Music of Oregon

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Oregon's music scene is most active in Portland and the college town of Eugene. Popular music genres in Oregon range from hardcore punk to disco music.

Contents

[edit] Early rock

The Kingsmen, best known for their oldies rock classic "Louie, Louie", were originally from Portland.

Seafood Mama was a 1970s rock band, with singer Rindy Ross, with a substantial local following that tried for national success as Quarterflash. Unfortunately, the band was unable to find much success after its first album.

Another Portland band that reached for a national audience was Nu Shooz.

[edit] Punk rock

Portland had one of the most vibrant hardcore punk scenes in the early 1980s Pacific Northwest, rivalled only by Seattle and Vancouver. The Wipers and Poison Idea are the best known representatives of the scene, especially The Wipers, a major grunge influence. These bands played at The Met (now Dante's) and The Satyricon, and were connected with cult comedian Bill Hicks[citation needed]. Other hardcore bands included Lockjaw, Final Warning, The Rats and Sado Nation.

[edit] Eugene in the 1990s and 2000s

Eugene had a thriving local music scene in the early 1990s that slowly died out in the early 2000s as many of the local musicians became frustrated with the lack of interest in the scene from outside entities. It's slowly picking back up speed due to some new up and coming bands the growing popularity of some older, more promintent local bands. Some notable rising bands include The Tunnel Kings, The Fast Computers and local favorites Yeltsin. The Eugene scene in the 1990s consisted of several bars, an anarchist teahouse (an integral part of the scene), and almost nightly basement shows (there were several houses that were basically music venues, often notorious enough for larger independent acts to stop at them while on tour in the Northwest). Icky's Teahouse, founded by Sunshine (Richard Mosher) on a large inheritance from a deceased uncle, was a stop for acts such as Jawbreaker, Green Day, AFI, Defiance, UK Subs, Mukilteo Fairies (now known as ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead), FYP.

[edit] Some prominent Eugene bands

Artless Motives: Comprising Josh Jones (guitar, songwriting, voice), Aaron Christianson (bass guitar, songwriting, voice), and Chris Cogburn (drums), Artless Motives moved to Eugene from Grants Pass, and was one of the first pop punk bands to enter the local scene, producing three or four tapes before moving on to different incarnations. Peace Through Corndogs was probably the most notable. Later spin-offs included Officer Down Syndrome, The Hoogendoorns, The Bastard Saints, and The Kite Flying Conspiracy.

Cherry Poppin' Daddies: A swing/ska/rock group formed in 1989 by U of O dropout Steve Perry. As a part of the late-1990s swing and ska craze, the band gained national attention. After signing with Universal Records, the band released a compilation of their earlier works entitled Zoot Suit Riot. The title track from that album was also featured in several movie soundtracks. Currently, the band is working on a new album now that Perry has completed his degree in molecular biology.[1]

Formed in 1984, the Surf Trio was a punk/surf band based in Eugene. Founding members included , Ron Kleim on guitar and vocals, Pete Weinburger on guitar and vocals, Dave Myers on bass and Aaron Temple on drums.

Floater: Formed in 1993, made their start playing garage parties and at the U of O. Now residing in Portland, Floater has released six studio albums, plus two live albums and an acoustic album on indie record label Elemental Records. They have also received nominations to the preliminary level of the Grammys from NARAS in 1995 under Best Rock Performance for their first album Sink and in 1996 under Best Alternative Performance for their second album Glyph.

The Readymen: The Readymen were a ska punk band in the vein of Stiff Little Fingers. They released one or two albums on an independent record label, which were met with critical success, at least locally. Their house, on 4th and Monroe, was one of the basement venues that bands touring the West Coast often stopped by after a show at the Wow Hall to perform an impromptu set, and to party with the fans. For quite awhile, these houses and Icky's Teahouse, all located within a few blocks of each other, formed the heart of the Eugene punk scene.

Nowhere Fast: Nowhere Fast was another one of the first pop punk type bands to emerge from the Eugene scene. More of a rock n' roll, heavy metal inspired band, Nowhere Fast didn't survive the drug abuse, partying, and songwriting egos long enough to maintain any commercial success. Although the band had many offers to do BMX video soundtracks, 7" records on west coast labels, and an LP on The Offspring's Nitro Records, and a pretty good sized statewide following, the excesses of the band doomed it to failure. The band had the most success after reforming with a new drummer, under the name Short Round. The new sound was much more rock and metal inspired, comparable to Guns N' Roses' Appetite For Destruction, aided by the dual Gibson Les Paul and Marshall half stack sound. Bryan Fields, half of the creative team with Jason Burton, another scene veteran, lived in a small recording and rehearsal studio behind a notorious Springfield bar, The Hollywood Taxi. Bryan befriended the owner of the club, Duke Pippen, and the band pretty much became the house band of the Hollywood Taxi.

S.E.D.: Severely Emotionally Disturbed, better known as S.E.D., was one of the first punk/alternative bands, alongside Withdrawal, to come out of Springfield in the early 90s. The band included Jared Hill (voice), Bryan Fields (guitar, backup voice), Jesse Fittipaldi (bass), and Matt Pickett (drums). Very inspired and influenced by Minor Threat, Nirvana, and The Descendants.

The independent scene in Eugene consists of many of the musicians from the 90s working solo from home studios. Jared Hill from S.E.D. went on to join 'On The First Day... They Were Kittens'. which was derived from two different bands (giftgivencurse, and USAfuk). USAfuk consisted of Mike Morrison (guitar), Jamie Hartley (bass), jason haslett (guitar), Kendall Fox (drums). Bryan from Short Round has completed several self-recorded acoustic type albums under the pen-name 'Donnie Rhodes', and Josh from Artless Motives has been involved in several projects, including a few compilations he has produced along with Devin Duerst, bassist of The Bastard Saints. Other figures of interest are folkish artist Jesse Fittipaldi, who is working on a self-produced album, Joe Fittipaldi, a local producer who has worked with everyone in the local scene, Justin King, guitar virtuoso and proprietor of the magnificent Blackberry Hills studio.

[edit] Famous Salem musicians

Guitarist John Fahey moved to Salem in 1981 and died there in 2001 at the age of 61. He is buried at Restlawn Memory Gardens, just west of Salem. Larry Norman, who some call the "Father of Christian Rock" still lives in Salem. Native American jazz sax player Jim Pepper was born in Salem in 1941 and lived for two years at Chemawa Indian School, where his mother and father were employed.

[edit] Other artists and groups from Oregon

[edit] Music Festivals in Oregon

  • Annually the Ernest Bloch Music Festival, a composers' symposium and showcase for progressive and contemporary music, is executed in Newport Oregon. The Festival is regarded country-wide and is a cultural high-point every year for musicians classically or otherwise trained. Traditionally, performers from the Oregon Symphony and other localized performance groups attend specifically to play pieces written by the guest composers. Ernest Bloch was a composer who has a memorial located in Newport.
  • Oregon Bach Festival
  • Oregon Festival of American Music
  • Eugene Celebration
  • Although not primarily billed as a music festival, the Oregon Country Fair has several stages where musicians perform regularly during the three-day event.

[edit] References

Blush, Steven. American Hardcore: A Tribal History. Feral House. 2001. ISBN 0-922915-71-7

[edit] External links

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Maxim, Bryce (Apr. 8, 2006). Interview with Steve Perry (audio). WMLB AM 1160, Backstage Atlanta.
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