If you’ve already picked up the print edition of the Source this week, you’ve already seen the two-page spread we used to prove that (almost) every band in Bend is somehow connected.
Also, if you like local music, check out our FREE LOCAL MUSIC SAMPLER where you can stream and download new songs from some of your favorite artists.
This article appears in May 27 – Jun 2, 2010.
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You play and play your little hearts out for longer than almost any other band in town, and you still don’t get the recognition! Hey, The Source, where are the String Rats on here? Granted, we’re probably not as hip and cool as your favorite bands, but we’ve got connections with more than a handful of the bands mentioned here. A couple have been called “up to the Bigs” and a few of us have gotten called in to play on recordings for many of them!
Let me start with Mark Gillem, who has graced the albums of Mark Ransom, Reed Thomas Lawrence, Chris Booher and dozens more with his fine, fine pedal steel playing. Then there is Ted Brainard, who has taken a turn with several bands including the David Z Band and Low Hanging Fruit; Jeff Ingraham, early String Rats drummer who left us to go play with Merle Haggard and is now with The River Pigs; early String Rats bass player Kevin Williams now playing with Merle Haggard; and Craig Brown, currently with Buck ‘n the Digs.
Shall we send you a T-shirt so you’ll remember us?
If it makes you feel any better, Hands On Throat doesn’t get much love either. We have singer Andy McCumber from No Cash Value, which has been around almost a decade in bend, and played with great bands such as the guys from Sublime. We have drummer Sean Rule who drummed in Larry and His Flask and filled in for a ton of other bands, and Ray Pederson, who was in No Comply, which were The Rats right hand band for ever. We even put in our last show in here, for Hands On Throat and No Cash Value, and we didn’t even make the picks we bet lol. Maybe we just aren’t poppy enough….