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Filthy
Friends
Street Roots • August 18-24 2017
Street Roots • August 18-24, 2017
special. I could tell that something unique was
happening when wé started working together.
J.C.: I also see you guys around town at shows. That’s
new in some ways too: the punk and post-punk generation
getting older and having kids and still having that be a
big part o f their life.
Corin: I think so. Obviously my life is different now,
and having kids fills up a lot of it, but music didn’t
become any less important to me. It’s not something
that I ever lost any feelings for. It’s still something
th at I really turn to in term s of looking for real truth. I
feel like artists who really do that are very few and far
between, but when, you hit it, and when you hit it in
music, to m e it just replenishes all of my resources as
a spiritual person, and as someone who is looking for
truth in this world. I don’t see that in a lot of other
things.
I mean really good writing can do th a t But for me
music is the most powerful source of i t
J.C.: This is hardly the first time this has come up in
American history, but does it feel like music can, or
should be, more important than ever now?
P eter: Y’knów, I told my daughter, we watched the
election together? and she was dumbfounded, and I
said, “you know what? When I was 13 my main fear
was that Richard Nixon was going to kidnap me, shave
my head, and send me off to Vietnam to die. This
shit’s been going on forever.”
Is it bad now? Yeah, of course it’s bad. There’s this
great book by Jacques Barzun and it’s a history of the
last 500 years (From Dawn To Decadence). And the
whole theory of the book is, the last 500 years, this is
BY JASON COHEN
humankind’s step towards freedom. We don’t go back.
STAFF WRITER
Yeah, there’s th is shit going op. But we hav^m ore .
ilthy Friends formed like most bands do. h i f a c t
fre e d o m s to live lives in d iffe re n t w ay s th a n anyone
it’s right there in the name: they are a bunch of
did 60 years ago. And our job is to keep doing that. I
people who like each other, playing music
feel real positive.
/P H O T O BY ING RID RENAN
together. It just so happens that two members - Peter
And it’s not that bullshit about how good music is .
The Filthy Friends, from left to right, Scott McCaughey, K urt Bloch, Corin Tucker, Peter Buck and Linda Pitmon. Not pictured is Bill Rieflin o f K ing Crimson, who will join them on tour.
Buck and Corin Tucker - are known for playing in two
going, to happen with a bad government. Fuck that
of America’s greatest rock ‘n’ roll bands (that would be
sh it I’d rather have bad music. Well, we’ve got that
R.E.M. and Sleater-Kinney, if it needs mentioning). And
anyway. But I firmly believe that there’s a lot of the
a hundred bands! Everyone in the band has a unique
shows. It felt like a band. We never auditioned people.
want to write songs that represent who you are, th e
the rest of the group - previous Buck collaborators
world that just doesn’t march to those drums
1
personality
musically
and
we
try
to
put
all
that
world you live in and who you want to be. Every time
Scott McCaughey, Kurt Bloch, Bill Rieflin and Linda
anymore.
J.C.: So Corin, you were the only person who hadn’t
together. I’m kind of a communist. I mean, everyone
you step on stage, be g re a t After that, it’s just a matter
Pitmon - isn’t exactly weak in the resume department,
played
with
everyone
else
before.
involved
all
the
way.
of how much you’re gonna do i t
Corin: Yeah, I have to adm it I felt really pretty
with credits ranging from the Young Fresh Fellows to
depressed
after Trump was elected. For several
Corin:
Yeah,
but
my
voice
-
it
has
a
pretty
big
Steve Wynn & the Miracle 3 to King Crimson.
J.C.: Bands are communist aren’t they?
Corin: Yeah, he’s really serious. When I got the call/
months. But now I feel like it’s really lifted just
personality. So that, in and of itself, when it comes into
Misleadingly (and jokingly) billed in initial press
and he was like, “let’s make a record together,” I was
bécause he’s so incompetent. The utter lack of being
a song, immediately can change things. I was just
Corin: Our bands are. I really don’t think that most
materials as “a David Bowie cover band,” Filthy Friends like “what?” Really surprised. It’s been such an
able to get anything done is kind of cheering me up, to
instantly comfortable. Peter is a really natural
bands are as communal as REM or Sleater-Kinney.
have indeed been that, taking on “Jean Genie" and
interesting opportunity to work with someone that I
be perfectly honest But I think in term s of music, I
collaborator.
And
he’s
obviously
used
to
doing
a
lot
of
Sleater-Kinney
really
is,
it’s
a
tribe,.it’s
a
commune
“Rebel Rebel" at Buck’s Todos Santos music festival in
obviously admire, who is also like, a door-wide-open
really feel like music is an extremely powerful way of
material and changing things really quickly, which is
and it’s very democratic. And you know, it’s extremely
Mexico soon after Bowie died in 2016. But the project
kind of collaborator. I really felt like we were on equal
people telling their story. And that’s how you can open
how
Sleater
Kinney
does
everything,
so
it
was
just
land
trying
at
times,
because
we
do
have
to
come
to
actually started several years before that, as a studio
footing immediately.
up people’s minds. I think that’s part of why rock and
of an immediate ability to feel like I could carve out a
collaboration between Buck and Tucker, and this month
consensus, but it truly has provided us with a life-long
roll has been so powerful;
P eter: I’d just come off of doing solo records where I space for myself.
friendship. A lifelong feeling of, “we belong to each
is its official coming-out
This is a weird example, but (Tucker’shusband,'
was the boss and had mostly wrote the songs myself.
Filthy Friends’ debut album, Invitation will be
Other.” And we did something that’s really important
J.C j Did this scratch any particular itches for you that
filmmaker Lance Bangs) and I went a n d saw The
And I’m glad I did i t But Pm a collaborator. I like to
released by Kill Rock Stars on Aug. 25. That same day,
in term s of creating a community, showing women
you hadn’t been able to express in your other bands?
Revolution the other night. And it was just so
work with people who have their own musical
the band plays in Eugene, followed by an August 26
could be in that world just as equally as men are. Not
incredibly moving that this band came out on the road
personality and bring something I don’t have. I really
appearance at Project Pabst in Portland.
that
there
aren’t
other
women
that
have
done
that,
hut
Corin: Oh, it’s really, really fun. I mean, it’s a little
and played these songs that they had written together.
want stuff to not be me all the time. We started
Street Roots joined Buck and Tucker in a com er
for our generation it was still something that we
more diva-y. A little more lead-singery. It’s also a really
working and writing, it felt real immediately. And when
booth at Dot’s in Southeast Portland to talk music,
struggled with, and we needed to kind of do it our way. It was a really powerful expression because one of the
different musical direction, sometimes, than anything
things about the band that I think is really amazing is
you’re writing, you’re forming a relationship. We were
creative partnerships and politics, over nachos and
Sleater Kinney would do.
it’s a rock-n-roU band, and it’s truly integrated. There's
J.C.: Both o f you are still playing music with friends
acquaintances, but not best friends or anything. We
non-alcoholic drinks.
African-American people, there’s white people and it
you made 20 or 30 years ago.
built this relationship through creating stuff and finding
J.C.: Between the Alejandro Escovedo record Peter
Ja s o n C ohen: So was this originally just for fun, or
brings together punk, and this kind of steady rock
out what we had in common. That’s a very serious
produced and now this, I feel like you’ve really given the
P e te n It’s funny. My generation, literally my peer
did you always know you had a band here?
drummer, and Wendy, is almost like a j azz guitarist
thing.
world a new window into Kurt Bloch as a lead guitarist
group, Dream Syndicate, Black Flag, all those folks,
Everything thrown together is like 10 times more
P e te r B uck: Every time I do music I’m really
J.C.: So it started with just the two o f you writing?
that was the first generation where everyone’s still
interesting and more powerful and they were really a
P eter: The thing about Kurt is, he can do anything,
fucking serious about i t
making music. Like, in 1972, The Doobie Brothers got
band and they really cared about each other, even
but I never give him direction. When you’ve got a player
P eter: She sang on my first solo record and then we
famous, b u t I bet all the other guys are selling
though they had a lot of problems dong the way.
like that you just want him to be himself. I’m like,
C orin T ucker: So serious (laughing).
just started writing. And within a few weeks we had six
insurance. All of my friends who are my age, they’re
And that to me was a super powerful lesson for
“what do you think Kurt?” “Go for it!”
or seven songs and we started recording piecemeal.
America. We have-all these different people thrown
all making records. No one’s getting rich, but that’s
P eter: I mean, I am. It doesn’t mean I don’t have fun
Corin: He’s got such great instincts. He just feels
together and we have our problems but we’re spending
not really the point.
doing i t And when I used to drink, I’d have drinks and
J.Ci: So when did the rest o f the band come into the
what should happen on the song, and you’re like, “Oh
time together and welove each other and we have to
do it, but that doesn’t mean I’m not fucking serious
picture?
yeah, that’s exactly what should happen.”
C orin: I still find a lot of reíd joy in playing music
rem ember that part erf i t
about i t
and performing and writing. It’s something I don’t find
P eter: It started out with the band on my solo
I’m not sure that we had professional ambitions. But
P e te r: I take K urt around on my solo things and
J.C.: Ifrttr first single, “Despierta” has been received as
in other piafes in my life in that specific way. So
record. And that just worked very well. We did a few
you want to do great work, you want to be here, you
people are like, “who’s that guitar player?” He’s been in
something o f a Trump-era anthem.
finding someone else to collaborate with is pretty
Portlanders Corin Tucker
and Peter Buck talk about
their brand new band.
F
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Corin: It was written before Trum p started
running. That to me was about change in this country
and this hope of mine that power is . gonna start
changing hands in our country. If more diverse people
start getting-involved, and start voting and being
involved in politics, if you just look at the numbers,
they’re really changing. So that was my hope for what
was going to happen in the election and things didn’t
go that way, But it’s a little bit of a fighting song, a bit
of a rallying song, and that kind of works to call'
someone out like a Trump, ju s t to be like, listen; your
power is really tenuous, which I feel like it is. It’s
tumultuous times that we live in right now.
J.C.: A n d you’ve said “No Forgotten Son,” was written
about Trayvon Martin, which, unfortunately, hasn’t dated
a t all.
Corin: That one just hit me like emotionally.
Sometimes, for me when I write a song, something is
bothering me in my head that I don’t even know how
to articulate, but it spills out when I start writing a
song. It becomes about something that I didn’t realize
I was consciously thinking about. Because (Trayvon
Martin) was just this kid. That resonated with me
because I’m raising a kid who’s really close to that
age, who does stupid shit. Like, goes off in th e middle
of the night for Skittles and an iced tea. He does
stupid shit all the time and he’s out late at night when
he shouldn’t be because that’s what teenage boys do.
And like, how could the price for that be your life?
That’s just. ..it’s mind boggling. And it’s
unacceptable. So that’s kind of where that song came
from. And of course, I think that we have a larger
problem at work. W ehave a police system that’s so
clearly-broken. That so clearly needs to be deeply
reformed. That so dearly is suffering from the
militarization of policing. But when you write a song,
you’re trying to reach someone emotionally. That story
just got to me.
J.C.: Corin, you lived in Eugene and Olympia, and
Peter, you are from Georgia but got here via Seattle. Do
you feel like what brought you to Portland initially is still
here?
Corin: I do. I mean, it’s kind of so in your face now,
because there are so many people that moved here.
It’s almost like, be careful what you wish for. “Oh, we
want to create this alternative community!”
P eter: Hey, you know what though? Do you need/
more insurance adjusters or lawyers? I’d rather live in 4
a place where I can come to Dot’s and yeah,
everyone’s got tattoos and I know it’s the Portland
thing and Portlandia of course. But those people know
how to use a city. They’re interesting. I like th a t I
travel all the time and I end up in a lot of small towns
and I look around and go, “how would you live in this
place?” I grew up in Roswell, Georgia, for God’s sake.
This feels pretty nice.
Corin: The greatest measure to me is the
community that my kids are growing up in is so great
and so kind. I mean, public high school is still public
high school and there’s still jocks and mean people
and drugs and what have you, but when Trump was
elected they had a unity assembly, and the kids formed
a circle around the gym and were like, “for those of
you who are immigrants, we’re not letting ICE touch
our property. They’re not coming in here. You are safe
here.”
That’s pretty incredible for a bunch of high school
kids to have the depth to reach out and say, “we care
about you and these are our values. Our values are
people-first” I’ll fight-traffic any day to b e in a city
where that’s how kids are brought up to treat each
other.