One Nation Under
Dine trio returns, along with geek-rock Slats.
W
elcome in the weekend one day
early, and go out on Thursday
night. There's something for
everyone's musical taste, such as Blackfire
at the WOW Hall, along with Eugene's Basic
Assumption. If you missed Blackfire's
Eugene debut in May, now's your chance to
catch up. This trio hails from Flagstaff, Ariz.,
and are members of the Navajo nation; in their
language they are Dine. The two brothers and
a sister - Clayson, Klee and Jeneda Benally
- create powerful, rhythmic songs challeng-
ing us to open our eyes to the environmental
destruction and marginalization of indigenous
cultures.
CJ Ramone produced the gro~p's 1994
self-titled debut, while their most recent, One
Nation Under, was produced by Hole and
Sonic Youth knob twiddler Don Fleming.
Their father, Jones Benally, a traditional Dine
singer, contributes vocal performances along
with the late Joey Ramone. Blackfire were
honored to have been asked to write music for
two previously unreleased lyrics by Woody
Guthrie.
The band does· wonderful things with
"Mean Things A Happenin' Iri This World,"
while "Indian Com Song" has velocity and
power far beyond many things on the radio
these days. The group promotes an alcohol-
and drug- free message through performances
and workshops on music, politics, the envi-
ronment and native issues. Th!!Y also perform
traditional Dine dances with their father as the
Jones Benally Family.
'Indian Corn
Song'has
velocity and
power far
beyond many
things on the
radio these da_
ys.
That same night in a nearby neighborhood,
Luckey's welcomes Midwesterners The
Slats. Too interesting to overl~k, master-
mind Brian Cox propels forth raw, stripped
down, thumping rock and roll, with a big
pinch of geek rock, a love affair with synth
pop and inexplicable lyrics that surfaced from
deep within his -dark unconscio s (sample
lyric: "Psychokinesis multiply/ Pulse ampli-
fier ... encode genetic make-up/ Another bil-
lion dollar bre;tlc down break up''). It's as if
vocalist/guitarist Cox, drummer Mark
Langgin and vocalist/guitarist NS Eliot create
an auditory screen-saver for your brain while
you're pumped up on steroids listening to
Devo. Cox records and produces all of this
music. The Slats' latest release is The Great
Plains of San Francisco, on Tyros Records. I
love _"The Weapon That I Used," "You Ruined
A Good Idea," and "Obliterate These Beats."
Way cool!
www.eugeneweeKtv.com
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John Henry's welcomes a blast of a show
Tuesday night, with Joel R. L. Phelps &
The Downer Trio, Treasure State , and
Mines. Also known as Joel Phelps, Phelps
co-founded Silkworm and The Downer Trio.
A Seattle via Missoula, Mont., band, Phelps
debuted with Silkworm's first tape in 1988.
Several recordings followed, most recorded
by veteran producer and fellow Montanan
Steve Albini. Phelps is back after a two-year
hiatus, following 2001 's Inland Empires, a
CD of covers with three· forceful originali(
and The Downer Trio's last, l 999'sBlackbird.
His newest recording, Customs, is vaguely
promised for a late 2003/early 2004 release.
Phelps, along with Bill Herzog (Neko Case)
and Robert Mercer, are The Downer Trio.
Treasure States is Mercer's band. The name
Downer Trio is not entirely indicative of the
music; while Phelps can lyrically seem
mopey, there's an underlying post-punk inten-
sity and strength in the music, akin to Neil
Young's fuzzy guitar wanderings and Mission
of Burma's straight ahead gaze. The music
comes across with a directness that can't be
ignored. It forces you to take it all in before it
self-destructs. The Way The Wind Whips The
Water, the 2002 release by Mines, would not
be out of place on the Thrill Jockey roster. The
syncopated rhythms and breezy feel instantly
reminded me of Tortoise or The Sea and Cake.
Yet Mines_ also masters the wispy guitar land-
scape those bands wouldn't venture ,into.
Mines also originates in Missoula, and
Take the .Coconut Milk
A talk with Jack Johnson.
J
ack Johnson, foremost a surfer, next a
filmmaker and musician, is touring
the Northwest with Ben Harper. Both
artists will play full sets Aug. 19 at the Les
Schwab Amphitheatre in Bend, and Aug. 20 at
Columbia Meadows·in St. Helens.
Johnson's first album, Bruslifire
Fairytales, targeted an audience ofabout 5,000
surfers, but the entire planet grabbed it instead
His new album, On and On, is smooth per-
sonal rock in the tradition of Fairytales and is
available now.
Johnson's surf films, Thicker Than Water
and September Sessions, are works of art and
surely worthy of an eyeballing, capable of in- ·
spiring the most maladroit to give surfing a try.
Johnson talked recently with EW.
EW: What do you prefer, surfing a perfect
barrel in Indonesia with coconut milk waiting
on shore,_ or hearing I0,000 smiling fans
singing the lyrics to your songs?
JJ: Well, personally I like sµrfing. They're
both pretty fun and luckily I get to do both, but
ifl had to choose, it'd be the barrel in Indo.
EW: You ever get a chance to su,f Oregon?
JJ: No. I've surfed Washington. I forget
By Ben Fogelson.
said. The first one we put out thinking a few
surfers were going to buy it and it just kept on
going. We knew the second one was going to
get reviews and things like that so it was chal-
lenging, but we just decided to make it laid
back and not think we had to step it up. We got
some criticism for making it sound too much
like the first one. We also got a lot of praise for
not changing. It depends on who you talkto, I
guess.
JJ: Yeah, we don't get to hit every town,
but right before we went on_ tour with Ben we
did l O shows across the states. A lot were about
600 capacity, like how the Wild Duck was. It's
fun to play an outdoor venue and have that
many people, the energy, but at the same time
it's fun to play a small room where you can
have conversations. It's cool to not forget
about the smaller stuff; _it's pretty easy to get
sucked away.
EW: If you could hang at the beach for the
day and su,f with anyone from history who
would it be?
JJ: Let's see, surfers ... well I've had a
funny life where I've got to meet a lot of' em;
EW:· You sing the line, "There were so my dad kind of knew a lot of those guys that I
. many fewer questions when stars were still just
would think of. I'm trying to think of one I
the holes to heaven. " Seems like you 're ex- haven't met. The obvious one would be Duke
pressing corifasion you might feel with new- Kahanamoku. ~e'd be very cool to go for a
surf with. He had all these great quotes about
found stardom?
JJ: No, I was reading this book called how everybody gets all anxious about trying to
Northern Star to Southern Cross; it was talking get their waves, and if you just sit there lortg
about how back in the day people would look enough the waves will
up and think that a big dome came over at
come. He's just re-
night, and there were these holes. The stars ally patient.
were heaven shining through. I was thinking S~ms like a
about how as things develop we get further great guy.
along, figure everything out. Scientists keep One of the
making breakthroughs, things become more first guys to
confusing when it's probably a lot more sim- start off the ·
ple. People believed it was just heaven behind
the dome.
the name of the area, but it was ... uh ... cold.
EW: Whats it like to go from creating a
work that you don 1 expect many people to
hear, to On and On, an album that you knew
absolutely millions would hear, enjoy and crit-
icize?
JJ: It's kind of a trip. I just try not to put
too much pressure on myself, but it's like you
adopted Seattle as a home base. Chad Hanson
and Ron Lewis teamed up with A!!fon Bolton
and Tim Holland (both formerly with The
Dutch Flat) in Missoula in 1994. The group
has boiled it down to three, as they are cur-
rently without Holland.
BW
EW: So you did t~e Wild Duck he~.
JJ: That was a couple years ago, August
2001.
EW: Any plans to come
back through? Is there a
chance you might play
smaller markets again?