Necktie Killer « Frequency blog: Music news and reviews from Bend and Central Oregon, by Ben Salmon

Posts Tagged ‘Necktie Killer’

Music this week in Central Oregon

Friday, December 9th, 2011

When you fill the first 13 page of GO! Magazine with a review of the year in music in Central Oregon, as we did today, you don’t leave much room to talk about all the music that’s happening in the area this week.

But that doesn’t mean it’s not worth talking about! Here’s a roundup of what’s happening … think of it as you regular music section in GO!, except you can’t start a fire with it after you’re done reading every word.

Floater, chillin' on a bench, pioneering a new genre: "bus-stop rock"

Floater returns for two nights

Oregon’s indestructible rock trio, Floater, has been through Bend so many times, there’s nothing else to say. I mean really. I have nothing to say.

Go read my April 2010 interview with frontman Rob Wynia here. Then click here and sample the band’s sound, a throwback blend of prog, grunge, metal and funk that’ll make you wonder where the past 15 years of your life went.

Floater (electric), with Jones Road; 8 tonight, doors open 7 p.m.; $15 advance, $18 at the door, ticket outlets here; Domino Room, 51 N.W. Greenwood Ave., Bend; www.randompresents.com.

Floater (acoustic); 9 p.m. Saturday, doors open 8 p.m.; $13 advance, $16 at the door, ticket outlets here; Domino Room, 51 N.W. Greenwood Ave., Bend; www.randompresents.com.

Briertone, Rural Demons at The Horned Hand

The solid, left-of-center roots music just keeps flowing through The Horned Hand in Bend. Saturday, the newish art space and music venue will host Briertone, a California band with DIY spirit and a gritty twang to their ominous “outlaw rock.”

Opening will be a likeminded Bend band, Rural Demons, whose Western gothic doom-country sound is making serious noise on the local music scene. You can hear the Demons’ excellent “Ghost Lights” album here.

Briertone, with Rural Demons; 9 p.m. Saturday; $5; The Horned Hand, 507 N.W. Colorado Ave., Bend; www.facebook.com/thehornedhand.

Larry and His Flask, Necktie Killer play benefit show

Uh … Larry and His Flask and Necktie Killer at Players Bar? Yes, please. It’s gonna feel like 2007 in there.

Bonus: The show is a benefit for Johanna Olson, a friend of the bands who has undergone four surgeries on a brain tumor. Go, party, rock out. The cover is $5, but give more for Johanna.

Larry and his Flask, Necktie Killer: 8 p.m. Saturday; $5; Players Bar & Grill, 25 S.W. Century Drive, Bend; 541-389-2558.

Empty Space Orchestra residency continues

Local post-rock prodigies Empty Space Orchestra are making this a December to remember that doesn’t involve a Lexus in the driveway with a giant bow on top. The band is playing four of five Saturday nights at Silver Moon Brewing & Taproom this month, with a different set and a different opening act each time.

This weekend’s opener is Water & Bodies, a fine Portland-based band that includes Beau Kuther, who grew up in Bend. In March, I described the quartet’s “Light Year” album as a “tight, glossy collection of songs that blend the hooks of 1980s New Wave with the heft of 1990s emo/alternative, plus a healthy portion of spectacle that flies in the face of so many shoegazing indie rockers.”

Empty Space Orchestra, with Water & Bodies: 9 p.m. Saturday; $5 plus fees advance here, $7 at the door; Silver Moon Brewing & Taproom, 24 N.W. Greenwood Ave., Bend; www.silvermoonbrewing.com.

Chicks With Picks benefits Saving Grace

I’m swiping this from the paper:

“These gals are playing for a good cause: Saving Grace, a Bend provider of services to survivors of domestic violence. Saturday’s “Chicks with Picks” show at the Astro Lounge will feature four female-fronted bands showcasing the skills of local musicians such as Stacie Johnson and Lilli Worona of Broken Down Guitars, Jamie Houghton of The Dream Symphony, Stephanie Slade of Death of a Hitman and Hannah Costa of Tentareign.”

Chicks With Picks: 7-11 p.m. Saturday; $5; The Astro Lounge, 939 N.W. Bond St., Bend; 541-388-0116.

Josh Gracin at Maverick’s

Swiping this too. Swipe-fest ’11!

“Josh Gracin finished fourth on the second season of “American Idol” and now he sings country music. On Thursday, he’ll play at Maverick’s Country Bar and Grill in Bend as he tours behind his new album ‘Redemption.’”

Josh Gracin: 9 p.m. Thursday; $25; Maverick’s Country Bar and Grill, 20565 Brinson Blvd., Bend; www.maverickscountrybar.com.

Portland Cello Project at McMenamins

All hail the Portland Cello Project, a collective of adventurous cellists who play not only beautiful classical music, but also super-fun, YouTube-friendly covers of indie rock and pop hits by folks like ABBA, Bon Jovi, Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears.

Helmed by Douglas Jenkins, PCP will return to Bend Wednesday to play a free show at McMenamins. Last time I saw the band there, the place was packed, so consider getting down there early and getting a seat. Maybe have some tater tots. You know … live a little.

Portland Cello Project: 7 p.m. Wednesday; free; McMenamins Old St. Francis School, 700 N.W. Bond St., Bend; www.mcmenamins.com.

Other highlights this week include Voodoo Highway at Silver Moon and Shade 13 at The Horned Hand tonight, the Holiday Brewgrass Jamboree Saturday in Sisters, reggae night with MC Mystic at The Astro Lounge on Wednesday, and Cadence at The Summit on Thursday. Find all the details and lots more in our online nightlife calendar.

Tags: Briertone, Chicks With Picks, Empty Space Orchestra, Floater, Josh Gracin, Larry and His Flask, Necktie Killer, Portland Cello Project, Water & Bodies
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This week in GO! Magazine’s music section

Friday, July 22nd, 2011

This week, there are a couple of bigger names playing shows in Central Oregon, and you can find more on them below.

But for my main music story this week, I decided to focus on the South Carolina roots/jam band Dangermuffin, which is playing out at Black Butte Ranch on Sunday.

I chatted with Dangermuffin’s Dan Lotti about his love for Bend, the influence of living in a coastal town, and getting tagged with the jam-band label.

“We feel like it’s just really eclectic music, and I think sometimes we get grouped in with the jam thing, simply because of the eclecticism,” he said. “We don’t mind being included in the jam-band conversation, because I think what you find there within that community are true music fans.

“Those are the kind of people we want to reach out to and connect with anyway, so we don’t really look at the jam-band thing as being a four-letter word,” he continued. “We’re happy to just be a part of that community, and if that’s where we’re finding a niche, then we’ll take it.”

Oh heck … just click here and read it all.

Three other shows this week I want to highlight:

–Post-grunge heroes Everclear are at Century Center tonight. I couldn’t decide what to write about them, so I just wrote this.

–With Lucy Woodward on board to fill in for China Forbes, Portland’s Pink Martini returns to Les Schwab Amphitheater Saturday night.

–Portland-based roots-rock kingpin Lewi Longmire brings his namesake band to Redmond tonight for a free show at Music in the Canyon. Fans of Neil Young, Tom Petty and The Band take note.

Elsewhere in this week’s music section: Tornado Rider plays The Horned Hand, The Autonomics kick off Parrilla Grill’s Show Us Your Spokes series, just-crowned Last Band Standing champ Necktie Killer visits Silver Moon, folkie Carinne Carpenter does two nights at Scanlon’s, the Jazz at Joe’s series hosts the Warren Rand Quartet, and JazzBros! return to McMenamins.

I didn’t even have room for Cherry Poppin’ Daddies at Munch & Music, Franchot Tone’s free Summer Sundays show, The Whiskey Rebellion at Silver Moon and several other things. The summer music season is really getting busy, folks. Go support your local bands, venues, events and promoters!

Tags: Carinne Carpenter, Dangermuffin, Everclear, JazzBros, Lewi Longmire Band, Music in the Canyon, Necktie Killer, Pink Martini, Show Us Your Spokes, The Autonomics, Tornado Rider, Warren Rand Quartet
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This week in GO! Magazine’s music section

Friday, April 1st, 2011

Hip-hop legend Ice Cube rolls into Bend’s Midtown Ballroom on Wednesday! In this week’s GO! Magazine, I make the case for why you shouldn’t turn your nose up at a chance to see the man, given his enormous influence on rap music over the past 20 years.

After “The Predator” (plus his increasing interest in film work), Cube’s musical dominance waned, no doubt about it. But hindsight provides perspective on the importance of Ice Cube’s stint with N.W.A. and his first three solo albums, which, along with fellow gangsta rap pioneer and N.W.A. alum Dr. Dre, ushered in an era of hip-hop that valued gritty street tales and speaking truth to power over, say, a pair of glittery parachute pants. It was an era that would reign for nearly 15 years, until Kanye West came along and spawned a generation of emotive, Auto-Tune-happy singsong rappers like Drake and Kid Cudi.

These days, Ice Cube sounds like a man intent on securing his legacy. His 2010 album is called “I Am the West” and on the chorus of its lead single, “I Rep That West,” Cube defends himself against those who criticize his career arc and reminds us he’s a “hall of famer” in the rap game.

That’s understandable, but unnecessary. Ice Cube doesn’t need to apologize for being a fortysomething dude who has made a ton of cash in his lifetime and can no longer rap knowledgeably about life on the streets.

Sure, the game has passed him by. But it also owes him so much in terms of style, culture and history, thanks in large part to a hyper-productive, ultra-creative five-year stretch more than two decades ago. Even in 2011, the man deserves respect for that.

On the fence about buying a ticket? Click here to be convinced that you should.

Speaking of legends, yes, R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck plays bass for The Baseball Project, and yes, the baseball-themed band is coming to Silver Moon on Thursday. But the Project is the brainchild of pop-rock lifers Scott McCaughey (Minus 5, Young Fresh Fellows) and Steve Wynn (Dream Syndicate, Miracle 3), two super-fans of our national pastime. I caught up with McCaughey shortly after the band wrapped up its tour of spring training sites in Arizona.

GO!: Because of the subject material, is The Baseball Project more fun than your other, non-baseball bands?

SM: I can’t say one’s more fun than the other because of course we love playing our other songs as well, but this is a whole different thing. In a way it’s sort of a relief … to write about another subject. Even though some of the songs end up being personal, a lot of them are also just sort of writing in the folk tradition, the oral tradition of recounting a story or reciting a ballad or whatever, which is a lot different from what Steve and I write normally. So it’s kind of refreshing. I like it. Sometimes I get so into it that it makes it hard to tune back into writing a song about my boring life or whatever.

I will say, though, (at the spring training gigs) I found myself really kind of getting lost in some of these songs … so I felt pretty good about that. They weren’t just exercises in cleverness or something like that. I think they have some emotional weight. At least it feels like it to me when I sing some of ‘em. We’ve been writing songs for so long that we have … a certain standard that we hold ourselves to. Just because these songs are about baseball doesn’t mean that they don’t have to be good songs.

Click here to read the whole thing.

Elsewhere in the music section, we have a fundraiser for Shireen Amini’s new album, tonight’s CD-release party to celebrate Jay Tablet’s “Put It On the Tab,” and the Central Oregon Songwriters’ Association’s annual Song of the Year show, plus The Dangerous Summer, Christabel & the Jons, Necktie Killer, The Mowbray Collective and MC Mystic doing ladies night right. There’s a lot going on in town this weekend, so be sure to check out The Bulletin’s calendar for more options!

Tags: Central Oregon Songwriters Association, Christabel & the Jons, Ice Cube, Jay Tablet, MC Mystic, Necktie Killer, Shireen Amini, The Baseball Project, The Dangerous Summer, The Mowbray Collective
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January 15 in GO! Magazine

Friday, January 15th, 2010

The Frequency blog is on Team Conan, of course! Is there any other option?

In honor of the recent announcement that Bend will host the first-ever National Beard and Moustache Championships in June, we here at GO! Magazine dedicated most of today’s music section to facial hair, and the faces who wear it. We’ve got a cover subject who plays old-time blues, never smiles, and keeps a thick beard, plus my overview of the historical relationship between musicians and hairy chins. Let’s cut to the face … er, I mean chase:

-Rev. Peyton’s Big Damn Band is back in town with a slew of stompin’ new country-blues songs. Read my interview with the Reverend here.

-“The Sound & The Furry: A farcical look at the hairy history of rock.” I’m just so proud of that headline, I had to point it out to you. ALSO, be sure to pick up the print version of the paper so you can take our beard-rocker quiz!

And in the non-beardo section of the section:

-On Wednesday, Fascination and Vinyl Film will fill Silver Moon Brewing with catchy, dramatic pop-rock that’s not often seen ’round these parts.

-Another rare sighting for Bend: Dance-punk, brought to you (and Players Bar) by Seattle up-and-comers The Redwood Plan.

-You love pirates. And you love bands. So you should love a pirate band, right? Test that theory tonight with eyepatch-punks The Deadly Gallows.

-The list of noteworthy local-band gigs is newsier than usual this week, with Jukebot’s inaugural show, a retooled Sofa Kings at M&J, and a weekend full of fun at Mountain’s Edge, where Problem Stick, The Dirty Words, Necktie Killer and Wetsock will test-drive the new stage.

Again, grabbing an actual copy of The Bulletin today gets you not only all these articles and more, but also: BEARD-ROCKER QUIZ.

Tags: Fascination, Jukebot, Necktie Killer, Problem Stick, Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band, The Deadly Gallows, The Dirty Words, The Redwood Plan, The Sofa Kings, Vinyl Film
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Local music news: DJ Barisone mix / The Dirty Words video / The Supervillains coming to town / introducing Jukebot / Chris Chabot streams new album

Thursday, December 31st, 2009

Little nuggets of news from Central Oregon’s music scene, coming your way … now.

–DJ Barisone lived in Bend for a decade and moved to Portland a few months back. No matter where he lives, though, you want to hear his latest mix, right? Yup, you do. Especially if some sunny, funky, dubby party music sounds good to you on these cold, gray, winter days. It’s called “Lion in the Dancehall,” and you can get it by clicking here. If you’re gun-shy, check the tracklist here.

–I’m late on this, but there’s still plenty of time — a month — to submit a “YouTube-style webcam video” to local indie-rock band The Dirty Words for their song “Damn Jacket.” They’re going to take all the videos they get and smash them together to create their very first music video. Fun, right? Right. There are some rules and other guidelines, including how to submit your masterpiece, here.

–Local, faith-focused folk singer Chris Chabot has released a new album called “Outer Space,” and he’s made it available for streaming here. They’re pretty songs, so give ‘em a listen.

–Fresh off their successful luring of the Mad Caddies to Mountain’s Edge back in November, Redmond’s Necktie Killer will open two local shows for another nationally touring reggae/ska outfit, The Supervillains, in late January. The Florida four-piece have played in Bend three times in the past three years, including an opening slot for the Caddies at the Domino Room in early 2007. But on Jan. 23, they’ll squeeze into Bend’s Mountain’s Edge bar, and on Jan. 24, they’ll play at Timbers in Redmond. There’s more info — times, cost, ticket outlets — at Necktie Killer’s spiffy Web site.

(Reminder: Necktie Killer and Larry and His Flask are gonna rock New Year’s Eve tonight at Mountain’s Edge. 9 p.m. $5. Cheap, good times.)

–Check out the McMenamins Old St. Francis School calendar. Look there, on Jan. 20: Jukebot.

Who’s Jukebot, you ask?

Jukebot, apparently, is what you get when you take the ashes of the recently defunct/defunked local band El Dante — or at least the ashes named Gabe Johnson (guitar) and Tyler Mason (bass) — and you mix them with Jared Forqueran (drums) and Aaron Andre Miller (keys) of Person People and Anastacia’s band, and then you add the dynamic vocals of Stephanie Slade, also of The Sofa Kings. (Forqueran, Miller and Mason also played together in the David Bowers Colony before it blew apart.)

That’s a lot of cross-band-pollination there.

So yeah, Jukebot is a new band on the scene that has no music on its MySpace yet, but promises to play “21st century funk ‘n’ roll” influenced by Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Pearl Jam, The Meters and so on. The band came together to play the recent, annual, semi-secret “Church of Neil” show (to celebrate Mr. Young’s birthday) and clicked. Since, according to the MySpace, Jukebot has been “focusing largely on cover material and has recently begun to branch out into original material that reflects the members wide variety of influences, spanning from Rock n Roll to Funk, from Modern Rock to Hip Hop and Soul.”

That Jan. 20 show at McMenamins will be their first ever. Assuming they stick together for a while, you can bet we’ll be telling you more about Jukebot in GO! Magazine and Frequency at some point in the future.

Tags: Chris Chabot, DJ Barisone, Jukebot, Necktie Killer, The Dirty Words, The Supervillains
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October 30 in GO! Magazine

Friday, October 30th, 2009

Happy Halloween, kids and grown-up kids!

I’ve got no snappy intro this week, but I do want to know this: What are you dressing up as for Halloween? Let me know in the comments. (I’m quite tempted to shave a corn maze into my hair and go around interrupting peoples’ conversations.)

I’ll tell you what Bend is dressing up as this year: A town with a ton of bands playing at clubs all over the place. Here are five shows I wrote about:

-Person People and The Staxx Brothers tonight at the Domino Room.
-Empty Space Orchestra Saturday at McMenamins Old St. Francis School.
-Warm Gadget and Goodbye Dyna Saturday at Silver Moon Brewing & Taproom.
-Necktie Killer, Tuck & Roll and Danger Death Ray Saturday at Black Horse Saloon.
-Moon Mountain Ramblers Saturday at the Domino Room.

That’s not all that’s happening. Check out The Bulletin’s events calendar to find a long list of festivities, or better yet, pick up a print copy of GO! Magazine, which contains both the calendar and the “Area 97 Clubs” page, which has even more stuff listed.

Of course, not everything that’s happening this weekend is Halloween-related. Here are a couple options where you won’t feel weird if you don’t dress in costume:

-The popular California ska band Mad Caddies are performing on Sunday at Mountain’s Edge bar, which is the new name of the old Timbers South in Bend. (Click here to read about why the Caddies are playing a place that’s quite a bit smaller than the venues they usually play.)

-On Sunday, Christian hitmakers Todd Agnew and Building 429 will put on a concert at the Christian Life Center in Bend.

So obviously, plenty of choices out there. Everyone have fun and be safe.

Tags: Building 429, Empty Space Orchestra, halloween, Mad Caddies, Moon Mountain Ramblers, Necktie Killer, Person People, Todd Agnew, Warm Gadget
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Mad Caddies: Coming Sunday to a small venue in Bend

Thursday, October 29th, 2009

I’ll have more on this in tomorrow’s GO! Magazine, but I want to highlight Sunday’s Mad Caddies show in Bend for two reasons: 1) Because I haven’t seen a ton of promotion for it, and 2) Because I’m somewhat fascinated by this booking.

Why? Because the Mad Caddies have for years played considerably larger venues than the Mountain’s Edge bar, where they’ll perform this weekend. (Mountain’s Edge is the new name of the old Timbers bar near Goodwill in south Bend.) A little over two years ago, in fact, the Santa Barbara, Calif.-based ska-pop band played Bend’s Domino Room, which holds nearly twice as many people as Mountain’s Edge.

This is, of course, why the Caddies’ show here is so intriguing. It’s always cool to see a bigger band in a smaller spot. To find out how the show came together, I got in touch with Ben Mann, who fronts local ska band Necktie Killer, which partnered with Mountain’s Edge to get the Caddies. I asked Mann a few questions, he answered, and I’ve edited them a bit. Here they are:

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Tags: Mad Caddies, Necktie Killer
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July 31 in GO! Magazine

Friday, July 31st, 2009

These next seven days, folks, might just be the busiest, music-wise, of the year so far in Central Oregon. Almost every night you have options, and many of those options are either big names or big talents (or both). Are you planning on hitting any of these? Some of them? All of them? Leave a comment and let me know what your plans are.

Oh, and all today’s links are free and available to non-subscribers, so click away! Let’s go in chronological order:

-Tonight, Vetiver plays California sun-kissed folk-pop at Silver Moon Brewing.

-Also tonight, up-and-coming country stars Lady Antebellum will play the final free show at the Deschutes County Fair.

-Looking for something else to do tonight? Try Sagebrush Rock at Boston’s or Empty Space Orchestra at Parrilla or Necktie Killer at The Underground.

-On Saturday, a big ol’ rap show will roll into the Midtown Ballroom. Kottonmouth Kings and Swollen Members are co-headlining, and local rapper The Dirtball will perform. Should be one of the biggest Midtown shows in a while.

-Also Saturday, Tuck And Roll plays at Silver Moon and Apropos performs at The Studio.

-On Sunday, the Les Schwab Amphitheater will host its second ticketed show of the summer when Lyle Lovett and His Large Band come to town.

-Also on Sunday, Susie McEntire Luchsinger does her annual concert out in Antelope.

-Monday night is blues night at the Tower Theatre, where veteran guitarist Johnny Winter will appear.

-Wednesday night will bring a couple of young, rootsy bands to Bend, as bluegrassers Town Mountain play at Silver Moon and Breathe Owl Breathe hits McMenamins.

Again, anyone can get to any of those stories, so check ‘em out. And if you want to see the cool dartboard motif that the GO! Magazine design team put together, pick up a copy of the actual newspaper!

Tags: Apropos, Breathe Owl Breathe, Empty Space Orchestra, Johnny Winter, Kottonmouth Kings, Lady Antebellum, Lyle Lovett, Necktie Killer, Sagebrush Rock, Susie McEntire Luchsinger, Swollen Members, The Dirtball, Town Mountain, Tuck And Roll, Vetiver
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Central Oregon musicians pay tribute to Michael Jackson (Part II)

Monday, July 6th, 2009

It’s been more than a week now since the unexpected death of Michael Jackson, and the man, his life and his legacy is still a hot topic of conversation. Whether you think he should be remembered as a pop-culture icon or that his latter-day legal troubles overshadowed his chart success (or both), there’s no question the guy had an enormous influence on music.

To get an idea of the influence he had on Central Oregon’s music scene, Frequency asked a bunch of local musicians to talk about Michael Jackson’s role in their development as artists, to reflect on his life, or just to share their memories of his music, and so many responded, I split them up into two posts. You can read the first one by clicking here, and the second batch begins just after the jump.

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Tags: Canaan Canaan, Cloaked Characters, Leif James, Mindscape, Necktie Killer, The Dirtball, The Roe, The Substitutes
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