The Days of Lore

Mean Jeans mean business

Thursday, November 12th, 2009 | musiX, pdX | No Comments

Green Noise was one of the first record stores I found when I moved to Portland about a year ago. Loads of garage and punk albums; not to mention owner Ken Cheppaikode is a helluva nice gent with an affinity for Reigning Sound, and an almost robotic ability for relaying the who? what? when? where? and why? of the most bizarro/obscuro bands from the past four decades.

The cozy, punk rawk hub on Clinton Street is also home to Dirtnap Records, the label Cheppaikode started in 1999 while still living in Seattle. The label has put out tons of 7-inches and records from bands like The Epoxies, The Marked Men and The Girls, the latter of which made TDoL’s 2008 Year-End List. To celebrate its 10th anniversary, Dirtnap is offering a free 15-song sampler with some of the aforementioned bands as well as the Mean Jeans, who will perform along with White Fang tonight at Ground Kontrol to celebrate the release of their new record Are You Serious? And in true punk rock fashion, this shindig is FREE.

Mean Jeans might be the second coming of The Ramones … or perhaps one of those other bands that sound like The Ramones. Needless to say their two-minute jabs are damn catchy and fun. And based on members’ reported aptitudes for consuming illicit substances, I firmly believe that listening to the Mean Jeans could give you cotton mouth, the drip and the spins. So uh … when’s their next record coming out?

“Born On a Saturday Night” - Mean Jeans

Tags: Are You Serious?, Dirtnap Records, Green Noise Records, Ken Cheppaikode, Mean Jeans

I have my Hunches

Monday, April 20th, 2009 | musiX, pdX | 4 Comments

Every day should be Record Store Day … I mean, why not? Ken Cheppaikode, who runs Portland’s Green Noise Records, said it was probably the best day of business he’s had since taking over the place in 2005. He was understandably in a chipper mood that day.

So was I. Beautiful weather brought Portlanders out in droves. And I was able to make it to a couple of stops on on my RSD09 tour. I snagged a handful of free CDs from Cheppaikode’s label Dirtnap Records, as well as the latest release from Portland’s The Hunches.

Exit Dreams was recorded in the spring and fall of 2007, and was finally released earlier this year. It’s the four-piece’s first record in almost five years. Exit Dreams continues their knack for stirring up shit over a semblance of melody, before twisting it into an unnerving, unending knot. Songs like “Not Invited” and “From This Window” are the calm before “Fall Drive” and “Your Sick Blooms”—think some of Velvet Underground’s louder moments colliding with Frank Black’s weirdo pop songs.

It all started with 2002’s Yes. No. Shut It., and the band continued to spill blood on records like Got Some Hate and Hobo Sunrise (on the always trustworthy In The Red Records) and alienate their show-goers. It’s the kind of stuff usually remembered years after a band is dead and gone. And the end is coming soon. The Hunches will play a handful of shows, including one at the East End in Portland on June 24 with Eat Skull, The Whines and The Blimp. Then, poof … (?).

“Not Invited” - The Hunches

“Fall Drive” - The Hunches

Tags: Exit Dreams, Got Some Hate, Green Noise Records, Hobo Sunrise, In The Red Records, Ken Cheppaikode, The Hunches, Yes. No. Shut It.

Girls to men

Monday, November 3rd, 2008 | musiX, pdX | No Comments

I grew up on a steady diet of early MTV—staring in awe at the TV screen as bands like The Cars, Bow Wow Wow, Devo and The Vapors awkwardly mugged for the camera and played sexed-up new wave tunes whose lyrics flew over my untainted little head. But I was old enough to know what a catchy tune was. I remember sitting on the couch and drumming along to those bands on the right arm with a pair of markers and … wait a second, I think I just figured out why I play drums left-handed.

Today I was sitting on my couch as I popped in The Girls‘ latest Yes No Yes No Yes No, and … where are my markers? The five men that make up The Girls have taken the innocence and good times of early-’80s new wave and have cranked it up to an acceptable aughts punk-rock volume. It’s music for swilling cheap beer, sniffing glue, eating paint chips, or any sort of unhealthy activity that makes you feel good (so I hear).

This is the Seattle band’s second full-length release on Portland’s all-things-punk Dirtnap Records, the label responsible for releases from The Ergs! and Denton Texas’ the Marked Men, the latter of which just released a new 7-inch. Dirtnap owner Ken Cheppaikode informed me that the label recently added locals The Mean Jeans and Autistic Youth to the roster (look for new records in early 2009). And to that I say, let the good times roll.

“Not I” - The Girls

Tags: Autistic Youth, Bow Wow Wow, Dirtnap Records, Ken Cheppaikode, Marked Men, MTV, The Cars, The Ergs!, The Girls, The Mean Jeans, The Vapors, Yes No Yes No Yes No