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This Friday, Brown Bird returns to SPACE Gallery along with o’death (who by now you should be quite familiar with). Tickets are available online and at Bull Moose.  Brown Bird at PCMH – photo by Huck Photography Interview with David Lamb and MorganEve Swain (aka BrownBird) by Andrew Lapham Fersch What has Brown Bird been up to in the past couple months? David Lamb (DL): We returned home (to Warren, Rhode Island) in the middle of December from a two month tour. Most of which was opening for our friends The Devil Makes Three. We had an amazing time with them. [Check out the HillyTown photos from the PCMH stop on that tour] Read on… Wesley Allen Hartley is leaving.
One of his bands, Dead End Armory, was among the early group of local acts I encountered when I moved to Portland in 2008, and I was immediately drawn to his songwriting and performance, which often took on an highly caustic and unpredictable nature. I love danger in music, and you’ve never heard so much danger in a man’s voice as Wesley Hartley solo in a dark room with an acoustic guitar, or fronting a rock trio on the verge of destruction while climbing on everything in sight, or decimating the expectations a Port City Music Hall audience as his alt-country group raises the bar for everybody, or, damn, doing the honor of kicking off a friend’s going away party at SPACE. Tonight at Geno’s, celebrate all the great music this friend has brought to Portland with the Wesley Hartley Farewell Show presented by Leif Sherman Curtis, featuring performances by Aleric Nez, The Coalsack in Crux, HeeBeeGeeBees and a very special duo set by Wesley Hartley and Leslie Deane (of Dead End Armory/the Traveling Trees/There Is No Sin). 9:30pm, $5. Wish Wes luck and say “thank you” from us. Peter McLaughlin interviewed Wesley last night over a case of Sebago Lake Trout Stout, a bag of Humpty Dumpty ‘All Dressed-Up Chips,’ and a can of Pringles (Original Flavor). Special thanks to Scott Nebel for unwillingly providing the beer, Tim Alan Walker for willingly providing the chips, and Henry Jamison for, well, being there. HT: What is your earliest memory? How about your first love? Around the same instance, there was a really profound moment… I was running around with this group of people. They were older kids and they had jumped this other kid for some reason. I remember he had blue like snow clone dregs around his lips. They pretty much beat him senseless and I sat there and watched it and pretty much couldn’t do anything. When he walked away crying, I went home and sat in the bath tub and cried most of the night. Then my Mom asked him what happened. I told her this kid with blue snow cone lips had been beaten up and it wasn’t right. That was kind of a beautiful moment. The first time I can remember feeling compassion for a person I didn’t know: an outcast because he had blue snow cone lips. I had been beaten up a bunch because I had big ears, but I usually did the beatings. People would pick on me and I had to retaliate. But this kid couldn’t fend for himself because he had blue snow cone lips. He couldn’t control it. Maybe he could. I don’t know. Read on… This is how the internet and music discovery works now: over the past few months we’ve noticed the words Coke Weed popping up every so often thanks to Facebook’s slightly creepy stream-of-consciousness system and our fine network of Maine musicians ranging from bedroom poppers and diy noisenicks to arena rockers. It took a minute to figure out that people were actually talking about a band – not drugs – and for us to get around to digging in a bit. And you know what? We found a band that we actually really dig, so we set out to learn more – pay close attention, this guy is onto all the good stuff both in Maine and NYC. Next week we’ll check out the live show at Littlefield in Brooklyn and share photos with you as well. Before we get started, go download Coke Weed Volume One and watch their new video here. Interview with Milan of the band Coke Weed, by Franc Redhews. HT: So where are you guys based out of? by Robert Ker Braids stands out as one of the brightest young bands in an indie subculture that stresses a tribal, communal nature in its music. The Canadian quartet’s debut long-player, Native Speaker, came out earlier this year and is a sparkling set of dreamy, slow-burning pop that rises in psychedelic bursts and recedes into twinkling abstraction. They bring their tour behind the album to Space Gallery at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 10. Pepper Rabbit opens. I recently spoke with Katie Lee, keyboardist and backing vocalist, on their rise to prominence and approach to their live performance. Hillytown: 2011 has been a very busy year for you. Lee: This is our first headlining tour, and we thought we had it down pat because we’ve already done two North American tours this year. Yeah, you were opening for bands like Deerhunter. What’s it like now to tour and play for people who come out just to see you? There’s definitely things that change when you headline. You have to get there earlier. We have to play a longer set. There’s more pressure on you to play a good set, but we always stress playing a good set whether we’re an opener or a headliner, so it’s been pretty much the same. When you open, you can’t expect everyone to pay
Interview by Matt Dodge. Whispering Altar photos by Bryan Bruchman. A spectacle at the center of Portland’s folk/pysch/drone scene for the last three years, Planets Around the Sun will take their leave of the city in the coming weeks. Read on… As you know, local trio The Milkman’s Union are playing our HillyTown Presents show this weekend. The band has been hyperactive lately, unveiling a new EP and temporarily streaming a single (with guest appearance by Lady Lamb The Beekeeper) for fans in the past weeks. Here’s another treat from the band: a HillyTown exclusive video, plus an in-depth interview, because we just can’t get enough. Interview by Matt Dodge. Photo and video by Bryan Bruchman. The Milkman’s Union on post-college ennui, amp dreams and Sufjan Steven’s step-dad Local indie rockers The Milkman’s Union have earned their place in the Portland musical landscape since moving to town last September. Beginning as the high school musical endeavor of Burlington, VT frontman Henry Jamison, the project migrated with Jamison to Bowdoin College in Brunswick where he met drummer Peter McLaughlin and bassist Sean Weathersby. Since the band graduated and moved to Portland, Bates College alum Alex Hernandez has replaced Sean Weathersby on bass. Boasting a high school prodigy as a guitarist, two audio engineers on bass and drums and a background in booking big name shows (did Kevin Drew belittle you at Broken Social Scene’s 2008 show at Bowdoin? Blame McLaughlin for booking the condescending Canadians) The Milkman’s Union seems poised for success following their breakthrough debut album “Roads In”. Based in Jamison singer-songwriting style with influences of garage and post rock creeping in around the edges, The Milkman’s Union can play a soft, folksy act one night, and keep pace with Portland’s indie rock acts the next. The act has opened up for national touring acts like Deerhunter, Santigold, Ben Kweller and The Morning Benders, and will play the HillyTown Presents: Milagres + The Milkman’s Union + Husband & Wife at One Longfellow Square this Saturday, April 23rd. Purchase advance tickets here.
————– How did you get your start? Henry Jamison: “It started it in high school when i was 16. I released two albums and got like, moderate buzz going in Burlington. Then i went to Bowdoin [College] and lost my ambition for a few months. Then Peter came along with this bass player (who is now a private investigator in Washington D.C.) and they kind of helped me get going again. Read on… Before you do anything, head over to Daytrotter and download the Astronautalis session. It’s excellent. Ok, let’s do this.
Astronautalis is Andy Bothwell. He’s in town prepping his new band for their first tour together, which kicks off tomorrow with a show at SPACE Gallery. Buy tickets here. His new single, Midday Moon, is out today. We talked about the new band, style, and getting frozen. You’ve had some great collabs – Portland’s seen you onstage with P.O.S. and Bleubird (as Boyfriends, Inc.), and now we’re about to get a taste of Astronautilus with a full band. Even better, two of the members are regulars from the local scene here (Oscar from Gully and Derek From Haru Bangs plus Nobs) and you’re taking them on the road. We know that started back at the SPACE Gallery Halloween when you took the role of Joe Strummer for a Clash tribute with them (and others), but can you tell us a bit about how you decided to take them on as your band? Have you performed with a live band before? I have performed with a live band on several occasions, but it is sadly, pretty expensive to take a band on the road and expect to make a living. After 7 years of grinding two deep in a Honda, we have finally carved enough of a career out of all of this yelling to afford a few upgrades to the live show. After the show at the SPACE, i was talking to Oscar and Derek, and they said if i ever needed a guitarist and a drummer to take on the road…give them a holler. Shortly there after…i did. Read on… This Sunday (2/13) sees Rhode Island’s B. Dolan bringing a huge Valentine’s Day weekend tour he’s calling “The Church Of Love & Ruin” to SPACE Gallery. He was nice enough to answer some questions in the week leading up to this special string of shows to help shed some light on what he’s got planned for the SPACE show.
How did you hook up with What Cheer? Brigade? It seems like a lot of mc’s team up with bands to fill out their live sound, but a 16 piece marching band is just insane. How do you control the sound, and what was the process like getting your songs to work with their instruments – or did you write new material for them to play? I first became aware of the What Cheer? Brigade at a Providence hardcore show, and followed them as a fan for years. I can remember sitting in the crowd at numerous shows of theirs and rapping quietly to myself while they played, figuring out how to interact with what they were doing and wondering how to approach them. |
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