Greetings, dear readers, from Northeast Portland!
Since I last updated this blog I have officially taken the plunge, boarding a plane from Logan mere hours after my band RUBY RIDGE’S righteous and epically debaucherous going-away party at Great Scott (video above by Mick Murray). After the unusually mild winter we’d been experiencing in New England, I was quite surprised to arrive here and find it snowing, which is pretty rare in these parts. Since that initial shock, the snow has given way to the sort of endless, dreary rain and fog which I had been warned would be awaiting me upon arrival.
Shortly after Callan By and I landed at PDX, we were whisked off to the first of two shows we’d attend that night. We made it to the Know in Northeast Portland just in time to catch the headlining band RABBITS, a hard and sludgy two-guitar trio featuring ex-members of ‘90s underground faves Angel Hair and the V.S.S., who released an album last year via Relapse Records.
The Know is a great bar, and offered the perfect location to meet up with various old friends in the area, but in many ways it felt like a pretty standard bar show that could have been happening just about anywhere in the country. I didn’t feel like I was really learning much about the character of the city until our second stop, a free DIY living room show/party in Southeast Portland. In these more localized, lawless environs we caught an extra-rowdy set from GHOST MOM, a blues-inflected riot grrrl freak-out who, like Rabbits, rack up some serious ex-members cred, this time via K Records stalwarts Dub Narcotic Sound System.
After all our farewell partying around Boston, followed by the grueling cross-country flight and finally the giddy, whirlwind welcome we received on our first night in town, we were exhausted. We took a night off to recuperate before hitting the town again on Monday to attend “Occupy the Dream,” a free benefit for Occupy Portland held at the Alberta Rose Theater. Here we got our first taste of unfettered west coast hippie-dom in the form of a rather atrocious 10-piece jam band called PATCHWORK FAMILY, who could not seem to reach consensus regarding what key any of their songs were in, and featured not one but two distinct djembe players. It was at this point that I first felt truly far from home. Luckily, the rest of the night’s entertainment was a vast improvement, incorporating standup comedy, vaudeville, trapeze and a dazzlingly fun bike-dancing performance by a troupe known as THE SPROCKETTES.
The days since have mostly been given over to all the mundane business of establishing citizenship in a new locale: spending rainy day after rainy day riding buses from apartment viewing to government office to apartment viewing to thrift store to apartment viewing. We made it out once more on Thursday night to see DRUNK DAD at a bar called East End.
Unlike the bands we saw on our first night in town, Drunk Dad did not feature members of any popular west coast ‘90s indie acts (as far as I know).
They did, however, share ex-members of a number of extinct Boston-area bands, including Oliver North, the Mules, and my own old band the Black Freighter. From the moment the group launched into its first song, a cover of Fear’s incendiary punk classic “I Don’t Care About You,” it was pretty clear what Drunk Dad were all about: confrontational, loud, and gnarly shredding.
Sadly, it may have been a little TOO confrontational as the set ended with an altercation which has left the group one member down and on hiatus. Perhaps soon I will be describing some new projects as “ex-Drunk Dad.”
Oh well. Such is the fickle and ever-changing nature of indie music in 21st century America, be it on the east or west coast.
John Von Bittrich is a lifelong Bostonian chronicling his new adventures in Portland, Oregon, for the Boston Phoenix. He updates the Hub Capped blog bi-weekly.
Ruby Ridge Podcast Episode 6 by rubyridge
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