Acoustic bluegrass group Head For The Hills has fully subscribed to this progressive notion. Incorporating aspects of traditional harmonies with innovative improvisations, original compositions, and various aspects of modern society, the young, rising group has demonstrated a resounding commitment to evolving and adapting their own style in order to reshape the genre as a whole. Their efforts have not gone unnoticed.

The new material that constitutes Head For The Hills’ self-titled sophomore album attracted more than just fans as it captured the attention of a cadre of notable industry stalwarts. Drew Emmitt (Leftover Salmon) produced the album taking the talented pickers to Bill Nershi’s Sleeping Giant Studio to record the dynamic live album. Behind the knobs was studio engineer Gus Skinas, perhaps best known for having remastered Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon, and mixing the album was Vance Powell, recipient of a Grammy for his work with The Raconteurs. Bill Nershi and Drew Emmitt, joined by Anders Beck (Greensky Bluegrass), supply guest picking and vocals further adding to the talent and industry know-how added to this stellar album.

Head For The Hills will be in Portland this Friday at Mississippi Studios promoting this release and establishing themselves as heavyweights in their own right. Scott Law and Asher Fulero will be opening.

Listen to “One Foot In The Grave” as you read.

OMN had the chance to speak with Head For The Hills member Mike Chappell (mandolin) last week. Here’s what he had to say:

What’s the first thing that ran through your mind this morning?

It was actually to go to the store and get a box of cereal. I bought Kix. I didn’t have any cereal. It actually was the first thing that ran through my mind because I was hungry. I don’t know if that helps.

Where are you know?

I’m at home right now. [I live in] Fort Collins presently, but that’ll change soon enough. I think I’m going to move down to Denver, I actually lived in Denver for a little bit, I’ve just been moving kinda back and forth. But having gone to college here and lived here for like five years I’m a little over it I guess, but I still love the town.

So is this a bit of a break?

Yeah, just a little breath I guess, if that makes sense. ‘Cause we’re still playing shows in between and we’ve been rehearsing and getting together and doing that stuff for both the tour and this show we have at the Mishiwaka in May.  So we’ve been playing quite a bit, it’s more of a breath, that’s the right word. We’re still really active, we’re just not playing shows.

Are y’all taking a breath to enjoy yourselves and whatnot?

Yeah, you know, get some other things done, musically obviously, Adam and Joe have been recording with another buddy, and then we’ve been getting together and developing new music. And Joe, our fiddle player, actually is still in school and is right about to graduate in May, so we’re giving him a chance to really sink his teeth into the end of the semester.

When does this current tour start for you?

I believe the first date is the 30th, [then goes through] the 31st, 1st and 2nd. It’s just a four-day thing, and the real touring kinda starts at the end of May.

Is this upcoming tour focused on your second album?

Yeah, we’ve been touring on it since January, [but] when we go to new areas and stuff we’re usually trying to push that album quite a bit.

Have you made stops in Portland recently?

Yes we have actually, we just did a run of McMenamins, a lot of the McMenamins establishments. So we played the Kennedy School, then Edgefield, and then we played at the Crystal Ballroom in January. We played the Goodfoot, I think we’re runnin’ on our fourth or fifth [time]. We love those guys. I guess this is our first time at Mississippi Studios, we’re pretty excited for that also.

For people who haven’t seen you play live, what can they expect?

I think it’s a little different from what one might expect, when the word bluegrass comes into it. We’re an acoustic band, and we like playing bluegrass music, but there’s also elements of Jazz, and there’s elements of Rock, and there’s elements of Hip-Hop, minimally Hip-Hop [laughs]. But all of us have very eclectic musical interests and things that we listen to, and we’re all really open to bringing those into both the live show and the way we write music. So basically, we try and cover a lot of different genres of music during a show and a lot of different sonic experiences, I guess.

As far as covers and things like that we really like to do anything from Talking Heads to Paul Simon songs, and then we’ll do Pink Floyd songs also, as well as covering bluegrass songs too.

Do you have a favorite song you like to cover?

I think it’s probably “Life During Wartime” by the Talking Heads, it’s a lot of fun.

Back to the album, why did you decide to self-title the second album?

Honestly, it was just for lack of a better title. [Laughs] We really were looking through it and looking through the songs… and one thing we were concerned about was typecasting ourselves by having your standard bluegrass album name. I guess our goal was not to typecast ourselves by coming up with a name that was either a song, and then that song has to become the title track, or a part of a lyric or something. There was nothing we ever felt comfortable enough using. We ran through a bunch of ideas, but Head for the Hills was kind of more representative of the album itself. And not having to name it.

What was it like playing, recording and producing this album with names like Drew Emmitt, Gus Skinas, Vance Powell, Bill Nershi, and Anders Beck?

It was really incredible actually. Drew Emmitt… I probably wouldn’t be playing if it wasn’t for seeing him play. Same with Nershi I guess, but Drew [is] a mandolin player, and I was always into his playing and his singing and everything. So it was a really cool experience to work one-on-one with him on a lot mandolin stuff. I really, really enjoyed that.

As far as everyone else goes, it was really amazing to have them be interested in our project. I think it gave us a lot of confidence for what we can do when those guys are interested in what we were doing. That was a really empowering feeling. Those players are so amazing. Gus Skinas has done everything under the sun. He’s remastered the Pink Floyd albums and Miles Davis re-releases, and he’s worked with a lot of stuff. So that was amazing to have him. He’s hung out with the Rolling Stones before and he’s into our kind of music, and that was amazing to me, that he’d be into it. [Laughs] That was cool.

How did this interaction influence the record stylistically? Or did it influence the material at all?

We had more songs that we maybe wanted to record, but actually we felt comfortable with everything we recorded. We recorded all the songs first. It was all already developed really, there wasn’t a whole lot of things that changed. The album was recorded predominantly live, so most of what you’re hearing is just what happened during the moment. Other than a couple of solos that were added in later, the music was pretty much already done when we recorded it. But as far as the feel goes on the songs, that’s something that I don’t think can really be duplicated, and that was our goal to create something that may not have been created otherwise. So there’s certain songs where what you’re hearing has never happened before. In like a “jam section,” like in “My Angelie,” that’s a good example, the middle part is pretty free-formed as far as solo structure goes, and length and duration.

Would you say that you’re sophomore CD is a decided shift from your debut album?

Yeah, absolutely. I think its 180 degrees different. Just in the way we recorded it. Like I said, the second one was completely live. The first one we recorded we were all in our own little cubicles and sectioned off. It was a lot different. Musically, where we were at with the first album, it was a learning experience. Recording an album is always a learning experience, but it was a learning experience on many levels, the first one, because none of us had ever recorded in the studio and none of us really knew what to do. Our producer was kind of whipping us into shape, so a lot of what you hear on the first album is kind of tamer and it’s kind of soft. When we played those songs live they were actually a lot different, with tempos and the they it was. I don’t know how our fans actually responded to our first album because it lacked… balls. It lacked a rawness. I don’t want to make that album seem bad, I mean we like it. And for where the band was at at the time it was the most necessary thing for us. Looking back at it now, there’s things we maybe would have done differently but at the time you can’t foresee those things. We really do like [that album] but this new album is more what we were looking for.

What would you say are the original influences for your music?

I would say that a lot of us started with the Colorado jam scene. So this is years ago, kind of how we got into it. Seems like the String Cheese, Leftover Salmon, and Yonder [Mountain String Band], those guys. Yonder in particular, [was good] about letting you know of a band you should go see, for example locals bands like Open Roads, the Fort Collins local band, but aside from that they’d say you should go listen to Tony Rice, Sam Bush, and guys like that. And we all kind of, left all those [local] bands, to a certain extent, respectively. Honestly not forgetting that, but you know, I wouldn’t say I really listen to those guys at all anymore. However, I think at this point our influences are largely, Bryan Sutton, Chris Thile, Sam Bush, Tony Rice, the guys that are just crushing it.

So you’ve strayed from these early influences?

I would say that we have the utmost respect for all those bands, but none of us are really listening to it anymore or kind of using it for inspiration. But we did at one time. And what we listen to now is the Tony Rice’s and Sam Bush’s of the world.

You’ve been described as progressive acoustic music. Does this term work?

Yeah, I think it does. Like I was talking about earlier, with the different genres we use, I think that’s representative of what we’re doing. We don’t want to be typecasted as a one-trick pony, so we try and play with a lot of different styles of music, and we’re always free to incorporate new things and that sort of thing. I think that that alone allows us to be more progressive in nature. But if it’s “proggy” like, progressive rock, uh, no. That term progressive, I don’t know if that’s actually an accurate term to use for us. But I’d say it comes from the idea of being able to do whatever we want with acoustic music.

Tell me a bit about the band as a whole, how did it come together?

The guitar player, Adam, and I used to play little league baseball, so I think I’ve known Adam since I was probably eleven or twelve. When we were in high school I got a mandolin and he got a banjo and we started playing a lot. When he went to CSU, I was going to another school, but I would commute up and play music with him quite a bit. He lived on the same floor as our bass player, so we started playing with him. The we found, through one of our other really good buddies from high school, he lived next to Joe, the fiddle player. So we started to bring him out. But Joe didn’t actually know how to play the fiddle at the time, he was a violin player, so we brought him in and it was just the four of us playing. We didn’t really seek each other out as much as we just found each other.

How long have y’all been playing together?

Since 2004 is when we started playing together. And then the band, I guess the band formed then, there was a large portion [of time when] we were all just kind of learning how to play, then there was a more serious portion when we started to go after it, you know?

When did you start touring?

‘05, ‘06 is when we started touring a little, that wasn’t even that much. Like when we really started playing a lot more shows, and having our summers booked up, is like ‘07, ‘08, ‘09. But we’ve been playing regionally in Colorado since ‘04, the touring kinda came a little later.

If you had to leave Earth forever, and you could bring one book, one album and one random object with you, what would you bring?

Ok. The album, and this is just the first thing that pops into my head, it might change, but the album would be Pink Floyd’s Meddle. The book would have to be… see I’m trying to think, ’cause my favorite book recently has been The Road by Cormac McCarthy, but if you’re leaving forever and you’re going to be on your own I wouldn’t want a book that depressing, so I don’t know. I would say Dharma Bums, ’cause that book makes me feel really good and I love how Kerouac writes about nothing so eloquently. And the third thing… tie-dyed Star Wars t-shirt, with Yoda on it. [Laughs] It’s the only tie-dyed thing I own. It’s an Empire Strikes Back t-shirt.

If you could collaborate with any musician, alive or dead, who would it be?

That’s a hard question. I’d really like to play music with Sam Bush. Like play the mandolin. So I think that’ll be my answer.

Last question, what are you looking forward to?

Global Warming. No, just kidding. I don’t know, I guess I’m looking forward to the unknown. That’s kinda cheesy. Too Cheesy. Hmm… more Star Wars t-shirts. [Laughs] Yeah, that.

Watch a visual tour of the recording of Head For The Hills:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Head For The Hills plays Mississippi Studios on Friday, April 30th. 21+, $12 advance/day of show, doors at 8 pm, show at 9 pm.

Pepi Ginsberg started off the night with their attempt at experimental Pop-Rock. Unfortunately for the Brooklyn group, as well as the half-full dance floor, Amnon Freidlin’s lead guitar work sounded like a junior guitar being played on a pocket amp and out of tune. The disjointed riffs did more than create headaches, they overpowered the lead vocals and combined with the ice chunks coming from the bass, it led to a wholly unappealing set. The redeeming quality of this band was their solid frontwoman, Pepi, who brought stability in her rhythm guitar and a much-needed soul through her lyrics. If you could hear them.

Second in line was Sean Bones, another four-piece who, to the audible relief of the audience, brought a sound worth listening to. With a bedrock of ska and Reggae overlaid by Pop-Rock and a touch of the Indie vibe, their sound brought together some of the finest elements of New York City Pop and ska. This inevitably reminded me of a cross between Spoon and The Slackers (to the extent that if they re-title themselves The Splackers, it should come as no surprise).

Their set included their well-known tracks “Dancehall,” “Rhumba Beat,” and “Easy Street,” all of which stick to the ska motif more readily than some of the newer material played. While they never leave the ska genre, added on their newest album, Rings, is the aforementioned Spoon-esque tonality. Through tracks like “Sugar In My Spoon” and “Cry Cry Cry,” Sean Bones is able to effectively cross into the Pop-Rock genre, establishing themselves as more than a one-trick pony.

After a brief set break (as Dr. Dog never seems to fully subscribe to “rock star time”), the headliners emerged. To say that the roar of the crowd was sonically overwhelming would be an understatement. But it does goes to show just how far this band has come since its early days playing the small clubs around town. To my dismay, in the frenzy of the opening song my camera was accidentally ripped from my hands, shattering helplessly on the ground.

As the brilliant lights came on, cascading through the smoke-filled air at times in cerulean blues, royal purples and bloodshot reds, and at others in grin-inducing sunflower yellows, lime greens and pastel oranges, the camera looked up at me in disbelief. I doubt that many have seen an inanimate object look so disappointed.

Is there a doctor in the house?!?

The lack of visual evidence aside, Dr. Dog exhibited their newest album, Shame, Shame, to an ecstatic crowd. Whether it was the fact that it was Friday or the load of infectious mirth that wafted from the speakers, the crowd exulted in a hypnotic state of bliss, often reverting to group hugs and high fives during the nearly two-hour set.

The line up consisted of stalwarts Toby Leaman (bass, vocals), Scott McMicken (lead guitar, vocals), Frank McElroy (Rhythm guitar/backup vocals), Zach Miller (keys) and Eric Slick (drums). Also present was guest keyboardist, percussionist Dimitri Manos (from Golden Boots).

A setlist seems unnecessary for this eclectic, hit-churning band, but the material played was a notably solid mixture of songs from their previous albums Fate and We All Belong, as well as a heavy dose of their newest tracks. Starting off with “Stranger,” the doo-wop, jam-rock masters never let off the gas pedal. As the song goes:

I have tried to live the high life
The best that I know how
And bought my share of debonair
And parlayed it on the crowd

Among the torrent of hits that followed were solemn and darkly themed, yet powerfully hopeful, songs “Shadow People,” “I Only Wear Blue,” and “Hang On.” This was more likely than not an attempt to mimic the overall tone of Shame, Shame, but Dr. Dog showed multi-dimensional aspects to their overall mentality, demonstrated by the far more upbeat renditions of “The Rabbit, the Bat and the Reindeer,” “Uncovering The Old,” and “The Breeze.” Throw in a spontaneous Happy Birthday song for an adoring fan and a laundry list of radio hits, and you’ve got the recipe for this electric performance.

As they hopped one-legged, in unison to the final notes, the lights ecclesiastically spiraling into the sweaty murk, you could almost believe that lyrics previously uttered, “Let’s get on with it / We haven’t got too much time” were less a remorseful lament and more of a mantra, evoking a timeless feeling that has almost come to define this band. In terms of the overall performance, the lyrics seem to–for lack of a better phrase–speak for themselves: “Well it came like a dream / But it went just as fast.”

Luckily, for those in attendance, the show was no dream. But for those left outside the doors, keep in mind that Dr. Dog loves to stop in Portland. Look for them to return sometime in the near future.

Photos by Amy L. Valukevich

Portlanders love this city and everything that comes with it, especially our Blazers. Being the type of Blazers fan that hasn’t missed a game in two and a half years, I understand this devotion and understand the significance of their current participation in this year’s NBA Playoffs.

When such a game is on, one can hardly travel down a city block without hearing the roars emanating from the cracked doors of bars brimming with drunk, jersey-clad fans teetering on the edge of blissful insanity. Naturally, when faced with the inevitable choice between Lloyd’s Garage and the game, I was torn.

Luckily, I could have both. Unfortunately, the rest of the city didn’t know this.

Listen to “Return To Sender” by Lloyd’s Garage as your read:

With Game 1 playing on the big screen of Ash St. Saloon, Alpha Dahlia opened the night with their blend of jaunty beach-rock heavily infused with psychedelic and swing undertones. Despite a terrible mixing job–the bass nearly overtook the entire band or significant portions of the set–Alpha Dahlia demonstrated some potential as a crossover jam band. Their guitar solos were tight and well-placed, the energetic stage presence worked well with their general demeanor, and their material spanned a range of styles that illuminated a burgeoning talent base.

Something, however, held them back. Whether it be the lackadaisical air in which they ran through their material or the incongruous manner in which the set was structured, Alpha Dahlia just didn’t seem to be trying very hard to put on a quality show. Chalk it up to the lack of people or just a lack of drive, but this group needs to reinvigorate their mojo in order to raise their status above the sub-par level.

As they broke down their set, the game came to an end, perfectly timed for the beginning of Lloyd’s Garage’s set. After a thrilling win for the Blazers, there was no way to keep the energy up. I was mistaken.

From the first thunderous clap of the bass drum and the emphatic strum of the guitar, it was clear that this power-duo plays with an energy comparable to the Large Hadron Collider. Considering LG’s talent and material, at certain points in the set I was convinced that were there enough people present, bodies would have been colliding in a manner that would’ve greatly interested the physicists currently working on that massive scientific behemoth.

Playing songs off of their debut album, From The Comfort of Your Home, Lloyd’s Garage demonstrated a command of tempo changes, catchy melodies, and the stage presence necessary to pull off such energetic material with just two people. Reminiscent of The White Stripes, except with talented and innovative drumming alongside skillful songwriting, the pair ripped through a set that included their telltale tracks ”Factory Town” and “Return to Sender,” along with arguably the best running song on the planet: “Warmth.” Combine this with the rest of their album–a solid collection of ’60s garage-rock shred tinged with elements of Blues and Soul–and you have the recipe for a band that has earned the title “up and coming.”

With a two-piece band, both members must be multiple cogs of the music, constantly churning in order to produce a high-quality sound. These guys have this down in spades. Lloyd Llewelyn is a wild beast on the drums–the immediate comparison being Animal of Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem–and occasionally shows off solid skills playing keys. Seth Heitzmann pulls double duties as a lead guitarist/singer and has compiled a volume of interesting guitar riffs aptly addled with original fills and solos that bring the overall guitar work to a second level, a necessary to overcome the absence of a rhythm guitar. Then Heitzmann adds vocals that exhibit a great range of timbre and pitch, ultimately lending his lyrics a blues-y, soulful element that tears out of the speakers as fast as the notes off of the fretboard.

As the old adage goes: “Quality over quantity”. While the debate may rage for centuries, one thing is certain: Truer words have never been said about Lloyd’s Garage.

The Blazers may have stolen the limelight last Sunday, but the playoffs are fleeting (hopefully not too fleeting) and bands only come to town so often. Considering this, make sure to note the Bay Area duo’s next appearance, you’ll be glad you did.

After assembling a wide array of complete, well-orchestrated albums over past years, Dr. Dog has firmly established itself in the top-tier of pop-rock, along such greats as Animal Collective and Modest Mouse. These albums were made, however, from the comfort of their home studio, leading to some regrets.

“There was this feeling inside me going into making this record that we’d never made an album before,” guitarist/vocalist Scott McMicken says on their website. “Four albums ago, we set out with this unspoken or unconscious mission, and I feel like we accomplished that to our own standards of fulfillment. With our last record [2008’s Fate], there didn’t seem to be the next logical step with the general set of sensibilities and aesthetics that we’d been working from up until that point. It felt like a closed book.”

Their newest album, Shame, Shame, demonstrates this “next step,” exhibiting a finely polished body of work that exemplifies the influences of a professional studio and the accompanying help of Rob Schnapf (Beck, Elliott Smith). With stellar tracks such as “Stranger” and the title track, “Shame, Shame,” alongside instant classics “Shadow People” and “Jackie Wants A Black Eye,” Dr. Dog easily achieves the ends outlined by McMicken.

While the recording is chock-full of self-critique, downcast lyrics, and dark themes, the album is nonetheless a soothing and bright exposition of soaring group vocals, syrupy sweet harmonies, and intricately woven guitar riffs. Despite their recent readjustment of emphasis, this Philly five-piece has never strayed far from their lo-fi, basement recording roots, and this is most evident in their dynamic live shows.

Expect to see a hearty helping of their newest album, along with choice bits from their extensive catalogue. Their lone appearance in Oregon on a sweeping U.S. tour, this show promises to be an exhibition of an eclectic blend of refined songwriting, Beatles-esque vocals, doo-wop jam attitude, and psychedelic guitar work.

All Ages, $15 day of show, 4/23/2010, Doors at 7 pm, Show at 8 pm, 128 NE Russell St, Portland, OR 97212

Listen to “Return to Sender” as your read:

Literally originating from the recesses of drummer Lloyd Llewelyn’s garage, this force of ’60s inspired garage-rock evokes a raw yet sophisticated sound that strongly resonates with a palpable energy, adamance, and polished songwriting that is hard to ignore. Check out an excerpt from their bio, I can’t put it any better than this:

LG plays out a paradox of unpolished garage rock and sophistication in an alt/indie vein, influenced by soulful hill-country blues, some southern rock for good measure, and throwback instrumentation that’s near-pure homage to the uncomplicated rock of the late 60’s and early 70’s.

Unsurprisingly, this Bay Area power duo, fronted by Seth Heitzmann and his burning soul, have established a solid following and are looking to continue this trend north of the California border.

Touring in support of their debut album, From The Comfort of Your Home, this up and coming twosome brings a gritty energy that keeps every performance fresh and original, making them a must-see act. If you are having trouble getting into the swing of spring, a night with Lloyd’s Garage will reinvigorate the budding and blooming going on inside your brain, and will no doubt indulge your inherent need to get wild.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Photos by Ben Mund

Upon arriving at The Woods on Friday evening it was immediately apparent that something strange was going on.

To my right was a large white bus emblazoned with the words “Baptist Revival Church,” yet it was teeming with earthy, sanguine characters laden with instruments and gear. Directly in front of me was a former funeral parlor packed to capacity with an effervescent crowd that made the entire building seem like a champagne bottle begging to burst open. To my left was a sparse group, dejected as they had not had the foresight to buy tickets in advance and were replaced by other adamant fans as soon as they gave up hope of entry. The show I had come to see was that of Elephant Revival, the owners of the aforementioned bus, and accompanied by (who I thought was) the little known Bill Nershi.

Oh boy, did I get that wrong.

To start off the night, the lead singer for the widely popular jam-band The String Cheese Incident (SCI), affectionately known as “the Nersh,” played a solo set in which he went through a variety of classics from his touring days. With slicked back hair and a full beard reminiscent of Jerry Garcia combined with vocals that would fit perfectly next to James Taylor, this veteran of the stage immediately captivated the die-hard fans and awe-struck newcomers alike. Not surprisingly, all heads were rocking in unison throughout the duration of the set, interrupted only by the thunderous applause that would have surely awoken any corpses buried underneath the stage if they had been present.

With a virtuosic finger-picking style that resembled a folk symphony played on the expanse of a single fretboard, Nershi ran through a half set that included classic hits “Restless Wind,” “Born On The Wrong Planet,” “Just Passin’ Through,” and “Outside and Inside” to name a few. If the adamant fans next to me were any indication, these were songs performed not just out of love for the music itself, but for the Cheese-heads that had tenaciously followed SCI during its tenure and had never quite given up on the band. From the wildly gesticulating dancers that occupied large swaths of the front row to the more laid-back, yet somehow exponentially more enthusiastic Cheese aficionados, these fans demonstrated just how deeply SCI affected the lives of its fans.

The second course was served with the help of some of the members of Elephant Revival, Nershi’s neighbors near his hometown of Nederlands, Colorado, and served as a perfect progression from one act to the next. This slow transformation of sets, seeming almost as if a passing of the torch of sorts, started with Bonnie Paine on the washboard and finished with Dango Rose (upright bass, vocals) and Bridget Law (fiddle, vocals). With the introduction of these stellar musicians, Nershi’s set began to sound more like his previous work with SCI and some his side projects, and the fuller sound spread bluegrass and folk undertones alongside his cascading guitar work.

Primarily playing jams that had been written recently, including one excellently composed piece that Nershi claimed had been written earlier that day, this bunch effectively showcased the reigning talents of this seasoned veteran along with that of his highly touted and talented neighbors.

After the torrent of applause had died down and a brief break to set up equipment, Elephant Revival took the stage joined this time by Daniel Rodriguez (vocals, guitar) and Sage Cook (banjo, guitar, vocals). A group that describes themselves as “transcendental folk,” a summation that surely fits the bill in more ways than one, this orchestral folk ensemble made sure everyone in attendance knew why someone of Bill Nershi’s stature holds them in such high regard. Their purpose was simply to make you dance, enjoy the experience of being, and maybe transcend yourself a little bit. In an interview with OMN, Bridget Law addressed the people of Portland with a simple message: “Live, laugh, and dance often.”

If the crowd was any indication, the message got through.

With remarkably original lyrics, swathes of overlaid string movements, a rousing beat provided by a rummage sale percussive set, and group vocals that evoked a feeling one would get when listening to the cyclical chants of group meditation, Elephant Revival did manage to transcend the traditional conceptions of folk. Yet this was accomplished not through wild experimentation or psychedelic meandering, but rather through such an inherent connection to the fundamental nature of the music so as to build upon the traditional nature of folk, adding but taking nothing away.

Playing a set-list primarily composed of material off of their self-titled debut album, along with a few choice numbers off of their upcoming album Break In The Clouds, the members of Elephant Revival seemed at ease on stage, calm and positively radiating in a fashion reminiscent of the philosophical mannerisms in which they have styled their music after. From the sweet and moving “Ring Around The Moon” to the jaunty styling of “Sing to the Mountain” and “Reel McKay Wedding,” this groups knows how to craft a unique blend of folk that could very easily propel this aspiring group to the pinnacle of folk stardom.

As if the music wasn’t evidence enough, “the Nersh” could be seen standing near the front row, a beer in his hand and a smile two shades of permanent hanging below his nose. While puzzling at first, the expression he was making soon registered: It was pride.

Photo Credit: Anne Staveley

For a self-described ‘transcendental folk’ band, the lofty goal of ‘[reviving] the human spirit through song and dance,’ somehow seems less daunting a task. Indeed, Elephant Revival, the quickly rising experimental folk group from Colorado, appears poised to –for lack of a better word — revive the inherent human-ness of enjoying the present, the here and now, and each individual second that amiably glides by.

As Henry David Thoreau once said:

In any weather, at any hour of the day or night, I have been anxious to improve the nick of time, and notch it on my stick too; to stand on the meeting of two eternities, the past and the future, which is precisely the present moment; to toe that line.

It appears that someone has taken notice of this idea.

An orchestral folk ensemble that mixes soothing group vocals, a web of rhythmic touches, string padding, and folk styles from a variety of continents and American back roads, Elephant Revival pushes their conscious agenda forwards with one explicit purpose: striving to healthily thrive.

If one does this through song and dance, all the better.

Currently on the West Coast leg of a sweeping tour through the western half of the continental U.S., Elephant Revival makes one it’s several stops in Oregon this Friday at The Woods. Playing with String Cheese Incident frontman Bill Nershi, as part of the Cascadia Acoustic Music Series, this interesting group is poised to enlighten as much as to bring a cessation of the mundane trivialities that commonly preoccupy listeners.

OMN caught up with a few members of Elephant Revival a few days ago. Here is an excerpt of the conversation.

Listen to “Sing To The Mountain” as you read:

First off, how’s life treating you?

Bridget: It’s good. We just came off of nine days of touring with eight shows. Our last show ended in Applegate, Oregon at the Applegate Lodge where they invited us to stay a couple of nights. We all have our own space, our own rooms and we’re just living the cush life all of a sudden after sleeping in the bus for a week. [laughs]

So y’all are currently on tour, where did that start?

Bridget: Our first gig was in Moab, Utah. We put on a benefit concert for the high school there, who are losing their funding for extracurricular activities. We raised two thousand dollars for them, to contribute to them getting to still enjoy music and arts and things like that.

Where do you guys call home right now?

Bridget: We all are pretty close to the Boulder area in Colorado. There’s some really great little mountain towns around there. Nederland is where we call home. Some of us also live in Lyons and Longmont. All of those towns are about twenty miles from Boulder.

Tell me a little bit about the Cascadia Music series.

Bridget: I don’t know a whole lot about it, except that we are playing with Billy Nershi of String Cheese Incident, who’s one of our neighbors in Nederland. Just a delightful person and I’m really excited to collaborate with him, play some of his songs and have him play with us. We’ve done a little bit of jamming with him and it’s always been beautiful. So that should be really nice.

As for Portland, I’m really looking forward to playing the venue. We’ve played the Alberta St. Public House twice. We’ve got great friends, great bands up in Portland, and it’ll be really neat to experience playing in a new place. Other than that I don’t really know a lot except that we’re really looking forward to playing in Portland.

Various accounts say that you played almost 150 shows in 2009. Is this true?

Bridget: Yeah, we played every single weekend from probably May through September. There might have been like a weekends off in there. We started off the summer and there was a few weekends that weren’t booked, then we kept getting really good offers so we took them. [laughs]

We’re trying to plan a little more time off this summer, but we’re still looking forward to playing some really great places with great people.

How’d you do it?

Bridget: Well, we jumped in lots of beautiful rivers, made sure to eat healthy and did our best to be good to one another. Tried to stay in the light the whole time so that we felt good and wanted to play more music.

Did y’all burn out a little bit?

Bridget: Oh, a little bit towards the end, but nothing to write home about or anything. We’ve been friends for a long time, longer than the band’s been going on, and the band’s been together for three and a half years. We all understand, and we all forgive each other. When someone gets moody we just believe in them and their ability to get over it, and they usually do, and we keep going. We were definitely ready for the break when the Fall came along, we all had some time off and we all used it well and wisely, got back to our creative selves and we’re ready to do it again.

Of all of this touring, what has been your favorite experience so far?

Bridget: Hmm. Last night was pretty great. [laughs] They’re all so great and unique, all of these experiences. They’re really, really wonderful. I’ll just say that last night in Applegate, Oregon, [was] so lovely, the setting was a big log lodge. The acoustics were really phenomenal, and a really sweet group of people came out and just enjoyed the music, and gave back to us really nicely. The sound was really good, people were dancing, and the setting was stunning, that’s it you know. That comes to mind first.

There’s been so many epic moments. We’ve had so many cool experiences. There’s so many great people around this country that we get to meet and be a part of their way of enjoying music.

Your bio mentions that you guys travel in a bus that runs on vegetable oil.

Bridget: The bus that is talked about in our bio broke down last summer. We need to update that. However, she didn’t really break down. She’s an older school bus and we were running her really hard and she got a bellyache and decided she didn’t want to travel like we were traveling anymore. [laughs] So she’s resting. We just bought a new bus that we are so excited about. It doesn’t have a vegetable oil conversion yet, but we’ve only had the bus now for twenty days. Within that twenty days… they rebuilt the interior for us to tour in. We bought the bus specifically as a vehicle that could handle a vegetable oil conversion. There’s a lot of planning [involved]. Sage Cook is the mechanically minded one of the group and I know he’s been thinkin’ a lot about it. He built the last system on the other bus.

What’s your favorite way to pass time on the bus?

Bridget: It’s really cool the way they set the stuff up. There’s a nice little open space that keeps us all facing each other. So we’ve been jamming. It’s awesome!

Have you listened to any music that’s blown your mind recently?

Bridget: I’m listening to TheMuseMeant right now. They don’t play much anymore, their current traveling contingent of that band is called Taarka, actually they live in Portland, and they’re phenomenal. They blow our minds all the time. We just finished making our record with them, so they’re absolutely wonderful and definitely  worth checking out. Especially since y’all are in Portland, and that’s where they live now! They’ve got an incredible violin player in the group and I’m the violin player in this group. She’s inspired me immensely and we’ve collaborated together on the new record, there’s a lot of stuff that her and I put together to create the string padding and things.

You mentioned your new record, tell me more about that.

Bridget: Yeah, it’s being released May 21st. We spent the winter making it with David Tiller of Taarka, he produced and engineered the record. This is our second record we’ve made with them, we did our first one that way also with David [Tiller] producing it, in their home in Colorado. It’s a nice big one house with tall ceilings and we were all really comfortable in the process of making the record. It’s titled Break In The Clouds. I’m really excited to share it with everybody. There’s a lot of dynamic stuff in there, a lot of depth, a lot of interesting songwriting.

How would you describe your sound, especially considering this upcoming album?

Bridget: [sigh] So unclassifiable. Original folk music. ‘Transcendental folk’ music is what we have kind of coined. We use primarily acoustic instruments but we write original songs. And we really just make the music that’s in our hearts. We’re not trying to follow any particular genre, so therefore we expand beyond genres and incorporate many genres in our sets and in our sounds.

For example, you might hear some Eastern European with some different feels in it then you might hear some really groovy funky tunes with lots of harmonies, then we might kick into some bluegrass sounding song, then move on to do something Celtic-y… Lot’s of vocals, lots of very conscious lyrics, really thoughtful words being sung. Threaded instrumental stuff, with violin, banjo, mandolin. And then the washboard. There’s always a lot of rhythms, Bonnie playing washboard and stomping on a box to get kind of a kick-drum sound, so there’s a lot of rhythms going on too.

You guys refer to your sound as ‘Transcendental folk’. The word ‘transcendental’ in general is defined as ‘beyond common thought or experience; mystical or supernatural.’ How does the band personally reflect this title?

Bridget: We’re all extremely intrigued by the mystical. [And] we are all massively intrigued by this experience we all call life. Therefore, being intrigued by that, we often entertain experiences, or our perceptions of experiences, that lead to such, because it’s so exciting and interesting. [It] helps us all feel like something far larger than just ourselves, and each other, and even just the planet Earth.

I think the mystical and the supernatural bring you to a really powerful experience of oneness, [of] universal connection. Those are the concepts that we contemplate, that we talk about, that we entertain experiences with each other regarding such, and inspire each other to live up to those types of experiences. I think that [the mystical and supernatural] comes out because we like to share that with our audience and we feel like it would be something special to help guide other folks elsewhere to experience the mystical and the supernatural more often. What we tend to focus on, and what has been our thought often, repeats itself in experience. Even just planting the seed of thought in folks who maybe focus a little too much on the normal.

We see ourselves as troubadours guiding experiences and guiding emotions through our music, and that seems like a really healthy and exciting place to take [our music].

Would you say that this sharing of ‘transcendental’ thought and experience is the overarching goal of the band?

Bridget: Yeah. [laughs] I guess it would actually. That along with helping the planet and helping each other.

Any non-musical influences that you’d like to mention?

Bridget: I would say nature.

Sage: Everything. Everything is influential and musical.

If you could write music for any documentary, TV show, radio broadcast, etc. What would it be?

Sage: Some sort of programming that would shed light. Somehow change peoples minds on something substantial. [laughs]

Bridget: There’s no need to continue to wars against one another. [Also], environmental sustainability is a big one for us.

Sage: Environmental planning, permaculture, anything that would enrich the quality of life on this planet, I guess. Some sort of documentary or programming that is really effective in that…

Bridget: We’re really into that idea of collaborating with documentary films. [laughs'] There’s probably a lot of topics that would work.

Where do yourself as a band in five years?

Bridget: I feel like the goal of staying in the moment and embracing what is now is more of our message. There’s a lot of exciting things I think we could imagine for ourselves in five years.

Last thing, any words for the readers of Portland?

Bridget: Laugh, love and dance often.

21+, Doors at 8 pm, Show at 9 pm, 04/02/2010, The Woods, 6637 SE Milwaukie Ave

Pentagram has gone by a myriad of different names and has had a revolving lineup of talented musicians over the years, but has always managed to pump out a healthy dose of doom. Liebling has been the only constant member of the band and his hand in maintaining the presence of Pentagram will remain as long as he is healthy. Considering his recent foray into sobriety, expect this gritty, hardcore rock to continue into the foreseeable future.

Radio Moscow, a little known gem of Hendrix-esque garage, will be opening. Fronted by stellar lead guitar/singer Parker Griggs, Radio Moscow has done nothing but impress in their relatively short existence. Listening to this group’s studio work, along with their live performances, one is instantly taken aback by the thrilling sound of this three-piece from Story City, Iowa. With the ridiculous talent of Griggs and the burgeoning skills of Zach Anderson (bass) and Paul Merrone (drums), Radio Moscow is poised to dominate the psychedelic, hard-rock scene. It should be no surprise to see them headlining their own show very soon.

What better way to cut yourself some slack than to pay professionals to do it for you. That’s where The Slackers come in. These certifiable professionals have been blurring the lines between ska, reggae, jazz, and rock for over a decade and have reached a higher plane of performance that can only be described as exemplary. With such an energetic and purposeful resume of performances, it should be easy to create a short synopsis of the band. When trying to adequately sum up their sound however, I find myself drawing a blank, and needing some serious slack. So I too am turning to The Slackers for help:

“The Slackers are part of an imaginary universe. It wasn’t their fault, well not completely. The caterpillar told them not to eat the mushroom on the right. But they did and for 15 years now they’ve had to play Imaginary-Jamaican-Rock-and-Roll, and try to explain that to everyone who passes. One asks,”Are you a reggae band?…where are your dreadlocks then?” Another says,”YOU DONT SOUND LIKE PUNK-ROCK WITH HORNS AT ALL!!” One elderly gent says,”Why it sounds like a lot of music I used to like, but I don’t think any of you boys look addicted to HEROIN!” Doomed to try and explain themselves to a world full of hungry club-promoters, style-police, genre-slaves and the generally confused, they wrote bio upon bio, hoping to snag someone…ANYONE!…who might understand…here is attempt #6,364…” -Vic Ruggiero, The Slackers

Now that is an accurate portrayal. The Slackers are appearing tomorrow at Mississippi Studios, their first show back in the States after a widespread international tour. They will no doubt be promoting their newest album, The Great Rocksteady Swindle, set to come out on April 20th.

For their latest album, all six members wrote at least one track, arguably making it their most diverse body of work yet. Check out a sample below:

Click here to view the embedded video.

The Getbacks will be opening.

21+, Doors at 8 PM, show at 9 PM, advance tickets $12, 3939 N. Mississippi Ave.

This process however, can be daunting. The tools and material investment can be expensive and time-consuming. Luckily there is another option: duct tape. John Johnson, drummer for the punkabilly blues duo Hillstomp, has taken this option in lieu of more complex DIY strategies, and has never looked back.  Before their set at Mississippi Studios last Friday, Johnson could be seen with a roll of duct tape making repairs to their tape swaddled microphones, tattered buckets, various pan lids and, of course, parts of a weathered drum kit, also swathed in layers of crusted gray tape.

After finishing the set-up, Johnson was replaced on stage by guitarist/vocalist Henry Kammerer with his emphatic howl and raucous presence that quickly got the packed crowd into a frenzy. When Johnson returned to the stage, he immediately headed to the mishmash array of drums and proceeded to pound out bass and shred his buckets in homage to an earthquake welling up from the ancient fault lines deep beneath the stage. Indeed, with Kammerer’s eclectic Mississippi Blues guitar and Johnson’s gritty percussion, one cannot help but assume that the ritualistic style of blues that this energetic duo have come up with originates from something as primal and ancient as the churning tectonic plates deep within the Earth.

Duct tape in all of its glory is fittingly symbolic of the general tone and sound of Hillstomp. Patching together punk, blues and rock styles together in a well-crafted blend, the result is a rollicking consortium that leads one to wonder if this is the course that blues will inevitably take as it evolves in the contemporary music scene.   With a heavy metal attitude and distinctive blues-y guitar work, Hillstomp jumped into their material with gusto. It was immediately apparent that the group is deeply indebted to Mississippi Fred McDowell and R.L. Burnside, yet to say that these influences are what have created their sound would be to blatantly disregard the unique elements that Kammerer and Johnson have added of their own accord. While the duo covered such artists often, including takes on “Shake ‘Em On Down”, “John Henry” and “If The River Was Whiskey”, the songs displayed a vibrancy and adaptive mentality that the duo bended to their own musical formations.

Aside from covers, Hillstomp also displayed their own talent for writing gut-check blues songs that make rioting increasingly tempting with every belted-out chorus and blasted-down drum beat. Playing recycled songs off of their newest album, After Two But Before Five, including ”NE Portland 3 AM”, “Landlord Blues” and the call-and-response crowd pleaser “Lucy’s Lament”, it was clear that this power-duo has mastered the DIY art of genre-creation and blues adaptation. If anything was powerful enough to coax a tremor to rouse Fred McDowell and R.L. Burnside above ground, it would be this punk tinged romp of a show, and you can be certain that the two legends would be hootin’ and hollerin’ along.

As a quick note, amidst their set Kammerer and Johnson played a song titled “Beat Me Blue”, which they claimed was off of their newest album, coming out this June. The duo will be holding a CD release party sometime early this summer. If “Beat Me Blue” is any indication, Hillstomp’s latest body of work is likely to be their best yet. OMN will make sure to provide an update when more information becomes available.

The junkyard blues trio Rollie Tussing and the Diminished Seven opened up the night. With a steel-frame guitar, a washboard, and a ‘gut bucket’, this group toed the line between DIY and old-time back porch blues with an infectious country swagger. Playing a good deal of old blues covers, along with some original blues meanderings, this group laid down the perfect foundation for the night.

Second in line was the circus of noise titled The Yogoman Burning Band. With an energy and style that reminded me of Gogol Bordello, this Bellingham, Washington band fuses funk, soul, reggae, dancehall, some jazz and blues and a touch of roots rock in a universal swirl of sound. If you had a pulse then your feet were moving, your butt was shaking and your hands were flailing in ecclesiastic spirals along with the mad uproar surrounding you. Their page contains an apt one-liner, reading: “Let’s get ridiculous.” As the horns bellowed, the drummer let loose manic howls, and the bassist laid down one funky line after another, I realized that this saying was spot on, and that I was watching one of the best live acts in the Pacific Northwest.

The best part, as you may have guessed already, was that this was just the beginning. If OMN had an ‘editor’s choice list’ of live performances to see, the headliners for this show would be at the top of it. Make sure to catch them next time around.

Perhaps one of the best examples of DIY culture exists in our music scene in the form of Portland-based hill country blues duo, Hillstomp. With a few old guitars, an odd assortment of can lids, raw tenacity and a bunch of buckets, this folks-y power-duo knows how to put on a show that will likely either inspire new DIY musicians, start a blood thirsty mob, or both.

Composed of Henry Christian (guitar) and John Johnson (percussion), this group mixes old school Mississippi blues with a touch of Appalachian country soul, a healthy injection of punkabilly rock, and the energy and raucousness of youth to create a sound that is just as much roots rock as it is the Monotonix of folk. The result is a mishmash of American back-country and contemporary music, stewed to distinction and brimming at the edges with an earnestness hard to ignore.

Hillstomp is currently on a sweeping national tour promoting their latest album, After Two But Before Five. This new(er) album follows up their widely acclaimed The Woman That Ended The World by getting back to their lo-fi roots and the grit that has propelled them thus far. One listen to their newer works and you’ll be assured that this attempt has not been in vain, and will get you rarin’ to get out to their show, this Friday at Mississippi Studios.

Yogoman Burning Band and Rollie Tussing & The Diminshed 7 will be opening.

21+, $10 advance/day of show, 3939 N Mississippi Ave.

Photo courtesy of Johnny D

When one sees or hears that the progeny of a great musician has grown up and is now performing with their own band, one cannot help but be skeptical. Jakob Dylan and The Wallflowers come immediately to mind. With great musicians comes an inevitable truth: great music comes at the price of earning success through one’s own experiences and a lifelong struggle to be heard. The let-down from one generation to the next can be hard to watch, nonetheless listen to. Yet there are some shining examples that cast this notion to the side as they proceed to make a name for themselves through great talent and tireless motivation. Lukas Nelson, the son of the great Willie Nelson, and his band The Promise of the Real effectively put any such ideas of a let-down to rest.

Growing up on tour, Lukas Nelson became accustomed to a life of music and being on the road. If his performance last Tuesday at Mississippi Studios is any indication, this experience has served him well. Nelson began touring with this group a scarce six months ago, yet there was no indication of this in the music. From the get-go, Nelson and the Promise of the Real played polished yet free flowing songs capped by the impeccable guitar-work of Nelson. The greatest surprise of the night was just this, the fact that on nearly every song Nelson ripped through a solo, a dynamic fill or a spontaneous jam that catapulted him into the high stratosphere of contemporary guitarists. A few times during the set, he even paid homage to one of his greatest influences, Jimi Hendrix, by pumping out solos with his teeth.

Photo courtesy of Johnny D

Indeed, this influence was especially prevalent when the group covered the Hendrix song, “Hey Baby”. It is difficult in it’s own right to cover one of the late guitar god’s songs, but to do it in one’s own style, adding elements to it that actually make it better and performing it with the same flair and musical capability, that’s just downright impressive. And this is just what they did.  Along with songs off of their new EP, Brando’s Paradise Sessions, ranging from instant jam-rock classics “Awakening” and “My Own Wave,’’ to captivating 60’s-esque ballads ‘’Want Me Around’’ and ‘’Sound of Your Memory,’’ this dynamic group has firmly established themselves as one of the up-and-coming greats that you will no doubt be hearing a great deal of in the very near future.

While Lukas’ voice does sound remarkably similar to his father, this is one of the greatest parts of the band. It is like watching one of your favorite musicians’ twin brother, who has a similar mentality, equal skill and a wholly different range of topics to sing about. Not surprisingly, Lukas had a humility and relaxed demeanor similar to his father as well, as he hung around to shake hands and talk to the audience after the show. Asked if he would please return soon to Portland by a new fan (cough cough), he replied:

“We’ll go anywhere we’re wanted, man.”

With this in mind, the sky is the limit for Lukas Nelson and Promise of the Real, and if his father’s continuing drive is any indication, this group will be rocking crowds for the foreseeable future.

Courtesy of Tony Kutter

Bob Shoemaker started off the night with his brand of Delta blues fused with a tenacity and grit that immediately captivated as much as it soothed the soul. In a cowboy-troubadour fashion honed on the streets of Seattle, Portland and his native Boston, Shoemaker alternated between exemplary slide blues and a virtuosic finger-picking technique that rivals the greats. Playing a full set with nothing but his peaked hat, Bob Dylan meets Gary Davis (circa 1991) vocals, expansive fret-work suggestive of Elmore James, and a down-home stage presence, he made a solid case for being one of the best kept secrets in the Northwest. This notion that hasn’t escaped the minds of some legendary figures on the Blues scene. Upon meeting the esteemed Blues giant Willie Dixon, Shoemaker received Willie’s personal endorsement to play his songs.

“The more you do it,” Willie said “The more I like it.”

If that isn’t a phrase for a musician to live by, I don’t know what is.

If you’re into some blues-soul mastery, you can catch Bob Shoemaker at the Rock Creek Tavern on Monday nights.

Photo Credit: Dan Hodge

As bands grow and become widely known, it is often the case that they become more mainstream–meaning they adapt their music to become softer and include pop influences. For some bands, this may mean a rapid decline in the quality and content of music being written and performed. This form of irony–making music more mainstream in order to attract more listeners, yet in the process making worse music and losing fans–is a known conundrum in the music business. Without naming any names, it remains true that we all know of bands like this.

Fortunately, however, some bands are able to pull off this adaptation without tarnishing their sound or the elements of what has thus far produced good music. As everyone who went to Mississippi Studios last Friday already knows, Backyard Tire Fire is one of these bands.

With the recent release of their fifth album, Good To Be, Backyard Tire Fire has established themselves as a true workingman’s band. The core of this group, composed of lead singer/guitarist Ed Anderson, bassist Matt Anderson, drummer Tim Kramp, bring an upbeat, glass half-full approach to life and their tunes that is easy to apply to one’s own life. Produced by Los Lobos multi-instrumentalist Steve Berlin, who has taken a personal interest in the band, Good To Be represents their most complete and well-rounded album to date.

Photo Credit: Dan Videtich

Over their eight-year career, Backyard Tire Fire has developed a heartland indie-rock sound fused with southern, Tom Petty-esque lyrics and the distinct presence of pop and a bit of country. Impressively, their style has remained unique, toeing the line between traditional Americana and distinctly original. The first song played, “Road Song #39” off Good To Be, was especially indicative of this.  Pure grit and rock’n’roll, the song featured lyrics reminiscent of ZZ Top and a straightforward homage to the rock giants that came before.

As they say:

“There’s a smell that I know / It’s sweaty and it’s smoky and it’s ripe and it’s rock and roll.”

From the pop soaked, heel-lifters “Ready or Not” and “Learning to Swim” to the rock-tinged rollicks “Piss and Moan” and the title track “Good to Be,” the band showed a stylistic flexibility and invigorating stage presence that is hard to top. The core trio were joined by Scott Tipping, who has added shredding solos and inspired fretwork since joining the band in 2008, and Steve Berlin on baritone sax. At one point, the pair went off soloing in rounds, each one topping the other in an ecclesiastic spiral of rock greatness that showed off the harder yet blues-ier sound that this group creates on stage.

Photo Credit: Dan Videtich

The headliners were not alone in rocking the house. Local band Sarah Gwen was up first bringing a brand of country-rock that the doorman aptly titled “dirty and sad.” Although the lead guitarist was apparently dying of swine flu, prompting many to hide in the recesses of the balcony, this four-piece band put on an inspired performance. Lead singer/guitarist Sarah Gwen Peters was particularly impressive as she sang with a hearty dose of country soul, almost growling at times as if something primal was tearing its way out through her voice.

Second in line was Kelly Blair Bauman, another Portland denizen. Although they were missing their keyboard player and drummer, this indie-Americana band put on a solid acoustic set. The three-piece, composed of a lead guitar, rhythm guitar/lead singer, and a background vocalist providing angelic harmonies, Kelly Blair Bauman ripped through a quick set of West Coast twang and folk-rock. The lack of the full group apparently disconcerted Bauman, as he repeatedly asserted that they weren’t playing “up to snuff,” but this was not noticeable in the music. A relaxed, laid-back and approachable persona in his own right, Bauman represents the Portland music culture at its finest and will no doubt continue to create his own bevy of followers.

While you’ll have to wait a bit to catch Sarah Gwen next, on April 2nd at Laurelthirst Public House, you can catch Kelly Blair Bauman with the full band on March 24th at A Roadside Attraction.

With this in mind, you have to empathize with the band that has to follow this act, or open for it. The very idea of setting the stage for such a renowned figure entails that such a group would require a basic modicum of skill, a presence that inspires and illuminates in its own right, and the bravado to simmer the minds of the audience a la King. You may be asking yourself why this is relevant, and the answer is simple:

Lukas Nelson and Promise of The Real was this band.

In case you were wondering, yes, Lukas is the son of Willie Nelson. And yes, Lukas does have the same thick, country-vocals that his father does. Also yes, the mentality is progressive, the guitars wail, and the overall tone is inundated with 60’s rock and blues.

But this new band–I can’t help myself–is something else, man.

The recipe is simple, possibly because it’s plain home-cookin’. Three parts genuine rock’n’roll, two parts American heart’n’soul, one part blues, one part funk, and a pinch of country. The result?

Willie is a very proud father.

Lukas Nelson and Promise of the Real will be headlining their own show this Tuesday, March 9th at Mississippi Studios. Bob Shoemaker is opening.

21+, $12 advance, $15 day of show, Doors at 8 pm, Show at 9 pm, 3939 N Mississippi

Why on Earth do we get up in the morning?

The answer is simple–for the humble, down-to-earth pleasures in life. For some this means giving the time of day to some pretty flowers as you pass by, or singing “Danger Zone” loudly and proudly in the shower, or even lying for a minute a wide open field underneath a bright blue sky.

For others, it is plain rock’n’roll and no one knows this better than Ed Anderson and Co. of Backyard Tire Fire. With a southern, Tom Petty-esque rock fused with indie-Americana and folk undertones that create an everyman style, this group knows how to put on a show that will keep your troubles at the door and leave you wondering whether you should ever pick them up again.

Currently touring to promote their latest full-length, Good To Be, this blue-collar, folk-rock band understands that the journey through life is one of trials and tribulations, and it is the enthusiastic embrace of the ordinary, the mundane, and the daily grind that brings us true happiness. This is shown in the title of the CD itself, along with the music it contains, as it denotes the notion of being happy just being.

Or being happy just being with very loud music playing.

For those of you who find an enveloping solace in these heavy blankets of sound that can ease your mind and keep your ears ringing, Backyard Tire Fire comes to Mississippi Studios this Friday. Kelly Blair Bauman is opening.

$10, Doors at 8 pm, Show at 9 pm, 21+, 3939 N Mississippi Ave.

Friday night at the Doug Fir was no exception, as Shoeshine Blue opened up for The Devil Makes Three (DM3) frontman Pete Bernhard. Right off the bat you could tell that Shoeshine Blue was one of the most fitting band names here in the region, as they brought a particular blend of gospel-folk-blues-rock that had you pining for the loafer days when all shoes were shiny and you could polish them to a sheen that would either conduct solar electricity or function as a very capable mirror.

The swath of Mississippi Delta blues permeating the music is no mistake, as lead-singer and frontman Michael Apinyakul is a transplant from Missouri, bringing with him the ruddy blues that flourished in his home region. Since landing here in Portland, Apinyakul has slowly gathered the pieces of Shoeshine Blues around him. Originally a solo, lo-fi, basement recording project, the group has grown to include drums, back-up guitar, an upright bass, and two full, angelic voices that add a gospel undertone to Apinyakul’s raspy, M. Ward meets Bob Dylan vocals.

The result of this slow congregation is something mellow yet entrancing, as one could almost see their toes dragging against the current of the massive river that lends its name to the music, songbirds singing in the distance and the heat of a midsummer’s day crushing any notions of work or toil in the coming hours. It was a perfect example of just another band that crosses the boundaries of genre and space, and returns to something tangibly recognizable only as an afterthought.

Funny, that reminds me of someone…

Right. The headliner.

While Shoeshine Blue relied on a large band to create their sound, the same could not be said for Bernhard’s solo project. It seems that, at least for his live shows, Bernhard loves the three-piece band. Complete with a bassist/back-up vocalist and a very capable drummer, this trio put out more sound than one would think possible (if they hadn’t seen a DM3 show before). This preference for the three-piece could be because it works so well for his sound–that mixed genre jambalaya composed of elements of country, folk, bluegrass, roots-rock, rockabilly, indie and true-blood Americana. If you add some meat to it… you got a nice stew going.

Compared to his recent solo album, Straight Line, which featured a full band and some accompanying artists, the stripped down nature of the material exposed Bernhard as the country music lyricist and rockabilly picker that he really is. The material was mostly off Straight Line, and comprised a deep, introspective look hemmed with a old-time twang, a country stomp and the roots-rock sensibilities that permeate all of the music he writes.

And the end-product?

“Some of ‘em are a little bit country and some of ‘em rock’n’roll.”

This observation was spot on. From the hoppy, dance-floor friendly tracks “Satisfied” and “Mr. Mudd and Mr. Gold,” to the country witticisms present in the rolling tunes “Orphan” and “Mint Condiion,” Bernhard was able to consistently spin through genres and styles without ever straying far from his down-home-rock roots. And to telling effect, as the dance-floor was littered with do-se-do-ing couples, wildly flailing solo artists, and the occasional, albeit brief, appearance of a line dance.

You could instantly tell that Bernhard enjoys what he does as his stage presence was one of calm relaxation and air of cordiality that was positively infectious. This type of repose is one of the most indicative elements of a talented performer, and Bernhard is no exception. With a jovial banter and a couple of wide grins, he spun through an efficient night with style and country grace, leaving the crowd bubbling contentedly.

If you missed the show, don’t kick yourself. Bernhard will be returning as the frontman for the group that has brought him fame, The Devil Makes Three, March 27 at the Wonder Ballroom.

Considering that tickets for his upcoming show are only $10, I want to shake hands and personally introduce this man to everyone who has never heard of him.

Jurado started out playing for various punk bands in the late 80’s. While there are almost no traces of this experience in his current work, the creative and rebellious attitude remain. Styling his career off of his idiosyncrasies and eccentricities, very much in the style of Bob Dylan, Neil Young and Elliott Smith, Jurado has never wavered in the tenacious pursuit of creative muses, whether or not this was appealing to fans and critics. Fortunately for us, it is.

This independent mindset has led to a mellow, indie-rock style that is very hard sum up in so many words. The alt-rock tonality that he creates is instantly infectious, and leads me to believe that the vast majority of indie listeners are missing out on something tangible yet somehow mesmerizing.

Portland natives The Robinsons (aka the husband and wive duo from Viva Voce) and John Vecchiarelli are opening this Friday at Mississippi Studios.

$10, 21+, doors 8pm, show 9pm, 3939 N Mississippi Ave.

Apparently, the devil makes one.

While DM3 makes foot-stomping, hyper-active indie-folk-Americana, Bernhard’s solo project takes a slightly different approach. With a mellower, fuller tone, mostly attributed to the aforementioned addition of drums, Bernhard has created something that retains the spunk and bravado of DM3 while changing the material enough to keep it interesting.

Listen to “Fix It Up” while you read.

I had a chance to talk with Pete a week ago. Here’s what he had to say:

How are you? Your website said something about swine flu.

Yeah. The last tour was definitely pretty rough. It was actually a great tour in terms of people coming out to the shows and everything. But we got really sick, it was a huge drag. We were sick from San Fransisco to New York or something. We were traveling with six people and everybody got sick at different times and we didn’t even get better till half way through the tour. It was a pretty rough run, we had a lot of great shows, but we didn’t feel like we did our best.

Is it as bad as everybody says it is?

Yeah, it was pretty bad man. It was pretty bad. The reason I said swine flu is because our guitar player definitely had the swine flu and thought he was over it before we left. I guess he was wrong. [Laughs]

Did you have to call any shows off?

We only missed one show, and we did a tour of the whole country. Only cancelled one, it was in South Dakota.

Are you feeling better now?

Oh yeah, definitely. Feel much better now. Glad that it’s over with and hopefully it doesn’t come back.

Good to hear. Let’s start off with a word game. When I say the word “food,” what comes to mind?

Right now, what comes to mind is that we are going to New York City tomorrow to be on a show called Dinner With The Band. It’s a cooking show where you play music on the show, and then the guy whose show it is cooks you some really good food. So we’ve been talking a lot about food recently because we’re supposed to be talking to him about that sort of stuff.

Booze?

These days it would probably be beer. Good beer. I’m all about the heavy ones, some kind of dark beer, maybe Guinness.

Women?

That’s a dangerous question.

Politicians?

Don’t like them.

The Superbowl?

I don’t care. [Laughs]

So tell me how you got into music.

I first got into music through my family: my dad, my brother, my uncle, actually my aunt too. There’s a lot of music in my family. My dad played guitar, and my brother went for guitar and music, and my aunt was a folk singer. My dad bought me my first guitar when I was like 12-13 years old. He encouraged me to take drum lessons too when I was young. Definitely my family that introduced me to music.

So you play other instruments?

I can play a little bit of drums, not very well. I can play the piano, sort of the same deal. I learned the music theory that I know on the piano so I can do a little bit of songwriting stuff on the piano. But I can’t read music in any sort of… I can’t do it fast enough. [Laughs] Yeah I can play a couple different things, a little bit of bass, but mostly I’m guitar, harmonica and a little bit of piano.

What inspired you to become a musician?

Again, I would have to say it was my family. Because most of the people that I looked up to were musicians or artists in the family, so it seemed like the natural thing to do. I always wanted to be like them and they played, and I wanted to do what they did. I got into different things, outside of my family, afterwards, but they were my first inspiration.

How did you get your start?

I started playing by myself when I was pretty young. I played a lot of open mikes. I was 18 or 19 years old, [so] I played anywhere that anyone would let me, a lot of free shows, a lot by myself. That’s kind of how I found my way as far as performing.

What’s your favorite thing to do outside of music?

There’s a lot of stuff I like to do. I really like to travel. It’s sort of a perfect marriage with playing music, ’cause I get to play music and travel at the same time. I’m from Vermont. I like the outdoors. I like to be out in nature. I like to see live music. I like to do some art, poster-making, painting, stuff like that. That’s what I tend to do when I’m not doing music is work on art type stuff and travel around to see my friends. Yeah, [laughs] I like to travel.

How do you find the time to tour solo and with DM3?

I’m really kind of asking myself that question. [Laughs] You know, I don’t have any idea. I think that I have the tendency to overdo it. But, I just kinda try to get it all in. I love playin’, I feel like there’s just not enough time in the day, or the year. So I try to do as much as I can. But right now I am a little overwhelmed. It’s like “Wow, goin’ north, coming back down, goin’ to tour solo, then a tour with the Devil Makes Three…” But after that I’m going to Vermont to take some time off for the summer. When we have time off, we have a lot of time off, so I try to keep focused on that.

Are you working on anything new with DM3?

We have some new songs, definitely, that we’re working on. We don’t really have a record necessarily, but we’re on our way towards one.

Tell me about your solo project. How did that start?

I’ve always played songs that didn’t quite fit with the Devil Make Three. DM3 is pretty versatile as a group, but we don’t have drums and that’s a big part of it. We don’t really want drums, because that’s what makes our band what it is. Adding drums to DM3 would kinda take away more than it adds.

There are some songs that I’ve written that called out for drums, and they were a different style of music as well. I always wanted to record them, cause I think they’re really good songs, but I didn’t really want to force them into the mold of DM3 and have them not work quite right. There are a lot of songs that I really like and have played or a while, and some of them are brand new as well, and they lend themselves to the energy level of a traditional band. Some of ‘em are a little bit country and some of ‘em rock’n'roll.

Who are you playing with on your solo tour?

I’m playing with a couple of guys that I know from California, a guy named Max Hart is playing bass and singing, and my buddy Jason Chase is playing drums. So it will be like a three-piece, bass drums and guitar.

Would you say that most of the material you write is made for a three-piece band?

This material is actually made for kind of a bigger band, but it’s hard to travel with the size of bands that are on the record. So, three-piece is good, makes a good traveling group. Real easy, especially with the DM3, it’s easier when you don’t have drums, one of the reasons that we don’t have them. Eventually with this group I’d like to expand to four people, five people, we’ll see.

Your work with DM3 and your solo project is difficult to fit into one or two genres, so how would you describe it?

I’m a fan of all different sorts of music, I’m not a real big believer in genres, you know, good music is just good music. I just try and create the music that I love. So it is hard to describe. I love blues, I love old rock’n’roll, I love American music in general. I would say that there’s something in there for everybody. [Laughs]

One of the best parts of DM3 is the punk-y stage presence and soul of your shows, does this carry over into the solo work?

I think so. You’d have to come to the show, you tell me. [Laughs] I try and bring a lot of energy to DM3 and I think especially in this day and age when really, your live show has to be something special. Record sales aren’t what they used to be. You gotta be good live.

You seem to have no fear in asking, discussing, confronting hard questions in your lyrics. Where does this come from?

You know I don’t have any idea. But, I was reading recently this thing by George Orwell, this little book called Why We Write, which is about being a writer in general. And he was saying that it’s kind of your duty as a writer to be able to do that. That’s what makes it interesting to read. I guess in my case it translates into the songs. I’ve always sort of wanted to write about things that people understand and can relate to but also were a little bit afraid to talk about. I’ve been like that since the very beginning. I think it’s a good way to reach people.

Would you consider yourself an analyst or commentator on American culture?

Yeah, aren’t we all? Definitely. I think about that a lot. I personally want to express my opinions in a song, poem or whatever it ends up being.

What’s inspiring you right now?

Lately, like musically, I’ve been listening to a lot of old gospel. Definitely inspiring me. But really anytime I see a great show I get inspired, any time I see any art that I’m really impressed by, I keep writing and try to get better. But lately I’ve been listening to Leon Russell and some Willie Nelson and a lot of old gospel.

How long are you going to be doing this solo project?

This tour is the whole west coast, so it’ll be 10-15 dates long. As far as being a solo thing, I think I’ll probably be doing it forever. It depends on how busy I am with DM3, obviously that takes priority. And we are really busy, so we’ll see. I have time, so when the DM3 isn’t up and running and I’m not doing anything else, might as well write and keep recording. I’ll keep doing it as long as I can. It’s definitely a really fun kind of… different hat to put on. Like painting in a different medium or something like that.

What comes next?

I guess the next thing on the horizon probably, I mean these tours are obviously are coming up, but then I’d love to record another record for DM3 and then I’d love to record another record solo.

Three words for Straight Line?

It’s personal. It’s a personal record to me, but it’s also sort of a political record, like you said, I like to write songs that have that feeling to ‘em. That kind of speak to things that are happening. So I’d say it’s a personal record, a political record, and it’s the first record that I’ve ever done where I had the full traditional band. I don’t know how you can put that into one word. [Pauses] I’m pretty proud of that record.

Any words for the readers?

I guess, I’d love to see people out at the show, and I’d like to thank everybody for all of their support over the years. We’ve been doing this for a while now and Portland has been a great place for us from the very beginning, so thanks.

And one word for yourself.

Busy. [Laughs] Very busy. That’s more than one word. Rushed.

$10, 21+, 830 E Burnside, 503-231-WOOD

Luckily, that’s just how good this band is.

The Missionary Position makes a blues-y, brooding and sex-crazed brand of rock that is infused with gutsy and gritty guitar riffs alongside a smooth saxophone, rhythmic synth lines, and dominant drum work. Frontman Jeff Angell, formerly of Post Stardom Depression, reminds us all just how frontmen are supposed to be. For the entire set he was either wailing on the guitar or kicking over the mike, demonstrating a bad-boy swagger highly reminiscent of Robert Plant in his early days.

Playing songs off their debut release, Diamonds In a Dead Sky, The Missionary Position demonstrated how to play a seedy, soulful type of rock that focuses on life’s simpler pleasures: casual sex, meaningless relationships, and turning up the volume. From the grunge-riddled lament “Here Comes the Machine” to the remorseful ballad “All My Mistakes,” Angell and this talented four-piece spanned the spectrum of filthy rock and made it into something darkly beautiful.

Like they say in “Why Me? Why Now?”: “I’d like to change, but I don’t know how.”

This is a good thing.

After a quick break, Ape Machine came on. While it is tempting to say that the polished, finely honed work of The Missionary Position stole the show, this was simply not true. These two bands just have completely different styles. Whereas The Missionary Position played a very structured, composed set, Ape Machine brought a jazz-blues orientation to their music, clearly feeling it out as they went along and feeding off each other’s energy.

The first two songs were disjointed and out of rhythm, but once they did get going, it was like watching a forest grow on super-fast-forward. The sound was so natural and organic that you were immediately aware of being present for the assemblage of something animalistic, yet highly evolved. Maybe that’s the definition of rock ‘n’ roll itself, or maybe a band of rock apes has to teach us how we’ve evolved using one of the more primitive senses.

Ape Machine moved through its set with a casual ease, swinging between different songs and jams flawlessly and with little pause or interruption. Playing material off their debut album, This House Has Been Condemned, Ape Machine did not seem like the new, rising band that it is. On tracks like “All Times” and “Monte Malady” (also released as promo tracks), they demonstrated a cohesion that brought the ecclesiastic guitars, pounding bass, thunderous drumming, and soaring vocals into one unified front that nearly blew out the windows of the Ash Street Saloon.

While the set ended unceremoniously, it nonetheless left the crowd in an uproarious mood evidenced by the supremely drunk tottering outside and those left on the dance floor–still busting a move to the music long gone, this crowd was given one of the first tastes of two new bands that are ready to make some noise. Whether you are looking for dark, sexy and mysterious, or wild, barbarous and raucously raging, keep an eye out for these two bands. You will be hearing a lot more from them.

The Bright Midnight started everything off with a grunge-y, power-pop sound and an energetic presence that created a solid tone for the evening. The Portland-based rock-pop fusion band is playing again at the Ash St. Saloon on March 23.

Sunny Day Real Estate, Built to Spill, and At The Drive In fans, this is right up your alley.

One of the best examples of un-sung musical gems in a town teeming with such groups, System and Station fittingly represents the PDX pop scene. In a city where talent is almost as abundant as the deciduous trees, we are lucky to have bands such as this that bring a solid, finely honed sound, without pretentiousness and pseudo-grandeur.

Another shining example of such a band is local pop outfit Swim Swam Swum, who will be opening. With a 90’s indie-pop sound delivered in an emphatic, insistent fashion, this band brings it with nerdyness, major scales and bright, bouncy melodies.

Catch them both on Saturday at the Doug Fir Lounge.

Tickets $7, 21+, Doors at 8 pm, Show at 9 pm, 830 E Burnside, 503-231-WOOD

Sadly, it was just not possible.

Since his departure from Queens of the Stone Age, Oliveri has been touring solo and contributing so some of his side projects, most notably The Knives, Turbonegro, and his own creation, Mondo Generator. Up on stage at Mississippi Studios last Monday with his sticker-laden guitar, Oliveri pounded out a set list that covered songs from past and current projects, including “Green Machine”, “Autopilot”, “Another Love Song”, “Six Shooter” and a cover of Roky Erikson’s “Bloody Hammer”.

Screaming at the top of his lungs and beating out chords on the guitar, this show seemed more like a release of pent-up frustration more than an effort to make good music. While the attempt was valiant, and oftentimes an interesting take on the singer/songwriter genre, the material was always lacking something. Most likely due to Oliveri’s bassist nature, the ‘melodies’ played were primarily harmonies, and the vocals seemed more like back-up singing than that of a front man. Without any accompaniment, the music was flat and one-sided, taking the luster out of the great songs he played.

This isn’t to say that the show was a bad one. Oliveri has a great demeanor and puts on an enthusiastic production, but he effectively proved why the acoustic singer/songwriter genre is primarily composed of rich melodies and heartfelt vocals.

It’s the only way to really make it sound good.

While he described his solo work as sounding like ‘a jet plane’, the music was actually something much more like the intoxicating smell of jet fuel. However, without the fire of a drummer, lead guitar or bassist, the fuel remained on the ground. And while Oliveri tried his best to light it up, it was like watching a man furiously beating to wet rocks together in order to make a spark. It makes a lot of noise, but it isn’t going to get you anywhere.

Kleveland opened the show with a solid acoustic set, played by lead singer/rhythm guitar Stephanie Smith and lead guitar Kevin Hahn. Their tone was laid-back and casual, consisting of a good deal of covers, including an especially solid take on Tom Petty’s “You Got Lucky Babe”. While they too demonstrated that they are better suited for the structure of a four-piece band, they nonetheless produced a cogent set reminiscent of a jam-session. Smith was especially impressive, as her carefree persona was on full display. At certain points in the set, the chair she sat in could barely hold her, and this carried over into the pair’s emphatic guitar work.

You can catch Kleveland tomorrow, Feb. 19th, at the Hawthorne Theater, and on Mar. 5^th at Dante’s.

Prepare for rock.

Combining classic rock’n'roll with stoner undertones, psychedelia, and a handful of the blues, these guys know how to make a room shake. Ear-splitting riffs, raucous melodies, and a wall of sound that is like standing in the middle of a water fall combined with a healthy dose of improvisation, make Ape Machine’s shows a wild, original affair every time.

With the rise of indie, jam-bands and pop-rock as a staple of our culture, heavy rock often gets the brush off. This has led many to become jaded with the entire scene as a whole. If you are part of this group, thinking that rock’n’roll is a dying genre, this is exactly the show you need.

Described by the band as “decibel therapy,” Ape Machine brings it in a way that only a hairy tribe of simians can. They will be playing material off of their new 8-track LP, This House Has Been Condemned, recorded here in Portland at The Magic Closet.

Check out more material on their site.  Dark and dirty rockers The Missionary Position will be opening at the Ash St. Saloon this Thursday.

$5, Doors at 8:30 pm, Show at 9:30 pm, 21+ w/ ID, 225 SW Ash St, (503) 226-0430

They were on to something.

First off was The Gourds co-frontman Kevin ‘Shinyribs’ Russell’s self-titled solo project. It was here that we got to see the true personality of Shinyribs. Singing in his folksy, poetry-laden yodel, telling jokes and stories that had the whole room rolling, and busting dance moves that would have made Jacko jealous, Russell demonstrated just “how it’s done” in Americana. His songs sounded like fresh-cut grass in the summer, warm domestic beer, and at times, a forlorn sadness that can only be cured by sweet potatoes. While the set was on the short side, it was no doubt to give extra time to The Gourds, and it was a great look into one of the quintessential southern-folk-rock musicians of our time.  This brief glimpse, however, was enough to shed some light into how the following band could play just about anything.

This band was named The Gourds.

The lineup of this dynamic group is full of talent and enough grit to sand a rock wall. The aforementioned Russel (vocals, mandolin, bass, guitar) and co-frontman Jimmy Smith (vocals, bass, guitar, harmonica, sound effects) formed a solid core of personality and folk-style. Behind them was Claude Bernard (accordion, keyboard, guitar, vocals), Max Johnston (fiddle, mandolin, guitar, lap steel, banjo, vocals) and Keith Langford (drums, vocals) who together created a background sound that could have easily stood alone as a good show. But that’s not how The Gourds roll.

With a “swirling flow,” as Russell puts it, and a kinetically charged vibrancy, this band puts on a live show that is hard to beat. This kind of presence reminded me of a Phish show, where you don’t know what you’re in for till they are playing it. Suddenly, you realize that you’ve never really heard them before, despite having listened to their studio recordings. That’s when it hits you and without warning; you’re hooked for life.

Perhaps the most telling example of The Gourds is the array of genres that they were able to squeeze into their set. From groovy folk-funk, arm-swingin’ jams and up-tempo roots rocks to cathartic ballads and slow, drawn out laments, they spanned the entire spectrum of folk, rock and Americana. Combine this with the extensive array of instruments on stage and the way that everyone on stage (aside from Langford) switched instruments around after virtually every song, and you were left with the understanding that given thirty minutes, a case of beer and a pack of cigarettes, this band could learn and play just about any song ever made.

And yes, there were chants of “Freebird.”

If you missed the show, and haven’t seen The Gourds before, consider yourself informed. This is one of the essential shows to see in a lifetime if only to see Shinyribs do his cover of TLC’s “Don’t Go Chasing Waterfalls,” or Jimmy Smith wail something crazy, or just to see a little accordion action. The best part is, considering their dedicated fan-base and ever-growing arsenal of material to play, they are only going to get better. As someone in the crowd was fond of screaming: “Hooooooooo doggies!”

That about sums it up.

Since his unfortunate departure from the Queens of the Stone Age, Oliveri has worked with several groups, including The Knives, Turbonegro, and as the frontman for his own creation, Mondo Generator. These days however, he is concentrating on his solo work. But he hasn’t exactly taken the conventional, lovey-dovey, sensitive approach to writing songs.

With howls and screams that lead you to consider his mental state, Oliveri has crafted an acoustic body of work that brutally tears through the modern conventions of acoustic rock.

“I’m not  a folk singer or singer/songwriter,” he said, laughing. “I approach the Death Acoustic tour the same way I would playing bass. I scream my head off, and I play as hard as I would playing, you know, my bass. I thought Death Acoustic was an appropriate title. Death metal, death punk, Death Acoustic.”

And the final product?

“Sounds like a jet-plane.”

Consider yourself warned, this is not the typical solo acoustic show. But that’s exactly why you should come see it. Local garage-punk-rock band Kleveland (you know, the ones that play the Blazers theme song) open at Mississippi Studios this Monday, February 15th.

21+, Doors at 8 PM, Show at 9 PM, 3939 N. Mississippi

Tickets $10

You may be asking yourself what this has to do with music. Well, the same notion applies for all entertainment. While Jerry Seinfeld is undoubtedly a very funny guy, sometimes they just don’t laugh. And while Leslie and the Badgers, and Quiet Life, are undoubtedly very talented bands with great material, sometimes they just don’t show up.  Chalk it up to a limping economy, or that it was two days after the Super Bowl, or just the fact that it was a cold and gloomy day outside. Anyway you put it, the attendance was not up to par in comparison to the talent of these two bands.

Despite the skeleton crew manning the floor of the spacious Doug Fir Lounge, Quiet Life got right up on stage and did what they do best: blast hard folk-rock into the stratosphere. Maybe it was the extra space for echoes to collect, but this four-piece band showed a much rawer, electric side that wasn’t present on their promos or previously recorded studio material. At times the music sounded so much like hard rock, complete with wailing guitars and  thumping bass/drum combos, that if they weren’t all wearing plaid shirts you would forget what show you were at. The lead singer, Sean Spellman, had an energy that distinctly reminded me of The Shaky Hands. Indeed, Spellman appears to be the Nick Delffs of folk-rock.

The best part of their performance though, was that they rarely played as if they were performing for an audience. Rather, it seemed like a rollicking late-night, barnyard jam session in the heat of summer. This comfortable nature carried over into the music, as minor mistakes were glazed over, even so much as to appear like typical elements of the show. In between songs, this laid-back personality was displayed even more prominently, as they cracked jokes and smiled, despite the obvious disappointment with the thin crowd.

This won’t be the first, or last, time you will hear this, but it must be said that Quiet Life is truly a band to look out for. With a L.A. canyon rock sound tempered by streaking guitar riffs and solos, blues-y harmonica fills, thunderous drums and catchy bass-lines, this band is poised to bring canyon rock back into prominence.

Next up was the charming Leslie Stevens, playing a solo song on the guitar. Stevens had a friendly and upbeat attitude, throwing around “y’all” with a casual attitude that bordered on downright homey. While it was clear that the sparse room affected her as well, along with her band, you wouldn’t know that from the music. After her voice had finished sweetly resonating, the other members of the band joined her on stage and proceeded to create a sound that was truly emblematic of their Americana roots.

Their stage presence was slightly muted at times, but their folk-country grace made up for it completely. And while their songs were primarily about living in and around Los Angeles, the down-home mentality and emotional aptitude was easy to relate to and apply to your own life. Ultimately, the songs seemed like an attempt to reach out into the world, rather than an attempt to comment on it, and thereby draw the listener deeply into the music while emotionally connecting you to the subject matter. This extroverted orientation is perhaps the most telling characteristic of this rising folk-pop band and, aside from the stellar musicianship, is what is most likely to propel them further, most likely to more densely packed venues.

The aforementioned musicianship was what has unequivocally determined this band to truly be a band on the rise.  Bassist Ben Redell provided solid yet jaunty bass lines, as well as energy that at times provided the spark to certain songs. The drumming, provided by Travis Popichak, switched between light and heavy as a perfect complement to the sliding lead guitar, played by Glenn Oyabe. Last, but not least, was the very capably played violin of Charlene Huang. The strings were tastefully added, much like the use of trumpet by the pop-rock band Cake, in a way that didn’t over-do it, but was certainly not underwhelming.

The band overall played like a good team. Everyone understood their roles and played them to perfection, allowing Stevens to star in her mellow, nonchalant manner. No one pushed too hard and everyone carried their weight, resulting in a solid performance.

Stevens mentioned several times that she and her band love to come to Portland and really look forward to performing here. She casually mentioned a Spring or Summer tour date stopping by. If this show was any indication, I doubt the room will be half-full again.

Just keep in mind Leslie, sometimes they don’t laugh.

Because he was running for mayor.

Snagging just over 27% of the city vote, Oken-Berg nearly took then-incumbent Vera Katz to a runoff election. Not bad for an aspiring political commentator. Dubbed a “Portland prodigy” by KINK FM, Oken-Berg has never been afraid of pushing the envelope and isn’t showing any signs of slowing down. From his political presence to touring with his band, The Retrofits, Oken-Berg has shown a tenacious aptitude for success. Now, he is doing it again, putting out his second EP in as many years, Out The Door.

This five song EP combines pop, jazz and soft-rock to form a catchy collection that delves into personal issues of love, death and political activism. This modest and well-refined work delivers strong, heartfelt vocals with a solid musicianship that shows the multi-talented nature of this rising musician.

As the Willamette Week said about his previous EP, Find Love, “[Oken-Berg] definitely knows how to play–anything from the five songs would sit well next to The Fray in an ABC promo.” Out the Door is no different, and it should not surprise you if you catch a sound bit off of it sometime in the near future..

As if this wasn’t enough already, Oken-Berg has teamed up with esteemed classical-jazz-pop-rock band Echo Helstrom for a dual EP release party this Saturday at the Aladdin Theater. Known for their critically acclaimed debut album, The Veil, and their TV spot for the television show One Tree Hill, Echo Helstrom provides a jazzy, orchestral take on rock. This is especially evident in their latest EP, Paper Airplane, a unique vision that creates a stirring, and often times–I have to say it–classic take on pop-rock.

This dual release party deserved something special, so we here at OMN decided to give you a dual Q and A session with these two groups.

First up was Jake Oken-Berg.

Listen to “Come Down” as you read.

You’ve got a hell of a resume, what led you to pursue music?

I’ve always had two loves, basically ever since I can remember. Politics and music. At different points in my life, one or the other have popped up in prominence. Over the last five years, I’ve made a conscious decision to focus on my music. That’s what I’m getting the most enjoyment out of, and I feel involved behind the scenes and on a volunteer level with politics, but in terms of my outwards pursuits I really am going full-bore with music.

Your bio says you’ve been playing and writing music since you were five. Were you born on top of a piano or something?

[Laughs] When I was five my parents bought a used upright piano for something like $600 or $700. It’s still the one that I write most of my music on, and I, like many piano students wasn’t terribly enamored with studying formally. Fortunately, I had piano teachers from a young age that would spend the last five minutes of the lesson working on improvisation and teaching me the blues keys. I started writing music immediately, and that’s stuck with me a lot longer than the formal training.

After playing for so long, how do you stay inspired?

That’s actually been the point of the last several years with my music–that I felt that I’d never fully committed to music. It hadn’t been as little as a hobby, but it’d never been a full pursuit. That’s why I left my full-time job a few years ago, because I wanted to not only work and practice on my own music but also to start listening to a lot more music and go to a lot more concerts. And that’s been one of the real big joys of the last few years, being able to digest so much and get inspired by major recording artists, independent artists, and then everyone in between.

Is this what inspired Out The Door?

Out The Door absolutely had a lot of elements that came from other artists. There are a lot of artist that find their way subtly and overtly into my music, and that’s definitely something that wasn’t there several years ago when my head was wrapped up in politics.

You had some well-known musicians join you on this EP. Tell me about that.

My not so secret weapon is definitely Jeff Anthony. He’s a music major from the University of Miami, and he’s toured with Alanis Morissette, played on a couple Sheryl Crow tracks, and he’s one of these guy that can do it all. Stylistically, he can do rock, jazz, pop, blues, you name it. And so, when I go into the studio with him, he doesn’t even hear the tracks before he comes in. We just get in the studio and he comes up with stuff on the spot that’s just brilliant.

You also had a cellist, Skip vonKuske.

Yeah, Skip is one of the rare talents in Portland, similar to Jeff, but with his respective instrument, which is cello. He can play it all. He’s got his own project called Cellotronik where he mixes beats with cello. He plays in the Portland Cello Project. I know he gets to go around the country very often and play with different groups. What I appreciate about Skip is that with my music I don’t need something overt, in terms of “Ok, this is going to be some masterful classical string piece.” Because of his pop-sensibility he can come in and layer something that just fits perfectly with the piano and the guitar and the drums. I can put [Skip] as the pad and it’s acoustic sounding and exactly the right texture. He’s amazing.

You also play with your other project, The Retrofits. Is this still going on?

Yeah, The Retrofits are still going on but my main focus, without a doubt, in the last year has changed to my solo project, mainly because my main partner with The Retrofits is my friend George McCleary, who I grew up with. We actually ran together, that’s how we got to know each other than we realized that we both love music. He’s taken some time off from writing. But it’s definitely still going, we try to play at least a few times a years. But in terms of the bigger shows, like this one at the Aladdin, I’m really focusing on my solo project.

So you’re planning to stay solo?

Absolutely. Regardless of what happens with The Retrofits, I’ve found this other voice that I really like. Some people it takes them years to come up with an album. For me I’m always writing and editing and listening to music. And I need an outlet for that at all times. And as long as people keep coming to the shows and enjoying it, I’ll keep doing it. And probably if people stop coming, I’ll probably keep doing it, ‘cause I love it so much.

What comes next? An LP? A tour? The presidency?

[Laughs] I’m not running for office. In the short term, I’m really focusing on the West Coast. I did a couple shows in Seattle last year and I made it down to the Bay area and I’m going to do that again this spring or summer. I want to start building around my solo work, to start building a fan-base like we had with The Retrofits.

In terms of music, I think I’m going to stay on the EP route. Especially in this day and age, where a lot of people are mostly gravitating towards singles, especially until they know your body of work. I like the idea of, more often than not, coming out with five or six songs as opposed to making people wait two or three years for a full LP. That’s currently what my goal is, every year, year and half, have five or six new recorded works that I’m proud of to release to the public. I’m already starting on that again.

What’s easier, putting together and EP or running for mayor?

Running for mayor of Portland is still, to this day, the hardest thing I’ve ever done. In addition to the fact that it was a 7 days-a-week sometimes 18-20 hour days for about 7-8 months, there was the public scrutiny. With music you get to pick your spot, you get to choose when you’re going to do your big release and when people hear you, and the rest of it you get to work with a close group of friends in private. When you’re running for office, no matter what the level is, you have to be on all the time. You don’t get to have bad days, or a day when you say, I’m going to put this away and rest on it. It doesn’t work that way. So I definitely think running for mayor was harder. With that said, in the long run, being a musician and actually trying to monetize that will be the hardest thing I’ve ever tried to do.

Has Bud Clark endorsed your EP yet?

[Laughs] Funny story about that. I never even solicited his endorsement when I was running for mayor several years ago. His wife at the time had just passed away and I was sensitive to his privacy. I guess he heard me on a radio show and loved it, and through a mutual friend, got a hold of me. Maybe if he hears my record being spun somewhere he’ll endorse my album, but I’m not knocking on his door.

Your live shows are known for improvisational surprises. What does this mean?

Well, this harkens back to the way that I’ve always been playing, which is that I can’t stand to stick to just the charts or the regular written page. Since I’ve been young, it’s been more about going off on a solo, or letting someone else take it, or breaking it down in the middle of a song. My albums are pretty contained, standard, 3-4 minute pop songs. But when I do a live song, there’s no way you’re going to hear the same thing as on the album, ‘cause I just can’t stand it. I have to throw in solos, I have to have my guitar player do something, if I’m playing with a drummer I have to break it down completely. When you come to one of my shows you’re not going to hear exactly what’s on the album.

Are we going to be surprised at the album release party?

Yes. Riffing off that question, Skip vonKuske is going to join me for a couple songs which I am really excited about ‘cause, although he plays on my album, I’ve never had him at any of my live shows. In addition, I’m going to have one of my favorite vocalists Deborah Arlen, who’s released a number of CDs and who’s a fantastic singer, she’s going to join me on stage for a song as well.

—

Next came frontman Ross Seligman, singer/songwriter for Echo Helstrom.

Listen to “Paper Airplanes” as you read.

Tell me a little about yourself.

I’m originally from New Jersey. I came here to visit about ten years ago, and I had no idea that Portland existed.  I was blown away when I got here that there was this city that had an art scene that really had an audience. Specifically what I meant by that is that, where I’m from, you go to a lot of things and a good percentage of the audience is there to see who else is there or to see how they can push their own career. When I moved here I found people that loved [art] whether it was music or theater or visual arts or anything, they were there really for the art. I fell in love with the city and moved here. I’ve always been a songwriter, but about 15 years ago I had this desire to put together a band that was not the typical type of thing. I wanted to make classical and jazz musicians play rock music. And see if I could do it in a way that didn’t seem artificial.

How does this relate to Paper Airplane?

I’ve worked over the years for a specific type of sound, and this record is really, after all of this time, where I feel I’ve found it. I want the music to be natural. I didn’t want it to sound like it was reaching for something, necessarily. When I listen to it, what it’s become, I’m really feeling like this record is what I’ve been trying to do the whole time.

Your bio says that all five members of the band are trained in classical and jazz music. Is this part of your effort to get this specific sound?

Absolutely. We use a lot of actual classical instruments. We’ve got a string section. At the show at the Aladdin, two of the three strings are members of the Oregon Symphony, and the third is extremely active in all kinds of classical music around town. We also have two horn players and they are jazz musicians. The us personally, the core of the band, most of us met at PSU studying jazz. I came to it saying “I want to put together something, but it’s not jazz and its not classical music. But I want you to bring yourself into it, I want you to take these songs I’ve written and not think that you have to be a rocker. I just want you to do whatever you naturally want to do with it.”

Our drummer, his name is Randy Rollofson, you see him a lot at Jimmy Mak’s. He is one of the best musicians I’ve ever crossed paths with. He actually wrote, for this record, the string arrangements. It’s not often that you get to say “Hi this is my drummer, he wrote the string arrangement.” He is an incredible all-around musician. It’s been a real group effort in that sense.

You mention a wide array of different types of music. How did you get into all of them?

Part of it has to do with my family, actually. Growing up my father was an obsessive music lover. He was really into a lot of different kinds of things. But the real influence that sort of busted open my narrow view was my uncle. At the time, he was a record producer for Polygram and EMI, all world music. As a kid, he would constantly send me things that on first listen were like from another planet. And I was thinking “Why are you even sending me these things?” But then I became somewhat obsessed with music from all over the world. What that did was melt away my aversion to expanding. I really started to explore all of this stuff. Sometimes people hear some of it in my music. Listening to the songs, it wasn’t really conscious, but then they’ll step back and say “I hear a little of the African thing here or, that reminds me of an Eastern European choir.” I feel like from building this foundation, listening to all this stuff for all these years, some of it creeps in, even though I’m playing in a rock band.

Was this inundation with music of all different types and genres what made you decide to be a musician?

Sort of. There was never a time that I didn’t want to be a musician. From the time I was three, it was a need, it wasn’t a desire. It was something I’ve always had to do. I wasn’t necessarily obsessed with having to do it as a professional, even though I went to school to study jazz. But no matter what, I’ll be doing music for my entire life, in one form or another.

I know this will be hard, but what were the influences behind the new EP?

That is a hard question. When it came to this EP, what was really on my mind was to take what I had done before and really tighten it up. That’s what I was obsessed with. This time I wanted it all to be for a reason. I wanted every string part, every arrangement, to fit in a certain way. Nothing was just thrown in there. For instance, I love when indie bands and rock bands bring in some extra influences, some really interesting instrument or something. But sometimes I listen to it, and it seems like it was just thrown in to do something interesting. It didn’t really fit. I  wanted to avoid that. I wanted to try to make this something a little bit different. I wasn’t thinking about other projects, I wasn’t thinking “I love what Thom Yorke did, I want to do that.” I’ve spent all these years trying to make this sound, and I’ve finally figured out what it is, I was thinking how to execute it the best way.

How long was it in the works?

I’ve been working on this for about a year. We have a full-length that will come out by the end of the year. We have five tunes pretty much completely finished. I wanted to release something now. I get emails from people saying, “Are you guys doing anything anymore?” They have no idea that yeah, I’ve been obsessing over this for the past few years. We’ve been recording with Nick Moon, who’s been producing this with us and we started recording this about 6-7 months ago. We’re only releasing three and that music video, that’s going to be our EP. We want to try to raise some excitement for the full length.

When do you expect the LP to come out?

I’m expecting by the end of the summer 2010. But, we’re exploring whether it would be a good idea to partner up with someone as far as some kind of label situation. We’d really like to take this thing on tour. I don’t want to just pile into a van. I’d really like to, with a label, plug into a label and tour. If that works out, then we’ll go by their release date. If that doesn’t work out, it’ll be the summer.

So, big plans in the works?

Yeah. I suddenly seem to have this insatiable energy about it. It’s because I finally feel like I’ve found the sound I’ve always wanted to find. As soon as I found it, now that I actually have it in my hand, I’ve got this disc, I feel like a race horse and the gun went off. It’s unbelievably exhilarating to be on stage with all of those strings, with all of these people that are way better musicians than me, and to be surrounded by them and hear this wall of incredible music and musicianship. It is so exhilarating that I want to make that happen as often as possible for as long as possible. So I’m going crazy making it happen.

For people who haven’t heard you before, what would you say is the purpose or meaning behind Echo Helstrom?

That’s hard. I like the question. I would say, I’m bringing the best musicians I can possibly find, that are seriously trained in classical and jazz and making them play rock music.

Rumor has it that Echo Helstrom is named after a person from a Bob Dylan song.  Is this true?

It is true. There’s a good story behind it, because I’m not a Dylan-phile. I love Bob Dylan, but I’m not so obsessed that I’d name my band after him. What happened was, when I first did this, I had to make this decision. Well, I wrote all of the songs that I wanted to be either singer/songwriter and named after me or done with a band. And I really wanted a band, like Ross and the Crickets or something. So I was in New York, I think in Union Square, and I was walking by Barnes and Noble. And I was wondering “ What the hell would I name this band?” So I decided to walk right into the Barnes and Noble, [telling myself] “I’m not going to look at what book I’m picking up, I’m just going to pick up the first book that comes in front of me, I’m going to open it up to a random page, not going to look at the page and I’m going to put my finger own and whatever it lands on is going to be the band name.” And I did it, and apparently I picked up a Bob Dylan biography, and it landed on a photograph of this blonde, Echo Helstrom. First of all, I never expected this plan to work. But I looked at it and I said “God, this is in Minnesota in the 40’s, there weren’t hippies!” Who was naming their daughter Echo? She’s reportedly the “Girl From the North Country,” and in some other tunes of Bob’s I think, and I thought “Man, that’s a really cool band name.” And so it worked.

Do you believe in fate?

[Laughs] You know, let’s talk a year or two after this album is released and I’ll answer again.

—
You can catch both Jake Oken-Berg and Echo Helstrom at the release party, this Saturday at the Aladdin Theater with Justin Jude opening.  $10 advance, $14 day of show, doors at 7 PM, show at 8 PM, all ages.

He also made it very easy to sum up. Take this description of The Gourds from their MySpace page:

“Rags and bones and pipes and tones and lovely delights wrapped in horrific ribbons. One must listen really to the tunes and then begin a long adjustment to what may or may not be taking place during these tunes. Lyrics should be taken as metaphorical buckets full of birds.”

Check out “Tex-Mex Mile” from their album Haymaker!:

Or this description for Shinyribs:

“Brambles in the hot wok of Santa Anna on a cold December day, heated by hay burning the way hay will. Roosters in the jungle drinking brandy from a straw.”

Listening to “Tex-Mex Mile” (above), I can’t describe it any better. You can catch them live this Thursday at the Doug Fir.

+21, $15, doors at 8 pm, show at 9 pm, 830 E Burnside, 503-231-WOOD

Listen to “New Age” as you read:

Before this, however, was Rainbow Bridge. This power duo, just a drummer and a guitarist/singer, is clearly attempting to duplicate the success of Jack and Meg from the White Stripes. Unfortunately for those in attendance, it was obvious that it takes someone with the skill of Jack White to make that work. While there were flashes of great talent, brief interludes where they were on time, hitting the notes and in key, these were rare and far between. You cannot build a roof out of holes, and while the creativity was there, ideas alone are nothing without the execution necessary to make the music.

Despite the sub-par musicianship and the yawn-inducing delivery, Rainbow Bridge had a curious charm that radiated out into the audience despite some jeers. The duo had a small group of loyal fans who claimed that the group “makes you dance to beats you forgot about.” While I could not see where in the music this came from, it was nonetheless indicative of some unknown trait in the band that propels them forward. I would not be surprised to see the band down the road headlining their own show, albeit after a few more practice sessions.

The second band never showed up (most likely Colts fans), so Sleepy Sun came on next. When the psych-sextet took the stage and rolled through their first song, the surprise on the faces of those in the first row was the most telling example of the talent and presence of this rising band. With a mellow demeanor and an emphatic style, Sleepy Sun brought out the best of psychedelia and daze-rock in a form that transcended both genres beautifully.

Whether it was the perfectly timed guitar solos, the dual male/female vocals of Bret Constantino and Rachel Williams stirring an occult sound that somehow warmed the bone marrow from the inside out, or the pulsing drums that kept your heels jumping, the dank, dingy room was filled with something palpably invigorating. The tiny room couldn’t contain the sounds bouncing between the rafters and the posts attached to the ceiling, barely holding the room together.

This performance had it all: booming guitar riffs, sapid and blues-y harmonica fills, captivating harmonies, churning and swirling drums and yes, a little bit of face paint. Considering that the San Fransisco band’s catchphrase is “let’s get weird,” it was easy to tell how this eclectic mix came about, and why it worked so well.

The songs they played were primarily off of their newest album, Embrace, a must-have for any collector of psychedelia, stoner-rock, or trans-genre greatness. Recorded at The Hive Creative Labs with producer Colin Stewart (Destroyer, Black Mountain), the album captures the best elements of their live show with an extra emphasis on the dual vocals and cabalistic harmonies. While Sleepy Sun will not be back in Oregon for some time, they are currently on the verge of a sweeping U.S. tour where they will be opening for the Arctic Monkeys. You can find solace in Embrace until they return.

Whether it’s culturally passé or whether it is just a widespread attempt to establish distance from one of America’s quintessential genres, this trend embodies a general inexperience with country and folk in their purest forms.

If you fall into this category, you could be missing out on something you might really enjoy. Luckily, there is a remedy.

The rising folk-pop band Leslie & The Badgers, with their canyon-country grace and sugary-sweet sonority, will be headlining this Tuesday at the Doug Fir Lounge. This group brings a true Americana style into the realm of folk-country, aptly dubbed “bourgeois country” by bassist Ben Reddell. Singer/guitarist Leslie Stevens, whose lyrics are so natural they often seem like spoken word, is warmly backed up by Redell, Travis Popichak (drums), Glenn Oyabe (guitar) and Charlene Huang (violin), who together create a straightforward literalism that is hard to ignore.

Listen to “Los Angeles”:

Leslie & The Badgers will be performing their latest LP, Roomful of Smoke, a tribute to the forest fires that ravaged parts of West Hollywood last year. For this album they teamed up with producer David Bianco, who is known for his work with Tom Petty and Bob Dylan amongst others, adding further credibility to their natural sound. Roomful of Smoke crosses the borders between traditional root-rock, country, folk, and Americana, creating tracks that are uniquely their own and are highly reminiscent of the esteemed producer they had the good fortune to work with.

Fittingly, local folk-rock favorites Quiet Life will be opening, yet another example of a group that blurs the lines between multiple genres, most notably indie-folk-Americana. If you are looking to open your eyes to a genre or two that you have written off, this would be the way to do it.

$8, 21+, Feb. 9, The Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E. Burnside, Portland, OR 97214, 503-231-WOOD

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