The Days of Lore

Janet Weiss talks Quasi mojo

Monday, February 22nd, 2010 | interviewZ, musiX, pdX | No Comments

The first time I threw on Quasi’s new record American Gong, I thought I was listening to a different band. Not that it doesn’t sound like Quasi, there’s just a certain—if I may borrow a quote from drummer Janet Weiss—”joie de vivre” to the new record.

Quasi is an interesting band in that it’s almost always felt like the side project to the members’ numerous other projects—multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Sam Coomes‘ Elliot Smith collaboration Heatmiser, Sleater-Kinney, and now the Jicks. Not the case here. American Gong might be the strongest, most definitive Quasi record in the band’s 16-year existence, jam-packed with guitars pushed well into the red and drumming that defies … well, everything. It’s also the band’s first record with longtime bassist (and Jick) Joanna Bolme, whose fuzzed-out basslines are solid enough to walk on. If you need more convincing, listen to the entire album here.

American Gong—Quasi’s first on Kill Rock Stars—is out now. And that’s only the beginning. The band is touring Japan, the U.S. and Europe as well as hitting all the totally hot festivals, including SXSW and Sasquatch. A quick glance at the ol’ Quasi planner looks something like this: 2010 = booked solid.

Janet Weiss took some time to talk to The Days of Lore about their new digs at KRS, the beauty of mistakes, and the band’s love of fuzz-bass.

TDoL: This is your first record on Kill Rock Stars … how did that come about?
Janet Weiss: I sent [rough mixes] out to people I knew, Sam sent them out to a couple people he knew. Kill Rock Stars were just really enthusiastic about it, and said they loved the record. Of course, I worked with them for years with Sleater-Kinney. You know, they’re here in Portland now, it was just so obvious and natural. And I love working with a label where the two people in charge are women—strong, decisive, intelligent women.

I interviewed Kathy [Foster] from The Thermals and she said the same thing.
Yeah, I mean that’s important. I come from that background of strong women, and I want to pass along that it’s important to make choices that enable that to continue. You know, try to take bands on tour where there are women performing and try to show people that it doesn’t have to be all guys onstage all the time. You have to let girls see other girls up onstage or they might not have the courage to do it. If some girl wants to go into the business and sees there’s a girl running that label, it’s really inspiring I think. And it’s very important to actively be a part of that.

I’ve been listening to the new album, and it is loud.
[laughs] I guess so, yeah … I suppose it’s only as loud as you turn it up.

It just sounds like it was recorded with the intention of blowing things out …
Yeah, I’d say we were going for a very live, sort of ballsy sound. We wanted to somehow capture what it feels like to be at a live show or be in the room with all of the molecules banging around.

It almost reminds me of the production on The Woods …
Yeah, Dave Fridmann did mix a few of those songs … I think we would love to make a whole record with him. We admire his … just his joie de vivre [laughing]. I think he’s really unafraid to push the sound and make things unusual and strange.

How long did it take to record?
We recorded it in about 10 days. We were ready when we went in; we didn’t have to do very many takes of songs, and the takes that we did do just got better and better as we went along. I feel like a lot of the music I love and that I listen to—music of the ’60s and ’70s—it was all recorded like that. They just went into a studio on tour and made a record, kept the mistakes and moved on. It’s amazing how many mistakes you hear on old records. You don’t hear that anymore—it’s sad. Mistakes can be so gratifying when you’re listening.

Absolutely. That reminds me of a post on Carrie’s [Browstein] blog not too long ago.
I don’t think I read that one … but it’s scary to think of a world where all of our mistakes are being erased when so much of creativity is about that.

Yeah, the human aspect gets wiped out …
It’s our self-loathing … we want to correct everything all the time.

Did you go into the studio with a set group of songs ready?
We knew we had too many songs. We weren’t positive which songs were going to go on the record—we knew what the heavy hitters were, and kinda let the other songs show themselves. So there are a couple extras, there’s a cover. Then there’s the song “The Jig is Up”—[laughing] Joanna and I went out to get burritos and Sam recorded that while we were gone for like a half-hour. He just pulled an acoustic guitar off the wall and recorded that with a few mics. That’s actually one of my favorite songs off the record.

That one’s great. I really like “Black Dogs & Bubbles.”
Oh cool. That’s maybe one of the oldest songs out of the batch. That one’s been around for a little while. I think we just kind of kept it simple on that one. It sort of speaks for itself … you sort of get that Neil Young-y type of vibe at the beginning. We always wanted to make sure that middle part was shocking.

The Beatles’ “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” came to mind when I heard it …
Yeah, I think I’ve heard that from one other person. That’s great, I’m glad you like that one. It constitutes part of the moody center of the album … as I like to call it, “the moody middle.” It’s funny, because I’m usually pretty involved in the sequencing of most records I’ve played on. This one was pretty easy for some reason; it just sort of made sense. The first song was really obvious and that’s always a big help. On the last Jicks record we didn’t really have a for-certain first song and it made sequencing tough. We got it in the end, but it took a lot more time.

Obviously you’re making a record, but are you ever like, “Do people even listen to full albums anymore?” Does that cross your mind?
It maybe crosses my mind a little more now. I think I’ve always been guilty of top-loading, wanting to put my favorite three songs first. On [American Gong] I feel like the last song is the heart of the record. Kind of like the old days when you’d listen to vinyl—like “When the Levee Breaks,” the last song on Zeppelin IV—the last song wasn’t the single or maybe wasn’t even the catchiest, but it represented the heart of the record. It was what they wanted to leave you with. I don’t really know how people … like do they buy three songs, four songs, one song? I don’t understand that so much, so I just do what I know, which is sequence it as a record and try to put a couple strong, catchy songs up at the top.

Besides being loud, the hooks are definitely still there …
Sam started this project Pink Mountain with some friends in San Francisco … I feel like he got a lot of his weirdo side out with that band, and kind of allowed Quasi—at least the structures of the songs—to be a little more pop-oriented. Although we all are very anti-establishment, and anti-conservative, anti-corporate—we don’t want it to sound like easy listening, we don’t want it to be boring—we want it to represent something free and something that’s not passive. I think to make those pop structures palatable to him as a songwriter we had to turn up the volume a little.

Is there much improvisation involved in the writing?
This was definitely our most collaborative record as far as the writing. Sam came to practice with less structured songs, and just parts that needed to be arranged and organized. And he really let me have a hand in that more, which is something that I did in Sleater-Kinney a lot, and something that I love to do. He’s not used to writing like that; he’s used to writing a song from start to finish. I think Joanna made up so many great basslines that I think define a lot of the songs. I end up humming her basslines more than the vocals or the drums and guitar.

Yeah, there are a couple of basslines that are super fuzzed-out that really stood out.
Well, Sam loves fuzz-bass. [laughing] That is one true statement about Sam Coomes: He loves the fuzz-bass. We’d be working on songs and we’d be like “What does this one need?” and Joanna and I would just laugh and look at each other, “Fuzz-bass!” We know he’s going to say it. That’s the answer for everything. Luckily we like it, too.

You’re about to head out on the road. I take it you like touring …
I’m really into touring, I love touring. Especially these shorter ones, anything under three weeks is totally doable. I mean I like coming home, but I really, really like going out. And I love playing. There’s nothing like playing live, nothing quite like it at all. Gotta keep your chops up.

“Repulsion” - Quasi

“Black Dogs & Bubbles” - Quasi

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Tags: American Gong, Janet Weiss, Joanna Bolme, Kill Rock Stars, Portland music, Quasi, Sam Coomes, Sleater-Kinney, the Jicks

Delicious musical contaminants

Monday, November 30th, 2009 | musiX, pdX | 1 Comment

Neo-psychedelic garage rock has been done to death. It’s sorta lost its oomph, lost its lovin’ feeling … lost in translation, lost in space. Portland’s Bodhi—which I’m hoping is named after Patrick Swayze’s character in Point Break—is an exception. Sure, all the elements are there: Swirling synth, reverbed guitars and unhinged vocals, but the four-piece pieces it together into their own damaged rock ‘n’ roll narrative.

Bodhi quietly released its debut full-length Secondhand Runner, an album recorded here and there in Portland—here being Revolver Studios in southeast Portland, there being the band’s living room. Fortunately the slick production doesn’t undermine the album’s rickety garage appeal—in fact, it makes it even more compelling. Not to mention the band manages to make a country song in “Bystander” feel right at home with the new wave disco of “The Kids Are So Nice” and the pure garage punk of “Honkin ‘44.” What holds it all together are Brian Carr’s vocals, which float and flail in a register somewhere between that of Iggy Pop and David Byrne.

It looks as though the members of Bodhi are finding the drizzly climes of Portland to their liking after relocating here from New York in 2006 … and I must say it’s nice having them here to contaminate the folk and electro-pop gene pool.

Bodhi will perform at the East End, Dec. 12 with Austin’s Woven Bones and locals The Whines.

“Bystander” - Bodhi

Tags: Bodhi, Brian Carr, Portland music, Secondhand Runner

Purple Rhinestone Eagle walks with the wizard … and talks with TDoL

Thursday, July 23rd, 2009 | interviewZ, musiX, pdX, politiX | No Comments

It was a few years ago while doing an article on Portland’s New Bloods that I stumbled upon Purple Rhinestone Eagle. The name was enough. And the music … sort of this doom-y Sabbath-meets-Love love-fest led by a lanky guitarist who channeled Hendrix and Blackmore provided the final blow. I was also intrigued by this tight-knit community of musicians made up of women who celebrated diversity and sexual freedom with the DIY spirit of punk rock in a city that, while liberal, is still 95 percent white.

Purple Rhinestone Eagle—guitarist/vocalist Andrea Genevieve, bassist Morgan Ray Denning and drummer Ashley Spungin—released its latest EP Amorum Tali in March on Eolian Records. It’s a psychedelic blast from another time and place, where black-light posters come to life. Where riffs rule (and rattle your ribcage). Where black leather and tie-dye go together and peace and love frolic on gloomy days.

It’s looking to be a busy year for the three-piece. PRE will hit the road for six weeks, but not before playing a fist-full of Portland shows, including an afternoon performance at the PDX Pop Now! fest on July 26. Then it’s back in the studio to record a full-length follow-up to Amorum Tali. I’ll just let them explain. The ladies of Purple Rhinestone Eagle took some time to talk to TDoL about music as a tool for social change, MJ vs. Prince, and giving their audiences “loin vibrations.”

TDoL: Purple Rhinestone Eagle is active in many causes for queer and women’s rights. What are your thoughts on rock ‘n’ roll as an avenue for bringing awareness?
Andrea: I feel that music can be a very good tool for social change. It doesn’t take place of the hard work that is done by activists/organizers, but music can be a great motivator. Also, it’s a great way to release all sorts of feelings and emotions. People really need that. It’s essential to feeling human.
Morgan: Also, sometimes it feels like causes can become exclusive or create divisions … music is a great connector. It brings people together to focus on the positive aspects of movements and people, rather than focusing on all the negative things that happen in the world.

You put out a zine as well …
Andrea: Well, we’re slowly working on a zine. It was mainly Ashley’s idea but we’re all going to write and contribute to it. It’s going to be an “etiquette” zine for how to respectfully approach/compliment female musicians. A lot of “compliments” we (and other female musician friends) receive actually don’t feel like compliments. For example comments like, “Wow, I didn’t expect that” or “That was great. You play like a dude,” feel really shitty because it makes you realize how many preconceived notions people have about you because you’re a lady.
Morgan: People just need to think a little bit before speaking sometimes, and we hope this zine will help with that, along with giving music-making ladies a place to share and vent about their experiences.
Ashley: We all got it pretty bad on tour, but I think I got it the most. I mean people started throwing things at me. “Hey i think you are a good drummer! Now I’m going to throw this empty beer can at you!” What? I wanted to make a PowerPoint presentation and show it after we play while we break down. The zine is a little more reasonable.

You started out in Philadelphia. What brought you to Portland?
Andrea: We went on tour with New Bloods a couple of springs ago. We were all having a tough time in Philly and we wanted a little mental health vacation. Also Portland is a great place for music so we decided to go for it and move 3,000 miles from everything we knew. Pretty romantic, I must say.
Morgan: Portland has been good to us … the scene here is incredibly friendly and supportive. We all decided playing music was one of the best things in all of our lives, so why not get serious about it? Here we can do that.

Tell me about the recording process for Amorum Tali.
Andrea: We recorded Amorum Tali in a full analog studio. The first recording we did in Portland was digital and although it sounded great, we really feel that for our sound we need to record the old-fashioned way—on tape. We recorded for about three and a half days and then mixed for about three days. It was a tedious process that turned out beautifully. We’re really excited to get in the studio again this fall. We’ve got all of these crazy ideas for this time around.

Where does the title come from?
Andrea: The title means “Talons of Love” in Latin. The “Talons of Love” concept is something that has been with us since the inception of this band. It’s kind of an inside joke that also holds great significance to us, if that makes any sense.

Aside from the more obscure music you listen to, what’s something you like that might surprise people?
Andrea: Yeah lots of weird, obscure music. But uh, I do enjoy a little Erasure from time to time. I guess that might be surprising. And despite what Ashley might say, I’m not into Journey.
Morgan: I’m actually kind of a pop punk freak … something I get picked on for, but I feel no shame …
Ashley: Late-’60s era Grateful Dead. People, give it a chance!

Andrea, what/who made you pick up a guitar?
Andrea: It wasn’t any one person that made me decide to take up the guitar although I do have some big heroes/sheroes. I just had this really strong desire to learn how to play it. I was about 15 when I started. It’s such a finicky instrument but so alluring! I’m still in the process of figuring out all its beautiful subtleties. Total life long student and super proud of it.

What influences your live performances?
Andrea: I love the way the MC5 handled the stage, James Brown, etc. Rock ‘n’ roll is this sex-love-apocalypse explosion. I love anyone who can channel that raw energy.
Morgan: I love Freddie Mercury and Iggy … they both just owned it. Our song “Loin Vibrations” is actually about the relationship between those on stage and those in the crowd … it is extremely sexual, whether you’re literally feeling the low end rumbling in your loins, or feeling the energy passing between the people involved … capturing some of that is our goal.
Ashley: Animal from the Muppets … and Ginger Baker.

And if you had to choose between …
Page or Blackmore?
Andrea: Oddly, I’d have to say Page.
Morgan: Agreed.
Ashley: Same. I just can’t get behind Deep Purple. Rainbow on the other hand …

Zeppelin or Sabbath?
Andrea: The Edgar Winter Group. Just kidding, Sabbath for sure.
Morgan: No question: Sabbath.
Ashley: Sabbath. Every. Day.

Bonham or Moon?
Andrea: Bonham. But Moon is my homie, too.
Morgan: Moon!
Ashley: I could go on about this one but I will just answer. Bonzo!

MJ or Prince?
Andrea: Prince. What a god.
Morgan: Prince … what a tiny, amazing man!
Ashley: MJ … I’m still grieving.

You have a long tour ahead. What’s life on the road like?
Andrea: We’re the type of band that likes good food and yoga on the beach. Don’t get me wrong, we enjoy partying it up and staying up late, but we like to stay pretty healthy, too. And we take really long to do anything (like getting up in the morning, deciding what snacks to pick out … ).  All of our roadies attain the great patience of wise monks by the end of tour.
Ashley: Touring is like a quest to bring forth the music to the people. Each day we venture to a new location and with us we bring rock ‘n’ roll sorcery. It’s nonstop jokes, weird snacks (which, yes, sometimes take me a while to pick out), meeting great people, and getting inspired by the places we see. It’s very far out.

“Walk With the Wizard” - Purple Rhinestone Eagle

Tags: Amorum Tali, Andrea Genevieve, Ashley Spungin, Eolian Records, Morgan ray Denning, New Bloods, Portland music, Purple Rhinestone Eagle

WEINLAND breaks out the sun

Wednesday, April 8th, 2009 | interviewZ, musiX, pdX | 2 Comments

Adam Shearer’s hushed vocals are the fragile centerpiece of Portland’s WEINLAND. It’s what made 2008’s La Lamentor such a melancholy and haunting experience (melancholy + haunting = two of TDoL’s favorite things).

But things have changed with WEINLAND’s latest record Breaks In the Sun—not Shearer’s voice, of course, but the songs. They’re a little … well, sunnier. There’s still a chill breeze blowing gently throughout the disc that is distinctly Portland. Of course, WEINLAND is part of a growing community of musicians in town that marry folk and bluegrass with pop music. The melodies are unforgettable. Add to that an arsenal of dobros, lap steels, cellos, piano and mandolins, and it can be stunning.

Shearer started the band under the name John Weinland as a bedroom project that eventually ballooned into a full band. The music is all the better for it. Live shows are intense and unpredictable (a couple more of TDoL’s favorite things). Breaks In the Sun will be released on Badman Records (Starfucker, My Morning Jacket) April 21.

WEINLAND will play a record-release party Saturday, April 11 at the newly refurbished Mississippi Studios, and will play some Oregon and Washington dates before heading cross country in May. Adam Shearer recently talked to The Days of Lore about Portland’s tight-knit music community and blowing things up on stage.

TDoL: There’s a large community of folk-pop artists in Portland in Norfolk & Western, The Decemberists, The Builders and the Butchers, Loch Lomond, etc. Where does WEINLAND fit in?
Adam Shearer: Indeed, there is a lot of sincere music coming out of Portland. The Decemberists, Norfolk & Western, all of those folks you mentioned, write music that has the power to make you think and sing along. I suppose that’s what makes it folk-pop. WEINLAND fits right in the mix … we are part of the same community, friends and colleagues working to achieve similar artistic goals.

The 150 or so kids in the room were going nuts and it was the first time I’ve ever run into an audience with a microphone to lead a floor-level scream-along! I don’t think anyone in that room had any idea what was in store for them that evening, but everyone left with a very strong sense of musical community in Portland.

Tags: Adam Shearer, Badman Recording Co., Breaks In the Sun, Colin Meloy, Dolorean, La Lamentor, Laura Gibson, Norfolk & Western, Portland music, The Decemberists, WEINLAND