Eugene Weekly

“People come to our shows because they want to hear what we do. It’s irrelevant what we play,” the 80-year-old Brit bluesman says, circumventing any specific commentary on his tour, his band, his audiences — anything. Mayall’s live shows, famous for their classic grit and wild improvisation, have been the defining characteristic of his career, but he isn’t keen on discussing even that. Continue reading →

Seattle post-punk trio Nostalgist is inspired by the atmosphere of film noir — a cinematic movement popular in the mid-twentieth century known for dark imagery and sinister storylines. “I try to channel my own experiences through a sort of cinematic filter,” Nostalgist vocalist and guitarist Asa Eisenhardt tells EW via email. “My goal is to portray a scene, a feeling or both through evocative language without being pretentious.”  Continue reading →

Sarah Donner is a New Jersey-based singer-songwriter and self-described “creative type.” Her live show includes three guitars and a ukulele. Donner tells EW she plays all four at the same time. All at the same time? Really?  “No,” Donner says. “We have dancing girls,” she jokes, before getting serious: “It’s highly upbeat and entertaining. I try to keep it lighthearted. I don’t want to be ‘that girl with a guitar.’ So I always try and make it funny and quirky.”  Continue reading →

Michigan band Frontier Ruckus is driving through the badlands of Wyoming.  “I’m in the middle of nowhere in Wyoming,” says Matt Milia, Frontier Ruckus vocalist and primary songwriter. “The cell service is a little spotty.”  This sense of expansive loneliness permeates the bittersweet power-pop of the band’s 2014 release, Sitcom Afterlife.  “It was a break-up record,” Milia says. “It was an interesting juxtaposition of dark subject matter and power-pop.”  Continue reading →

In 1994, I was one year old, sitting in the grass wearing a blue floral dress and eating a Ben and Jerry’s Cherry Garcia Peace Pop. This made sense: Like many children of Deadheads, my parents had brought me to the Grateful Dead show at Autzen Stadium on June 17, 1994.  My parents met in the summer of ’88 on their way to a Dead show at Autzen. My mom had never been to Oregon and needed a ride from Los Angeles; my dad gave her one.  Five years later, I was born and they were taking me to Grateful Dead concerts.   Continue reading →

Signing up Portland singer Storm Large as the star of The Seven Deadly Sins might seem like typecasting. After all, Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht’s scorching 1933 satire tells the story of two sisters, Anna I and Anna II, who venture to a septet of cities, each representing one of the biblical mortal transgressions. Continue reading →

It’s no easy task picking the top events of OBF, but here’s a working list. For a full lineup of events, times, locations and tickets, visit oregonbachfestival.com   The Seven Deadly Sins, June 26, Hult Center Continue reading →

More than a decade ago, in a speech at the Oregon Bach Festival, former New York Times classical music critic John Rockwell suggested that OBF bring in historically informed ensembles so audiences could hear how contemporary authentic-practice Baroque performances differed from then-OBF music director Helmuth Rilling’s “1950s and ’60s interpretations.”  Continue reading →

L.A. electro-pop duo Ultra Violent Rays draws comparisons to darkly sensual and moody acts like Portishead.  The band describes their sound as “the hypothetical sonic lovechild of Siouxsie Sioux, Phantogram and the movie Blade Runner.”  Ultra Violent Rays’ current single “Wish” is propelled by hypnotic, electronic drums, a ghostly whistle, shimmering and watery keyboards and vocalist Cooper Gillespie’s ethereal voice — borrowing an irresistible hook from childhood: “Wish I may/ Wish I might/ Find the words to make it right.”  Continue reading →