music
Summer Sounds at the Cuthbert
Surf rock never truly died. It morphed into music that washes ashore in a beautiful, zombie-Lazarus type of way
about once a year — summer (unless you live in Santa Cruz or San Diego, where it is summer all the time and you
bump the stuff daily).
In the universe of beach music, 311 doesn’t have a niche; it is a niche. A hybrid of white-boy reggae stitched to
an undercurrent of watered down funk music, with guitars that can thrash like a rock band alongside signature ‘90s
alternative vocals, the L.A.-based band is built for outdoor stages and scorching sunny days. 311’s tunes happen to be
the almost perfect combination for an all-out hit the beach with the windows down and the top off sort of excursion.
But we don’t have a beach here in Oregon. We have a coast. The differences being that unless you are a diehard
surfer with a very thick wetsuit you aren’t out wave riding, and you’d be hard pressed to fi nd a real bikini culture
anywhere in Lincoln City. But that doesn’t mean 311 isn’t a more than perfect fi t for us right now. After all, summer is
upon us in all its sunburning glory. The Cuthbert is a great outdoor venue to experience this band; you can bring your
own sand and water if you want, and it is defi nitely swim-trunk and bikini-top warm outside.
Let’s be honest here: If you love 311 you are probably an early 30-something with an old, beat-up skateboard in
your garage, a faded Powell Peralta t-shirt in your closet and stories about high school circa 1999. That’s all good,
given recent trends (‘80s music coming back ten years after the turn of the century), and it’s only a matter of time
before there is some overwhelming resurgence of ‘90s alternative jams — and why not?
311 plays 6:30 pm Thursday, Aug. 25, at the Cuthbert Amphitheater; $40 adv., $45 door. — Dante Zuñiga-West
Cellar Door
If I was lightly armed and on the run from
the law in a dusty Cadillac El Dorado driving
down a dark highway through a Southwestern
landscape with only one choice of music to
have stuck in the tape deck, I would choose the
eerie, heart-thumping tunes of Strange Vine.
Members Ian Blesse (drums, Rhodes piano,
vocals) and Toby Cordova (guitars, vocals), still
chugging along in an epic year of touring (which
included the SXSW festival in Austin), aren’t just
the best band to come out of Fresno, Calif.; they
are contenders for underground cult status.
Strange Vine has mastered an oddly menacing
mix of abstract rock with blues undertones, and
listeners could lose themselves in the band’s
combined vocal talent.
A young, gutsy duo of road warriors,
Strange Vine is capable of painting moods
in your mind. They are the coagulation of
Led Zeppelin and The Melvins — think The
Black Keys mixed with an almost (at times)
Cobain-ish vocal tone. Or Love and a .45 meets
Deliverance (in a good way), but you’d have to
watch both these movies in sepia in a poorly lit
room, with whiskey and burnt popcorn; that’s
the fl avor Strange Vine puts out.
These guys have songs that belong adrift
behind the cellar door of your skull, and they
are tearing through the West Coast with shows
in San Diego, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle
and, soon, Cottage Grove. Strange Vine is
perfect for an Axe & Fiddle crowd. They will
be completely in their element, and frankly
Sam Bond’s should book them — they’d be an
excellent match for that venue as well.
Show-goers who hit up the Strange Vine
performance will be treated to opening
act accompaniment by Eugene rock/jam
powerhouse Strum Theory. This may be the
best gig in town all weekend.
Strange Vine plays with Strum Theory 8:30
pm, Friday, Aug. 19 at The Axe & Fiddle; $5. —
Dante Zuñiga-West
Sweetheart With A Shotgun
There’s a type of street cred in roots music that comes of having a thick accent from
Texas, Louisiana or other southern digs — that yes-indeedy-you-have-seen-some-hard-times-
by-God credibility.
A glowing exception to this rule is Eilen Jewell, the Idaho native whose latest album is
Queen of the Minor Key. Her clear-as-day voice is honey, and sweetest when backed by a
thumping upright bass. But don’t let her voice and angelic appearance fool you — Jewell is
anything but a country sweetheart or jug-band dame.
In Queen of the Minor Key, Cupid isn’t some innocent little baby who stole your darlin’
away; he’s a creeper with a sawed-off six-gauge. Jewell’s lyrics certainly mess with you (“Santa
Fe” is one of the rawest portrayals of the new American West since the Red Hot Chili Peppers’
Californication), but every word is so heartfelt you keep coming back for a piece of the pain.
Jewell freely jumps genres, playing around with blues on “Only One” and while also
sneaking in some surf-rock on “Warning Signs.” Queen of the Minor Key brings to mind a
lady traveler, weary from the road and everything that comes with it. Bring over the guitar,
she’s got some crazy tales to recount. And how about some whiskey?
Eilen Jewell plays 9 pm Thursday, Aug. 25, at Sam Bond’s Garage; $10. —Brit McGinnis
An all day gathering for women,
men and children to celebrate
the Sacred Feminine
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list of p performers, events and ticket info at www.stillpointfarmsfestival.com
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Tickets also available at:
Tsunami Books, Eugene • New Renaissance Books, Portland • Stillpoint Farm 541-968-1999
22 AUGUST 18, 2011
EUGENE WEEKLY
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