OK. So I've come to realize that in a town/scene/era of this size, as welcoming as it can be, certain bands/projects end up slipping through the cracks.
So that said, I've decided to do a weekly documentation of some of these musical projects that maybe never really made it out of the basement but still deserve some shine.
Most of these musical endeavors never had the push of any label or any other monetary benefactor, yet in spite of that had some heartfelt passion. At least enough to make the history of Portland bands that never really "made it" but that are still are near and dear to my heart.
I will briefly expound on them and then leave a link to download a sample track.
I've also realized that while my previously proposed title, "Secret History of Forgotten Portland Bands" may sound sexier than the current title, I had to switch it up because -
A) None of these bands are/were a secret. Being underrated and not as appreciated as they perhaps should have been does not a secret make.
and
B) I've also come to realize that these projects are anything but forgotten. In fact if anything they are, in the parlance of the popular yearbook bon mot = 2 Good 2 B 4gotten.
Ok. Semantics lesson over. Time travel commences....
BAND: The Dutch Flat
LABEL: Woodson Lateral Records
DESCRIPTION: Much like my previous post re: Laserhawk this was a pretty big band in the old early millennium Blackbird on Sandy scene that brought a welcoming breath of fresh air to the culture of, for lack of a better term, experimental post-rock in Portland. When I first moved to Portland in 2001 I found it to be a haven for genre-defying local bands that existed in a pre-MySpace/pre-Holocene/pre-Doug Fir/pre-Roturre /pre-Towne Lounge/pre-PDX-POP/pre-Local Cut world. And as this link attests Portland was still seen as the ugly step-sister to Seattle 10+ years after the whole grunge thing went down. I could go on and on with the pre-'s here, but at the time it was pretty much Elliott Smith, Dead Moon and the Dandy Warhols as far as the rest of the country was concerned.
In fact the Dutch Flat actually began as a Seattle band, and their page on the Woodson Lateral website is as succinct a place as any to gather further biographical info. And to buy the full CD from them direct. Don't front, you know you want to.
WHERE ARE THEY NOW: Matt Genz and Sam Schauer have both continued playing together in the inimitable ......worms with Scott Sloan (who recorded "Ghosts") along with the batshit crazy - off the chainsaw vocal stylings of my man Davis Hooker.
Sam Schauer also continues to release solo recordings under the name Modernstate which I've put out on my label, Lucky Madison. The first of which, Highwater Moonboot, was co-released with Woodson Lateral as I was just coming up and had no national, or local for that matter, distribution at the time.
I'm not sure what Tim Graham's up to these days, hopefully some of our readers can help fill in the blanks on that.
MUSIC LINKS: the epic 14:33 track Ghosts/Button Thief
Or, if that's too much for you to handle here's the equally amazing but only clocking in @ 2:10 track 1000 Deaths
PS It's come to my attention that as I am not currently a paid member of Rapidshare as of yet, this link as well as the Laserhawk one can only be downloaded 10 times and expires in 90 days. I will be rectifying this situation early this week. When my paycheck clears and I can pay for a membership so that these downloads can be available for everyone.
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