ROARING RAPIDS Joe Manis
Quartet—7pm; jazz, n/c
SAM BOND'S GARAGE Bluegrass
Jam—9pm; n/c
VANILLA JILL'S Honey of the
Heart—7pm; funky, spunky
dance folk, $5 don.
WHITE HORSE SALOON Karaoke
w/Slick Nick—9pm; n/c
WEDNESDAY 8/23
5TH ST CORNUCOPIA Karaoke w/
Slick Nick—9pm; n/c
MUSIC
BLACK FOREST Karaoke w/KJ
Powers—9pm; n/c
THE COOLER Karaoke w/Caught
in the Act—9pm; n/c
COWFISH Submerged w/Rico &
Olivier—9pm; deep-house, tech-
no, disco, n/c
HAPPY HOURS Mama Jan’s Blues
Jam w/Brian Chevalier—8pm;
n/c
HI-FI LOUNGE Funk Night—
10pm; funk jam, n/c
ISLAND HUT Karaoke w/Jared—
5pm; n/c
JERSEY'S Karaoke w/Sassy
Patty—8pm; n/c
LUCKEY'S Wednesday Night
Groove Sessions w/The Sunday
Bump!—10pm; funk, jazz, $3
MAC'S Gus Russell & Paul
Biondi—6pm; n/c
MOHAWK TAVERN Karaoke w/
Caught in the Act—9pm; n/c
MULLIGAN'S Open Mic—8:30pm;
variety, n/c
OLD NICK'S Iron Gag, PG 13—9pm;
hardcore, punk, metal, $5
PARK BLOCKS Now! Performing
Arts Series: The Red Pants Trio—
noon; n/c
ROARING RAPIDS Swing Shift
Jazz Orchestra—7pm; jazz, n/c
SAM BOND'S GARAGE Miss
Jupiter, Hollow Sidewalks—9pm;
psych-punk, $7
SIDELINES SPORTS BAR Karaoke
w/Mike—9pm; n/c
VANILLA JILL'S Open mic—8pm;
poetry, music, n/c
WAYWARD LAMB Lipsync
Battle—9:30pm; n/c
WEST END TAVERN BTM
Karaoke—9pm; n/c
WHIRLED PIES DOWNTOWN
Whirled Music Series ft. Pointing at
the Moon—6pm; jazz quartet, n/c
CORVALLIS
& THE REGION
BRITT PAVILION — Jacksonville
TH Rick Springfield—7:30pm;
$29-$236
SA The Decemberists—7:30pm;
$29-$224
TU Huey Lewis & The News—
7:30pm; sold out
LASELLS STEWART CENTER —
Corvallis
SA OSU Summer Choir "The Path
of Totality" Concert—7pm; $10
or n/c for OSU students
OSU MEMORIAL UNION QUAD —
Corvallis
SU Lady Dottie & the Diamonds
& The Plaehn-Hino Blues
Band—6:30pm; $15 or n/c for
OSU students w/ID & kids under
10
BY WILL KENNEDY
COLD HEAT
Eugene’s Le Rev brings its cinematic
mood to Hi-Fi
I
’m eating skewered beef heart with Eugene band Le
Rev at a Peruvian restaurant in the Whiteaker neigh-
borhood, and the band is explaining how they started
playing music together in a snowstorm. “That’s kind of
a beautiful thing,” I say, thinking of the oppressive heat
outside and how the next day threatens to be the hottest of
the summer.
“It was like, negative 10,” exaggerates Le Rev multi-
instrumentalist Colin Redmond.
“We were snowed in,” adds Nick Gamer, who sings but
also switches between guitar and bass in the band’s revolv-
ing lineup.
Drummer James West recalls recording “streams of
ideas. We had such a great musical chemistry.”
And the band agrees this experience shaped their sound,
a sound West calls “glacial.”
Earlier I’d been invited to hear an exclusive set of new
material in the band’s rehearsal space in the attic of a near-
by home. Le Rev’s music has a definite air of cool, urban
detachment, with keyboards, sensuous basslines, textural
guitar work and West’s percussion mixing an arsenal of
electronically triggered sounds with a traditional drum kit.
Sharing vocal duties, Redmond and Gamer alternate
between whispers and soulful falsetto. Redmond and West
are fans of electronic music, though Gamer says he’s “still
not sold” on the style, preferring country and Stax Records-
style soul music. Nevertheless, Le Rev blends elements of
contemporary drum and bass, but also slow-rolling, hip-
hop and R&B inspired beats.
Le Rev has yet to put out a full length (they hope to
soon), but two EPs are available online as well as a music
video for the song “Blkout BB,” directed by Eugene artist
Blake Boxer. The black and white video features several
cameos from musicians in Eugene’s indie rock scene; it has
the lonely feeling of chasing something spiritual through a
libertine lifestyle, the debauchery wearing thin as the night
drags on and the hangover sets in.
And while Le Rev’s songwriting is strong, where the
band really excels is building a cinematic mood, a tone of
sadness shot through with a hot vein of post-rock experi-
mentation. It’s the kind of stuff mastered by Radiohead.
“Whenever there’s like a white guy singing falsetto,” Gam-
er jokes, “it tends to go to [Radiohead lead singer] Thom
Yorke.” But I also hear bands like Antlers and Grizzly
Bear, as well as any number of acts from the ’80s heyday
of synth pop and moody indie rock.
CLUB
“We all will write music,” Gamer says, and the lyrics
spring up out of that. Gamer says that lyrically he works
with feelings and emotions first. “Sometimes I’ll come up
with melody line,” he says. “No words.” And the words
come as Gamer explores textures of language: how the
words feel when put together. “We’re just trying to attack
songwriting from all different angles,” Gamer says.
And West says playing in a trio creates a “triad of pres-
sure that keeps us in check,” and that all three musicians
share a “trust in the ear.” Sometimes Gamer gives West
look and West knows he needs to reign it in. “Do you know
you’re giving him that look?” I ask Gamer. “Yes,” he says.
“We’re making this music because we get along and
it’s a way to bond,” West continues. “We try to find some-
thing that’s fresh. We try to think of it as our ideal Pandora
station filled with music we’ve never heard before. We’re
open to evolve with what’s inspiring us.”
Le Rev plays with Eugene’s Ferns and Portland’s Minden 10 pm Friday, Aug.
18, at Hi-Fi Music Hall Lounge; $5, 21-plus.
100 YEARS
10PM FRIDAY, AUGUST 18TH:
NUDIE MAGS, THOM SIMON, TBA
$5 PSYCH ROCK
10PM SATURDAY, AUGUST 19TH:
SKELEVISION, EOLA, SURFSDRUGS,
WALTER TV $5 GARAGE, INDIE ROCK
933 Olive St | 541-687-4643
830 Olive St | 541-343-3204
luckeysclub.com • In the heart of the Barmuda Triangle
eugeneweekly.com • A ugust 17, 2017
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