Oregon Music News

If there was any location to be in Oregon on March 5th, SW Third and Burnside in Portland was perhaps the final destination for rock’n’roll lovers everywhere. Not only did local bands The Dry County Crooks and Kleveland provide Dante’s packed crowd with amazing live sets, Portland’s own I Can Lick Any Sonofabitch in the House established themselves as one of Oregon’s best live bands in the scene today.

“There’s always something that you have to fight before the day you die,” exclaimed Mike D, lead singer and guitarist for I Can Lick. “We kind of ended on a bad note [but] we got back together and will have a new album out hopefully before summer.”

I Can Lick, or S.O.B., exploded out of Portland’s music scene in 2001 with their debut release Creepy Little Noises and began touring immediately throughout the Northwest, establishing them as one of the best alternative country-rock bands in the nation. In late 2006, after the studio releases of Put Here to Bleed and Menace, S.O.B. quickly released Live at Dante’s and were planning on a fourth studio album and more touring; however, the band announced that they wanted to pursue other projects and/or spend time with their families.

Mike D, or Michael Dean Damron, had already released a solo album, A Perfect Day for a Funeral, in 2005 and was also involved with Mike D and Thee Loyal Bastards who released Father’s Day in June 2009 and embarked on a West Coast tour the same year. Although guitarist Handsome Jon and drummer Flapjack Texas continued with their band, The Runaway Boys, and harpist Dave Lipkind was involved with Spigot, fans continued to pick up past S.O.B. records in hopes that the original lineup would return for a reunion show and a new album.

On Friday night, their prayers were answered. After The Dry Country Crooks displayed their affection towards melding folk with country and rock from 2008’s When Hearts Break and native rockers Kleveland entertained the crowd with Joan Jett/Iggy Pop inspired garage punk-rock, S.O.B. hit the stage like a lightning bolt, performing fan favorites from their three studio releases.

“I’ll stay my course and I’ll stay strong,” screamed Mike D during the band’s song “I Be Ready” from 2004’s Menace. “And I know someday, someway, we’re all gonna shine / And I be ready!” The band also presented electrified performances of fan favorites “Gone,” “Saturday,” and “Rachel Corrie,” a song about the Evergreen State College student who was killed by Israeli Defense Forces in 2003.

Of course, the set list would not have been complete without the ballads “Creepy Little Noises” and “Walk Across Texas,” which both included the crowd’s sing-a-long participation. S.O.B. concluded the night with an encore, performing Put Here to Bleed’s “Dear Mr. Heston,” a guitar-scorched, blues tear-jerker that reminds fans of the honesty that S.O.B. includes in their lyrics.

With a fantastic reunion show completed, the question on everybody’s minds is what’s next for S.O.B?

Mike D, guitarist/singer for S.O.B.

“We’re going to stay in the region for a while,” says Mike D, who also stated that the band is hoping to release their anticipated fourth studio release, Sounds of Dying, during the summer. The singer/songwriter, who is influenced by an array of musical genres from Smokey Robinson to Motown, punk and 70’s rock, is also working on completing a solo album titled The Day Brian Piccolo Died and plans to have it released sometime between May and July of 2010. Mike D said the album will be similar to his past releases and added that he has been working with an orchestra to make it a little different.