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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (April 28, 2005)
NoMeansNo Means You Will Go Canadian trio NoMeansNo declared their intent to pummel a square art-rock peg into a round punk rock hole in 1981 with a 7-inch, Betrayal, Fear, Anger, Hatred. With all the delicacy of Motörhead in a china shop, they sing songs about alien- ation, sexual obsession and madness cou- pled with a warped sense of humor. Founding brothers Rob (bass, guitar and vocals) and John Wright (vocals, drums, keyboards) wear their book smarts on their guitar straps, flecking their songs with articulate and intelligent albeit often weird lyrical moments. A hallmark of their punk hybrid style is ferociously tight play- ing and jazzy, complex song structure. Rob Wright, working in a campus cafe- teria in Victoria, B.C., in the late ‘70s, was inspired to start a punk band after wit- nessing a death-defying performance by fellow Canadian punk rockers D.O.A. He grabbed a guitar and the rest is pure leg- end. The Wright brothers also masquerade as hockey-rockers Hanson Brothers. Along with two pals, they retool Ramones-ish three-chord punk gems into fist-pumping songs about hockey and beer. If you’ve never seen NoMeansNo, you owe it to yourself to see them at least once. If you’re a fan, you already know the drill. NoMeansNo will perform with The Bastard Saints and On the First Day … They Were Kittens at 8:30 pm at the WOW Hall, Thursday, May 5. $10 adv/$12 door. — Vanessa Salvia Noise Music Fest Examines Space and Sound In the literal sense, noise involves loud or discordant sound. Combined with the term music, the new label now takes on some semblance of shape and composi- tion, at least in the respect that someone is consciously making and combining sound into a thought- out piece. Enter the world of noise music and Eugene’s first NoiseFest taking place on April 29 and 30. Hosted by DIVA and local noise musi- cian Don Haugen, the Eugene NoiseFest will showcase around 20 noise artists from the West Coast (with a heavy emphasis on the Northwest). Noise music com- prises everything from waves of deafen- ing feedback to collections of small blips in still space. Haugen calls it abstract music, comparing its relationship to traditional music the way one would compare an expressionist painting to a Jackson Pollock painting. “You can’t use the same music conventions to describe it,” Haugen explains. Noise music lacks standard structure and is usually characterized by its atonali- ty and lack of an organized beat. But because it loosely embraces anything cre- ated by unusual means, it doesn’t have to be devoid of melody or rhythm. The noise musician’s arsenal of non-traditional “instruments” includes, but is not limited to: field recordings, machine sounds, inci- dental analog noise, primitive and home- made synthesizers and distorted guitar chords. Noise music blossomed from both the cutting edge of modern music as well as its dregs, citing roots in modern classi- cal, early electronic music as well as post- hardcore metal. With a following as amorphous as its sonic bricolage, general interest in the genre tends to fade in and out, Haugen says. However, as an examination of the basics as well as the complexities of sound and space, the Eugene Noise Fest will prove to be a fascinating first for the region. Catch the Eugene Noise Fest at Brandi Carlile DIVA Friday and Saturday. Both shows start at 7 pm. $5 each night. Log on to www.humanmonster.com for more info. — Steven Sawada Rising Star Shines Over Eugene After recently inking a deal with Columbia records and making it onto Rolling Stone’s list of top 10 artists to watch in 2004, Brandi Carlile has a lot to smile about. The 23-year-old singer/songwriter says it was a gig as a backup singer for an Elvis impersonator that taught her about har- mony when she was a teen. Apparently she took those lessons to heart. Playing with twins Tim and Phil Hanseroth (lead guitar and bass respec- tively) Carlile has spare, trimmed down melodies that burst from within the back- ground guitars that surround and support them. Layered harmonies pile on top of each other as lightly as feathers, creating an amalgam so beautiful you’ll barely hear the other parts of the songs. Her voice, one moment a breathy croon and the next a velvety rich powerhouse, is made for the Top 40. More than anything else, it’s what sets her apart. She knows exactly when to lay on the gas and when to back off, when to shout and when to whis- per. Take “Eye of the Needle” off her EP Acoustic for example. It moves along to the steady beat of the strum, floating through verse after verse until the chorus. Without jarring you, the song takes off and carries you with it. All Carlile needs to become a household word is that one big hit, that song that becomes the theme song for some huge sitcom like Dawson’s Creek. But don’t let that put you off if you pride yourself on saying you heard it first. Her stuff is real and earthy, not ethereal. Carlile’s managed to blend the grit of dark folk with sweet, soaring melodies to create intense, emotion-laden ballads that fall like a steady rain and break through like a rain- bow. Brandi Carlile plays Café Paradiso along with Shawn Mullins, 8 pm Saturday, April 30. $ 15 . With Andy Friedman, Nothing’s Off Limits If you missed Andy Friedman the last time he rolled into Sam Bond’s, get thee to the bar and prepare yourself for one hell of a night. No one can figure out what to call Friedman because his show is a combina- tion of art, slide shows and poetry. So he gets labeled with all these stupid terms that just piss him off. It seems that peo- ple either love him or hate him and in Eugene, he’s well loved. Maybe it’s because we like to think we embrace the bleeding edge, which is where Friedman likes to hang out. “Maybe I should have a press kit of all those lousy people who don’t like anything new,“ he said, joking, during an interview a few months ago. “At one time, the singer- songwriter must have seemed weird. But we’ve come to a place where it’s OK to war- ble poetry and strum cat guts.” So check out this artist who paints with words and creates melody with images. Andy Friedman performs with The Other Failures along with Ty Connor and Natalie Zukerman at 9 pm at Sam Bond’s, Thursday, May 5. $5. — Melissa Bearns APRIL 28 2005 29
