VANGUARD 2012 2012 LOCAL MUSIC GUIDE 3 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Joshua Hunt EDITORS Vanessa Wendland, Erick Bengel, Randall Thiel, Joseph Mantecon, Meredith Meier ART DIRECTOR Colton Major PRODUCTION MANAGER Ben Patterson COPY CHIEF Kathryn Banks PHOTO EDITOR Adam Wickham GRAPHIC DESIGN Ben Patterson, Colton Major, Tom Cober, Elizabeth Thompson PHOTOGRAPHERS Saria Dy, Drew Martig, Karl Kuchs, Miles Sanguinetti, Corinna Scott COPY EDITORS Sasha Fahrenkopf, Emily Gravlin COVER PHOTO Adam Wickham CONTRIBUTORS Desmond Fuller, Randall Theil, Alex Mierjeski, Rosemary Hanson, Isaac 20-23 Hotchkiss, Kali Simmons, Sam Lloyd, WILD FLAG Gwen Shaw, Nicholas Kula, Mike Allen, Alex Moore, Nilesh Tendolkar, Holly Laycock, Melinda Guillén, Joshua Hunt BaND PROFILES 13-25 ADVISER local MUSIC STORE GUIDE 4-5 Judson Randall ADVERTISING ADVISER CHOOSE YOUR VENUE WISELY 6 Ann Roman ADVERTISING MANAGER WE daNCE THE BODY ELECTRIC 7 Iris Meyers PUNK ROCK AND METAL 8 ADVERITISING SALES VANISHING ALL-AGES VENUES 9 Sam Gressett, Erik Weiss, Brittany Land ADVERTISING DESIGNER KPSU LOVES THIS! 10-11 Laura Shea DISTRIBUTORS EAR SPLITTINGLY GOOD 12 Brittany Castillo, Brandy Castillo BANG THE DRUM as loud as YOU WANT! 26-27 SO YOU’rE IN A BAND... NOW WHAT? 28 MAKE YOUR OWN damN RECORD 29 STREET BEATS 30 A FIGHT FOR FAIR TRADE MUSIC 31 2012 LOCAL MUSIC GUIDE 4 2012 LOCAL MUSIC GUIDE 5 LOCAL MUSIC STORE GUIDE All photos Saria Dy/Vanguard Staff If you’re going to be a shameless consumer Online auction sites have now made the “unprecedented deal” obsolete of music, at least do it right! in specialty shops around the world. Perhaps none are affected more than EXILED RECORDS CROSSROADS MUSIC your friendly neighborhood record store. What once was a Sun Ra col- Nicholas Kula lection that was modestly priced because the clerk on duty never heard 4628 SE Hawthorne St. 3130 SE Hawthorne St. of him is now a treasure trove of expensive wax slices. That said, specialty stores, without the draw of the cheap rare find, RECENT HAUL RECENT HAUL have to rely on other means—specifically, selection and relative pricing. Bruce Haack, Way-out Record for Children repress $11 Pg. 99, Document #7 $12 What one owner might have found for $20 and sells for $40, another Copy, Hair Guitar $4 Books Lie, It a Weapon $8 may have found for far cheaper, and the price reflects that. What follows are, in this writer’s opinion, the best record shops in the city. Copy, Möbius Beard $4 Green Velvet, Genedefekt $2 Rites of Spring, All Through a Life 7” repress $4 Green Velvet, La La Land $2 Frank Zappa, Sheik Yerbouti (Zappa Records) $4 This shop is owned by a guy in stores have. Unlike most of its Panther, Entropy $4 MISSISSIPPI RECORDS Eat Skull, one of Portland’s best peers, you won’t find 30 different bands. And because they’re one of versions of The Beatles’ Revolver 5202 N Albina St. the best bands you’ve likely never lining Exiled’s walls. If you’re one of those vinyl ma- are sold by bona fide record nerds, heard of, a record store owned by Instead, you’ll find stuff record vens that get his or her jollies from just like you. That said, if you’re RECENT HAULS one of them must have scads of nerds actually care about—albums the thrill of the hunt and you’ve expecting to find a copy of 13th Lickgoldensky, Lickgoldensky $4 treasures lining its walls. by Nurse with Wound, Sun Ra, never been to Crossroads, go there Floor Elevators’ Easter Everywhere Drowningman, Still Loves You $3 The short answer: Yes. Exiled Jandek and a sealed copy of the right now. No, seriously, put down for $5, look elsewhere. These folks has one of the best selections in understated psych classic, the ’70s this paper and get there before know, but they’re not unreasonable. Still Life, From Angry Heads with Skyward Eyes $4 town crammed into a small space. self-titled effort by Relatively they close. Better yet, go tomor- Great deals can be found every- The perfection extends to the Clean Rivers—sealed, no less—for row and make a day of it. where, but one must search. “expensive wall” that all record close to a grand. As far as record shops go, there is Pro-tip: Ask the person behind By now, I’m sure you’ve heard best record stores in the city, none more cavernous than Cross- the counter for the “special” indie the tale of the Portland vinyl-ite one can regularly find the stellar roads. The shop is set up like an vinyl section. What could make that went to a sidewalk record releases from the record label of antique mall with space allotted to a hunt even more exclusive than sale in NYC and pulled from it a the same name. Plus, they have a vendors. Each vendor may special- secret sections? This hunt is one holy grail—a Velvet Underground “discount punk rock” section. It ize in a certain thing, or they may of the things that keeps us vinyl acetate. This is his shop. doesn’t get much more punk rock branch out into several genres. junkies coming back for more. Aside from being one of the than that! Buyers beware: The records there Tally ho! � Mississsippi Studios 2012 LOCAL MUSIC GUIDE 6 2012 LOCAL MUSIC GUIDE 7 BRANX CHOOSE YOUR 320 SE Second Ave. Likely the most appealing venue in and the low cover charges (no VENUE WISELY Portland’s inner-Southeast ware- upcoming shows charge more than WE DANCE THE house district, Branx tends to draw $16 at the door), but be wary of the Avoiding bad concert quite an interesting crowd, especially long lines at the bathroom (there are experiences in Portland given that a good number of its just two single-capacity restrooms Sam Lloyd shows are all-ages (though some are downstairs). 21+). It’s still fairly underground, so Must-see upcoming show: You know what you’re getting when you go to a concert at the Rose you’re unlikely to find many con- Starfucker, May 24, 8 p.m., $15, BODY ELECTRIC Garden arena: either a band that released its last good album 20 years cert-goers who are simply there “to all ages/Bar with ID. Put on ago (The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Roger Waters) or a band whose songs be seen” or “to say they saw so-and- your dancing shoes and head you’ve already heard so many times on the radio that they’re permanent- so play before they were popular,” out to celebrate Portland’s local ly burned into your brain (Coldplay, Katy Perry). You also know what as is often the case in hipster-haven dance-pop heroes, as well as the you’re getting from a show at the Crystal Ballroom: a band just popu- Portland. Go for the atmosphere FCC’s least likely favorite band. lar enough for casual music fans to like and serious music fans to hate (Snow Patrol, Hot Chip). Elsewhere, though, it gets murky. This is why it’s critical to know which types of bands usually play at A brief user’s guide to AFTER DaRK which venues and whether the usual cover charges are worth it, given ROSELAND THEATER Portland’s EDM scene the atmosphere and various other factors. Here’s an introductory guide 440 NW Glisan St. to some lesser-known locales around PDX. 8 NW Sixth Ave. Nicholas Kula If you’re the dancing type, you may have noticed the distinct lack of EDM GROOVE SUITE Bust out One of the bigger venues, the artists that visit, but it’s almost events in Portland. EDM is an all-encompassing genre standing for “elec- Night: Every Saturday, 10 p.m. your dance Roseland Theater has featured impossible not to have a good tronic dance music.” Essentially, it is the catchall term for electro-house, moves and head to the shows on its roster that can com- time there. Plus, all concerts are dubstep, moombahton and everything else people dance to these days. Groove Suite has long boasted This works out very well for Whiskey Bar pete with others of its ilk, like the all-ages, so it’s a perfect place to Navigating Portland EDM is a challenging task. First of all, nobody ever one of the best sound systems in you, the potential dancer, because for sets by Crystal Ballroom and the Wonder either be young or do a dead-on seems to update their websites or social networking representations. Frankly, town, and one would have to be a After Dark is one of the best local DJs Ballroom. Prominent acts such as imitation of it. when one is looking to dance their ass off, the last thing one wants to face is contrarian to disagree. The system nights in town for house and and other Neon Trees, Porter Robinson and Must-see upcoming show: Neon a cyber-jungle of empty event pages. It can be absolutely maddening! itself was built a time ago when electro house. These people know electronic Kaskade are set to play there in Trees, June 5, 8 p.m., $16, All ages/ If you’re freshly 21 or new to town, you may not know that each this place was called π-rem. When their stuff, too, as they’ll regularly artists. upcoming weeks. The Roseland upstairs bar. Don’t lie: When you club has a schedule that usually follows a certain day every month—for it debuted, the audio quality was feature house DJs from Chicago, perhaps strikes the best balance first heard “Animal,” you spent example, “second Friday” or “third Saturday.” Because most of these are stunning, and when the name the birthplace of house music.