Big Sounds in Small Rooms and Rain in the Outback | The Source Weekly - Bend, Oregon

Big Sounds in Small Rooms and Rain in the Outback

Silver Moon in a Can?

Hey there Jake Bellows, You wanna Miller Lite?When Jake Bellows, the front man for increasingly buzzed about band Neva Dinova (see last week's issue for a full feature on the Omaha band), pulled a can of Miller Lite from behind his amp on the Silver Moon Brewing Co. stage and took a long pull, the crowd (Sound Check included) that had just had its attention super-glued to the triple guitar attack of the band cringed politely. He held the can at his side, wiped his thinning yet longish hair to the side and acknowledged his faux pas of drinking a canned domestic brew inside of one of the region's most esteemed craft brew pubs.

"Someone gave it to me," Bellows said with a sheepish smile. And if there was any animosity in the room, it quickly faded with that explanation because, hell, if someone gives you a beer, no matter what it is, it's only polite, not to mention resourceful, to suck it down.

Yeah the Miller Lite drinking could have added to a possible conception that the indie/alt-country rockers were somewhat out of place in a venue not accustomed to a band of such style, but Neva Dinova tore through a set that quickly made them seem at home at the Moon. And it made clear that the venue could possibly become a venue friendly to indie rock tendencies.

Bellows and company played a number of cuts off of their recently released album You May Already Be Dreaming and their sound, riding on the waves of Roger Lewis' thundering drumming, came off remarkably well considering the small confines of the venue. While the album is largely subdued, the band played loud and featured crushing guitar solos not present on the record.

Chalk this one up as one of 2008's top "You Should Have Been There" shows.

Outbackin'

Sound Check couldn't get all the way down to Summer Lake Hot Springs in Paisley for the Outback Music Festival, mainly because of the aforementioned Neva Dinova show and also due to the fact that Paisley is kinda far away from Bend (well, only two hours), but we did the next best thing: we talked to folks who went there.

An anonymous yet trustable source told us that the festival, taking place on the same location as this summer's Coyote Fest, was hampered by some rainy and cold conditions, yet the vast majority of festivarians kept attitudes high, soaking in the hot springs and the grooves of regional musical acts, including several Bend-based bands (Mosley Wotta, Empty Space Orchestra, The Mostest). It wasn't a big crowd, which probably isn't all that surprising considering it's so late in the season, but apparently it was a quality crowd. Our trusted source, and we trust this dude, said the Saturday night DJ get-down suffered from some technical difficulties during DJ Trademark's set and some lack of party vibe during others.

Our source (did we mention we trust him?) nevertheless said the fest was largely a success, despite a little rain. But hey, what do you expect for festivaling in October? It easily could have snowed, fer crying out loud.


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