Local Bands

[*BaseClogger*]

Originally Posted by BillDoran

Yep. Plan-It-X Records is still based here in town. Just had their annual festival six or so weeks ago.

Aw man, Defiance, Ohio has become my favorite band but I haven't been able to see them perform because... it's pretty hard to find somebody else who is a fan haha...

[pedro]

Originally Posted by *BaseClogger*

Ah, so a lot of those bands woy listed have relocated to Portland?

Yes, I see Malkmus and Issac Brock around town (Issac shops at the grocery store as me), I've seen James Mercer with his kids at the park and I know where Johnny Marr likes to go to play foosball... so yes, while none of those guys is from Portland, they all live here now. I also see Janet Weiss (Sleater Kinney, Quasi, Jicks) out at shows fairly often. I think she may be stalking me.

BTW, the Thermals are great.

[BillDoran]

Originally Posted by pedro

Yes, I see Malkmus and Issac Brock around town (Issac shops at the grocery store as me), I've seen James Mercer with his kids at the park and I know where Johnny Marr likes to go to play foosball... so yes, while none of those guys is from Portland, they all live here now. I also see Janet Weiss (Sleater Kinney, Quasi, Jicks) out at shows fairly often. I think she may be stalking me.

BTW, the Thermals are great.

Malkmus is supposedly moving to Berlin, or so he said in an interview this winter.

[pedro]

Originally Posted by BillDoran

Malkmus is supposedly moving to Berlin, or so he said in an interview this winter.

yeah, just for a year from what I read. They rented out their house, which is over on Burnside in Laurelhurst. My friend David put in his new wood floors a few years back.

[BillDoran]

Originally Posted by pedro

yeah, just for a year from what I read. They rented out their house, which is over on Burnside in Laurelhurst. My friend David put in his new wood floors a few years back.

Fancy schmancy.

[pedro]

Originally Posted by BillDoran

Fancy schmancy.

It is a nice neighborhood.

[vaticanplum]

I think of "local" as where a band is from and what city/place it's associated with, not where its members may relocate after they hit it big. Wilco is a Chicago band (and I do know that at least some of them still live there). Johnny Marr can live wherever he wants but the Smiths can't be anything but British; neither can he. Likewise, Sleater-Kinney's members could relocate to New York but they'll always associate with Oregon.

[*BaseClogger*]

Originally Posted by vaticanplum

I think of "local" as where a band is from and what city/place it's associated with, not where its members may relocate after they hit it big. Wilco is a Chicago band (and I do know that at least some of them still live there). Johnny Marr can live wherever he wants but the Smiths can't be anything but British; neither can he. Likewise, Sleater-Kinney's members could relocate to New York but they'll always associate with Oregon.

I agree. It's a sound, a "scene", a time and place. Especially for bands that are already established like those that relocated to Portland. You wouldn't hear anybody on the streets of Portland talking about Modest Mouse as a "local band"...

[pedro]

Originally Posted by *BaseClogger*

I agree. It's a sound, a "scene", a time and place. Especially for bands that are already established like those that relocated to Portland. You wouldn't hear anybody on the streets of Portland talking about Modest Mouse as a "local band"...

That's not necessarily true. They're not "from" here, but they definitely have a local presence and Issac has lived here a long time (approx 15 years). I understand what you guys are saying but regardless of whether or not people outside Portland perceive of many of these bands and artists as local (and I can understand why they wouldn't) a lot of folks here do. Issac Brock may be from Issaqua, but he shops at the New Season's on SE 21st and has a practice space across from Colonel Sumner Park off of Belmont Street. People who live here associate with that.

[westofyou]

Originally Posted by pedro

That's not necessarily true. They're not "from" here, but they definitely have a local presence and Issac has lived here a long time (approx 15 years). I understand what you guys are saying but regardless of whether or not people outside Portland perceive of many of these bands and artists as local (and I can understand why they wouldn't) a lot of folks here do. Issac Brock may be from Issaqua, but he shops at the New Season's on SE 21st and has a practice space across from Colonel Sumner Park off of Belmont Street. People who live here associate with that.

Yep and if you go to your pub and Malkamus is eating there, he's local and if Dave Allen steps on your foot at a show that's so local it hurts

[*BaseClogger*]

Originally Posted by westofyou

Yep and if you go to your pub and Malkamus is eating there, he's local and if Dave Allen steps on your foot at a show that's so local it hurts

But are they performing there every month? I don't really see how where they buy their groceries or eat cheeseburgers has anything to do with their music...

[westofyou]

Originally Posted by *BaseClogger*

But are they performing there every month? I don't really see how where they buy their groceries or eat cheeseburgers has anything to do with their music...

They pop up more than they do in your town, they show up and play with others, they try out new stuff, play under assumed names.

Not every band plays every month do they?

[vaticanplum]

I actually mean the feel of the music more than local presence. Most major musicians live in New York for at least a little while; they may integrate as people and as musicians for decades. But not every band is a New York band in the same way that the Velvet Underground is, Television, Patti Smith, and more recently, The Strokes, etc. Members of Pavement have lived in New York for decades but Pavement is still a West Coast band. I really don't think Wilco, the band and its music, can be associated with anything but Chicago. Peter Frampton lives in Cincinnati. He's not a Cincinnati musician.

I guess this is a bit different from the original thrust of the thread, which is smaller bands in our respective cities that haven't really hit it big on a national level yet.

[pedro]

Originally Posted by *BaseClogger*

But are they performing there every month? I don't really see how where they buy their groceries or eat cheeseburgers has anything to do with their music...

Most of them play here more frequently than in other cities and often in much smaller venues. We saw the Shins last September in a tiny club that holds about 200 people. I've seen Britt Daniel from Spoon play as a duo with Janet Weiss in a club that holds less than 100 people. I've seen some of the bands on Isaac Brocks record label play at little clubs around town.

Now to VP's point, the Afghan Whigs will always be a Cincinnati band regardless of where Greg Dulli is living at any given time.

[pedro]

Originally Posted by vaticanplum

I actually mean the feel of the music more than local presence. Most major musicians live in New York for at least a little while; they may integrate as people and as musicians for decades. But not every band is a New York band in the same way that the Velvet Underground is, Television, Patti Smith, and more recently, The Strokes, etc. Members of Pavement have lived in New York for decades but Pavement is still a West Coast band. I really don't think Wilco, the band and its music, can be associated with anything but Chicago. Peter Frampton lives in Cincinnati. He's not a Cincinnati musician.

I guess this is a bit different from the original thrust of the thread, which is smaller bands in our respective cities that haven't really hit it big on a national level yet.

Another band I heavily associate with NYC is Sonic Youth.

Speaking of places/times that have a "sound" as Baseclogger was mentioning I was always a big fan of the 90's Chapel Hill scene. Superchunk, Archers of Loaf, Small 23....