce Haack, Way-out Record for Children repress $11
Copy, Hair Guitar $4
Copy, Möbius Beard $4
Rites of Spring, All Through a Life 7” repress $4
RECENT HAUL
Pg. 99, Document #7 $12
Books Lie, It a Weapon $8
Green Velvet, Genedefekt $2
Green Velvet, La La Land $2
Frank Zappa, Sheik Yerbouti (Zappa Records) $4
Panther, Entropy $4
4628 SE Hawthorne St.
This shop is owned by a guy in
Eat Skull, one of Portland’s best
bands. And because they’re one of
the best bands you’ve likely never
heard of, a record store owned by
one of them must have scads of
treasures lining its walls.
The short answer:Yes. Exiled
has one of the best selections in
town crammed into a small space.
The perfection extends to the
“expensive wall” that all record
stores have. Unlike most of its
peers, you won’t find 30 different
versions of The Beatles’ Revolver
lining Exiled’s walls.
Instead, you’ll find stuff record
nerds actually care about—albums
by Nurse with Wound, Sun Ra,
Jandek and a sealed copy of the
understated psych classic, the ’70s
self-titled effort by Relatively
Clean Rivers—sealed, no less—for
close to a grand.
3130 SE Hawthorne St.
If you’re one of those vinyl mavens that get his or her jollies from
the thrill of the hunt and you’ve
never been to Crossroads, go there
right now. No, seriously, put down
this paper and get there before
they close. Better yet, go tomorrow and make a day of it.
As far as record shops go, there is
none more cavernous than Crossroads. The shop is set up like an
antique mall with space allotted to
vendors. Each vendor may specialize in a certain thing, or they may
branch out into several genres.
Buyers beware: The records there
are sold by bona fide record nerds,
just like you. That said, if you’re
expecting to find a copy of 13th
Floor Elevators’ Easter Everywhere
for $5, look elsewhere. These folks
know, but they’re not unreasonable.
Great deals can be found everywhere, but one must search.
Pro-tip: Ask the person behind
the counter for the “special” indie
vinyl section. What could make
a hunt even more exclusive than
secret sections? This hunt is one
of the things that keeps us vinyl
junkies coming back for more.
Tally ho! �
2012
6
LOCAL MUSIC GUIDE
Choose your
venue wisely
Avoiding bad concert
experiences in Portland
Sam Lloyd
You know what you’re getting when you go to a concert at the Rose
Garden arena: either a band that released its last good album 20 years
ago (The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Roger Waters) or a band whose songs
you’ve already heard so many times on the radio that they’re permanently burned into your brain (Coldplay, Katy Perry).You also know what
you’re getting from a show at the Crystal Ballroom: a band just popular enough for casual music fans to like and serious music fans to hate
(Snow Patrol, Hot Chip). Elsewhere, though, it gets murky.
This is why it’s critical to know which types of bands usually play at
which venues and whether the usual cover charges are worth it, given
the atmosphere and various other factors. Here’s an introductory guide
to some lesser-known locales around PDX.
Bust out
your dance
moves and
head to the
Whiskey Bar
for sets by
local DJs
and other
electronic
artists.
Drew Martig/Vanguard Staff
Whiskey Bar
31 NW First Ave.
Located just on the edge of
Chinatown, Whiskey Bar typically
features local DJs and dubstep
artists trying to get their foot in
the door of the local scene, which
usually means that they’ll play
all of their best crowd-pleasers.
This is good news for audience
members, as is the fact that cover
charges generally run pretty low
(from $5 to, at most, around $15,
although you can usually haggle
the bouncers down to $10). Still,
the bad news for PSU students is
the word “bar” in the title; only
21-and-uppers get in, and usually
not for long, as the place doesn’t
really start hopping until around
11–11:30 p.m.
Must-see upcoming show:
Opiuo, May 31, 10 p.m., $10, 21+.
Red Cube, one of the West Coast’s
best electronic music production
companies, is sponsoring, and they
usually put on fairly exhilarating
shows. Leave your Thirsty Thursday calendar open and get ready
for tracks with titles like “Creamy
Taco,” “Robo Booty,” and others
that could only exist in the genre
of electronic funk.
Branx
320 SE Second Ave.
Likely the most appealing venue in
Portland’s inner-Southeast warehouse district, Branx tends to draw
quite an interesting crowd, especially
given that a good number of its
shows are all-ages (though some are
21+). It’s still fairly underground, so
you’re unlikely to find many concert-goers who are simply there “to
be seen” or “to say they saw so-andso play before they were popular,”
as is often the case in hipster-haven
Portland. Go for the atmosphere
and the low cover charges (no
upcoming shows charge more than
$16 at the door), but be wary of the
long lines at the bathroom (there are
just two single-capacity restrooms
downstairs).
Must-see upcoming show:
Starfucker, May 24, 8 p.m., $15,
all ages/Bar with ID. Put on
your dancing shoes and head
out to celebrate Portland’s local
dance-pop heroes, as well as the
FCC’s least likely favorite band.
Roseland Theater
8 NW Sixth Ave.
One of the bigger venues, the
Roseland Theater has featured
shows on its roster that can compete with others of its ilk, like the
Crystal Ballroom and the Wonder
Ballroom. Prominent acts such as
Neon Trees, Porter Robinson and
Kaskade are set to play there in
upcoming weeks. The Roseland
perhaps strikes the best balance
between low-key concert fun for
adults (given its single-seating upper bar area) and kick-ass concert
awesomeness for kids (given its
vast dance floor area). Tickets are
significantly more expensive at
Roseland than either Whiskey Bar
or Branx given the more famous
2012
LOCAL MUSIC GUIDE
We dance the
body electric
A brief user’s guide to
Portland’s EDM scene
Nicholas Kula
artists that visit, but it’s almost
impossible not to have a good
time there. Plus, all concerts are
all-ages, so it’s a perfect place to
either be young or do a dead-on
imitation of it.
Must-see upcoming show: Neon
Trees, June 5, 8 p.m., $16, All ages/
upstairs bar. Don’t lie:When you
first heard “Animal,” you spent
the next week wishing there was
an appropriate time and place for
you to scream out “OH! OH! I
WANT SOME MORE!” as loud as
humanly possible.Well, now there is.
It’s just another part of what makes
the Roseland so special. �
7
If you’re the dancing type, you may have noticed the distinct lack of EDM
events in Portland. EDM is an all-encompassing genre standing for “electronic dance music.” Essentially, it is the catchall term for electro-house,
dubstep, moombahton and everything else people dance to these days.
Navigating Portland EDM is a challenging task. First of all, nobody ever
seems to update their websites or social networking representations. Frankly,
when one is looking to dance their ass off, the last thing one wants to face is
a cyber-jungle of empty event pages. It can be absolutely maddening!
If you’re freshly 21 or new to town, you may not know that each
club has a schedule that usually follows a certain day every month—for
example, “second Friday” or “third Saturday.” Because most of these are
virtual word-of-mouth type events, I’m going to help you cut through
that rigmarole and help you see what’s good.
After Dark
440 NW Glisan St.
Groove Suite
Night: Every Saturday, 10 p.m.
Groove Suite has long boasted
one of the best sound systems in
town, and one would have to be a
contrarian to disagree. The system
itself was built a time ago when
this place was called π-rem. When
it debuted, the audio quality was
stunning, and when the name
switched over, the system came
with it.
This works out very well for
you, the potential dancer, because
After Dark is one of the best
nights in town for house and
electro house. These people know
their stuff, too, as they’ll regularly
feature house DJs from Chicago,
the birthplace of house music.
Their vast collections will keep
you moving all night.
Rockbox
1001 SE Morrison St.
See You Next Tuesday
205 NW Fourth Ave.
Crown Room
Night: Every Tuesday, 9 p.m.
This night has been doing dubstep
for longer than you’ve been listening to it, and they’ve been doing
it well. SYNT always seems to be
pulling in top tier talent from all
around the world for your dancing
pleasure, and acts like Hatcha and
Silkie from across the pond.
The rest of the nights feature
great mixes of amateur and pro DJ’s
alike. The sound system is incredible, and the bass can be felt from
two blocks away. Best of all, it’s free!
So get your bass face on, yo!
Holocene
Night: Third Fridays, 9 p.m.
Rockbox has been doing its thing
for almost three years now and
was an instant success at birth,
partly thanks to the appeal of
the term “dance party” within
the kind of demographic that
Holocene caters to—the hip. If
you consider that to be yourself,
Rockbox offers a trio of resident
viynlists: DJs Kez, Matt Nelkin
(KPSU represent) and Dundiggy.
It’s not difficult to have a good
time on Holocene’s recessed dance
floor: the drinks are fantastic and
the people are pretty.You’ll hear a
smattering of cuts that aren’t EDM
here, but a good chunk of them are
newer electro and Baltimore club.
As for all the rest, a skilled DJ
can wring the good stuff out of
things you wouldn’t normally like.
Deft performers mean the mixes
are tight all night, so don’t forget
those insoles. �
2012
Punk
rock and
metal
A brief connoisseur’s guide
Nicholas Kula
Everyone knows that Portland is well known for its plethora of haircut
rock, but our fair city is also host to several punk and metal staples, such
as Poison Idea, Agalloch, Millions of Dead Cops and Tragedy.
With legends such as these and many up-and-comers, one would think
that punk rock and metal venues are flourishing in Portland. Nothing
could be further from the truth.Venues like Food Hole, Satyricon and the
corny-but-still-all-ages Rock and Roll Pizza have all gone out, making
way for crappier venues.
“But Nicholas,” you ask, “How do I know what’s good and what’s
crap?” Good question. Read on.
Good
Plan B
Typically books: Portland’s nascent heshers, stoner
metal bands
Nestled snugly in the inner
southeast Industrial District, Plan
B has been booking solid shows
for a long time now. The space
is intimate—that is to say, when
you walk in, you’re mere feet
from the stage.
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LOCAL MUSIC GUIDE
Recently Plan B hosted Helms
Alee, Thrones and Norska, and the
sound was excellent. Plan B knows
what’s up—they know a staggeringly heavy band like Helms
Alee needs a nice crisp mix for
maximum rock.
East End
Typically books: Aggressive music of all types, a ton
of great rock shows
I know, I know.You thought I was
going to talk about The Know,
the punk rock staple that predates
Thai food on Alberta. East End,
however, is much more centralized
and campus-friendly, if only for
the proximity.
The shows are about as punk
rock as they come, as they replicate
the dank North Portland basement surprisingly well, without
the water heaters or boxes of
Christmas decorations. Gaytheist
played there recently and set up
in the small stairwell that leads to
the venue.
Don’t tell anyone about that,
though. It’s our little secret.
Bad
Hawthorne Theatre
Typically books: Almost every death and black metal
band you’ve ever wanted to see
Hawthorne Theatre is widely regarded as having the worst sound
in the city, second maybe to any
tiled bathroom anywhere. Maybe.
Unfortunately, the fragile nuances of metal are lost on them. I
say that because a lot of black metal
sounds like it was recorded in the
aforementioned tiled lavatory.
The last thing us metal-heads need
is a harsh sounding band sounding
even harsher because of an inept
sound engineer.
Sadly, this seems to happen more
often than not. Watain and Behemoth both played there recently—
two bands that certainly don’t
benefit from any further muddying.
Every third house in NoPo
Typically books: Bad punk rock with the occasional
gem; your friend’s crappy band, haircut rock.
There is plenty good to be said for
Portland’s house show scene, but
I won’t get into that. What’s not
good is that the people who live
in these houses (or their friends)
often insist on playing, and their
bands are usually really awful.
Since there is no security,
anyone can just show up and act
the fool, and there is a huge variance on timeframe. Some shows
might start at 4 p.m. and be over
before you would ever expect to
show up.
Oftentimes you will be jockeying for space in someone’s leaky
basement and getting pushed into
someone’s decrepit water heater.
While that sounds like one of the
most punk rock things ever, it
only sounds great on paper until it
actually happens. �
2012
LOCAL MUSIC GUIDE
9
VANISHING ALL-AGES VENUES
Where do the
kids go now to
see live music?
Having
a ball
A full crowd
watches EMA
perform at
the Crystal
Ballroom.
The Crystal
is one of
the biggest
under-21
venues left
in Portland.
Desmond Fuller
Over the last 10 years, Portland
has seen a rapid decline in all-ages
live music venues.Younger college-age kids living on their own
in the city find that they are veritable outcasts from the live music
culture that defines a huge facet of
the urban experience. Especially in
Portland, a city formerly known as
an all-ages music hot spot, where
the field of options has dropped
off significantly.
With the closures of hold-steady
venues like Berbati’s Pan, the Satyricon and smaller hidden gems like
the Artistery, Portland underagers
are being left out in the cold. It’s no
wonder that the rise in house-show
culture has continued to thrive as
teenagers look for alternative ways
to see live music.
So what’s the problem? Why are
these places closing? One answer,
three words: alcohol and money.
Portland doesn’t have laws
prohibiting the sale of alcohol in
a venue that hosts mixed-crowd
shows, but state laws require venues to be vigilant about keeping
minors away from drinking areas
and keeping the alcohol contained. This can be a big issue, and
one that forces venues to choose
between wet and dry.
The greater issue lies in revenues and how they are generated.
And the bottom line is that booze
sells, so decreasing alcoholconsumption space by opening
up a show to an all-ages crowd is
simply not profitable. To put the
issue in perspective, liquor sales in
Oregon last year totaled $435 million, not including beer and wine.
This leads to smaller, underground venues closing their doors
because they can’t afford to bring
in big name acts that guarantee
high ticket sales. And they can’t
Adam Wickham/Vanguard Staff
survive on $5–10 door covers or
$20 or less ticket sales. Case in
point: Berbati’s, and the longsince-gone Meow Meow.
Venues that can host all-ages
shows are those with the principle
assets to invest in big name acts
with pricey tickets, which is how
they survive while limiting the potential for alcohol sales. Even bigger
venues like the Wonder Ballroom
and the Hawthorne Theatre usually
run 60 percent or more of their
shows as 21 and over only.
So what are the all-ages venues
left standing? Here are a few that
still offer a wide variety of live
music, if at a higher ticket price.
Crystal Ballroom
Perhaps the most well known
venue in Portland, the Crystal has
been called the flagship of the
McMenamin’s franchise and is the
hub for the majority of big name
acts passing through Portland.
With the balcony reserved for
21+ audiences and a designated
section on the floor for alcohol, the
bouncy floor section closest to the
stage is generally open to all ages.
With the power to draw big
acts, the Crystal has a consistent
line up of all-ages shows. Although
the ticket prices are sometimes
steep, the Crystal offers a semiintimate setting and a chance to
see artists on their way into the
higher strata of fame. For example,
The Black Keys played the Crystal
in 2010 and just played the Rose
Garden last week.
Roseland Theater
Based on a similar model to the
Crystal Ballroom, the balcony is
reserved 21+ seating with an allages floor. Though there are more
21+ shows here than at the Crystal, the Roseland has staked out a
large chunk of the all-ages market
recently by bringing a steady
stream of high-profile electronic
artists to Portland. Shows like
Skrillex, Feed Me and Rusko sell
out in minutes, more than offsetting the need to sell drinks.
Backspace
One of the last small, all-ages venues
left standing, Backspace also provides
one of the more progressive models
for an all-ages venue that can still
benefit from selling alcohol.
By selling only beer and wine
and negotiating with the Oregon
Liquor Control Commission,
Backspace keeps the entire venue
open to everyone, regulating alcohol sales and consumption through
wristbands for drinkers and extra
staff monitoring the crowd. Backspace offers the rare opportunity
for teens to see a variety of local
and lesser-known acts.
A regular stop for local legend
bands like The Thermals, Backspace is one of the most quintessential Portland venues, hosting
poetry slams, comedy nights and
open mic nights as well. �
2012
10
LOCAL MUSIC GUIDE
Slabtown
offers
Portlanders
cheap shows
and a great
atmosphere.
KPSU
likes
this!
Drew Martig/Vanguard Staff
Favorite Portland music
institutions from PSU’s own
Isaac Hotchkiss
Slabtown
Venue/Bar
$3–5; 21+
try to have something going on,”
he said. A part-time music venue,
Slabtown hosts independent, punk,
garage, slock-rock and more for
low cover charges. “I hate playclap-play shows,” Rogers said. “I’m
always trying to have other stuff
going on.” Slabtown has a full bar
and all shows are 21+.
The Record Room
8 NE Killingsworth St.
Shop/Venue
Shows 21+; Free–$5.
What’s this? You need to buy
vinyl? You need to sell vinyl? And
you need a beer? The Record
Room has got you covered. Sip on
your brew while you sort through
one of the largest vinyl collections
412 SW 10th Ave.
in town, and maybe even catch
one of the store’s occasional shows
at a low cover. They also offer 30
percent resale value cash or 50
percent in-store credit for your
old records.
Located in inner downtown
Portland, Tender Loving Empire
is host to an extremely diverse
mix of everything “Portland,”
in all the good ways. Featuring
comics, fiction, crafts, T-shirts and
all of the little DIY knick-knacks
in-between. It also has a very nice
LOCAL MUSIC GUIDE
Bunk Bar
1028 SE Water Ave. #130
Venue/Bar
Free–$8; 21+
Nestled right against the river on
Southeast Portland’s Water Avenue,
Bunk Bar started improbably as
a sandwich shop. But in the last
year and a half, it has blossomed
into a popular part-time venue,
in addition to its status as a fulltime bar. Owner Matt Brown is
a natural storyteller, and his pace
quickened and his face became
animated as he told me about the
nitty-gritty of their operations. As
a part-time venue, Bunk Bar only
offers shows a few nights a week,
hosting indie shows to crowds of
200–250 people. Attendees can
expect quality music for as low
as $3, and sometimes free, with
national touring acts coming in
for covers as low as $8. Part of
what makes the experience at
Bunk Bar unique is how it tries to
strike that perfect balance between
being a squared-away, clean club
and that more chaotic atmosphere
of a house show. The ambiance of
the place is completed by a massive mural from the movie Paris,
Texas behind the stage by Portland
artist Casey Burns. Swing by Bunk
Bar for a show or a beer and try a
famous Bunk Sandwich.
Rockbox
Record label/Shop
1033 NW 16th Ave.
I asked Doug Rogers, owner of
Slabtown, what’s going on at the
bar and venue today, and he told
me that right now he’s hosting
the urban golfers, who are getting
ready to knock tennis balls around
the city. “My kind of people,” he
said. Slabtown carries that kind of
offbeat vibe. “I get bored. I always
Tender Loving Empire
2012
selection of CDs and vinyl from
local bands at reasonable prices.
Go to TLE just for the eye-popping, overwhelming experience of
browsing all the awesome music.
TLE also operates a small record
label for local and national bands.
Green Noise/
Dirtnap Records
1001 SE Morrison St.
Dance night at Holocene
$5; 21+
Hosted at Holocene in inner
Southeast Portland, Rockbox is
a dance night regularly featuring
one of KPSU’s own DJ’s, Matt
Nelkin. Expect every type of
crowd you can think of to be out
dancing to Rockbox’s evervarying mixes of hip-hop, R&B,
house, disco, electro, dancehall,
’80s and ’90s. Then maybe take a
break for a drink at Holocene’s
full bar.
3840 SE Gladstone St.
Music in the Schools
Record label/Shop
Non-profit education program
Dirtnap Records is a local record
label whose top-selling band is
The Exploding Hearts, followed
closely by Mean Jeans. And if
you purchase records on vinyl,
you might have heard of Dirtnap
Record’s other operation, Green
Noise Records. An interesting tidbit: Dirtnap is actually more well
known online than for its brick-
and mortar location, so be sure to
browse on over to the website if
38th Avenue and Gladstone is too
far out for you. The store features
punk rock vinyl in that hard to
find at a happy-medium price
range with an awesome selection
that’s just small enough so you’re
not overwhelmed.
If you attended high school in the
Portland Public School District
within the last few years, you
might be familiar with this program. Established in 2007, Music
in the Schools is a nonprofit
organization that supports music
education at local public high
schools, which are desperately
underfunded and understaffed.
More specifically, the organiza-
tion provides support for music
that is a little closer to the hearts
and minds of high schoolers than
band class: rock. According to
the non-profit’s website, all of
its funding is raised via benefit
concerts at Portland venues. They
also host periodic “Battle of the
Bands” events, giving the students
a chance to show their talents
alongside established musicians.
11
Grandparents
Band
Since summer 2009, Grandparents
have been throwing down psychedelic rock and similar music with
an ever-evolving sound. A Portland
State artistic success story, the band
met while living in The Broadway
during their undergraduate years.
They gradually started playing
together, put out an album and
have been playing ever since. “It’s
all about the energy of the people,”
said Will Fenton, guitar and bass
player. “I’m just happy to get
people dancing, and you can tell it’s
a good show.” The band recently
played at the Doug Fir and other
local venues—expect to hear more
out of them. �
2012
LOCAL MUSIC GUIDE
Ear
splittingly
good
A crash course in Portland’s
harsh noise scene
Nicholas Kula
Harsh noise, the genre that moms everywhere have been conflating with
metal since the ’80s, is a real thing, and it has some history in Portland.
Although you, the Portland music enthusiast, may be unaware of these
artists, you now know that they exist. And you have nobody to blame
but Whitehouse and Smegma.
No, I’m not talking about Washington. D.C., or penis goo. I’m talking
about the oddball trio-gone-duo from the U.K. that brought the genre
of “power electronics” and, later, harsh noise to the mainstream forefront
and the Portland-based noise ensemble, respectively.
Simultaneously, other overseas acts like Nurse with Wound and Venetian
Snares paved the way for artists like Wolf Eyes and Hair Police that helped
the genre reach its arguable zenith in the mid-2000s.
Amid that zenith, Portland acts like Yellow Swans, Argumentix and
Subarachnoid Space rose to power. For a while, noise was everywhere,
opening metal shows around Portland and grabbing its own piece of
the musical pie at venues like Food Hole and Satyricon. Local artist
Blowupnihilist opened for screamy punk rockers The Plot to Blow Up
the Eiffel Tower on their last tour ever.
Sadly, the noise genre fell somewhat out of vogue, leaving local sonic
sculptors no options but to join “real” bands. Thankfully, some of these
artists are still around.
12
Brizbomb
Vancouver, Wash.
Sounds like: A Dälek burrowing into your skull
Next show: June 30, St. Johns Nofest 2012
2012
Portland
Sounds like: Being physically afloat on an ocean
you’ve dreamt of
Next show: June 30, St. Johns Nofest 2012
To those involved with Portland’s alternative electronic scene, Pulse
Emitter needs no introduction, but you may be surprised to find out
he’s from Portland. After all, he travels all over the world, delivering lush
soundscapes for all to hear. Sometimes they get a little noisy, which is
only fitting because Pulse Emitter was a Portland harsh noise heavyweight at one point. Now, he only makes noise that sounds like waves of
LSD washing over your cerebrum.
Lick
Portland
Sounds like: Audio from a David Lynch movie—including
the dialogue—corrupted beyond recognition
Next show: None scheduled; tour with Defenerate in
the works
It’s been a while since Portland had a truly oddball ambient/noise band
to call its own, and those not yet in the know would be proud to call
Lick just that. Featuring an army of theremins, bit crushers and a cast of
ethereal noisemakers, Lick wants to play your art gallery opening, and
then they want to make your eardrums earn their existence. �
13
The Sarcastic
Dharma Society
Those who have had the pleasure of seeing Brizbomb (a.k.a. “the human”) do his thing remember it vividly.
Brizbomb’s shows are memorable because, unlike a lot of noise acts
that feature destroyed tape loops and mixer feedback, his setup is a
towering Bunyan-esque rack of effects with enough patch cables to
stretch to Wisconsin.
Fixed to the top of his monolith are two law enforcement-grade
light beacons, just in case your senses aren’t being assaulted enough.
The show consists of “the human” hot-plugging patch cables into
various orifices on the tower and letting the effects envelop the listener
until he or she cries uncle.
His sonic manipulation is quite a show if you’re into sound. And of course
you are:You’re reading an article about harsh noise in a college newspaper.
Pulse Emitter
LOCAL MUSIC GUIDE
Drew Martig/Vanguard Staff
Daniel Menche
Adam Wickham/Vanguard Staff
Portland’s elusive indie
sweetheart
Holly Laycock
The Sarcastic Dharma Society
started out as a dream. Singersongwriter Mat Vuksinich was
on a road trip with Woody Allen
when their car broke down. During their trek to the next town,
a dramatic archway loomed,
inscribed with the fateful words
that would follow Vuksinich from
his hometown in the foothills of
northern California to Portland.
The band was formed in 2003
and has had different lineups over
the years, with a lot of collaboration from Padraic Finbar HagertyHammond. Lately, though, SDS
has been a one-man show.
Portland has become familiar
with Vuksinich’s unabashedly frank,
lovelorn lyrics and plucky guitar
melodies that match his boyish
exterior. Some of his solo vocal
performances can sound like the
innocuous musings of Kermit the
Frog, but “3am” from Live at the
EchoHouse redeems itself in storytelling and tunefulness: “I know I
should be trying to be a man/But
I’m too busy trying to think of the
saddest thing I can/Like it’s probably warm in there/Clean pillows
and your freshly shampooed hair.”
The majority of songs appeal to
the agonizing obsession of teenage
love, but in a refreshingly candid
and conversational way. “I love
that thing where you love somebody, ’cause it’s super extreme…
It’s like, this is the purpose of my
life,”Vuksinich said. “And you get
really interesting conflicts when
you know what you want and that
thing doesn’t want you.”
SDS’s appearances in public are
random at best, ranging from venues
like Ella Street Social Club to house
parties and gallery openings to the
occasional radio spot.Vuksinich is
currently working on setting his
newer stuff to a four piece band,
which, though known for his solo
work, is where he shines melodically. His intentions for the project
are to be as nonspecific as possible
in order to reach as many people as
possible—that means no metaphors
or songs like journal entries. He says:
“It’s gotta be honest.You gotta be
writing something real, but it also
has to communicate.”
Listen if you like: Bright Eyes,
Wild Sweet Orange. �
Music for the beasts
Joshua Hunt
Portland’s Daniel Menche is a living
legend in the international avantgarde community. As a musician
and performance artist, Menche has
spent more than 20 years crafting
a body of work that is both highly
conceptual and ferociously visceral.
In a genre often characterized by
sonic extremes, Menche’s music
assaults the intellect as much as the
physical senses, gripping the listener
in a total body experience.
With intense focus and curiosity,
Menche has sourced, arranged and
amplified the sounds of the throat,
skin, heart, waterfalls, storms, skin,
drums, piano, organ and even a
children’s choir.
With the instincts of a caveman,
the intellect of an artist and the
single-minded determination of
a composer, Menche creates and
embodies intensity.
Learn more by visiting the
artist’s blog at danielmenchemain.
blogspot.com. �
2012
LOCAL MUSIC GUIDE
The transfiguration
of Portland’s most
psychedelic son
Born in Karachi, Pakistan, and
raised in New Jersey and Minnesota, Ilyas Ahmed came to
Portland on an uncommon path.
If Ahmed’s life is anywhere near
as interesting as his music is, it’s a
story that I’d like to hear.
On records like Towards the
Night and Between Two Skies,
Ahmed has achieved what few
artists can aspire to: absolute
transfiguration of influence into
truly unique expression. While
one can hear shades of John Fahey
and Keiji Haino within Ahmed’s
sparse, acoustic guitar compositions, his music is anything but
derivative. This feat is all the more
impressive when one considers
how singular and unique these
influences are.
While Ahmed released one
record consisting of nothing more
than field recordings of trees, grass
and fields, his girlfriend and a dog,
most of his albums contain layers
of acoustic guitar, with percussion and vocals making occasional appearances. The dreamlike,
psychedelic quality of Ahmed’s
guitar playing is utterly hypnotic,
but it is without the heavy-handed
execution that often accompanies
this kind of music.
This is not simple music, and yet
Ahmed’s powerfully bare, sincere
presentation makes it immediately
accessible. This is the antithesis
of the false earnestness of most
so-called singer songwriters, but
Ahmed does share some of the
same roots with these musicians,
as he continues a long tradition of folk-based protest music.
Granted, this brand of folk is more
informed by traditional Pakistani
music than by Dock Boggs.
On albums like Century of
Moonlight, Ahmed used long,
drawn out, extended structures
and constant repetition to express
the shallow thinking and monotony of war. On The Vertigo of
Dawn, he paid tribute to his heritage with percussive, psychedelic
transmutations of the music of his
birthplace.
Ilyas Ahmed’s music creates its
own language, and in that tongue
it seems to express a mythology all
its own. He is the rare artist whose
fluency is immediately apparent,
even to those who don’t understand him. �
work for which projects.
In 2005, she self-released her
self-titled first album on a fulllength CD-R. In 2006, she followed it with EP He Knows and
in 2007 Wide, a 12-inch single.
She collaborated with Xiu Xiu
in 2006 for the album Creepshow
and with Tiny Vipers in March
this year for the album Foreign
Body.
Grouper signed with Free
Porcupine in 2005 and released
the critically acclaimed album
Way Their Crept. She re-released
this album and her some of her
songs from Dragging A Dead Deer
up A Hill under Type Records.
Her 2011 effort was an expansive
double album. Grouper was a
supporting act for hipster favorite
Animal Collective in spring 2009.
Harris found the experience
with that music world intimidating because she says that she isn’t
motivated by contract, money
or expectations. On stage, Harris
appears to be shy and distant,
making the audience pay more
attention to her music. �
Joshua Hunt
Ilyas
Ahmed
Corinna Scott/Vanguard Staff
14
Grouper
Portland’s solo act mixes ambient sounds
with soothing vocals.
Nilesh Tendolkar
Grouper is a one-woman project
featuring electro acoustic music
by Liz Harris of Portland. Harris
grew up on the northern California coast. Her music combines
soft guitars and keys with ethereal
vocals. This, along with the use of
reverb and tape delay results in a
unique, spooky and surreal musical
experience.
Some of her top hits include
“Heavy Water/I’d Rather Be
Sleeping” from her 2008 album Dragging A Dead Deer up A
Hill, “Moon Is Sharp,” “Alien
Observer,” “Vapor Trails” and
“She loves me that way” from her
2011 album A I A: Dream Loss/
Alien Observer. Music blog Gorilla
vs. Bear ranked her 2008 album
at number two among the best
albums of the year. The album
was also featured at number 38 of
Pitchfork Media’s 50 best albums of
2008.
Harris has been mercurial
when it comes to releasing music,
employing various formats and
collaborations. She relies on her
instinct to decide which songs
2012
LOCAL MUSIC GUIDE
Tyler Kohlhoff/The Windish Agency
And And And
You can’t hide from
this music, but why
would you want to?
Mike Allen
You know how most rock musicians’ careers have an arc that
generally travels from frenetic,
aggressive youthfulness to a
reflective, subdued adulthood?
Like how Paul Westerburg went
from shouting “I Need a Goddamn Job” in 1981, to crooning
“Here Comes a Regular” by ’85,
to looking utterly despondent
and confused while twanging out
“It’s a Wonderful Lie” (as if he was
country all along)—in ’08?
Well, Portland quintet And And
And has shotgun sprayed an entire
career, with no semblance of a maturity arc, in just over two years.
Which is not to say there’s been
no growth in the band’s creative
output.Their latest album, Lost, released early this year on Exploding
Green Records, is their first on
vinyl. The material isn’t entirely
newly released. Think of it as
wrought from the rich ore of their
recent past. The release notes say
that the album focuses on “themes
of alienation, concealment and
becoming ‘lost’ in the confusion
surrounding everyday life,” which
sounds straightforward enough.
But oh the tacks one can take.
The first track, “I Want More
Alcohol,” is a driven and angrily
regretful sing-along that finds lead
singer Nathan Baumgartner and
company drowning their sorrows
over spurned advances and wasted
time. “I want more alcohol,” they
shout up the tonal scale, “cause I
hate this town, I just been fuckin’
around, and it makes me sadder,”
finishes Baumgartner in his little
bit indie, little bit country falsetto.
His voice wavers and shudders
(distortion notwithstanding) but
never cracks, always driving true.
But by the very next track, “You
Can’t Hide,” they’re drunk-on-thefront-porch alt-country crooners
singing about burning down the
woods if you try to go hide there.
They’ve even got a harmonica, so
you know how serious they are.
Confused enough yet? Well there’s
also trumpet-driven, bass heavy
psych-pop—imagine a ska Interpol
with the Ass Ponys’ Chuck Cleaver
instead of that Morrisey-wannabe
lead singer—and some Wurlitzer
keyboard. Now what?
A lot of their work has been
categorized as folk. Fair enough,
since that word is so loosely applied to everything that it really
doesn’t mean anything anymore.
Let’s call it jangle folk. That means
it’s not all cheek-to-cheek, serious
sincerity, like Peter, Paul and Mary
or those neo-folk milksops like
Mumford and Sons, or even angry
and overtly political like all those
folk punkers.
It’s more incidentally folk. It
happens to sound folksy by way
of its nonchalance and informality. Like, “Hey, why not hit that
chord again on the upstroke? I’m
drinkin’. Tambourines are fun!”
Then you dig up something
really strange, like former member
Run4yoLyfe’s remix/cover-thingy
of rapper Wale’s hit “Pretty Girls,”
included on 2011’s Life Ruiner
EP, and throw up your hands in
despair. Run4yoLyfe (gone, but
not forgotten, as they say) seems
like a pretty strange dude judging
by his solo work, with a slantwise
hip-hop influence, but still all up
in his own head.
15
And so, while his loss seems to
have pared the band into a semicoherent genre, one wonders if that’s
really desirable for a band that has so
successfully evaded categorization.
What does consistently characterize the band is a sense of locale.
They’re Oregon. The video for
“Is It Any Wonder” depicts the
band playing on what appears to
be the banks of the Clackamas
River, Baumgartner singing into
the handle of a Bowie knife, guys
throwing big rocks into the water.
The “I Want More Alcohol”
video was filmed in a snowy oldgrowth oak forest and features a
picnic table tea party followed by
drunken mobile home debauch.
Hot valley summers and cold
mountain winters are the backdrop for And And And’s rock ‘n’
roll existence.
That existence includes forever
putting out free downloads, playing free shows and hosting a
roving basketball tournament with
a minivan-roof mounted hoop.
They played a show at a Burgerville. They drop recordings like
the sky drops rain, ceaselessly and
indiscriminately.
The discography—“corpus”
seems a better word, as there are
precious few “discs” of And And
And’s work to be had—is immense.
They make prog-rockers Yes look
like lazy stoners (did you know that
Yes released 19 studio albums?). I’m
not sure how many songs they’ve
released, but it includes at least two
full-length albums and six EPs with
possibly some demo singles thrown
in for good cheer.
Lost is available for download or
purchase at the Exploding Green
Records site (www.explodinggreen.com). Their Life Ruiner split
cassette is available from Apes Tapes
(apestapes.goodsie.com). All of
And And And’s previous recordings were, legitimately it seems,
available on megaupload.com, but
the government put the kibosh on
that site. So if you want the music,
you’re going to have to see them
live. Or buy a tape deck. But hurry,
I hear Goodwill’s running out of
those steam-era contraptions. �
2012
16
LOCAL MUSIC GUIDE
Starfucker
Alex Moore
hit song “Rawnald Gregory
Erickson the Second.” The track
starred in a Target commercial
for pink pepto in 2009. As good
as their old stuff was, their new
album, Reptilians, which came
out in 2011, might be even better. Reptilians’ tracks are catchy
while sounding nothing like the
trash that makes it on the radio.
It is sad that with a band name
like Starfucker, they don’t get the
recognition they deserve. This
band is one of the leaders in the
electronica genre, and one of the
best representatives in the style
Portland could hope for.
Starfucker will be playing at
Branx May 24. The show is already sold out. �
Lebenden Toten
Why have you never heard
of Lebenden Toten?
Nicholas Kula
Portland is a great town to be in
a band. There is no shortage of
people lining up to see you, and
the community is very tight-knit.
Unless you play punk rock.
Lebenden Toten plays punk
rock—the good kind. The ripyour-guts-out and piss-all-overyour-dead-body kind. The band
performs all over the world, have
plenty of international support and
released several records. So why
have you never heard of them?
Almost every record LT has released has been in other countries
that have historically supported
their endeavors in ways Portland never could. Of the myriad
releases credited to the band, only
two of them have been released
on a U.S. label.
To Portland’s credit, the one
U.S. label with any Lebenden
Toten releases is local punk label
Feral Ward, run by former His
Hero Is Gone and current Tragedy
member Yannick Lorrain.
Everything else by LT has either
been self-released or released by
smaller punk labels in countries
such as Japan, the Czech Republic
and the Netherlands.
While LT usually packs the
house when they play in Portland,
it is only because their appearances
are so sporadic. In 2011, LT played
LOCAL MUSIC GUIDE
This effing band will make
you fall in love
How can you not like a band with
that name?
Straight out of Portland, Starfucker is a band with more than
a great name. Of course, having
profanity in your band’s name
has its downsides. Starfucker has
struggled to get its music out
through radio play and concerts.
The quality of their music shines
through, however.
Starfucker offers a love-at-firstsight brand of sound that’s difficult
to get tired of. Their feel is a fineline mix between indie and pop
styles, which doesn’t fall into the
traps presented by either.
Even if you aren’t yet familiar with the band’s sound,
you might have heard of their
Tyler Kohlhoff/The Windish Agency
2012
three shows. So far this year, the
band is on pace to best that by at
least one, having played near the
end of March with a May show
on the horizon.
A typical LT performance is
an experience to remember, as
whatever venue hosts the show
will look like a DMZ afterward.
What’s more, the biggest venue LT
has played in the last four years is
Branx, and the next biggest holds
just over a hundred. Because the
venues are so small, only the most
dedicated LT fans will make it inside. And if that somehow includes
you, they will make sure to make
it an event for you.
What can one expect from the
band itself? Apart from the usual
crowd eruptions, expect lots of
downbeats, feedback and shriek-y
(sometimes downright scary) vocals from Chanel, the band’s singer.
Because LT’s fan-base knows an
awful lot about punk rock, expect
comparisons to many bands
you’ve never heard of, but I can
offer at least one: a more explosive
Melt-Banana.
And if you’re not familiar with
Melt-Banana, just go to a LT show.
It’ll be more fun that way.
Next show: May 30 at Blackwater
Records (1925 SE Morrison St.),
8 p.m., all ages. �
loversarelovers.com
lovers
Local trio brings
together electronica,
pride and sisterly love
Kali Simmons
“They try to shame us out of
loving darling,” begins the song
“Figure 8” by local Portland band
Lovers. The band, self-described as
“loud and proud” blends together
female harmonies with friendly
electro pop.
Composed of singer-songwriter
loversarelovers.com
Carolyn Berk, synthesizer and programmer Kerby Ferris and percussion player Emily Kingan, Lovers
mesh together well on 2010’s Dark
Light, their first studio release as
a group. The album was recorded
locally at the Type Foundry studio
with the help of owner Dylan
Magierek, who has also recorded
local act Starfucker.
Lovers’ sounds are spacey
and mystical with just the right
amount of guitar and drums to
17
bring their songs back to earth.
Berk’s voice is a haunting, heartbroken croon that blends seamlessly in three-part harmony with the
voices of Kingan and Ferris.
“Carolyn generally comes to the
band with song ideas, in various
stages of completion,” Kingan
wrote in an email. “The three
of us together will work on the
instrumentation and arrangement.
Carolyn is primarily responsible
for the lyrics.”
Mostly lyrically driven, Lovers’
songs explore themes of female love,
sexuality and friendship. “We are
like sisters.We are sisters,” Berk said.
While the band’s music may be
soft and melodic, their beginning
was anything but quiet. The three
met after a dangerous and nearly
deadly bus crash involving Berk
and former members of the band.
After the incident, Berk joined
Kingan and Ferris while they were
on tour with local act The Haggard. Kingan was a member of the
group The Haggard and Ferris was
working as a roadie for the band.
Later, the women reunited across
the world in South America.
Lovers has grown as a band both
musically and lyrically since their
first incarnation. While Berk’s first
works still carry the same lovesick
lyrical depth, the band has moved
toward a more electronically influenced sound.
“Being an ‘adult’ artist is challenging, interesting and exciting,” Kingan said, when asked to
consider the experience about
musicianship right now. “As you
get older you become more confident with your choices, the stakes
are higher, and you are more
intentional about how you affect
the listener,” she said.
The band has been touring consistently since the release of Dark
Light, finishing up a leg of their
North American tour this year.
Now, the group has gone international for a stint in Europe. The
band says they are glad to be back
in Europe for the tour, having last
seen the shores in December 2010.
They are set to perform in Germany, France and Spain before they
return stateside later this month. �
lot of chefs for a folk kitchen, and
each member handles multiple
instruments, but the overall effect
is more clean than chaotic.
After 12 years, Blitzen Trapper is still going strong. They
released their newest album,
American Goldwing,in September
of last year, and they’ll be spending the rest of the spring touring
the West Coast and Midwest.
Locations for their shows can
be found on the band’s website,
blitzentrapper.net. �
Blitzen
Trapper
Country-fried fun in
the ‘no pity’ city
Randall Theil
Folk music probably isn’t the first
sound you associate with Portland.
Despite the recent tide of interest coalescing around groups like
Mumford and Sons, Portland’s
zeitgeist still seems to be barreling
down into the electronic-alternative
pit we all know and love.
Blitzen Trapper doesn’t
seem aware of such waves. The
Portland-native four-to-five man
acoustic band is real deal folk
authenticity with a twist. Their
sound is Bob Dylan fucked Neil
Young at a county fair countryfried meets early-’70s psychedelic.
The permutations make for interesting results.
The group was formed in
2000 and self-released their
first three albums. They hit the
big time with that third album,
Wild Mountain Nation, and were
signed to “devourer of all things
independent but marketable”
Sub Pop records in 2007.
Their current line-up is five
strong: Eric Earley, Erik Menteer,
Brian Adrian Koch, Michael VanPelt and Marty Marquis. That’s a
Tyler Kohlhoff/ Blitzen Trapper
2012
18
LOCAL MUSIC GUIDE
Danava
2012
LOCAL MUSIC GUIDE
The Thermals
Portland supergroup plans to
revert to their
noisy past
Mike Allen
Danava/Facebook.com
Crowd-slaying medieval ’70s style rock with
heavy guitar jams
Desmond Fuller
Who knew the siring of Black
Sabbath and Led Zeppelin was
hiding out in Portland, brewing
up cosmic epics and ’70s guitar
jams? Apparently, enough people
to spur Danava into success outside
of the local scene where they fit
alongside acts like Red Fang. The
band is currently embarking on a
grueling tour of Europe, playing
shows heavy on dragon-slayingduel-guitar spectacle almost every
night this spring. Having toured
in support of big name rock acts
like Down and the Melvins, it’s
no surprise Danava is continuing
on its trajectory toward success via
incessant touring and a sound that
is at once prog-metal and accessible
to classic rock enthusiasts.
Formed in 2003 by Illinois
transplants Gregory Meleney,
Monte Mattsson and Zachariah
Dellorto-Blackwell, Danava
released their first single demo in
2004 and have since put out three
full-length albums. The lineup
now consists of Gregory Meleney
on vocals, guitar and synthesizers,
Zachariah Dellorto-Blackwell on
bass guitar, Matt Oliver on drums
and Andrew Forgash on guitar.
It’s hard not to hear all the
Zeppelin riffs being recycled here,
and the band is not shy about
emulating their influences. Their
band portrait photo is straight off
the back cover of Zeppelin One.
But Danava makes the retro sound
fresh and avoids the tribute band
branding by infusing their classic
heavy metal sound with spacedout jams that don’t shy away from
stewing in thick guitar fuzz and
tribal drum mantras. Most songs
hit the 5–10 minute range, leaning
more toward mini epics than classic
rock radio, with long instrumental
interludes that sometimes fall away
to ethereal Doors-like keyboard
breaks, only to surge back with
Wolfmother-size riffs. Songs like
“Spinning Temple Shifting” range
from Kill ‘em All-era Metallica
to ’60s psychedelic jam sections,
culminating in the reincarnation
of “War Pigs.”
In short, Danava is a heavy
psychedelic rock band that knows
what they’re doing, and they’re
doing it well. Such intentional
reconstruction of styles gone by
often comes across as superficial,
and Danava doesn’t avoid that
entirely. But for the most part, their
sound seems to inhabit the skin of
their influences so fully that it creates a sense of authenticity, if only
through sheer will or black magic
of some kind. �
Alicia Rose/Barsuk Records
Menomena
Longing lyrics, airy vocals dotted
throughout newest release
Sam Lloyd
Here are the two most important
things to know about Portlandbased experimental indie rock
band Menomena: 1) Pitchfork loves
them, and 2) no one person in
the band is the primary songwriter; rather, every band member
submits their own portion of each
song electronically, and then they
all get together to combine them.
So yes, that bearded guy living
in the downstairs bedroom who
wears beanies in July probably
loves them.
In this case, though, he has good
reason to. Menomena has matured
quite substantially from their 2003
debut I Am the Fun Blame Monster!
(which was boldly creative at best
and uncomfortably disorganized
at worst), with their latest album,
2010’s Mines, turning out to be
one of the best indie rock albums
released in recent memory. The
songs are brilliantly layered with
waves of keyboards and guitar riffs,
managing to swell to a fever pitch
one moment and then dip into
a laid-back downtempo section
the next. “TAOS,” “Lunchmeat”
and “BOTE” are perfect examples
of this and stand out as album
highlights.
Hardcore, long-time fans of the
band will likely lament Menomena’s
scaling back of the haphazard
experimentation that defined
the group’s early work, but don’t
let them fool you; Mines was
definitely Menomena’s most accessible album—and don’t confuse
“accessible” with “bad.” The lyrics
discuss deep, often-tragic topics
(among them loss and depression,
on many of the tracks) in layman’s
terms, which is a remarkable feat if
executed properly, and it definitely
is. And as for the instrumentation…well, you can decide for
yourself if you enjoy structured,
well-designed songs more than
unrestrained experimentation. In
all, Mines represents a new direction for the band, and one that
could win them a lot of new fans
if they choose to pursue it.
For more information about the
band and their upcoming plans,
you can visit their official website
at menomena.com. �
Adam Wickham/Vanguard Staff
The Thermals made their mark
with noisy, adolescent, urgent
post-pop-punk (their term) on
2003’s More Parts Per Million LP
released on Sub Pop.
“Hardly art hardly garbage,” the
refrain from that album’s standout
rock-a-long, “No Culture Icons,”
pretty much sums it up. It eschews
three chords for two and clean
production for a heard-up-thecellar-stairs sound. Tracks don’t
exceed three minutes (as indeed
they still rarely do), which—along
with that production quality and
borderline nonsense lyrics—
prompt numerous comparisons to
early Guided by Voices.
Things have changed a lot
since then. Their latest full length
album, Personal Life, was released in
2010 by Kill Rock Stars. Personal
Life boasts the same urgency that
marked their earlier work, a quality
created as much by super-tight instrumentation as by singer/guitarist
Hutch Harris’s nasal caterwaul,
with cleaner production and somewhat more intelligible lyrics.
The three-piece—Kathy Foster
plays bass and Westin Glass is
their fourth drummer—just
returned from playing with Helio
Sequence and Nurses in Paris,
and they were kind enough to
make it a priority to answer some
questions for the Vanguard.
The Thermals are famous, good-
looking and nice—a trifecta not
often found. They’re also predictably succinct. Here’s what guitarist/
vocalist Hutch Harris had to say.
My rambling, over-elaborate questions have been edited for length
and clarity, as have their answers.
Vanguard: How was Paris?
Hutch Harris: Paris was great.
We have toured Europe a ton in
the past nine years. We love it. It
was surreal having so many friends
from Portland there—Brainstorm,
Nurses, Helio Sequence, Mirah,
etc. Crazy!
VG: I was reading up on some
old reviews of Thermals albums,
and a sentiment that I heard
again and again was “childish,” or
maybe “childlike,” or something
like that, especially about Fuckin’
A. Do you agree with that “childlike” assessment?
HH: Fuckin’ A is definitely a
childish record. It’s the sophomore
record, get it? The title says it all.
Other records we’ve done have
been more “mature” or whatever.
So there’s something for everyone
in our catalog.
VG: On your site and in the press,
you describe The Body, The Blood,
The Machine as a political album, so
it’s safe to call it that. Personal Life is
described as…well, about personal
stuff. Was it a conscious decision to
tackle that dichotomy and maybe,
in a sense, bridge it?
HH: We try not to describe
TBTBTM as a political record.
It’s a fantasy about how religion influences power. We try
to give each of our records a
different theme, but there’s not
always a bridge from one to the
next. There definitely was from
TBTBTM to our next LP Now
We Can See in that, at the end
of TBTBTM, we “died,” and on
NWCS we were “dead.” There’s
not really a bridge from NWCS
to Personal Life. We just wanted to
do something different.
VG: What’s your view of the
political landscape today? Bleak
as ever?
HH: Yes, the political landscape
is usually pretty bleak. It’s a scary
world.
VG: Many artists of various
persuasions are against the idea
of providing explicit context or
explanations for their work, of
saying what it’s “about.” That
doesn’t seem to bother you much.
Is there a reason you make it all so
explicit?
HH: People often misinterpret
things, so sometimes you have to
set them straight. Not always. We
try not to be overly explicit.You
shouldn’t have to explain art to
people, but sometimes you need
to correct them—or let someone
else correct them—if they’re getting it wrong.
19
VG: The Thermals sometimes
get described as a Portland supergroup. How do you feel about that
label?
HH: Well, we are the most
famous, best-looking band in
Portland, so we don’t mind it.
VG: There’s an arc to your
discography, and it aims toward
cleaner production, less noise, a
more nuanced and adult sound. Is
this the direction you’ll be heading? Is cleaner, more intelligible,
more nuanced inevitable? Was
there ever a band that began as a
polished, symphonic producer of
masterpieces that devolved into a
three-piece cacophony of chaos?
HH: We are currently regressing back to a less polished, more
chaotic sound. This is what people
expect from us. It’s how they like
us to be. Well, if it’s what you
want, it’s what you’ll get.
VG: What’s the deal with keeping a drummer around?
HH: Drumming for The
Thermals is not an easy job! It’s
incredibly taxing on your mind
and body. We’ve had a lot of great
drummers. Westin [Glass, our current and permanent drummer] has
been with us for over three years
now, and he’s not going anywhere,
I don’t think. He’s here to stay.
VG: Why is Hutch’s house called
the Moss Motel?
HH: Because it was covered in
moss. I moved out in 2005. They
tore it down! It was seriously sinking into the dirt. I miss it!
VG: It seems like everyone has a
question they want to ask famous
musicians. What’s the dumbest
question you’ve been asked in an
interview? Feel free to say if it
was one of these questions, even
this one.
HH: Too many stupid questions
to remember! Good thing I always
have a stupid answer ready.
VG: Also, Eli at Trade Up Music
wanted me to let Hutch know
that they have more tube screamers in. Apparently, he goes through
them like socks.
HH: Thanks. It’s true—I change
tube screamers more often than I
change my underwear. �
2012
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David Torch/Merge Records
Rock and roll romantics
“Ultimately, I want this to be about
something,” Wild Flag drummer Janet
Weiss said over coffee at Stumptown.
“I want music to be about something.
It’s not just a party.”
Joshua Hunt
Adam Wickham/Vanguard Staff
On the surface, at least, Wild Flag’s debut self-titled album is just that: a
party on vinyl. Great rock ‘n’ roll records just aren’t made so often these
days, and it’s tempting to embrace this rather fun notion of the band.
But there’s much more to this story.
The legacy of each member of the band speaks for itself: Weiss and
Carrie Brownstein, both formerly of Sleater-Kinney, Rebecca Cole of
the Minders and Helium’s Mary Timony. If that isn’t impressive enough,
Weiss has also recorded with Quasi, Elliott Smith, Stephen Malkmus &
the Jicks and The Shins.
“All of us are experienced,” Weiss said. “We’ve all sort of explored ourselves musically. We’ve gone down some rabbit holes. It’s hard not to come
out of that, years of playing and touring, without some self-awareness and
confidence—and with a desire to be heard and to reach people.”
And Wild Flag are reaching people. Lots of people. While singer and
guitarist Carrie Brownstein took a break from filming her popular television series Portlandia, the band embarked on a successful tour, which
took them to Australia and across the United States, culminating with
performances at the Coachella Music and Arts Festival in April. This
whirlwind ride that took Wild Flag from a 7” vinyl EP to a full-length
album on Merge Records to a world tour, all in a relatively short period
of time, was entirely spontaneous.
“After taking five to six years off Sleater-Kinney, Carrie called me
to collaborate with her on a soundtrack,” Weiss said. “We hadn’t played
together for so long, it was kind of refreshing to be with someone who
you had this shorthand with.”
During the recording sessions, Weiss called in her friend Rebecca
Cole to play keyboards for the project, followed by guitarist and vocalist
Mary Timony. “We didn’t think we were starting a band,” Weiss said.
Adam Wickham/Vanguard Staff
2012
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Wild Flag’s Janet Weiss Speaks
ON Beginnings
“After taking five to six years
off Sleater-Kinney, Carrie
called me to collaborate with
her on a film soundtrack.
We just went down to the practice space and kind
of worked on some ideas. We hadn’t played together
for so long, it was kind of refreshing to be with
someone who you had this shorthand with. So we
just goofed around, and then we called Rebecca in,
because I knew her and thought she’d be great for
the soundtrack. We needed vocals, so we called Mary
and she put some vocals on. It was very organic. It
just sort of came together.”
ON Women’s issues
All photos: Adam Wickham/Vanguard Staff
“We just thought we were having fun. We needed vocals, so we called
Mary and she put some vocals on. It was very organic, it just sort of
came together.”
But don’t let easy beginnings suggest that this is music that just happens. There is a rare quality to Wild Flag’s music that is seldom seen; a
coalescing of instrumentation where each member is active but none
kills the groove. It’s widely assumed that all bands play together, but
when bands like Fugazi and Wild Flag do their thing, it becomes powerfully clear what playing together really means. At a Wild Flag show, each
of these four women drives the song equally.
Wild Flag are a rock ‘n’ roll band, but unlike almost every band of
which this can be said, they actually write rock ‘n’ roll songs. That is to
say, they do not simply re-construct the same old thing, but instead craft
songs that are unique, collaborative and full of power. And as effortless
as they make it seem, this cannot be easy. Like Fugazi before them, Wild
Flag have achieved the rarest of feats: Four musicians at the peak of their
powers, demonstrating not only excellence but also an utterly sincere
desire to play music with one another, all for you.
Brownstein begins filming new episodes of Portlandia later this month,
which means the band will take a break after playing some music festivals. In the meantime, they are doing their best to enjoy the moment.
“We have four new songs, but I couldn’t say whether we’ll do a new
record, really,” Weiss said. “That’s sort of the fun thing about it. When the
fall rolls around, we’ll decide what we want to do. It’s exciting. It’s very
much a joyous thing.”
Wild Flag’s music is definitely more than just a party; there is a power
and intensity that is irresistible. It is indeed a joyous thing, but like all of
the best things, this experience takes work.
“Being in a band seems really carefree,” Weiss said. “But it’s a lot of
work, and I personally hope that every record I played on achieves
something. I want music to be about something. It’s not just a party. I’ll
leave that to Prince.” �
“I guess I felt that things were changing by the end
of Sleater-Kinney. I didn’t hear a whole lot of people
talking about us as a ‘girl band’ anymore, you know.
I do remember feeling like there was a certain shift,
because we had been around and made so many
records and accomplished so many things, so we had
just become a band. In the mid- to late-’90s, it had
been a lot different, we had been in the ‘women’s
issue’ of a lot of magazines, which really annoyed
me. It’s like a ghetto that we left in the ’90s. Good
riddance.”
ON Coachella
“Coachella was okay. I’m not a big Coachella fan. It
was weird to be there for the second weekend. That
seems sort of anti-climactic. We played right at sunset,
and it was 106 degrees when we played that second
weekend. That was challenging. I thought I was going
to pass out.”
ON Collaboration
“I’ve played in a lot of bands with different ways of
collaborating. The Jicks were an interesting band,
because Steve [Malkmus] will bring in a complete
song, but he’ll want to try it with a bunch of
different feels or tempos. I think that’s part of what’s
interesting about being in a band, the choices that
you make. Some people don’t want to collaborate,
they want to tell you what to do, and that’s fine if
they know what they’re talking about. It depends
on what you want. Sometimes more choice is a
good thing; sometimes it’s not. Sleater-Kinney was a
unique thing, with two people kind of completing
each other’s sentences. That’s rare. There’s no right or
wrong. It’s just what works best.”
ON THE FANS
“We’ve somehow connected
to really young girls.
Lots of moms tell us ‘our little girls are obsessed with
you guys.’ Maybe it’s because of our videos, which are
really goofy. I don’t know. I like to think they have a
little superhero quality to them. But a lot of our fans
are like 50-year-old men. Honestly. Vinyl-collecting
50-year-old men who want to hear rock music,
which isn’t being played by a lot of new bands.”
ON Portlandia
“The interesting thing is that, because Carrie is on
TV, lots of people come up to her now. I get a kick
out of it. I would not be able to handle it personally.
I think Portlandia has gone way further than she
thought it would. There’s something nice about
something that takes off in such an organic way. It
was more of a challenge for scheduling our tour, but
it ended up working out fine.” �
2012
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LOCAL MUSIC GUIDE
WILD ONES
Mike Harper/Wild Ones
Wild Ones bring
fresh new sound to
Portland indie scene
Desmond Fuller
Wild Ones are that band that you
may not have heard yet, but you will
soon. Occupying that space of “best
kept secret soon to be known to
the world,”Wild Ones create catchy
experimental songs that exemplify
Portland’s musical sensibility with a
sound that has the potential to foster
a broader appeal.
Citing a range in influence from
’90s grunge and punk to St.Vincent
and Bonnie “Prince” Billie,Wild
Ones exude a playful eclectic sound.
There is a strong presence of new
wave influence, and experimental
electronic, all culminating into a
fresh take on indie pop. Dominated
by layers of synth pop melodies and
folk-americana style vocal harmonies,Wild Ones recent EP You’re
A Winner showcases a handful of
catchy songs that propel the vintage
ambient synths over danceable,
textured beats.Vocalist Danielle
Sullivan’s melodies ride the song’s
swell with an easy playfulness that
never betrays the songs’ indie pop
sensibility.
Songs like “Do the Right Thing”
and “You’re a Winner” evoke the
mellow ambience of a summer
afternoon, while at the same time
moving like a great basement dance
party. Sullivan’s voice has a childish, joyful quality, at times almost
emulating bird song, and can be
reminiscent of early Rilo Kiley or
Nouvelle Vague.The upbeat tracks
stand out as stronger and more
engaging, while quieter acoustic
tracks like “Earthquakes” are not as
memorable.
In “Forever Jam,” a lush dance
number built on cascading multiple
keyboard melodies, Sullivan sings,
“You can’t stave me off.”The same
could be said of Wild Ones at their
catchy moments.With their current
EP and upcoming full length release,
it seems like Wild Ones are just getting started, gearing up to become
a household name in the Portland
music scene.
Now a five piece, Wild Ones
formed in 2009 by Sullivan and
multi-instrumentalist Thomas
Himes. In fall 2011, Wild Ones
took part in the BFF tour with
Youth and Typhoon, more or less
a definitive indie music delegation,
representing Portland for a string
of West Coast dates.
In an email to the Vanguard,
Sullivan described the songwriting
process as “a very democratic way
of songwriting, and it works well
for us.”While the impetus for most
songs comes from Himes, ideas for
songs are passed around, each member adding something new until the
collective of the band is satisfied.
Wild Ones are currently working
on their debut LP, out later this
summer.
“It will be a bit darker and more
dynamic than the You’re A Winner
EP and truer to where we’re at
now,” Sullivan said. A shift toward
darker territory would be a boon
for a band that has already made
a lot of creative headway within a
lighter sound. “We are pumped!”
she added. �
Corinna Scott/Vanguard Staff
AgesandAges
There’s no shortage of sound when this eight
piece band takes the stage
Nicholas Kula
25
If there’s one thing this country
needs more of, it’s family-like
bands that people see as cultish
institutions. AgesandAges fit the
bill rather nicely, but in a good
way, and not so much a Heaven’s
Gate kind of way.
The band plays a very esoteric
nuance of indie folk, the kind
that sounds like it was recorded
in the early ’70s. One might
compare the band to a younger,
hipper Fleetwood Mac, but it
has a few tricks up its sleeve that
Stevie Nicks and company never
attempted.
For starters, the band features
eight members and an array of
noisemakers more reminiscent of
Latin percussion than any kind
of throwback rock. Well, that and
the fact that the band features
seven vocalists.
Yes, that’s correct. And unlike
endless amounts of bands with
staggering amounts of musical
resources and minimal deployment, AgesandAges actually
utilizes its stable of crooners,
often all at the same time—a feat
not usually pulled off well when
it’s attempted.
That isn’t to say that AgesandAges’
army of vocalists is exploited maybe
once or twice. Instead, the platoon
of singers is at the forefront for the
bulk of AgesandAges tracks.Take
the band’s single “Souvenir,” for example.The entire track is laden with
any and all melody-equipped members, and the song ends up sounding
like a kindergarten sing-along in the
best, most moving way possible.
If you’d like to see all this for
yourself, come on out to an AgesandAges show. The band would
be more than happy to induct you
into its family. �
Much like the band’s name implies,Youthbitch just doesn’t give
a shit. The band plays fuzzed-out,
grimy garage punk, and that’s just
how it is. Got a problem with it?
Nobody cares, wussy.
There aren’t many bands in our
microcosm as undeniably punk as
Youthbitch, and the band oozes
the mentality without even trying.
It’s that delicious nonchalance that
makes the music so attractive, and
when a band sounds like the best
of the Ramones mixed with an
undeniably alluring ’50s voice, it’s
something to notice. And take notice Portland has.
There is no shortage of gigs for
Youthbitch to play around these
parts, which is more than the city
can say for so many other of its
deserving bands.
Just recently,Youthbitch opened
for such high profile acts as
Peelander-Z at the Hawthorne
Theatre and Ty Segall at Star
Theater. There are more shows in
the works, as being in a punk band
in Portland practically spawns
them. And while it’s those kinds of
shows that cause lesser punk bands
to kick back on a bed of laurels,
that just isn’t Youthbitch’s style.
The band is planning a West
Coast tour in June and has a new
vinyl release soon. Since you
don’t have to wait for Youthbitch
to come around to your neck
of the woods like the suckers in
California do, take full advantage
of the band’s Portland residency
before it becomes so big that it
only plays huge venues once a
year, like so many other Portland
bands-done-good do these days.
Capitalize on this coincidence
while you can, because Youthbitch may not be playing the
crusty punk rock bar scene for
long. �
Alicia Rose/Talkdemonic
Talkdemonic
Dreamy beats from a
Northwestern duo
Randall Theil
Acoustic and electronic met
like chocolate and peanut butter
in 2002, when Talkdemonic’s
tandem of Kevin O’Connor
and Lisa Molinaro met to record
tracks for the band’s inaugural
work. The pair, who flew up onto
the scene after the release of their
first studio album, recently came
off tours with Modest Mouse and
The Flaming Lips, but they never
lost the key to their style.
That key lies in the mix of
synthesizer, drums, piano and viola
that O’Connor and Molinaro use
to create the electronic/acoustic
pastiche.There’s a clear demarcation
in their work between slow, almost
solipsistic tracks with dreamy piano
played over viola arpeggios and the
Youthbitch
Fun punk rock to get your feet moving
hard driven panoramas of broken
synthesizer and wilting drum
patterns.
Their newest album, Ruins, is an
evolution of the sound that made
them Willamette Week’s best new
band of 2005. For the first time,
the duo allowed a third party to
mix their tracks, and the result is
a clearer, more cohesive and more
professional sounding mix.
Ruins was released by Glacial
Pace Recordings, the group’s third
distributor, late last year. In addition
to their studio albums,Talkdemonic
can frequently be found on tour.
They’ve done several West Coast
tours in the last few years, and
they’re expected to announce new
showings soon for 2012. �
Nicholas Kula
Miles Sanguinetti/Vanguard Staff
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Bang the
drum As
On the
lookout
History
sophomore
Kevin
Hartman,
who plays in
the Vernons,
scans the
Mercury for
potential
practice
locations.
loud
as you want!
How to find and book
practice space for
your band
Gwen Shaw
Meredith Meier
Walking down the street, we’ve all
heard it at some point: the crash
of symbols, the thump of a bass
drum, the staccato rhythm of an
intricate guitar solo.
Garage band takes on a whole
new meaning in Portland. It’s no
longer the simple branding of
the amateur, teenage-angsty set
but rather a moniker ascribed
to anyone of any age who bangs
drums or taps out a heavy bass line
in their basement, living room,
bedroom and, yes, garage. And it’s
no longer about defining the band
as genre-less or avant-garde, or
the “newest” undefined sound. It’s
about space—or the lack thereof.
Music is a big thing in Portland.
Really big.There are so many bands,
venues and music shops all around
the city that music is ingrained in
the city’s ambiance. If you aren’t a
part of the music scene (listening to
your iPod or downloading MP3s
doesn’t count), you might be astonished at the numbers alone.
However, one pitfall of having
such a prodigious and prolific music scene is that available practice
space is disproportionately small
compared to the number of bands.
Finding gigs can be hard, but what
goes on beyond playing out is what
counts. That means practice. And
practice means finding space.
Many bands face the major issue
of where to practice. It does, after all,
make perfect, right? But often many
band members have other jobs
(sometimes two or three), and so
the band is forced to practice late at
night or at random times throughout the day­—or not at all. And
banging your drums in your garage
at 3 a.m. is bound to bring the cops
to your door. Maybe you don’t even
have a garage. Maybe none of your
band members lives in a place conducive to foundation-shaking bass
Corinna Scott/Vanguard Staff
and Hendrix-style guitar wailing.
So what do you do?
There are myths on both sides
of the fence: Finding practice
space is like finding a four-leaf
clover; finding practice space is as
easy as making a PB&J. Despite
the myths, finding and booking
a place to practice can be a fairly
easy process if you know where
and how to look. The Vanguard is
here to help.
The Internet is usually the
go-to source for everything, and a
simple search can produce many
resources for finding all sorts of
practice spaces. Google,Yahoo!,
Yelp, etc. all pop out enough results to have your head swimming
with options.
Craigslist is another good strategy.
Under the community heading,
click on musicians and narrow the
search down to rehearsal space. Often you’ll find at least a few different
ads that offer practice space, and it
all depends on your band’s needs.
Portland’s alternative print
publications the Portland Mercury
and Willamette Week often have ads
for practice and rehearsal place,
and both also list ads for spaces on
their websites: portlandmercury.
com and wweek.com.
Then there’s the brick-andmortar places. Troubadour Studio,
located in Southeast Portland just
blocks off Hawthorne Boulevard,
offers rehearsal spaces as well as
recording studios. Troubadour’s
Facebook page describes the
studio as a “multi-use music venue
with a stage, vaulted ceilings,
ambient lighting, PA, spacious
lockers and a 16 channel control
room for recording.” You can also
check out Troubadour’s website,
reverbnation.com.
DiGRESS Studios, a Portland
newbie, offers hourly as well as
monthly rates. Located on Southeast Madison Street right near the
river, DiGRESS offers a practice studio complete with a full
backline. Check out the studio’s
Facebook page at facebook.com/
DiGRESS.Studios.
LionsRoehr Recording Studio
has been in Portland since 1995,
and bands can book the space for
recording or rehearsing. The studio has a large amount of equipment available to users as well as
a ton of recording experience.
LionsRoehr is located in Southeast Portland, and its equipment
list and rates are available online at
lionsroehr.com
Studio Infinity Recording,
located in Southwest Portland off
Barber Boulevard offers recording services with or without an
engineer but also offers rehearsal
space. The studio furnishes its
instruments and recording equipment for bands that need them,
and the staff has a ton of professional experience. Their website is
infinityrecording.com
Another major part of finding
and booking practice space, as well
as many other aspects of music, is
word of mouth. Knowing someone
that knows someone whose cousin
works at a warehouse out in some
unknown part of the Northwest
industrial area is a great source for
finding a space. Getting word out
to friends and posting online is the
smart thing to do. Attending shows
at various local venues around
town is something most bands do
already, but feeling out the room
and surreptitiously asking around
while you’re there is a clever way
to get info. Getting other audience
members to disclose their practice
space secret or picking the brains of
the bar folk might be more fruitful
than you’d expect.
So if your neighbor’s already filed
noise complaints with the city or
left flaming bags of poo on your
doorstep, it might be time to get out
of the garage.Who knows, with the
right search, you might even be able
to pull down the padded Styrofoam
from your apartment walls. � �
2012
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So you’re in a band…
now what?
A guide to getting shows
Alex Mierjeski
So you and your friends have
colonized an old house in North
Portland with a perfect-sized
basement for your gaggle of
instruments and close friends to
co-inhabit. But playing to your
friends in your own house can
become a stale activity in little to
no time. So, we at the Vanguard are
here to help you and your fledgling band take the next step and
make the leap from basement to
stage, from unknown to known.
Unfortunately, there is no
easy, one-step solution to begin
playing around town—it is a
process that requires hard work
and dedication, but don’t let this
truth act as a deterrent. Below
are some easy steps to follow to
get set down the right path.
Something to get out of the
way first is the choice between
DIY booking and promotion or
hiring a company to promote
your band. Any Google search
for Portland promoters will
result in a list of resources, but
for students living cheaply, selfpromotion is the way to go.
After that, the first essential
tool any band needs is a press kit.
A press kit provides a convenient
2012
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Make your own
damn record
The record industry is dying,
and it’s up to you to help kill it
Joshua Hunt
compilation of relevant information for venue bookers to
examine in order to determine
if your band is the one they’re
looking for.
Usually, a press kit comprises
the following: some sort of general biography, a recording (don’t
necessarily worry about sound
quality here; as long as the demo
represents the sound of the band,
it will suffice), a band photo or
logo, contact information and a
list of equipment. If you have the
option, as the icing on the cake,
include any press coverage your
band has gotten so far. If you
haven’t quite made it into the
Mercury or Willamette Week yet,
ask a friend with a blog to write
a short review of your demo
and include that. Any critical response to your band’s music will
serve to boost both credibility
and professionalism.
Next, determine what sort
of venue you think your band
would be best suited for. This
decision can take into account
things like crowd demographic,
genre and the types of other
bands that play at a given venue.
Most of this step is pretty com-
mon sense. For example, a jazz
group with a large following would probably not have
much luck with a small metal
bar–venue like The Know on
Northeast Alberta Street, just as a
metal band with a small following would be a mismatch for the
Arlene Schnitzer downtown.
Now that you have the essential tools, what comes next? Well,
once you’ve preened and pruned
your press kit and compiled a
list of appropriate venues, get in
contact. Most small venues in
Portland do in-house booking,
so find a number, give a call and
ask to speak to the person in
charge of booking. It’s important to keep in mind that many
venues tend to book shows
1–3 months in advance, so be
prepared to be turned down or
asked to inquire again in the future. Again, don’t let roadblocks
like this deter you, be persistent.
Portland is a big town with a
huge music scene. This means
that the relatively small number
of venues get a lot of inquiries.
Luckily, the nature of the music
scene here in Portland has a
strong DIY tilt. This means that a
lot of people and bands are finding creative ways to circumvent
the challenges of the coveted gig
at the Doug Fir or the Wonder
Ballroom and instead hold shows
in their basements and makeshift
venues. If the often-frustrating
process of obtaining a show at
venue is too much for you, simply ask around.
If you have friends in bands
or friends of friends in bands,
following some of the same
procedures outlined above with
these more face-to-face avenues
may produce more successful results in securing an opening gig
or being added to a house show
bill. Another benefit of starting
small is that you are able to build
a fan base and a name around
the city—things promoters look
for when booking bands.
In a city many consider to be
the Northwest’s mecca of music
and music culture, bands have the
unique opportunity to participate
in a scene open and willing to accept and include new groups into
its folds. One need only apply the
old paradigm of hard work and
perseverance to enact that inclusion—and rock on. �
When it comes to the history of
recorded music, only one medium is
guaranteed any kind of permanence.
The vinyl record brought music
out of the concert hall and into the
homes of real working class people.
Vinyl’s blue-collar roots don’t
end there. The American hardcore
bands of the early ‘80’s used
cheaply produced 7” vinyl records
to circumvent the mainstream
recording industry and reach
a young audience that wanted
something different. Black Flag,
Minor Threat, Negative Approach,
S.O.A., Big Boys, Poison Idea and
the Dicks all started with a call to
arms pressed to vinyl and packaged in a cheap paper sleeve.
The 7” vinyl EP is more than a
historical artifact or a fetish product
for collectors. And while it is no
longer the cheapest way for young
bands to announce themselves, it is
still, and always will be, the best.
Here’s how your band can do it.
RECORDING
If you have the money to spend,
Jackpot! Recording or Mississippi
Studios are just two options for a
high quality recording.Vinyl is an
analog medium, so analog recording to either 1” or 2” tape is ideal.
Of course, music, and DIY music
in particular, isn’t about ideal situations or perfect outcomes.
Recording your 7” using
ProTools might not seem very
punk rock, but if it’s cheap and
represents your vision, well that’s
punk enough.
REHEARSING
When you’re in the recording
studio, you’re paying for the space,
the tape and the engineer. The
more rehearsed a band is, the less
money they’re going to spend getting the recording they want.
MIXING
Mixing is a crucial part of the
recording process. It’s important to
not only choose an engineer that
knows what they’re doing, but
also to have some notion of what
you want the record to sound
like. Choosing an engineer who
has recorded or mixed a record
that you liked is one great way to
avoid regret.
Each and every member of the
band should be present for the
mixing of the record, if possible.
This can’t be overstated. Each
member of a band is going to
think that their instrument should
be higher in the mix, and if all
members are not there to advocate
for themselves, it’s entirely possible
that the mix will be uneven.
MASTERING
Mastering is one of the least
understood aspects of producing
records, so I’ll keep this simple:
A good mastering engineer will
make sure that you’re 7” sounds
loud, clear and crisp, without any
distortion that wasn’t already present in the final mix.
Mastering is essential in the
process of plating and producing vinyl records, and there’s no
getting around that. Most vinyl
pressing plants offer in-house
mastering services, but I would
strongly recommend against it. A
7” mastering job from someone
who really knows their stuff will
cost a few hundred dollars and
will make your record sound like
something you want to hear on
the jukebox at your local watering
hole. John Golden Mastering is
the industry standard in America,
but I personally think that George
Horn at Fantasy Studios is even
better, for the same cost.
other unique productions. United
Record Pressing plant, on the
other hand, is not flashy, and isn’t
the best at any one particular
thing, but they are reliable, high
quality, cheaper and very easy
to deal with. This is a popular
resource for 7” vinyl in particular.
1,000 copies is going to be the
most economical number of 7”
records to be pressed for most
bands, but most pressing plants
will press as few as 200 copies.
VINYL PRESSING
THE BIG DAY
Once the record is mastered, the
engineer who cut the record will
send the parts to the pressing plant
of your choice for production.
RecordTech Inc. is the best
pressing plant in the United
States for audiophile quality vinyl
records, hands down. They take
longer, cost more and can be
difficult to deal with at times, but
they are the best. Erika Records
is the best pressing plant for
colored vinyl, picture discs and
After 2-4 weeks you’ll receive test
pressings of your record from the
pressing plant. Listen to these test
pressings carefully. Play the record
on a variety of different sound systems of varying quality. Once you
approve the test pressings, it should
take 6-10 weeks for the record to
be delivered to your front door. If
you follow this primer carefully,
this is going to be one of the most
exciting days of your life. Don’t
fuck it up �
ARTWORK
Depending on the pressing plant
that you choose, sleeves may or
may not be included with the cost
of your record. For bands doing
small runs of a 7”, particularly if
there’s an art major in the band,
it may be best to silkscreen your
own sleeves.
2012
30
LOCAL MUSIC GUIDE
Street
beats
A look inside Portland’s busker subculture
Saria Dy/Vanguard Staff
Melinda Guillén
Funkplastic and guitarist Schillonious are regular
performers on the streets of Portland.
Six large white buckets sit under
Skidmore Fountain. Some read
“Clout Laundry Detergent” and
“Kikkoman Soy Sauce,” others contain a multitude of coins,
and one is full of $1 bills. A small
frying pan with a broken handle
lies nearby.
The owner of this percussive array is named Funkplastic, and it is
with these items that he manages
to make a living each day.
Every Saturday and Sunday the
Ankeny Square section of First
Street becomes home to the tents,
crafts and entertainment of the
Portland Saturday Market. In the
midst of the artistry and cuisine,
the sounds, beats and melodies
of buskers, including Funkplastic,
resonate through the area.
He, and most other Portland
street musicians, is part of a common system that is not obvious to
the untrained eye.
Funkplastic, who has been
playing street percussion for
almost 14 years, began playing
in the streets out of necessity.
He, like many street performers, has performed all over the
nation, and he can be found at
the Saturday Market and between
Southwest Oak Street and Stark
Street from noon to 1 p.m.
He describes his instrument of
choice as an unwilled action.
“The buckets chose me. When
you’re at a place of desperation in
your life, the things that you used
to overlook become more prominent,” he said. “Those buckets
suddenly began to look like drums
to me, and playing them has been
my passion since day one.”
Will Scriven, known as Chill
Will, who has been playing guitar
for more than 40 years, sometimes
plays alongside Funkplastic. His
solo gigs can be seen heard weekdays on Northwest 25th Avenue
and Irving Street and near the
food carts on Fifth Avenue during
the lunch hour.
Scriven’s situation, however, is a
rarity in the streets.
“I have a day job, and most street
performers don’t” he said. “I do it
because of the money, not because
I have to. It’s more of a labor of
love than a necessity.”
The passion and love involved
in this type of musical career is
vital, according to Funkplastic. In
order to become a good musician, he believes practicing for 20
minutes a day for five years will
make someone an expert. That
expertise is crucial when playing
for one’s survival.
Zacharias, another street musician who has been singing and
playing percussion, guitar and
harmonica for decades, agrees.
“You have to be riveting with
the audience and connect with the
people who can pay you,” he said.
“You have to be good at what you
do, and people have to like you—
this job is not for the faint of heart.”
2012
LOCAL MUSIC GUIDE
31
A fight for fair
trade music
Campaign raising
awareness about
importance of
musicians
Rosemary Hanson
Not only do street performers
have to take into consideration
their audience, the weather and
events occurring around them;
they also have to be aware of each
other and the subculture that this
awareness has formed.
“There are unwritten rules that
the market, events or the streets
don’t have,” Funkplastic said.
“We’re in constant communication with each other, though, so
we understand those rules.”
Zacharias, who has traveled
across the U.S. and Europe, said
that this subculture is prominent
in other parts of the world as well.
“It ebbs and flows and changes
at mostly the same pace,” he said.
One unwritten rule of this
culture is that playing within a
block from each other is considered unethical. Street musicians
also communicate with each other
if they are being too loud. The
“grapevine” of the street musicians helps communicate other
information as well.
“There’s certain places where
the police will harass us, so when
we come across those, we’ll pass
that information on,” Funkplastic
said. “We make sure we look out
for each other, and we’ll turn
each other on to other places
and events where we know we
can all thrive.”
Then there’s the notion of
“buying out.” Funkplastic described it as buying your spot in a
particular location. The basic rule
is if a “spanger” (a person just asking for money) holds a spot that
a street performer would like, the
musician gives the spanger more
money than the spanger would
make in that particular location
during a certain time period. This
happens frequently.
“I have to save money from the
night before for this because I just
don’t know what’ll happen the
next day,” he said. “It’s rude to set
up in front or in the vicinity of a
spanger. As a street performer, you
have to tap into the energy around
you or you don’t get paid.”
Typical street performers make
80 percent of their profits on the
weekends and some make around
$300 a week, depending on the
location, weather and atmosphere. To protect his instruments,
Funkplastic has “stash spots in
each city he plays in,” not unlike
most street musicians, so that he
doesn’t have to carry his buckets
wherever he goes.
“To bet everything in your existence on the weather and where
you’ll be situated is crazy, but
this is what we’ve been called to
do,” he said. “Businessmen come
up to us and tell us they’ve had a
horrible week and that listening
to us has been the best part of it.
I believe we’re a vital element to
everyone who hears us, and you
will find some of the best musicians on the streets.” �
Fair trade is a term many people
have heard in reference to coffee,
clothes or other tangible goods.
The Fair Trade Music campaign
brings that idea of fair wages for
products into a new realm—livable wages for the service, of
providing music. The campaign
was started in Portland a handful
of years ago, and now, with the
support of the Musicians Union,
Local 99, it has begun to raise
awareness of the importance of
venues paying musicians a standard wage.
The campaign is not something designed to put venues out
of business but, as coordinator
Jake Pegg said, a way to adequately compensate musicians
for their work.
“The main goal is to support
the creation of great music by
establishing a minimum wage for
musicians,” Pegg said.
He said the campaign is focused
on improving the relationship
between venue owners and musicians so a smooth and fair business
transaction can occur.
FTM hopes that, in the future,
Portland venues will agree to their
sliding-scale method of payment,
with smaller-scale venues such as
coffee shops or restaurants without
bars paying less than a club charging a cover and offering a full bar.
FTM supporter and musician
Simon Lucas said that the campaign is not focused on nationally
touring musicians who have their
Adam Wickham/Vanguard Staff
Graham Smith of Fair Trade Music works a booth at the May Day events in the Park Blocks.
own managers but, rather, the
local bands working their way up
and working for a daily wage. He
said that this especially applies to
university music students, so that
they can graduate educated in
both the talent side and the business side of music.
“Musicians should be paid a fair
wage so that they can spend their
time making music for people to
enjoy,” Lucas said. “I think some
people don’t realize what it takes
to really play an instrument well.
It takes thousands of hours of
dedicated practice and proper
instruction from good teachers.
Quality instruments and good
teachers don’t come cheap.”
FTM Co-chair Graham SmithWhite has been involved in the
campaign for three and a half
years, focusing mainly on community outreach and partnering roles
with youth and the public. He said
the campaign is important partially
because it is fighting for the musician’s ability to sustain music as a
job and not let it become a hobby.
“It adds an element of transparency to the music scene, which
will benefit everyone. It aims to
support the whole scene: bands,
fans and venues. It doesn’t discriminate by style or audience,”
Smith-White said. “It’s sort of a
road map for how to begin making a living as a musician, in a way.
It’s also a response to over 30 years
of backslide in wages for musicians, so it’s long overdue.”
The campaign is centered on
three key elements: education,
advocacy and recognition. Smith
White said the education element
is about reminding the public
that musicians are professionals
and their work deserves adequate
compensation; advocacy is the
fight for living wages and recognition of the local people and
businesses that support FTM.
Pegg commented that the campaign strives to erase the concept
of what he calls “the myth of
exposure,” or the idea that a musician should agree to a gig because
of promised exposure to the
public without the venue agreeing
to compensate that musician in
any other way.
“Musicians are awash in a red
sea of misguided cultural values,”
Pegg said. “We can part those seas,
but we’re not Moses. We’re just the
people handing out buckets. We
all have to start bailing water if we
want to see the music improve.”
Interested members can join the
campaign by visiting fairtrademusicpdx.org or facebook.com/Fair.
Trade.Music.
Disclaimer: The Fair Trade
Music campaign is currently
acting as a community partner
for reporter Rosemary Hanson’s
community development colloquium project. �