Eleven PDX Magazine April 2017 by Eleven PDX

MUSIC, COMMUNITY, AND CULTURE IN PORTLAND

ISSUE 71 | APR 2017

ELEVEN PDX MAGAZINE - VOLUME 6, ISSUE 11

COMPLIMENTARY

BANANA STAND mEDIA

contents

ELEVEN PDX MAGAZINE VOLUME 6

THE USUAL 3 Letter from the Editor 3 Staff Credits

ISSUE NO. 11

FEATURES Local Feature 13 Little Star

Cover Feature 17 NEW MUSIC

Morning Teleportation

4 Aural Fix Kadhja Bonet Twin Peaks Homeshake Alex Wiley

COMMUNITY Literary Arts 25 Oregon writer Eliot Treichel

7 Short List 7 Album Reviews Cold Beat Woods Timber Timbre Future Islands

Visual Arts 27 Portland artist Hannah Concannon

LIVE MUSIC 11 Know Your Venue The Know

13 Musicalendar An encompassing overview of concerts in PDX for the upcoming month. But that’s not all–the Musicalendar is complete with a venue map to help get you around town.

more online at elevenpdx.com

HELLO PORTLAND! Dear Readers, I’ve had a lot on the mind of late. Intention. Passion. Disengagement. My own interpretations of success and failure. What’s next? Ideas that have been swirling through my head with a rollercoaster of emotions over the past two weeks I’ve spent on the road with Boone Howard and some of my other dearest friends. The crescendo of our trip was in Boise, Idaho at Treefort Music Fest, where my immune system finally stopped fighting my poor decisions. Willing myself out of an exhausted, feverstate late on a Saturday night to play back-to-back sets with Boone and Aan at The Olympic, I came to the conclusion that I’m right where I want to be. Chasing dreams that might not be entirely tangible or even understandable to some, but taking solace in being fortunate enough to pursue my own passions, and to live, albeit modestly, with intention. Anyway, I hope you’ll enjoy this month’s issue featuring a handful of artists that particularly move me. Here’s to doing you and not looking back. Dutifully yours,

- Travis Leipzig, Managing Editor

3 | ELEVEN PORTLAND | www.elevenpdx.com

EXECUTIVE STAFF EDITOR IN CHIEF Ryan Dornfeld (ryan@elevenpdx.com) CREATIVE DIRECTOR Dustin Mills (dustin@elevenpdx.com) MANAGING EDITOR Travis Leipzig (travis@elevenpdx.com) SECTION EDITORS LITERARY ARTS: Scott Mchale, Morgan Nicholson VISUAL ARTS: Mercy McNab GRAPHIC DESIGN Dustin Mills CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Rosie Blanton, Tyler Burdwood, Matt Carter, Crystal Contreras-Grossman, Brandy Crowe, Sarah Eaton, Jameson Ketchum, Christopher Klarer, Kelly Kovl, Samantha Lopez, Scott McHale, Lucia Ondruskova, Gina Pieracci, Kelsey Rzepecki, Ellis Samsara, Tyler Sanford, Stephanie Scelza, Matthew Sweeney, Charles Trowbridge, Rick White, Henry Whittier-Ferguson

PHOTOGRAPHERS Patrick Chapman, Eric Evans, Alexander Fattal, Eirinn Gragson, Greg LeMieux, Mercy McNab, Andrew Roles, Todd Walberg, Caitlin Webb COVER PHOTO Citizen Kane Wayne

ONLINE Mark Dilson, Kim Lawson, Michael Reiersgaard, Chance Solem-Pfeifer GET INVOLVED getinvolved@elevenpdx.com www.elevenpdx.com twitter.com/elevenpdx facebook.com/elevenmagpdx MAILING ADRESS 126 NE Alberta Suite 211 Portland, OR. 97211 GENERAL INQUIRIES info@elevenpdx.com ADVERTISING sales@elevenpdx.com ELEVEN WEST MEDIA GROUP, LLC Ryan Dornfeld Dustin Mills SPECIAL THANKS Our local business partners who make this project possible. Our friends, families, associates, lovers, creators and haters. And of course, our city!

new music aural fix

AURAL FIX

up and coming music from the national scene

KADHJA BONET APRIL 9 | WONDER BALLROOM

LA-based singer-songwriter Kadhja Bonet–pronounced “kod-ya”–will effortlessly lure you into her cosmic musical world of classical and jazz influences and seductive vocals. Her soft, romantic vocal style and use of wind and string instruments is reminiscent of music you might imagine hearing in a European café. She takes soulful and sultry energy from jazz and seamlessly ties it in with theatrical elements. Bonet’s formal training in classical music, violin and viola is apparent through the thoughtful production of her album, The Visitor, out last October on Fat Possum Records and Fresh Selects, two respected labels that represent different genres of blues and indie. It is clear Bonet’s knowledge of classical music helps build her musical foundation, even while she remains a difficult artist to pin to one genre. It’s hard to say where or when you are on first listen; past, present, future, or another world completely? What is certain

is that it’s nearly impossible not to feel at ease, letting the music transport you from one mood to the next, as if moving along with the narrative of an expressive film–from catharsis to satisfaction to calm. Orchestral flutes, violins, and other wind and string instruments appear prominently throughout The Visitor to enhance the beauty of Bonet’s delicate vocals. Bonet oozes of sophistication, applying an organic, back-to-basics mindset that makes for a revitalizing musical experience. » - Kelsey Rzepecki

Among its growing resumé entrees, Twin Peaks has opened for Wavves. When a band can pull that off, it means there are certain things about the music you can count on. First, the group likely recorded their debut album with Garageband. Second, their subject matter deliberates on a perpetual state of being stuck between adolescence and adulthood. Twin Peaks may seem like an everyman’s garage rock band, but that’s an oversimplification on the spectrum of lo-fi rock, because everyone has to start somewhere. Their live show may not be as calamitous as those of the two aforementioned bands, but being in the same echelon definitely counts for something. Last year’s Down in Heaven was Twin Peaks’ most pronounced album to date, pushing toward indie and power pop and broadening the songs. Sure, some of the tunes are sung in the same feline yowl that too

TWIN PEAKS

often spouts tales of low living and picking up the pieces in the morning. But this band knows there is way more to APRIL 11 | DOUG FIR

throwing back to the ‘60s than simply being an outcast for the music you love and a hairstyle for which you’re loathed.

When most people hear the words “Twin Peaks” they’re sure to recall the early-‘90s show with the passionate cult following. But followers of the Chicago band by that same name are just as likely to associate the two words with music

Are there things you can count on when seeing Twin Peaks live? Will you witness the same mugging for the camera and goofy antics from their music videos? You’ll have to be there to find out. » - Matt Carter

akin to the flower punk of Black Lips, rather than a soon-tobe-rebooted TV drama.

www.elevenpdx.com | ELEVEN PORTLAND | 4

new music aural fix

HOMESHAKE APRIL 13 | MISSISSIPPI STUDIOS

Get yourself a sexy dose of reality via Homeshake. It’s the brainchild and alternative persona of Peter Sagar, and he’s currently touring behind his third studio album, Fresh Air. Sagar played guitar in Mac DeMarco’s touring band for a few years until 2013 when he decided to focus on his solo project. Sagar’s first two albums (In the Shower and Midnight Snack) tell the story of a young man discovering his dream girl and pursuing her. Those drug-fueled, lustful

Photo by Salina Ladha

albums have a light vibe. But this new record sees Homeshake coming to grips with what happens in a

machines and cheap synthesizers. Meanwhile, the artist’s

relationship once the honeymoon phase is over: awkward

lazy voice floats on top of these layers like bubbles on

moments and miscommunication through a haze of sex and

bathwater. The sonic and thematic vertebrae of the album

cuddling–basically, reality.

is its three singles: “Call Me Up,” “Every Single Thing” and

On Fresh Air, which came out Feb. 3 on Sinderlyn, Sagar

“Khmlwugh.” All three tracks lean toward an electronic, R&B

creates a smooth, infectious sound while still staying true

vibe, incredibly danceable and versatile–perfect for a coffee

to his yacht rock taste. This new album is infused with drum

shop, kick back or booty call. » - Rosie Blanton

5 | ELEVEN PORTLAND | www.elevenpdx.com

new music aural fix

ALEX WILEY APRIL 27 | HOLOCENE

Alex Wiley established his underground bona fides relatively soon after he decided to start rapping. A collaboration with Kembe X in 2012, Can I Borrow A Dollar EP, put Wiley on the map. And after the two put out “Don’t Quit” in 2013, it was only a matter of time before he had other name-drop-worthy conspirators like Chance the Rapper and Action Bronson in his court. Wiley hails from Chicago, which seems to be a veritable birthing ground for rappers changing the shape of the game, so it comes as no real surprise that his early mixtapes showcased an engaging flow with a keen ear for soul-sampling beats. His first full-length mixtape, Club Wiley (2013), featured several notable collab tracks with Chance, Kembe X, Vic Mensa and Freddie Gibbs, to name a few. Wiley grinds his way through the tracks with a quick tongue and a playfulness that never skews into cynicism. 2014’s Village Party saw Wiley prowl his way through slightly more industrial beats, once again connecting with a few guests, but showing he was more than capable of carrying some bangers on his own.

Since Village Party, Wiley has released four more mixtapes, including Village Party II and 2017’s Village Party III: Stoner Symphony, a collaborative project with producer Mike Gao. Village Party III is a haze of liquid beats with Wiley substituting his typically sharp tongue in favor of an oozy, oily delivery. While it’s a departure from the sound most fans recognize, it demonstrates his breadth and ability as an artist–much of which apparently remains untapped. » - Charles Trowbridge

QUICK TRACKS A “CREEPIN'” Off of 2013’s Club Wiley, “Creepin’” gives a taste of the early vigor that gained Wiley his early following– not to mention a nasty verse from Freddie Gibbs.

B “PASS IT TO ME” From Village Party III, this track is a stripped down vocal feature for both Wiley and Kembe X over a dripping beat.

www.elevenpdx.com | ELEVEN PORTLAND | 6

new music album reviews

ALBUM REVIEWS THIS MONTH’S BEST R REISSUE

L LOCAL RELEASE

Short List Cold War Kids L.A. Devine Father John Misty Pure Comedy Guided by Voices August By Cake Imelda May Life Love Flesh Blood The Chainsmokers Memories... Do Not Happen The New Pornographers Whiteout Conditions White Reaper The World's Best American Band

Cold Beat Chaos By Invitation Crime on the Moon Hannah Lew makes music when she has a bone to pick with emotions–there’s no disputing it. The San Franciscan post-punk artist introduced her project Cold Beat with an album about grief and isolation, and followed it up with a sophomore release ripe with frustration about the changing landscapes of her home. But her third Cold Beat release on her own record label Crime On The Moon

Diet Cig Swear I'm Good At This

Now, Rage Against The Machine this isn’t. Americans don’t need any

Incubus 8

help getting angry. In fact, people’s capacity for anger has been tested

Feist Pleasure

and exhausted. Love Is Love is grim at times, like when Jeremy Earl sings,

JMSN Whatever Makes U Happy

“Have you heard the news? Hate can’t lose” in the song “Bleeding Blue.” But

Sylvan Esso What Now

the horns that follow the verse preach hope, or at least determination.

The Cranberries Something Else Buy it

Stream it

I don’t know if there is a literal record flip, but I feel one at the album’s

Toss it

Woods Love Is Love Woodist Records

facebook.com/elevenmagpdx @elevenpdx

7 | ELEVEN PORTLAND | www.elevenpdx.com

yields the outward criticism and directs it inward to give us her most personal account yet. Chaos By Invitation begins with the vulnerable confession “In Motion,” a synth-powered and dreamy track that asks, “How can I hold on when everything’s in motion?” It sets the tone for everything to follow, which chronicles a detached being confronting betrayal, distance and change. Each of the album’s 11 songs showcases the vulnerabilities exposed when taking a risk on human connection. But the strength of such human emotion is contrasted by Lew’s cold and cutting synthesizers; they drive Chaos by Invitation. Never before has Cold Beat sounded so electronic. Since Lew values fun while performing her songs live, her tracks are overwhelmingly upbeat despite their darkness. She molds her lyrical motifs of ice and chains with mechanical vocals across the album, as on the monotone “Chainmaille” and “Don’t Touch.” Even the album cover evokes machinery, strongly resembling a QR code. » - Gina Pieracci

Love Is Love is the 10th studio release from the psychedelic folk band Woods. It is a concept album in six songs, written and recorded in the two months following the election. It is spiritual, appealing to love as an ideal of human harmony. The band draws on jazz, world music and the sonic toolkit of a Grateful Dead-inspired jam band to deliver elegant compositions, despite how quickly they were produced.

halfway point. We go from the catchy chorus of “Lost In The Crowd,” in which the band sounds like a shaggier The Shins, to the foreboding 10-minute instrumental “Spring Is In The Air.” This dark valley stretches through the subsequent track, “Hit That Drum,” with its dirge tempo. But the album comes out on the other side, and there is sunlight in the reworked reprise of the title track. Love Is Love effectively envelopes you, even consumed with a shabby pair of headphones. It has depth. » - Tyler Burdwood

new music album reviews

Timber Timbre Sincerely, Future Pollution City Slang Records If The Bang Bang Bar from Twin Peaks was a real place, it's definitely where Timber Timbre would have gotten their start as the house band. Bizarre, hesitant and at times unsettling, the blues-tinged psychedelic folk trio's latest album, Sincerely, Future Pollution, is a fitting soundtrack for our current political situation. Marked with reverberating chords that

Future Islands The Far Field 4AD Records Less than a minute into the video for Future Islands’ new single “Ran”–off their new album The Far Field–things are sounding pretty promising. A muscular bassline ripples under dreamy synths. Then comes the throbbing kick courtesy of Michael Lowry, appearing on a Future Islands album for the first time (though he’s served as the live drummer for the core trio of Sam Herring, Gerrit Welmers

hang thick in the air and images of “a Coney Island mermaid caught out in the sludge tide,” the album bobs along in a heavy atmosphere. It creeps from cautious optimism to throbbing despair and back again as if moving through fog. Timber Timbre formed in Toronto in 2005, and Sincerely, Future Pollution is their sixth studio album, following the more whimsical Hot Dreams (2014). Recorded near Paris, Sincerely, Future Pollution is a reflection of the chaos that's been unfolding around us, and it's easy to feel the uncertainty of our times woven throughout. If you close your eyes on the album's title track, you can almost picture the steam rising from the manholes of a dark, crumbling city. Although Sincerely, Future Pollution is rife with themes of societal decline, it's balanced with comparatively brighter tracks like “Grifting” and “Moment.” The latter arrives with an unexpected drive right before the ceiling starts to slowly lower with the despondent “Sewer Blues.”

and William Cashion since 2014.) With the drum arrives Herring’s distinctive raring-to-go, emotive growl; maybe for this new one, the guys reined in the spirit of 2014’s Singles. That is to say, reined in the schmaltz that ultimately endeared a huge audience to the decidedly strange Islands. A closer look at The Far Field as a whole reveals an oddly understated pop album that nonetheless could serve as the final proof of the band’s vision. Maybe it’s all just synthpop to you, but the band’s approach has dramatically evolved over the years. Their fairly spry 2008 debut Wave Like Home called to mind early Depeche Mode, while 2010’s In Evening Air deepened the soulful undercurrents of Herring’s frantic shouting and Welmers’ vintage synths. By the time they arrived at their most affecting album, 2011’s On the Water, the throaty, impassioned ballads were all there, and suddenly, the minimal setup of singer, bassist, and keyboardist/ programmer contrasted with what the music was saying in an interesting way. Three years later, a follow-up

Tense numbers like “Bleu Nuit” are a metaphor for the giant echo chamber that comprises our pundit class, as the listener literally struggles to hear the lyrics through the layers of fuzzy noise. Vocalist Taylor Kirk is a little bit of Johnny Cash mixed with Stephin Merritt, but with a velvety, delicate touch that helps to counteract the heaviness of the album. He also shows a bit of cheekiness on tracks like “Cathedral Blues” when he sings the lyrics, “I felt like half a man, the king of devotion, his death on Instagram.” It’s a nice reminder that even though these are dreadful times, it's best not to take oneself too seriously. Overall Sincerely, Future Pollution is a grim, lovely nod to our collective anguish and the realization that the future is more uncertain than it’s ever been. That feeling of doom is, unfortunately, totally and completely normal, so it's OK if you want to feel numb for a little bit. After all, you are not dreaming, no matter how much you wish you were. » - Crystal Contreras

chock full of earworms, and they were at center stage. The Far Field mostly builds on earlier successes rather than somehow changing to fit a wider audience; it has the texture and emotional pull of On the Water, with Lowry’s presence boosting the immediacy that was missing from Singles. Future Islands have always seemed perplexingly familiar and mysterious at once. Very little–aside from “Ran,” the lovely “Candles,” a duet with Debbie Harry for “Shadows,” and the seductive closer “Black Rose”–stands out at first. What, if anything, separates the feel of “Time on Her Side” from “Beauty of the Road”? Even the lyrics seem to mirror one another, one expressing doubt about love from the present while the other reminisces on love lost. And yet, the album nags at you, demanding more visits. What underlies the ultramundanity of Future Islands’ sincerity and the steady pulse undercutting it can slip past you. In time, it haunts you. Wait and see. » - Matthew Sweeney

www.elevenpdx.com | ELEVEN PORTLAND | 8

live music Photo by Alexander Fattal

KNOW YOUR VENUE The Know | 3728 NE Sandy

hen we visited The Know on Alberta Street a year ago, its future was uncertain. Closure was looming due to the sale of the building in which the DIY dive bar and rock venue had resided for over a decade. There was talk of moving to a new location, but where? And would it be the same? It hurt when The Know permanently closed its old doors, and the hunt for a new space lasted for months. After checking out several locations in Northeast, owner Ryan Stowe serendipitously found a vacancy near the busy corner of NE Sandy Boulevard and Halsey Street. As he tells it, “I stopped at the light and looked over and said, ‘Hey that used to be The Blackbird! I used to go there all the time, and it’s empty?’ The next day our realtor got ahold of the owners, and we were in here checking it out.” The building has a musical history. It recently housed the jazz club Mazza’s, and before that, Tony Starlight’s. It had also been a punk bar called The Blackbird, a place where Stowe had seen and played shows.

During The Know’s hiatus, its longtime crew of bartenders and musicians (which includes three fourths of the band Divers) was nervous. “I thought that there was no way we were going to find a place that felt like home,” says bartender Jen Hackworth. “But then we came here and were like, ‘Oh, this is it. This is The Know. It’s perfect.’” The new digs have much the same lived-in vibe as the former location. While the building is still a work in progress, it was practically move-in ready. The bar and performance space are still divided, except the new space is twice the size, with a large curved bar at the entrance and the stage raised in the corner of the room. As per usual for The Know, the show calendar is packed. As a supporter of emerging

Photo by Alexander Fattal

9 | ELEVEN PORTLAND | www.elevenpdx.com

live music

Local band Deathlist playing The Know grand opening. Photo by Todd Walberg

bands, the venue books a lot of new names, as well as familiar ones like Woolen Men and a one-time-only reunion of The Estranged on April 21. More room means more room for pinball and trippy monster art (expect a lot of art events to complement the music). The biggest change was a huge goal in the transition: a bigger bar with a full kitchen. Sure, you can still have the mixed nuts, but now the venue is open earlier and serves breakfast. The full menu is still under construction, but it will include lots of vegan and vegetarian options and rotating late-night food and drink specials. It’s only been a month now, but in a way the venue has come full circle as the new The Know. Many of the Alberta regulars live in the neighborhood, and there’s rock music in the old Blackbird again. On a recent Friday night, a guy with spiked hair and jacket was working the door, and inside was the sound of clinking glasses and loud, fuzzy guitar. The place was packed with familiar faces. Hackworth emphasizes that all are welcome: “Some people may hear we are a punk bar and don’t think to stop in. We do have a lot of punk shows, but we have a weird mix of interests. We are also just a neighborhood bar.” » - Brandy Crowe

The crowd at The Know grand opening. Photo by Todd Walberg

www.elevenpdx.com | ELEVEN PORTLAND | 10

live music APRIL CRYSTAL BALLROOM

WILLIAMS AVE.

VANCOUVER AVE.

8 NW 6TH

MISSISSIPPI AVE.

ROSELAND THEATER

MLK BLVD.

DOUG FIR

830 E BURNSIDE

RUSSELL ST.

TA VE

NORTH WEST BROADWAY ST.

PEARL 2

BURNSIDE ST.

3939 N MISSISSIPPI

405

25 18

MLK BLVD. 29

GRAND AVE.

11 | ELEVEN PORTLAND | www.elevenpdx.com

OLD TOWN

MISSISSIPPI STUDIOS

23RD AVE.

4 3 5 6 7 8 9 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 26 27 28 29 30

SKIDMORE ST.

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 19 21 22 23 27 28 29 30

INTERSTATE AVE.

2 6 13 14 16 17 20 22 28

1332 W BURNSIDE

DOW NTO WN

5 6 14 16 20 23 26 27 28

live music APRIL WONDER BALLROOM 128 NE RUSSELL

ALBERTA ST.

ALBERTA ARTS

HOLOCENE

1001 SE MORRISON

42ND AVE.

15TH AVE.

11TH AVE.

PRESCOTT ST.

FREMONT ST.

RONTOMS

24TH AVE.

HOLLYWOOD 33RD AVE.

28TH AVE.

D. BLV Y D AN

S 21

LAURELHURST 28

GLISAN ST.

BURNSIDE ST. 8

3 11 6

STARK ST.

MORRISON ST.

BELMONT ST.

KELLY’S OLYMPIAN 426 SW WASHINGTON

BUNK BAR

1028 SE WATER

HAWTHORNE BLVD.

HAWTHORNE

REVOLUTION HALL 1300 SE STARK

DIVISION ST.

L BLVD.

CHAVEZ BLVD.

CLINTON ST.

POWEL

CESAR

LADD’S ADDITION

TOFFEE CLUB

1006 SE HAWTHORNE

5 6 7 8 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 20 21 22 23 26 27 28 29

10 22

The Walters | Summer Salt | New Move

11TH AVE.

8TH AVE.

2 9 16 23 30

DJs in The Taproom (weekends)

BROADWAY ST.

EASTBURN

6 12 13 19 20 26 27

1800 E BURNSIDE

10 14 15 16 20 27

600 E BURNSIDE

KNOTT ST.

8 11 18 20 28

Indiepop Brunch w/My lil' Underground Sticky Toffee: House & Disco w/Bald Eagle Love Action: 80s Synth Pop w/Cisco Parklife: All-Vinly Britpop Sticky Toffee: House & Disco w/Sticky Toffy All Stars Toffee Club 1 Year Anniversary Party Indipop Brunch w/My lil' Underground One Drop: Reggae & Roots w/Sicoide + Guests Sticky Toffee: House & Disco w/Ben Skoch

2 7 8 13 14 15 16 27 28

www.elevenpdx.com | ELEVEN PORTLAND | 12

features APRIL ALBERTA STREET PUB

Photo by Alexander Fattal

13 1036 NE ALBERTA 5 6 11 14 15 20 21 29

Colleen Raney Matty Charles Johanna Warren Poor English | The Y Axes | Starover Blue Castletown Kim Lembo Fourtune's Folly | Cloud Six Jake Capistran

THE SECRET SOCIETY 14 116 NE RUSSELL 7 9 15 28 29

WHITE EAGLE 15 836 N RUSSELL 6 7 8 11 12 13 15 17 20 21 23 24 27 29

LOCAL FEATURE Little Star

he littlest star shone brightest, though it had been a while since I’d been out in the night to see its glow. I met Dan Byers on maybe the second or third day of my college career, and I’m pretty sure he was holding a guitar. What I remember TURN! TURN! TURN! for certain is sitting on a faded dorm 8 NE KILLINGSWORTH couch and listening to him pick away at 6 Furry Metals | The Very Least | Manglor Mountain some songs he’d written, his eyes shut, 7 And And And | Ah God | Ice Queens 8 Lorain | Denim Wedding | Ana Lete | Finger Painting voice a kind of wistful almost-falsetto 12 Alto! | Bob Bucko Jr | Binary Marketing Show that kept drawing passersby to poke 13 Hearts Of Oak | Nanami Ozone their heads into the room, stopping, 14 Golden Retreiver | WL | Ilyas Ashmed 15 Marriage + Cancer | Piss Wand | Humours half-smiling and half-chilled, all of us 16 The Dreaming Dirt in that moment transfixed by the little 20 General Electric | Gulch | Autopilot Is For Lovers guy singing and sitting cross-legged on 21 Shannon Entropy | Loveboys | Charts 26 Ashley Shadow | Sunbathe | Fronjentress the floor. 27 Galaxy Research | Dunkelpek | Mike Gamble Years later, I found myself an 28 Woolen Men | Pelican Ossman | Conditioner awkward half-hour early at Valentine’s, 29 SOBs | The Need | Archangels Thunderbird waiting for Byers and Little Star to HAWTHORNE THEATRE arrive, sitting at the bar and shooting 1507 SE 39TH the shit with one of the leather1 Biffy Clyro | O'Brother 3 Katatonia | Caspian | Uncured jacketed regulars about Chet Baker and 4 Senses Fail | Counterparts | Movements the artistic merits of gut-wrenching 5 The Tea Party | Rishloo sadness. The experience seemed 6 I See Stars | Echos | When We Team Up 11 Brant Bjork | Royal Thunder | Black Wizard vaguely poignant, and in my notebook 15 Roger Clyne & The Peacemakers I tried to metaphorize a series of 26 Battle For Warped Tour 2017 Round #2 abstract paintings on the walls, their Want to have your show listed? E-mail listings@elevenpdx.com colors blooming and bleeding across one

13 | ELEVEN PORTLAND | www.elevenpdx.com

another and arriving at something about time and space and the way people move and change in relation to one another. When everyone finally began to show up, Byers and I sat down and had a few beers, going over the usual haven’tseen-you-in-a-while conversation points: jobs, houses, relationships, art and all the rest, but it wasn’t until Little Star began to play that I was pulled back into memory’s loose orbit, caught once again in the well of a voice unique in its disarming honesty, singing the song of a person laying everything bare for the gathered crowd. I caught up with Dan after the show, and we talked about Little Star’s new self-titled project, his songwriting style, antidepressants and sitting in traffic. The Portland trio’s new self-titled album comes out April 14. ELEVEN: Take us back to the formation of Little Star. How did you guys first start making music together? What, if anything, has changed since then? Dan Byers: I started making and recording songs under the name Little

Star in 2014. I made them with a drum machine and played all the instruments until 2015, when I asked Julian [Morris] and my friend Kyle to play. Julian has stayed throughout the last two years (and two drummers), and now we’re playing with our good friend Sonia [Weber]. I still write the songs and bring them to Julian and Sonia. They make up their parts. 11: Let’s talk about the new selftitled album. How long has this project been in the works? DB: We recorded our self-titled album last July and have been waiting forever for it to be released by our label. I have been excited about moving on from this record–I wrote the songs on it one-and-a-half or two years ago–even though a lot of the content unfortunately and fortunately still applies to my life today. 11: Much of this album is about dealing with stress, anxiety and life in various ways, from love to drugs to music. Which do you find the most effective, and why is it music? DB: I really like making music and so do Julian and Sonia. It’s a way for us to feel good about ourselves. You know, kinda useful or something? Like maybe somebody will hear what I’m saying and it will help them feel better–like how Robert Smith helps me feel better.

11: Your songwriting style has always had a frankness to it, a kind of humorous yet poignant selfconsciousness that comes across both in your lyrics and in the way you sing them. Could you speak a little bit on how you go about writing songs? DB: The songs work together as an album because they are all about me and my little drama world in some way. Only “Imbue Yourself with Karen” isn't. I wanted to talk about different things than I did on Being Close. In order to do that I stayed away from talking about romantic relationships and that particular kind of heartbreak that I talked about over and over on Being Close. Instead I wrote about other types of relationships in my life: my relationship to prescription drugs, friends, lying, The Exorcist... I tried to draw a picture of another side of my world. Part of that is anti-depressants. Anti-Ds make me feel real numb and I hate that. I unfortunately want to die when I'm not on them. I tried going off like three times last year, and each time I went off or switched drugs I had some scary incident involving a mental health crisis. I made some songs about how antidepressants made (and make) me feel numb and disinterested in the things I used to like. Really just bored and unconcerned with everything. I wrote and write about what it's like for me to be on anti-Ds because I don't really know how else to cope. I know

features APRIL VALENTINES

232 SW ANKENY

ALADDIN THEATER 3017 SE MILWAUKIE

Choir! Choir! Choir! Vasen Preservation Hall Jazz Band Julian Lage & Chris Eldridge | Aoife O'Donovan The Zombies

THE GOODFOOT 2845 SE STARK

THE KNOW

13 NW 6TH

225 SW ASH

Photo by Michael Reiersgaard

2 6 7 8 9 12 13 14 16 20 21 22 23 25 27

ASH STREET SALOON

3 8 11 12 20 26 27 29

STAR THEATER

14 15 18 19 23

Ural Thomas & The Pain Object Heavy | Diggin' Dirt Andy Coe Band Ramblin' Rose Asher Fulero Band | Far Out West Head For The Hills Sneaky Pete & The Secret Weapons | Goldfoot Yak Attack | Night Driver

3728 NE SANDY

1 3 9 22 28

8 13 14 20 22 23 27 28 29 30

6 7 8 9 12 13

www.elevenpdx.com | ELEVEN PORTLAND | 14

features APRIL ASH STREET (CONTINUED) 16 19 20 21 22 23 25 26 28

LIQUOR STORE 24 THE 3341 SE BELMONT 8 Jaques Greene & Suicideyear

25 DANTES 350 W BURNSIDE 5 8 9 13 14 15 21 22 29

26 1937 SE 11TH

THE FIRKIN

14 Kill Frankie 15 The Ornery | Drunk On Pines | High Five Danger 21 Cold Static | Strictly Platonic HOLLYWOOD THEATRE A not-for-profit organization whose mission is to entertain, inspire, educate and connect the community through the art of film while preserving an historic Portland landmark. NE HOLLYWOOD 4122 NE Sandy Blvd (97212) 503.493.1128 | hollywoodtheatre.org

27 4830 NE 42ND

SPARE ROOM

7 8 22 27 28 29 30

Erotic City Norman Sylvester Band The Get Ahead | Redray Frazier Country Night w/Zach Bryson The Get Down Lisa Mann Weske

28 2958 NE GLISAN

LAURELTHIRST PUB

4 5 6 7 8 11 12 13 14 15 18 19 20 21 22 23 25 26 27 29

15 | ELEVEN PORTLAND | www.elevenpdx.com

Photo by Michael Reiersgaard

the whole “feeling nothing/feeling too much” split is something a lot of people on antidepressants experience and so some of my songs (like “Mood”) are meant to be hopeful and encouraging for people who struggle with that particular dilemma. Some of the songs were written about friends who I love, kinda like a thank you for being in my life, and some of the songs were written by friends who I love. Molly Schaeffer is one of my favorite artists and poets, and when we first met she sent me some of her poems. I loved her poem "Imbue Yourself with Karen" because of its strange and beautiful imagery. I liked imagining Karen's world. (She’s a fictional person). Karen's room. I didn't change any of the words when I put them into a melody. Molly thinks it's a better song than a poem, and I think she has actually edited it a lot to make it work better as a poem. I think it's great either way. My friend Kym Winchell wrote the first part of "Blue Horses" about my room. She had never seen my room and wanted to imagine it via poem. I kept the first half of what she wrote and then wrote the rest of the song about a memory of someone in my life.

metaphorically modern space–alone

11: There are several points on the new album where you talk about being in the car, which is an interesting choice. It’s where I get a lot of my good listening, thinking and writing done,

structure that loosely goes: tender

and to me it’s always felt like a kind of

it works?

in a car in traffic, a weird sort of communal loneliness. Can you speak on your relationship with driving and songwriting? DB: It’s awesome you brought this up! I wrote a couple of the car songs in 2015 after I got a job teaching piano to people around the city and in the suburbs. I ended up sitting in traffic for like an hour (fuuuuck) every Wednesday and Thursday. I was going through a terrible break-up and feeling a lot of anxiety. I had a lot of time to feel my anxiety while I sat in traffic. It’s a weird, lonely, trapped feeling that can be overwhelming to me at times. At the same time, it’s also so mundane and shared by so many people that it feels silly to talk about. And that’s how I feel about being depressed and on medication: ashamed and silly to bring it up because it is so common and shared and such a tired musical trope. Talking about traffic was maybe a secret way for me to do that before I was more comfortable talking about my true emotions. 11: Your songs often have a soft-sections that shift into really raw and emotional sections (“Yamaguchi” and “Improv” are like this). How did you arrive at that form? Why do you think

DB: I’m not sure why that happens. I think I need to concentrate on changing things up and avoid returning to what feels right as an emotional arc next time I write. Maybe try a long intro or something. I like screaming and yelling and being obnoxious in song form, but I am often too scared to do it from the start of the song. I, for whatever reason, feel more comfortable leading up to yells. Workin’ on that now. 11: Is this going to be a purely digital release, or are you shooting for a physical release too? What would be your ideal means of distribution? How do you prefer to listen to recorded music? DB: It’s going to be a digital, tape and CD release. I love listening to music in my headphones and in my car. Pretty boring. Wish I had more for this one. 11: Your show at Valentine’s was the first time you’ve played in awhile. (Great set by the way.) Do you plan on

playing more in the future, touring at all for this album? If so, where? If not, why not? Anything else you need to get off your chest? Anything in the works besides this new album? When can we expect that to be available? DB: Thanks! We’re gonna go on tour in California from April 3-10, and then play on April 14 at Mississippi Studios for our tape release. After that I think it’s May 8 at Mississippi Studios with Charly Bliss, and then once a month until we’re dead. We stopped playing for a while because we had to find a new drummer and rebuild our lives a little bit after a terrible falling out. 11: Who are you listening to right now that people should know about? DB: My favorite Portland bands right now are Dragging an Ox Through Water and Sweeping Exits. Otherwise, I listen to The Cure. » - Henry Whittier-Ferguson

features APRIL ANALOG CAFE & THEATER 720 SE HAWTHORNE

5 6 7 8 12 15 16 19 20 21 27 29

MERCY MCNAB PHOTOGRAPHY

Band Photos Artistic Portraits Event and Live Music Coverage Product Shots THE MCNAB LAB 126 NE Alberta St 317-402-5026 www.mercymcnab.com

TWILIGHT CAFE & BAR 1420 SE POWELL

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 21 22 25 26 28 29

THE FIRKIN TAVERN Located on the west side of Ladd’s, the Firkin Tavern features an astounding selection of craft beers to enjoy inside or on our patio. Art enthusiasts will enjoy a variety of local artwork on display and sold comission-free! SE LADD'S 1937 SE 11th Ave (97214) 503.206.7552 | thefirkintavern.com

FREEMONT THEATER 2393 NE FREMONT

Red Yarn Family Show (Tuesdays) "All In" Weekly Jazz Event (Wednesdays) The Murphy Beds Bluegrass & Americana Sunday: Julie & The Wayves The Greg Blake Trio Sufi Joe Jonathan Brinkley | Robin Jackson Oregonophony (Portland Jazz Composers) Strange & The Familiars Sam Densmore | Scott Garred Chuck Cheesman Bluegrass & Americana Sunday: Mountain Honey Helen Sung Feather Amanda Breese | Thom Lyons Bluegrass & Americana Sunday: The Loafers

4 9 11 13 14 15 20 21 22 23 27 28 29 30

www.elevenpdx.com | ELEVEN PORTLAND | 16

17 | ELEVEN PORTLAND | www.elevenpdx.com

Photo byPORTLAND Citizen Kane| 18 Wayne www.elevenpdx.com | ELEVEN

Photo by Kris Krüg

o many up-and-coming bands dream of that

Salivating for Symbiosis, the band has filed down some of

moment when some indie oligarch plucks

their intentionally rough edges and arrived at something

them from relative obscurity and places

a little more focused and mature. Many of the songs on the

them on a platform to bask in the limelight.

first record were dominated by frenzied instrumentation

The thinking goes: Sometimes you just need

with schizophrenic shifts in mood, rhythm and genre that

the right person to vouch for your music

ultimately provided more variance within each song than

and all your dreams of being a still-broke

there was in the record as a whole. While maintaining a

but properly recognized musician will be realized. Before you know it, you’ll be playing on late night talk shows and supporting big names on national tours. Hey, it’s rare, but it happens, right? This scenario more or less came to fruition for freaky psych-proggers Morning Teleportation. In the late aughts, they made a name for themselves with explosive live performances and a kind of folksy mathematical psychedelia to which you can dance. However you classify what they were doing, it caught the eye of Modest Mouse’s Isaac Brock, and he signed them to his newly minted label Glacial Pace Recordings. Brock even offered to produce their first album, Expanding Anyway, which ended up being a high-energy onslaught of psychedelic rock meets banjo meets synthesizer meets erratic song structure. It’s a pretty wild ride that garnered the band some attention in the music press and even a spot performing on Letterman. Six years have passed since Morning Teleportation’s

similar sense of playful experimentation with style and structure, the new record has a more measured approach to orchestration, achieving a textured polyphony that still provides room for dominant melodies to breathe. Vocalist Tiger Merritt also dials down the Caleb Followill-esque bravado he had on the first record, landing on a calmer, more melodic approach that sounds a little less forced. Overall, Salivating for Symbiosis has a more polished and restrained sound that, while perhaps carrying less euphoric energy than Expanding Anyway, is more thoughtful, dynamic and popfriendly. Though the band lived in Portland for about four years, they now reside back in Kentucky and Tennessee. I chatted with Merritt and keyboardist Travis Goodwin about their new record, the perils of being a touring band and their on-againoff-again relationship with Portland. It was a particularly drizzly and drab day in Puddletown when I called, so hearing

raucous debut, and the band has been slowly and quietly

about the beautiful weather in the South made me just a

honing their sound. On their forthcoming sophomore release,

little bit jealous.

19 | ELEVEN PORTLAND | www.elevenpdx.com

Photo by Rodrigo Jardón

features national scene ELEVEN: Besides being on Glacial Pace, you guys had a history in Portland, right? Travis Goodwin: Yeah, we lived in Portland for about four-and-a-half years. Now I live in Nashville, and Tiger lives in Franklin, Kentucky. I miss playing Portland. It’s one of my favorite cities to play in the lower 48. We haven't done it in almost five years. 11: Well, you’ve gotta get back up here! TG: Yeah, I know, I’m ready! I love Portland. It’s been one of those cities that really helped me grow up. When I moved out there I was probably 20; it was really enlightening. I loved it. I do like having the four seasons we’ve got here though. Like I said, I love Portland, but today it’s 80 degrees without a cloud in the sky, and it’s been like that on and off for the past two weeks. 11: So you’ve got some Portland roots. Is that how you hooked up with Glacial Pace and Isaac Brock? Tiger Merritt: We went up to Lollapalooza and met Isaac briefly through a mutual friend. Then a bit later we went to go see a Modest Mouse show in Nashville. After the show I was just walking around with a guitar or a banjo on the street. He said hello and we all ended up hopping in a taxi van

䬀䔀䰀䰀夀ᤠ匀伀䰀夀䴀倀䤀䄀一

匀䄀吀唀刀䐀䄀夀㐀⸀㄀㨀䰀䄀唀䜀䠀吀刀䄀䌀䬀娀嘀伀䰀㄀ ⴀ 㤀倀䴀⼀␀㜀吀唀䔀匀䐀䄀夀㐀⸀㐀㨀倀䄀刀吀夀䐀䄀䴀䄀䜀䔀䐀䨀匀㨀䐀䨀刀䔀䬀䬀䄀䈀䔀䌀䌀䄀 ⴀ 㤀倀䴀⼀䘀刀䔀䔀圀䔀䐀一䔀匀䐀䄀夀㐀⸀㔀㨀吀䠀䔀匀䠀刀䤀䰀䰀吀伀一䔀匀Ⰰ 䬀䤀䰀䰀䔀䐀䈀夀䠀䔀䄀䰀吀䠀Ⰰ 吀䠀䔀䰀唀一䜀匀 ⴀ 㤀倀䴀⼀␀㔀吀䠀唀刀匀䐀䄀夀㐀⸀㘀㨀吀䠀䔀吀䠀䔀匀䤀匀 ⴀ 㤀倀䴀⼀␀㔀䘀刀䤀䐀䄀夀㐀⸀㜀㨀匀倀䄀䌀䔀匀䠀䄀刀䬀Ⰰ 倀䄀倀䔀刀嘀伀䤀䐀Ⰰ 吀䠀䔀䘀伀刀䔀嘀䔀刀䄀䜀伀匀 ⴀ 㤀倀䴀⼀␀㔀匀䄀吀唀刀䐀䄀夀㐀⸀㠀㨀䔀䄀䌀䠀䈀伀吀䠀Ⰰ 䈀䤀吀䌀䠀䔀匀䤀一吀䠀䔀䈀䔀䔀䠀䤀嘀䔀Ⰰ 䌀䠀䄀一䐀䰀䔀刀匀吀刀唀吀娀 ⴀ 㤀倀䴀⼀␀㔀匀唀一䐀䄀夀㐀⸀㤀㨀匀倀䔀䌀匀䌀刀䤀倀吀㨀䜀䤀䰀䴀伀刀䔀䜀䤀刀䰀匀 ⴀ 㜀倀䴀⼀␀㔀匀唀一䐀䄀夀㐀⸀㤀㨀䴀伀一䐀䄀夀㐀⸀㄀㨀䬀䤀䐀娀䘀刀伀䴀吀䠀䔀圀伀伀䐀娀吀伀唀刀 ⴀ 㤀倀䴀⼀␀㔀吀唀䔀匀䐀䄀夀㐀⸀㄀㄀㨀圀䤀䌀䬀䔀䐀匀䠀䄀䰀䰀伀圀匀Ⰰ 匀吀䄀刀䌀䰀唀䈀 ⴀ 㤀倀䴀⼀␀㔀吀唀䔀匀䐀䄀夀㐀⸀㄀㄀㨀倀䄀刀吀夀䐀䄀䴀䄀䜀䔀䐀䨀匀㨀䐀䨀䘀伀䰀䬀䰀伀刀䔀 ⴀ 㤀倀䴀⼀䘀刀䔀䔀圀䔀䐀一䔀匀䐀䄀夀㐀⸀㄀㈀㨀䈀䔀一䔀䘀䤀吀䘀伀刀倀䰀䄀一一䔀䐀倀䄀刀䔀一吀䠀伀伀䐀 ⴀ 㤀倀䴀⼀␀㘀吀䠀唀刀匀䐀䄀夀㐀⸀㄀㌀㨀吀伀伀䔀䄀匀夀Ⰰ 匀⸀䴀⸀伀⸀倀⸀Ⰰ 䐀伀一䴀伀刀䘀唀匀唀Ⰰ 䈀䄀䐀䠀伀䴀䈀刀䔀匀Ⰰ 䐀䨀吀䤀吀䐀䄀䐀䐀夀 ⴀ 㤀倀䴀⼀␀㔀䘀刀䤀䐀䄀夀㐀⸀㄀㐀㨀圀䠀䔀一圀䔀䴀䔀吀Ⰰ 吀䠀䔀嘀䄀刀䤀䄀一吀匀Ⰰ 䠀䄀一一䄀䠀夀䔀唀一 ⴀ 㤀倀䴀⼀␀㔀䘀刀䤀䐀䄀夀㐀⸀㄀㐀㨀匀䄀吀唀刀䐀䄀夀㐀⸀㄀㔀㨀吀刀䄀倀䐀伀伀刀匀伀䌀䤀䄀䰀Ⰰ 吀䠀䔀唀倀倀䔀刀匀吀刀䄀吀䄀 ⴀ 㤀倀䴀⼀␀㔀匀唀一䐀䄀夀㐀⸀㄀㘀㨀䄀䰀䤀䈀唀刀刀䔀匀匀Ⰰ 䠀䄀一一䄀䠀䄀䄀匀䄀一䐀吀䠀䔀䐀唀䬀䔀伀䘀一伀刀䘀伀䰀䬀 ⴀ 㤀倀䴀⼀␀㔀䴀伀一䐀䄀夀㐀⸀㄀㜀㨀䈀唀刀䬀䔀䨀䄀䴀Ⰰ 䜀䄀刀䐀䔀一匀匀Ⰰ 䐀伀䰀倀䠀䤀一䴀䤀䐀圀䤀嘀䔀匀 ⴀ 㤀倀䴀⼀␀㔀吀唀䔀匀䐀䄀夀㐀⸀㄀㠀㨀倀䄀刀吀夀䐀䄀䴀䄀䜀䔀䐀䨀匀㨀䐀䨀䴀䄀吀吀䠀䤀䄀匀 ⴀ 㤀倀䴀⼀䘀刀䔀䔀吀䠀唀刀匀䐀䄀夀㐀⸀㈀㨀䘀伀唀刀㈀伀䠀 ⴀ 㤀倀䴀⼀␀㜀䘀刀䤀䐀䄀夀㐀⸀㈀㄀㨀匀䄀䐀䤀匀吀䤀䬀Ⰰ 一䄀䌀䠀伀倀䤀䌀䄀匀匀伀Ⰰ 刀䄀䘀䄀䔀䰀嘀䤀䜀䤀䰀䄀一吀䤀䌀匀 ⴀ 㤀倀䴀⼀␀㄀㔀匀䄀吀唀刀䐀䄀夀㐀⸀㈀㈀㨀䬀䔀䔀倀䔀刀䬀䔀䔀倀䔀刀Ⰰ 䴀伀䈀䤀䰀䤀吀䤀䔀匀 ⴀ 㤀倀䴀⼀␀㔀匀䄀吀唀刀䐀䄀夀㐀⸀㈀㈀㨀匀唀一䐀䄀夀㐀⸀㈀㌀㨀䰀䄀䐀䤀䔀匀刀伀䌀䬀䌀䄀䴀倀 ⴀ ㄀㄀㨀㌀䄀䴀䐀伀伀刀匀 ⴀ ㄀㈀倀䴀匀䠀伀圀⼀␀㜀ⴀ␀㄀匀唀一䐀䄀夀㐀⸀㈀㌀㨀䌀刀䄀吀䔀䐀䤀䜀䜀䔀刀匀䰀䤀嘀䔀℀ ⴀ 㠀㨀㌀倀䴀䐀伀伀刀匀 ⴀ 㤀倀䴀匀䠀伀圀⼀␀㔀吀唀䔀匀䐀䄀夀㐀⸀㈀㔀㨀倀䄀刀吀夀䐀䄀䴀䄀䜀䔀䐀䨀匀 ⴀ 㤀倀䴀⼀䘀刀䔀䔀圀䔀䐀一䔀匀䐀䄀夀㐀⸀㈀㘀㨀匀䴀䄀䰀䰀䴀䤀䰀䰀䤀伀一Ⰰ 吀䠀䔀刀䔀䤀匀一伀䴀伀唀一吀䄀䤀一Ⰰ 䴀䄀堀圀䔀䰀䰀䌀䄀䈀䄀一䄀 ⴀ 㠀㨀㌀倀䴀⼀␀㜀吀䠀唀刀匀䐀䄀夀㐀⸀㈀㜀㨀倀䔀吀䔀刀䬀䔀䰀䰀䔀刀刀夀䄀一Ⰰ 䌀䄀嘀䔀䌀刀䤀䌀䬀䔀吀Ⰰ吀䠀䄀一䬀匀䜀䤀嘀䤀一䜀 ⴀ 㤀倀䴀⼀␀㔀䘀刀䤀䐀䄀夀㐀⸀㈀㠀㨀吀䠀䔀嘀䄀刀䤀䄀一吀匀Ⰰ 吀䠀䔀一䔀圀唀倀Ⰰ 吀䠀䔀吀伀䄀䐀匀 ⴀ 㤀倀䴀⼀␀㔀䘀刀䤀䐀䄀夀㐀⸀㈀㠀㨀匀䄀吀唀刀䐀䄀夀㐀⸀㈀㤀㨀䰀␀嘀䔀䨀␀夀Ⰰ 䨀䄀䴀䔀匀䄀一䄀夀䄀 ☀ 吀䠀䔀䌀唀刀刀䔀一吀Ⰰ 䠀伀䰀䤀䐀䄀䔀䠀伀唀匀䔀 ⴀ 㤀倀䴀⼀␀㔀匀唀一䐀䄀夀匀㨀吀䠀䔀䔀䄀刀䰀夀䔀䄀刀䰀夀䌀伀䴀䔀䐀夀伀倀䔀一䴀䤀䌀 ⴀ 㐀倀䴀䘀刀䔀䔀圀䔀䔀䬀䰀夀䘀刀䔀䔀䌀伀䴀䔀䐀夀伀倀䔀一䴀䤀䌀⸀ 匀䤀䜀一唀倀䄀吀㌀㌀ ⸀

䴀伀一䐀䄀夀匀㨀䔀夀䔀䌀䄀一䐀夀嘀䨀匀 ⴀ 㤀倀䴀⼀䘀刀䔀䔀䴀唀匀䤀䌀嘀䤀䐀䔀伀刀䔀儀唀䔀匀吀匀䘀伀刀吀䠀䔀匀伀唀䰀⸀ 匀䔀䰀䔀䌀吀䘀刀伀䴀䄀匀吀伀唀吀䌀䄀吀䄀䰀伀䜀℀

䠀䄀倀倀夀䠀伀唀刀㨀㐀倀䴀ⴀ㜀倀䴀 ⴀ 匀䔀嘀䔀一䐀䄀夀匀䄀圀䔀䔀䬀䰀䄀吀䔀一䤀䜀䠀吀㨀匀唀一䐀䄀夀 ⴀ 吀䠀唀刀匀䐀䄀夀 ⴀ ㄀㄀倀䴀ⴀ㄀䄀䴀

and hung out that night. Our buddy [bassist] Paul Wilkerson had moved to Portland, and we were talking about starting the band. I flew out to Portland for a month or so to hang out with Paul and start writing songs. Then we all moved to Austin, Texas. Paul and I drove from Portland down the coast and Travis and Tres [Coker] came from Bowling Green and we lived in Texas for a few months and cut demos. We toured out of Texas to play Bowling Green, Nashville and Cincinnati. We had a show in Cincinnati the same night as a Modest Mouse show and Isaac came out to see the set. TG: After that show in Cincinnati he told us he’d produce and put out our record. TM: Yeah, so we moved back to Bowling Green and made plans to drive out to Portland, move there, and cut the record. I don't know if Isaac expected us to show up, but we did. 11: How did that feel? Were you guys Modest Mouse fans? TM: Oh definitely. I mean it was crazy for sure; I had always loved listening to them. If I could tell myself back when I was younger where we are now, I probably would have been pretty surprised. 11: What was the scene you came out of in Bowling Green like? TM: It was pretty great when we were playing there.

www.elevenpdx.com | ELEVEN PORTLAND | 20

features national scene 11: Tell me more about your experience living in Portland. What did you do for fun? What were you favorite venues? TM: Living in Portland was great! We found a house to rent in the Southeast and had some house shows. The first venue show we played out there was with Mimicking Birds and Oh Captain, My Captain at Holocene. We would play Doug Fir, Mississippi Studios, Rontoms and open for bands at Crystal Ballroom. We were into having everyone over to jam, riding bikes, skateboarding, mushroom pickin', BBQ'n, going to the rivers and relaxing. 11: Sounds perfectly Portland! What ultimately led you all to move back to the South? TM: After being in Portland for a few years I think our drummer wanted to move back to Kentucky to be near family, and it seemed like a good time to switch things up for a minute. I do remember loading up the moving truck on a sunny day and wondering, “Why am I moving again?” 11: You guys really balance extremes well in your music. There are a lot of intense dynamic shifts in everything from instrumentation to rhythm to mood and genre influences. What’s it like when you sit down to write a song? What’s your process like? TM: It's just whatever happens naturally. It's not really the same for each song. Some Photo by Kris Krüg

stuff gets started out on a guitar riff or vocal melody; other stuff we all start writing off a drum beat or whatever. Sometimes a

There were always really cool house shows going on

song will start out as an electronic song and it ends up being

in Bowling Green. There were a lot of fun times, good

more of a rock song. Lyric-wise sometimes it’s off the cuff;

community, cool people.

sometimes I sit down and write it. Sometimes we’ll all jam to

TG: It was really interesting. There were a lot of cool bands that came up together when we were starting. In one night you’d have all these bands playing house parties; it was super fun. We also toured a lot with Cage The Elephant. They’re awesome.

come up with ideas; other times someone comes in with an something. It’s a blend of a lot of different approaches. TG: Yeah and songs tend to evolve and change over time. TM: I don’t really just sit down and write the lyrics right off the bat. I kinda let them cruise along as I’m traveling and they pick up different verses or whatever.

11: Do you guys still play DIY shows these days? TG: Yeah... sometimes, it depends. About five months ago we played a pretty cool DIY show. It was a lot of fun.

21 | ELEVEN PORTLAND | www.elevenpdx.com

11: What’s recording like for you? Do you come to the studio with finished songs usually, or do you do some of the writing while you’re there?

features national scene TM: Yeah definitely. We’d write stuff, then tour with it,

TG: One of the cool things about smaller shows is we can

then get some basic tracking done in the studio and start

kind of extend the set a little. It’s fun; there’s more freedom.

incorporating modular synthesizers and a whole variety of

There have been some shows that have lasted two or three

stuff. Working with Jeremy Sherrer on the [new] record was

hours.

awesome–he was the producer. He’s Portland through and

TM: Yeah, we’ve got a lot of material that never got

through. He and I both were basically living at Ice Cream

released. I actually like to think of this one as our third

Party Studio on and off, working every day on the record.

record. We basically recorded another album after the first

He put in extra time afterward too–he’s amazing. It was

one but never put it out. We kind of skipped the sophomore

really fun collaborating with him and having access to all the

slump and went straight to the third one.

equipment to grow and write and take our stuff to a different place.

11: When you do tour are you partying a lot or are you more business oriented?

11: So, are you guys going on tour to promote this thing? TM: It’s business and party always. TG: Yeah, the album comes out April 28, and in May we have a support tour with Modest Mouse on the West Coast

TG: It’s party business! I guess it depends on the week though and what we’ve got going on.

and the Midwest. We’ve submitted for a bunch of other tours for the rest of the year too. We’re just waiting to find out from our agent what we’re doing. 11: Do you guys prefer to tour supporting bigger acts or going out on your own?

11: Well, you must have some good stories then. Let’s hear one. TM: One of the most fun and stressful tours we've done was in an old RV named Hagatha. Our friend Casey had a lead on this RV that a relative owned sitting in a cow pasture out

TM: I like both. There’s a different atmosphere at larger

in Utah. The plan was to fly out to Utah, get this RV running

shows than at smaller venues and both are cool for different

and take it on tour. We stayed out there a few days working

reasons. I do like hearing those guys every night though.

on Hagatha with cattle coming up to the engine and doors

www.elevenpdx.com | ELEVEN PORTLAND | 22

features national scene while we were trying to fix it up. We get it running and started going east. In some of the first mountains we hit it starts breaking down and we have to get it running again on the side of the road. I think that happened a few more times on the way to Kentucky. We get the thing back and started getting it ready for tour–fixing the wiring, cleaning it, and making sure there were no more black widows. Gotta make a house a home. We start the tour with Desert Noises and it seems to be running pretty good. Then, after playing Pittsburgh we get in some heavy traffic and the engine starts to overheat so we start going down the side of the road and people start to get surly. It was an odd kind of bumper cars thing and people were pretty much pushing each other’s cars out of the way, stopping at nothing. We had to make it 50 more miles to get within the tow radius of a wrecker. We finally were able to get towed to the festival with the RV bouncing around like crazy on the tow truck. We thought the cabinets were going to fall off. Somehow with a mixture of our buddy’s mechanical knowledge and exotic mood modifiers the engine was taken apart and put back together. Shortly thereafter we parted ways with Hagatha. 11: What would you say is new or different for you guys musically with Salivating for Symbiosis? TG: I think me and Tiger were able to be a lot more handson with the sound, and we were able to spend a lot more time working on the record. Our bass player and drummer were out there for the first 10 days. Then I stayed for another 10 weeks or so. Tiger stayed out for a lot longer, like about a year. We were living and traveling between Portland and the Bowling Green and Nashville areas. TM: Jeremy really elevated the songs so much. Some of my favorite songs weren’t completely finished when we brought them in, and they completely evolved into a new thing. Isaac dropped in a few times, but he mostly let us go on our own with Jeremy for this one. 11: What kind of stuff were you thinking about when you wrote these songs? What kinds of themes were you exploring? TM: Sometimes I feel like the themes change from one line to the next, you know? I just focus in on an event and I’ll think about it over a period of a few months. One line will be from the past; one line will be from the present. I don’t necessarily know what a song is about sometimes as a whole, but as I sing them over time they evolve and I start to look at them differently, and the lines start to mean new things to me. I tend to focus on all kinds of things like personal events, or stuff out in the world, or things the group of us have experienced like travel or losing friends. It’s a mixture of moments that have happened over the years. »

23 | ELEVEN PORTLAND | www.elevenpdx.com

A PR IL M U SI C C AL E N DAR

THE TOFFE E C LU B Sunday 2nd - MY HEART BELONGS TO TWEE Indiepop Brunch with My lil’ Underground Friday 7th - STICKY TOFFEE House and Disco with Bald Eagle Saturday 8th - LOVE ACTION 80s Synth Pop with Cisco Thursday 13th - PARKLIFE All-Vinyl Britpop Friday 14th - STICKY TOFFEE House and Disco with Sticky Toffee All Stars Saturday 15th - ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY Our first birthday party! Sunday 16th - MY HEART BELONGS TO TWEE Indiepop Brunch with My lil’ Underground Thursday 27th- ONE DROP Reggae and Roots with Sicoide and Guests Friday 28th - STICKY TOFFEE House and Disco with Ben Skoch

1006 SE HAWTHORNE BLVD, PORTLAND

FOR LEASE

BAND REHEARSAL & CREATIVE ART SPACE CENTRALLY LOCATED INNER SOUTHEAST PORTLAND INCLUDES UTILITIES, WIFI, HEAT + AC THREE LOCATIONS: ANKENY • ASH • DIVISION REVOLVERPROPERTY.COM REVOLVERPROPERTYMGMT@GMAIL.COM 971.570.5375

Beneath Brine

www.elevenpdx.com | ELEVEN PORTLAND | 24

community literary arts Photo by Todd Cooper

greatness but come up short, or who, despite intentions of kindness and love, still manage to fuck everything up. Those are stories about lives that don't go as planned, but they must go on. While the stories were shaped by a number of things, including events in my own life, the primary influence has to do with a sense of place. If you look at a map of Wisconsin and find where Highways 55 and 64 intersect, that is the area I was trying to write about. 11: Congratulations on becoming recognized for the Leslie Bradshaw Award for Young Adult Literature (from the Oregon Book Awards). What does this recognition mean for A Series of Small Maneuvers? ET: Thanks. I believe in this book, and it feels affirming to get some critical recognition for it, in part, because many people initially passed on it. It means a lot for Ooligan Press, who took a risk with my book, and they worked their butts off. I'm so grateful to them, and their editors, so they should

LITERARY ARTS Oregon writer Eliot Treichel

regon Book Award finalist Eliot Treichel weaves young adult literature with small-town, dirty realism to create compelling results. His first book, Close Is Fine, is a gritty collection of short stories steeped in Midwestern sincerity while delivering raw punchlines at the expense of men living along Wisconsin highways. In A Series of Small Maneuvers, Treichel embraces the Y.A. novel by rejecting the geography, gender and genre arrangements of his essays, and he explores the grief of a young girl after losing her father. Still, don’t let Small Maneuvers’ Y.A. tag fool you. Treichel’s latest work carries over the same honest-to-god storytelling and realism found in Close Is Fine, but it shows what he can do with a higher page count. Keep an eye on Treichel. His next maneuver will land, and it will be big. ELEVEN: I’ll start by asking you about Close Is Fine, a gritty collection of short stories that won the Wisconsin Library Association Literary Award. How did that collection materialize? Eliot Treichel: The title comes from a piece of dialogue I overheard while on a construction site. At the time, I'd been working on the collection for several years. I was struggling to find the thread that connected all the pieces together, and when I heard "close is fine," I knew that would be the title. All the stories in that collection are about men, who strive for

25 | ELEVEN PORTLAND | www.elevenpdx.com

share in this too. Overall, I hope this will lead more people to discover Ooligan Press, not only for their books, but also for the stellar people coming out of the program. This whole thing has also made my mom really stoked. 11: Small Maneuvers has received other positive critical reception. Melanie Bishop of The Huffington Post wrote, “I’d go so far as to say [A Series of Small Maneuvers] is one of the best books I’ve read this year, in any genre,” and Publishers Weekly gave it a starred review. Additionally, it won the Reading the West Award. How does this success translate to your work as a writer? ET: Those are tough questions to answer. I'm very grateful for, and humbled by, the acknowledgments that A Series of Small Maneuvers has received. I can't say that they don't matter, because they do. At the same time, I think there is sometimes a sense that these kinds of successes will automatically parlay into something larger, career-wise, or that they'll provide a kind of everlasting Kryptonite to selfdoubt. The truth of the matter is that the work of the writer is to write, and great reviews or awards don't change that. I have a quote from Cheryl Strayed clipped to the lamp on my desk, which reads, "Your cause is to write a great book and then to write another great book and to keep writing them for as long as you can. That is your only cause." It's there as a reminder, so I can turn to it when I get caught up in the other stuff. I should also say that right behind that quote is another piece of paper, which reads, "Be a bestseller." 11: Did Small Maneuvers accomplish what you set out for it to do? ET: I'll say yes—but also no. What matters most—besides just doing the work—is if the book resonates with people. For the most part, when people pick up Small Maneuvers, I want

community literary arts it to resonate with

11: I read where you told Eugene Weekly that writing

them. That's the

about Emma’s grief “broke [you] open pretty hard.” Could you

main thing: just

expand on that quote?

getting the book in people's hands.

ET: I wrote the first full draft of the novel at a monthlong residency in Eastern Oregon, next to a dry lakebed.

11: This might

I specifically sought out that residency so I could mirror

be a good time to

Emma's isolation—at least to a small degree. There was no

ask about your

real cell service out there, and no Wi-Fi. The size of the

transition from

solitude and quietness, while reinvigorating, was also tough

writing short

to withstand. I missed my family, pets, missed my home,

stories to becoming

and I missed the things that could distract me from my own

a Y.A. novelist.

thoughts. It went beyond emotions and became physical.

Was there an

As I wrote, I began to realize that the novel was more than

intentional move

just an adventure story—it was really a story about grief. I

to pursue Y.A.

didn't necessarily have a personal experience to draw from,

literature after

and I was constantly worried about coming off as a fraud. But

releasing your

because I thought about Emma and her loss so much over that

collection of short

month—and her mom and her sister's too—I think that her

stories?

grief rubbed off on me, which cast me under a sort of grief spell. That book broke me open, and I think it was a good

ET: The shift to Y.A. was intentional. In part, it came from

thing. I feel stronger and happier now.

wanting to try something different—something far removed from the "guy" stories in Close Is Fine. At the same time, I

11: Will your next work be a continuation of the Small

was too intimidated to take on a big literary novel. I think I'd

Maneuvers formula? Or will you return to the realism of

just read Denis Johnson's Tree of Smoke, and was like, “Yeah,

Close Is Fine?

I don't have the chops for that.” Additionally, my daughter was reading a lot of Y.A. while I was working at the public library in Eugene. It seemed like the Y.A. section was the most lively and interesting, so I headed in that direction. 11: A Series of Small Maneuvers is characteristically Y.A., but Emma’s story carries over some of the same themes (death, maturity, loss, family) found in Close Is Fine. It also retains that collection’s sense of realism. Can you talk about writing a Y.A. book that doesn’t lock itself into the typical genre molds or gender stereotypes? ET: Overall, I read very little Y.A. during the early drafts of the novel. That was a conscious decision. And that realism you mention is kind of the only way I know how to write, at least for now. Several people have told me that the novel isn't really Y.A, and one bookseller who loves the book doesn't even shelve it in the Y.A section of her store.

ET: I hope it's a bit of both. The project I'm working on now feels like a mashup of my two books. At the same time, I hope my voice and range keep expanding, and that I might begin writing in some other styles. For me, writing a novel is exhausting in how much patience it takes. I'm sure I'll always write stories and essays to break that up. When I started working on my current project, which is another Y.A. novel, I found that reading so much Y.A. messed me up quite a bit. I began thinking too much about genre, and I began thinking too much about the Y.A. label, which wasn’t working. It was, to borrow a phrase from Scott Rice, "driven by all the wrong drivers.” It took reading a bunch of poetry collections to get things rolling again. Now I'm back to listening to what my characters have to say. I like where things are going. 11: Now that you are out of Wisconsin, how are you connecting with Oregon’s literary community?

One of the things that bothered me about many of the Y.A. books I was bringing home for my daughter, even the

ET: There are so many wonderful organizations—Literary

critically acclaimed ones, was that they had this overriding

Arts, Oregon Arts Commission, PLAYA, Fishtrap, to name

theme of boy saves girl, or love interest saves girl. It made

a few—that have helped me. It's through them that I've

me want to gag. As far as my approach to Emma's character

connected to the Oregon literary community the most. Plus,

goes, it took a while before I found her voice, and I did think

there are all of our wonderful independent bookstores. That’s

a lot about gender molds. After that, it was just a matter

one thing that A Series of Small Maneuvers has provided—a

of getting out of the way and listening to her. I've talked

chance to visit so many awesome bookstores and to meet so

elsewhere about how my decision to put her on a river trip

many booksellers. And librarians. God bless the librarians. »

helped me hear her better, because I knew that world so well.

- Morgan Nicholson

The horse stuff was harder. I think Emma is a real badass.

www.elevenpdx.com | ELEVEN PORTLAND | 26

community visual arts Photo by Mercy McNab

that you also had to like to party and hang out. I interviewed there and they gave me the opportunity to move there, and I lived there for two years. It was absurd and also amazing because half of the house was actively working on artistic projects at any given time, so to be around that many creative people was amazing. Everyone had their day jobs as well, but at night we had this basement that was the artistic space where everyone would go. There would be painting, screen-printing, drawing, people playing music... that was really cool. That experience definitely led me into doing what I do now, and I wouldn’t be doing what I am without living at that house. 11: What was the name of the project you were working on while you were there?

VISUAL ARTS Portland artist Hannah Concannon

n another cold, drab and wet Portland day, the city is almost camouflaged. Everything seems to hide in an endless sea of gray. In response, Portland native Hannah Concannon battles that dullness with extremely bright and kaleidoscopic colors. They are so rich they almost seem to emanate heat from the canvas. Perhaps as a defense to the cold months of winter, Concannon literally drapes herself with the warmth of these colors. Her bodybased art explores makeup, costuming and self-portraiture. ELEVEN: You are a Portlander by origin, but you lived in San Francisco for some time where you came across The Convent Collective. Will you tell us about that time and what you gained from that experience? Hannah Concannon: I moved to Berkeley first, and it was wonderful, but it was also very slow and neighborhood-esque. I responded to a Craigslist ad for The Convent Collective. It was a space that was literally a converted convent with 19 bedrooms in the lower Haight district, and the requisite for living or moving there was to be an artist. Later, I found out

27 | ELEVEN PORTLAND | www.elevenpdx.com

HC: That is where I started my Daily Faces project and doing face painting. I also got into costume designing and apparel. The project platform was to make an image once a day for 50 days, and I ended up doing it for a whole year. I didn’t have very much time to really plan what I would be doing all the time. The inspiration came from someone just making a suggestion, or being on Pinterest and seeing a pattern that caught my eye, or just seeing another person’s work out at a gallery and being inspired by that. In the worst case scenario, I would just sit down and start painting, and three hours later I always landed at something. Sometimes I’d hate it but still have to document it because that was the project. The Dress Up Box and the Daily Faces project were very much a response to being around the people I was around and the environment I was in. While it did fizzle out, it definitely left me with a portfolio that I could then get into graduate school with. 11: Through this process you also made your own costumes as well? HC: I studied costume design as part of my undergraduate degree–theater design as a minor and English was my major.

community visual arts beauty, superficiality and image manipulation that interest me. I am fascinated by how you can make your face and body look any way you want. It’s a body, yes, but the way you can easily camouflage and radically change what is on top of it is crazy. 11: Is there any value to superficiality, especially in our overly consumeristic culture? HC: Oh my god, yeah. Jeez. 11: I always feel like there is a negative connotation to that, or at least a harmful one.

That is where I got started with everything in a more formal sense. I was also always the kid wearing all kinds of ridiculous things and loved Halloween and was amazed by the concept that I could make Halloween into a job. 11: Do you have a favorite costume you have made? HC: I was in a performance art piece in the SE Bay area, and I helped some of my friends, who art directed the show, make these gigantic bird costumes. It was about bird watching, but throughout the show these huge elaborate birds would pop out from the grass and do a dance to music. We made this one bird that was a huge disco owl costume. The feathers of the owl, I can only describe as potholders

HC: It’s so funny because there’s superficiality, and then there is aesthetic sense. If you have too much of one and not the other then, yeah, it’s a problem. There is always this balance that you are trying to create. I see this most in the Instagram makeup girls I follow, and there is this really high level of superficiality of the selfie and the implied narcissism there. On the other hand, to create those images, whether it’s conscious or not, takes a strong aesthetic sense. You are putting colors together and choosing angles and lighting and presenting this crafted, completely perfect image. That’s cool because it takes a lot of work, but then it’s also very superficial too. I think especially female artists get really hit hard with a lot of judgement for being superficial when it’s really a skill also. It is an art form too.

made with these psychedelic ‘70s-inspired fabrics. I also wore this huge owl head that was made out of a sombrero and all this random stuff and huge owl feet. The whole thing weighed a ton, but it was so much fun to wear and to make. It was transformative. I put that on and I became the disco owl, whatever that means. 11: I think it is unique that you use your own body to make your work. How has that challenged you? HC: With all of my new work, it’s my hands covered in tempera paint, which I was taking photos of. The Blue series is the very first time I discovered this. I was pouring paint over my hand for a class and then I turned my hand over

11: How do you feel the fashion industry plays into the beauty standards and how women see themselves? HC: I have worked retail, and I studied a semester in fashion when I was abroad because I wanted to be a

and noticed this really cool marble design. I was like, “Holy shit! How do I get a photo of this?” I have since been asking my friends to let me take photos of their hands with paint, or shoulders or whatever so that I could direct the photos, because attempting the one-handed photographing of myself was too hard, and it’s not very practical. 11: Does all of your art incorporate bodies in some way? HC: It does! With the face painting, I just wanted to get better at makeup, so that’s where it came from, and it was easy to use myself to practice. Since then, I wonder why there is such a focus on myself and the body. Beyond just being a social media artist, there [are] the meditations and focus on

www.elevenpdx.com | ELEVEN PORTLAND | 28

community visual arts fashion designer at first. It’s amazing in one sense, but as I started getting into that world, I felt like it was a slap in the face to be exposed to the reality of what it means to be in that industry. It is really awful. To help fight the negativity of that, I appreciate the rise of the online shop versus the large retailer. People have the tools and the power now to create badass clothing lines that are non-gendered or niche or that offer a more diverse size range, and that is more possible now than it was before. Running a clothing shop is historically a money-losing business, so I think that is a major deterrent for a lot of people, but we need as much involvement as possible. 11: How do you feel your creativity has been influenced by this new Trump era? HC: I remember right after the election I was struggling a lot because I was thinking of my work as being really frivolous and not really making a “difference.” I realized that being an artist and actively making art in and of itself is a radical gesture though. I think as part of the negativity of this political climate, the message is to stop making art so we have to resist that and we can’t stop. I think being a female making body-based work and having a visible online presence is where I center myself now in that regard. I used to feel like I needed

to make more ham-fisted political statements with my work, but I realize now that there is still room for subtlety and you can still make a political impact. 11: If you could pick a color that represents you, which would it be? HC: I think I have more of a color scheme. I would choose blues of all kinds, especially in combination with hot pink. I also love, love, love pastels. Hot pink is my favorite color. If you looked at my face painting set, those are the colors that are used the most. 11: Those selections are a good yin and yang. HC: Yeah, the cool of the blue versus the really vibrant and warm hot pink. Maybe it’s a response to living in the very gray Northwest, but I always seem to gravitate toward the really vibrant colors. We had an assignment the other week where the professor asked us to think about how where we come from influences our work. I think I choose high chroma colors because I am surrounded, for a majority of the year, by muted tones. 11: Do you have any advice for other artists as far as how you maintain your creative motivation? HC: I think it is important to make a schedule and make something every day. The daily deadline is very helpful, because the more work you make the more you can perfect your art and find what you like, discover your style–that’s how all of the best things come out. Putting myself online gave me some accountability as well, which was helpful. It can be hard to put yourself out there and to be judged, but it’s important not to be embarrassed, even if it is not up to your standard. » - Lucia Ondruskova

FIND THIS ARTIST ONLINE WEB: WWW.HANNAHCONCANNON.COM IG: DRESSUPBOX

29 | ELEVEN PORTLAND | www.elevenpdx.com