16
JULY 27�AUG. 3, 2022
SOUND CHECK
WHAT’S PLAYING AROUND
THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST
Dead Lee returns to Eastern Oregon
The duo has shows in
La Grande and Baker City
TWO CONCERTS
Friday, July 29
By Lisa Britton
Go! Magazine
LA GRANDE, BAKER CITY — Brian
Koch pauses while he tries to remember
the last time he played music in Baker
City.
Time is funny these days, with several
years of music performances essentially
lost to the pandemic.
“It’s been awhile,” he said.
Turns out that the last time he and Kara
Harris — playing as the Portland-based
duo Dead Lee — played here, they didn’t
have a live audience.
“It was still pandemic, but things were
opening up again,” he said.
But circumstances changed, and Dead
Lee ended up performing a live streamed
concert from Churchill School.
Now they are back — live and in
person — for two shows in Eastern
Oregon.
Dead Lee plays Friday, July 29 at
hq, 112 Depot St., in La Grande. Doors
open at 7 p.m. and the music starts at
8 p.m. Cover charge is $10.
7 p.m., hq, 112 Depot St., La Grande
$10 cover
Saturday, July 30
6 p.m., Churchill, 3451 Broadway St.,
Baker City
$10 advance at churchillbaker.com
$15 at the door
Dead Lee/Contributed Photo
Dead Lee — the duo of Brian Koch and
Kara Harris — play at hq in La Grande and
Churchill School in Baker City.
Then the band comes farther east to
play Saturday, July 30, at Churchill, 3451
Broadway St. (enter through the 16th
Street parking lot). Doors open at 6 p.m.,
and the music starts at 6:45 p.m.
Tickets are $10 in advance at
churchillbaker.com, or $15 at the door.
Proof of COVID-19 vaccination or a
negative test is required. Fully vaccinated
children age 15 and younger gain free
admission with a ticket-holding adult.
ABOUT THE BAND
Dead Lee has played as a duo for
about four years.
Their name came courtesy of Harris,
who thought it up when she was playing
solo in Los Angeles.
“I’d come up with at least 100 names,
but there was already a band in exis-
tence,” Koch said. “She came up with
Dead Lee.”
The name, which sounds like “deadly”
when said fast, is particularly handy when
they play in the UK, where the term is
often used as an adjective.
“It’s like saying ‘killer’ here,” Koch said.
Their handle is “dead_lee_duo” on
Facebook and Instagram. (Get it? Say it
fast: “deadly duo.”)
Dead Lee just fi nished touring with the
band Blitzen Trapper, of which Koch has
been a member for 22 years. This week’s
concerts in Eastern Oregon are a “mini
mini tour” for Dead Lee.
They released an album “right away”
when they fi rst started as a duo, and Koch
said they just recorded a live album that
includes songs from that fi rst record.
“The songs have evolved a lot,” he
said.
And they have a new music video out
too — it’s called “Around the Bend.” (Find
it on YouTube.) They fi rst developed the
idea early in the pandemic, but couldn’t
get people together to make it happen.
They fi nally fi nished it.
“It turned out exactly how we wanted it
— it’s so funny and so dark,” he said.
They describe their style as “a mutual
love of the darker folk and country tradi-
tions.”
They’ve expanded their shows over
the years, and performances now feature
several guitars, a kick drum and harmon-
icas.
“We used lots of distortion and eff ects,
too,” Koch said.
AIRPORT ANTIQUES &
THE FURNITURE LADY
Children’s
Museum of
Eastern Oregon
400 S Main St.,
Pendleton, OR
541-276-1066
cmeo.org
HOURS:
Tue. - Sat.10AM - 5PM
Closed 1-2PM for cleaning
1816 NW 51st St.
541.278.0141
Tuesday - Friday 10:30am - 6pm
www.pendletonfurniturelady.com