3
SOUND CHECK
WHAT’S PLAYING AROUND
THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST
APRIL 20�27, 2022
Portland duo Hillstomp coming to Churchill
By Lisa Britton
Go! Magazine
B
AKER CITY — The road to a
gig might be long, but once
Hillstomp hits the stage the
world shifts for Henry Kammerer
and John Johnson.
“The second the fi rst song
starts, we are 24 years old
again,” Kammerer said.
Now in their mid-40s, these
two have played as a duo for
21 years.
“Damn near half of our lives,”
Kammerer said. “But we’ve
taken it seriously the last 10 or
12 years.”
They auditioned potential
bass players once, thinking to
grow the band. But their sound, it
seems, was already complete.
“Three of them in a row said
‘there’s nothing to do here,’”
Kammerer said.
Revere Pictures/Contributed image
Hillstomp, the duo of Henry Kammerer (front) and John Johnson, play at Churchill School in Baker City on Saturday,
April 30.
So Hillstomp remains a duo
with Kammerer playing guitar
and banjo and Johnson on
the drums.
Prairie City
FIBER FEST
“Always. From the beginning,”
he said.
Hillstomp will play live at
Churchill School, 3451 Broadway
St., on Saturday, April 30. Doors
open at 6 p.m. and the music
starts at 6:45 p.m.
Tickets are $10 in advance at
www.churchillbaker.com, or $15
at the door. Proof of vaccina-
tion or a negative COVID test is
required. Admission is free for
fully vaccinated youth age 15
and younger who attend with a
ticket-holding adult.
Hillstomp has been to Europe
10 times and played in 38 states.
The last two years, Kammerer
said, made them realize how
much they love the stage.
“We’re more excited to play
than we’ve ever been,” he said.
“Live music — there’s no repli-
cation.”
They livestreamed a couple
shows, but missed the people.
“Every time we ended a song,
it was just crickets,” Kammerer
said. “We’re so used to people
dancing around. The audience
is genuinely the third member of
the band.”
This summer is busy — he
said they’ve even turned down a
few requests.
“This summer looks good. We
have a lot of shows,” he said.
He describes their music as
hill country blues, with the sound
of the 1950s.
Oregon, Kammerer said, “has
embraced us.”
“Everybody in Oregon has
that hillbilly cousin — we’re like
that hillbilly cousin,” he said with
a laugh.
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