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The Eugene-based Breakers Yard band says it best on the back of its latest release, Raise Some Bacon: “Legend has it Breakers Yard formed when both [band members] Greazy and Hot Coppa were simultaneously visited in a dream by the ghost of Cab Calloway.” Then there’s their ReverbNation bio: “We all play lots of instruments, so you never know what you’re going to get when it comes to instruments with strings, and suitcases.” Continue reading
Lyrics like: “bridges hold a sky of tired birds”; “come October we’ll fill our blankets up with leaves”; and “we sway until the moon is on our shoulders” go to show Anna Tivel, known on stage as Anna and the Underbelly, has arrived as a songwriter. Dripping with imagery, the Portland-based singer-songwriter’s first album, Brimstone Lullaby, whisks listeners away to the gray rainy streets and golden-brown autumns of the Pacific Northwest, Tivel’s main muse. Continue reading
In the words of Samuel L. Jackson’s character Ray Arnold in Jurassic Park, “Hold on to your butts.” Futuristic alternative hip-hop supergroup Deltron 3030 lands in Eugene Friday, Nov. 22. Hot off the September release of second album Event II — 13 years after Deltron 3030’s first — group members Dan the Automator, Del the Funky Homosapien and Kid Koala bring their masterminds to WOW Hall. Continue reading
It’s unfortunate that, for a good percentage of Gen Y, first interactions with the Phoenix-born rock group Meat Puppets come via Kurt Cobain and not, as would be proper, the band members themselves. Nirvana’s 1993 MTV Unplugged performance featured a handful of covers, and some of the most memorable were Meat Puppets tunes (“Lake of Fire,” “Oh, Me,” “Plateau”). Now, before things get a bit too sassy, let’s pump the brakes and slam it into reverse. Continue reading
When I spoke to alt-country singer-songwriter Mary Gauthier (pronounced “go-shay”), she was in Los Angeles on the first day of a nearly month-long cross-country tour. I joked that because she was just getting started, she wouldn’t be burned out by the time she got to Eugene 10 days later. Gauthier responded quickly and insistently: “I don’t get burned out. This is my job and I love it. This is a privilege. I may get tired but I would never call it burned out.” Continue reading
The Decline of Western Civilization: Tease your hair and squeeze into skintight leather because glam metal band Faster Pussycat plays with Red Light Saints on Diablo’s last night open to the public 10:30 pm Friday, Nov. 15; $10. Goodbye Diablo’s — it’s been quite the 13 years. Don’t miss: Grrrlz Rock at Oak Street Speakeasy with world funk band Maca Rey playing Ween tunes 10:30 pm Nov. 15, and the grrrlz continue for the Cozmic Pizza Music Extravaganza 4 to 11 pm Nov 16. Continue reading
New York City-based experimental duo Blues Control is made up of Russ Waterhouse and Lea Cho. Cho is a classically trained pianist. Waterhouse, a self-taught musician, started playing guitar and keyboards, and he began experimenting with home recording in high school. As a teen, he was a fan of Miles Davis’ electric era and free jazz pioneer Ornette Coleman. After attending college in New York City, Waterhouse says, “I had access to a lot of different kinds of music.” He played in indie rock bands, dabbled in the city’s noise-art scene and got into hip hop. Continue reading
From downtown New York avant jazzer in the ’80s through more straight-ahead jazz after moving to Seattle to his abstract string quartet (originally part of a multimedia project) to his more recent country-, folk-, and rock-tinged work, protean guitar master Bill Frisell manages to explore new territory while maintaining an instantly recognizable artistic voice throughout his many musical meanderings. Fortunately, The Shedd has made it easy to trace Frisell’s always intriguing musical journeys by bringing him here often, and Friday Nov. Continue reading
If you didn’t know Quinn Deveaux was from San Francisco (which he is), you might guess the retro-flavored songwriter hailed from The Big Easy. Track one off Late Night Drive — the first of two records the popular Bay Area musician is releasing this November — is “Bff,” a New Orleans-style piano tune recalling the legendary musician Allen Toussaint’s slow-rollin’ and gin-soaked simplicity. Continue reading
It’s been three years since local singer-songwriter Anna Gilbert was dubbed Eugene Weekly’s Next Big Thing, and she has been busy. Since then, she has released an acoustic-themed holiday release (2011’s Christmas), spent time writing country songs for other artists and now she is back with a new album, The Able Heart, which was released Nov. 5. According to Gilbert, it was time for a shift in her songwriting priorities. Continue reading