Eugene weekly., June 14, 2007, Page 29, Image 29

The Young Immortals
was time for a name change, and Hilton
began the ’80s as Eek-A-Mouse — the name of
the racehorse he always bet on.
The ’80s started off badly for reggae
fans, after the death of reggae icon Bob
Marley, but Eek-A-Mouse didn’t let the
tragedy keep him down. He continued mak-
ing music that honors his Jamaican roots —
playing regularly at the Jamaican music fes-
tival Reggae Sunsplash and teaming up with
reggae duo Michigan and Smiley. He has
more recently been featured on Christian
rock group P.O.D.’s album Satellite, lending
his vocals to the rock-reggae track
“Ridiculous.” Above all else he has tried to
stay true to his Rastafarian beliefs.
“As I continue to present this original
music to the fans, and the world. I will remem-
ber, and respect those that have made reg-
gae music what it has become,” he says on
his website. “Music from the downtrodden
underprivileged people of Jamaica, a little
island in the sun of the West Indies. I love reg-
gae because reggae is me the ‘EEK.’ “
Eek-A-Mouse appears at 9 pm Tuesday,
June 21, at Taboo. 21+ show. $15 adv., $17
door. — Deanna Uutela
dozens of emails a day is nothing to scoff at
for a wee band trying to make a name for
itself.
There are two other tunes on The
Young Immortals’ MySpace page: a slighty
slinky thing called “Motive” that’s just ask-
ing to echo through a large performance
room, and “Hot For Sarah,” a jokey, simple
ditty sprinkled with a playful tambourine.
The band’s first album, When History
Meets Fiction, is due out July 1, and imme-
diate after its release, a sprawling summer
tour is in the works. But first: Eugene. The
Young Immortals play with The Dead
Americans, The Filthiest People Alive and
The Co-Stars at 10 pm Saturday, June 16, at
Diablo’s Downtown Lounge. 21+ show. $6.
— Molly Templeton
Temperature Rising
“I got the fever” is a phrase that, like the
music of the band currently singing it, The
Young Immortals, sits at a juncture of musi-
cal genres and subgenres. It could indicate
hormone-driven strains of hair metal, à la
Poison, or ’60s pop harmonies, à la Big Star.
It could belong to a sultry siren or an ironic
indie band.
In short, it’s a pretty nonspecific line to
make into the hook of your big single, but
isn’t that how it always works? And it is, for
The Young Immortals, a hook. (So is the pic-
ture on their MySpace page of one band
member caught mid-air and mid-kick, actual-
ly.) “The Fever” is a song that deserves all
the words I overuse in music previews: jaun-
ty, peppy, synth-decorated, owing something
to jangly Britpop and something to the show-
manship of ’80s bands (you can just hear the
potential for onstage charisma in singer
Jacob Ray’s voice). Clearly, it’s not just me
affected by this sorta-’80s, sorta-’90s pop
rock; The Young Immortals recently won a
battle of the bands at the Crystal Ballroom in
their hometown of Portland, and they got a
song on a Starbucks compilation. As a result,
“The band receives dozens of emails per day
from strangers who have heard ‘The Fever’
at Starbucks” or on Starbucks’ XFM station,
says the press release for the band’s Eugene
show. That may sound like small change, but
H
O
M E
T
E
G
G AF E LY
S A
Y
541-688-8761
Mention Eugene Weekly
for a 10% discount
(subject to minimum fares)
JUNE 14, 2007 29