Bay Area band will ‘poison’ Eugene on Friday
Costumed poetic pop duo
The Slow Poisoners will
play with TheOvulators
By Natasha Chilingerian
Pulse Reporter
When musician Andrew Poisoner
went to Paris in 1997, he had a vision
of "surrealistic rock and roll." When
he returned home to San Francisco,
Poisoner started a band that mixed
"avant-garde poetry with pop music,"
and the result was The Slow Poisoners
who have been rocking across the
western United States for the past sev
eral years. The band arrives in Eugene
on Friday night and will play at Sam
Bond's Garage.
The duo — comprised of gui
tarist/vocalist Poisoner and drum
mer Rich Trott — is planning a the
atrical performance, complete with
costumes.
"Rich usually wears leather head
gear and flight goggles," Poisoner
said. "He looks like a balloonist from
the 1800s."
During their concerts, The Slow
Poisoners display large cards showing
the name of each song along with art
to convey the mood of the music. Poi
soner said that these props were in
spired by old vaudeville acts, which
often displayed easels that gave an ex
planation of each performance.
Poisoner founded the band with
two cellists in 1997, but he later trans
formed the group into a traditional
bass, guitar and drums format. The
group has released two albums,
"Great Spiders and Diamond Pow
der" and "Days of the Soft Break,"
which feature creative lyrics and a
genre that is hard to define.
"Our lyrics are strange and poetic,
with historical references and surreal
imagery," Poisoner said. "Our music
is eclectic and touches on all genres."
Although many musicians have
joined and left the group since 1997,
Trott, who joined in 1998, has stuck
with Poisoner the longest. Trott said
his chemistry with Poisoner has kept
him in the group.
"We see eye-to-eye aesthetically and
philosophically," he said.
Trott also noted that The Slow Poi
soners usually draw an audience that
is out of the ordinary.
"Oh, we attract freaks," he said.
"We attract people who are looking
for something different. When we
were touring in northeast Texas,
every freak from 50 miles around
showed up. The word had been
around that some weird band from
San Francisco was performing, and
the fans wanted to prove that north
east Texas has freaks."
Three other bands will perform
with The Slow Poisoners: Takimoto,
Dan Desmuke, and the all-female lo
cal glam-rock band The Ovulators.
The latter group, which consists of
guitarists Kelani Larsen and Tina
Sarno and bassist Dori Prange,
formed a year-and-a-half ago and
have mostly performed in Eugene and
other parts of Oregon. In August, they
released their first album, "Swept
Away" and toured in California. Like
The Slow Poisoners, The Ovulators
are planning a dramatic performance
with costumes and lots of movement.
"We always dress up extravagant
ly," Larsen said. "And we jump
around a lot."
Courtesy
Rich Trott (left) and Andrew Poisoner of The Poisoners will perform at Sam Bond’s Garage.
Larsen said the group is popular for
giving energetic performances and
playing diverse music.
Turn to POISONER, page 12
WOW Hall to host night of personal films, music
Courtesy
In the film “I Luved This City," Stephanie
Gray expresses her love for the struggling
town of Buffalo, N.Y., where she lives.
Truck Stop Still Lifes/
set for Jan. 16f will feature
various short films by Bill
Brown and Stefanie Gray
By Natasha Chilingerian
Pulse Reporter
Not My House Mobile Arts will
present "Truck Stop Still Lifes," an
evening of film and music at WOW
Hall on Jan. 16. The show features
filmmaker Bill Brown of Lubbock,
Texas, who will present works that re
flect his travels in North America. The
Limited
Seating
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Tickets at all TlcketsWest outlets (800) 992 TIXX Service charges may apply
show will also feature films by Buffa
lo, N.Y.-based Stephanie Gray, whose
films deal with her relationship to
Buffalo and its buildings. Musician
Owen Ashworth of San Francisco's
Casiotone for the Painfully Alone will
provide tunes throughout the show.
Brown, who has been creating
films related to the subjects of history
and memory for the past 10 years, will
present an hour of his "short, critical
essays" and discuss his creations with
the audience.
"My films are like postcards from
various places in North America, and
I sort of examine them," he said.
In "Buffalo Common,” Brown dis
cusses the dismantling of nuclear mis
sile sites in North Dakota and larger
issues of nuclear war and economic
decline in the American Midwest.
"Mountain State" looks at 25 road
side historical markers and gives a
brief history of westward expansion.
"(Confederation Park" is a look back at
Brown's stay in Vancouver, British Co
lumbia and a light take on the rivalry
between French separatists and Eng
lish-speaking Canada. Brown said
that the film was based upon his ex
periences living in the country.
"'Confederation Park' is partially
about when I lived in four different
cities in Canada and the bizarre
roommates 1 had," Brown said. "It
also asks questions about what con
stitutes Canadian identity and the
conflict between French and English
speaking Canada. *
Brown uses an example of bath
room hand dryers in Canada. They
originally displayed both English and
French instructions, but the English
instructions were tom off in French
speaking regions. Likewise, the French
instructions were tom off in English
Tum to TRUCK STOP, page 12
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