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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (March 1, 2007)
Born Again a Second Time I know I’m not doing Brian Vander Ark, formerly of The Verve Pipe, justice by bringing this up, but I just can’t help my- self. My friend’s 16th birthday was full of girlish fun, like shopping and getting our hair cut. Well, her cut ended up being much shorter than an- ticipated. As her dirty blonde shag lay across her face, all I could think was, “She looks The June Umbrella like the dude from The Verve Protection From the Rain Pipe.” The rest of the night was spent belt- Two years ago, we profiled bandleader ing out, with youthful enthusiasm, lyrics to Brian Hall’s band The Glorious Bride in “The Freshman.” EW’s first Locals Only issue. Now, Hall — Now that that’s out of the way, Vander who has also played around town solo — is Ark — no longer part of The Verve Pipe — back with a new band, The June has kept up his musicality by releasing a Umbrella, which apparently formed not few solo records, beginning with 2003’s Resurrection. Though he lay to rest his long after that Glorious Bride write-up. Hall ’90s rock guitar for an acoustic and re- is still on a definite and appealing indie rock placed melodramatic lyrics for more heart- track, and the June Umbrella takes a turn felt ones, Vander Ark still manages to bal- for the Northwestern and the New York: ance super depressing songs (like one Two clear musical references are the deli- about dying in a hospital bed) with more cate, nostalgic yearning of Death Cab for toe-tapping ones like “Survival.” Both fans Cutie (the chorus of “Harvest” is a dead and Vander Ark newbies will appreciate the ringer for a DCFC tune) and the shimmer- softer, less ’90s angst side he has to offer. ing, arpeggiated guitar lines of Interpol Keeping with the (particularly on “Icicles,” which also shows softer side of things, the electronic handiwork of the L.A.-based AM will DoublePlusGood). With drummer Adam round out the show, Beam, guitarist Josiah Henley and bassist bringing with him the Claire Staley (replacing Hannah Sledge, new face of pop music. who played on the record), Hall has put to- The singer-songwriter gether a tidy, over-too-quickly debut for his has gained popularity new band. Neatly produced and confident, through song place- the band’s self-titled EP manages to sound ment on shows like famliar without sounding as if it’s drawing The Real World and straight lines from the musicians’ favorite Men in Trees. AM’s airy bands to their own songs. Certain lyrics pop songs are catchy have a definite spiritual bent, but in an ac- yet cheesy in the same cessible way; others are unabashedly way Ben Lee and lovestruck or draped with the descriptive Coldplay songs are. imagery of a short story. A welcome addi- But I think we can all tion to the Eugene music scene, The June agree: Cheese is good … mostly. Brian Umbrella plays a CD release party with Vander Ark and AM play at 6:30 pm Cabinessence and the Tiffany Lamps at 7 Saturday, March 3 at John Henry’s. 21+ pm Friday, March 2 at Cozmic Pizza. $5. show. $10 adv., $13 door. — Amanda Burhop — Molly Templeton 28 MARCH 1, 2007 Trip the Light Mozartastic Put on that party bonnet and kick up your booted heels! Oops, that’s just the poster talking: The Oregon Mozart Players, promoting the “Music from the Dance” program, chose Renoir’s Dance at Bougival to push the show. But the pro- gram is more ballroom than Renoir’s music hall flirtation despite the leadoff piece, Bartok’s Rumanian Folk Dances. The UO’s Dean Kramer, pianist extraordinaire, plays the solo bits in Mozart’s ninth piano con- certo in E Flat (K. 271), which includes some dance-y sounds even if it’s not precisely a dance. And then there’s Debussy’s Petite Suite, which recalls both formal dances and celebrations. Of course, ending with- out more Mozart wouldn’t be right (it’s the Mozart Players, after all!), so the last piece is a set of six German dances, K. 571. Concert notes say that these German dances are “clever hackwork” because of their court-ordered formal structure, but come on — Mozart’s inventiveness was not squashed by formal structure. That’s prob- ably when you’ll want to break out your best moves and fill the aisles and balcony of Soreng Theatre with your best (formal) moves. At a UO faculty concert not too long ago, I overheard a member of the OMP board telling some- Brian Vander Ark one else that the OMP was in great fi- nancial shape again — which is wonderful; how Eugene supports so many classical music experiences is beyond me, but it’s definitely a boost to that “Greatest Village for the Arts” thing. And we want to keep it that way, no? So get out your fancy danc- ing togs and head to “Music for the Dance.” The Oregon Mozart Players play at 8 pm Saturday, March 3 and 2:30 pm Sunday, March 4 at the Hult Center. $15-$30. — Suzi Steffen Sebadoh Classic Sebadoh Lineup Tours Again “On my way to a temporary dream.” Thus began the first song on Sebadoh’s third album, 1990’s The Freed Weed. When Barlow and company sang those words, they had little idea of the permanent im- pact they would have on the face of indie rock. At the time, following Barlow’s depar- ture from Dinosaur Jr., they were still somewhat obscure, but by 1992 Sebadoh was well-known thanks to their Sub Pop debut Smash Your Head on the Punk Rock. Fifteen years later Sebadoh remains an indie rock touchstone, lauded for their geeky aesthetic as much as for the lo-fi ap- proach to music making they pioneered. Barlow’s intentionally low-tech recording style matched his folky-intellectual ap- proach to rock and only heightened his bandmate Eric Gaffney’s frequent psyche- delic freak-outs. Last year it was announced that the classic Sebadoh lineup of Lou Barlow, Eric Gaffney and Jason Loewenstein would re- unite and tour for the first time in 14 years. Their Eugene WOW Hall show will be six gigs into their almost two-month cross- country tour. Sebadoh began in 1987 as a Barlow solo project. Gaffney quickly joined up, and Loewenstein hopped aboard in 1989. Fans endured frequent line-up changes, but it was this trio that was responsible for the classic albums III, Bubble and Scrape and
