Music

The hardest working stoners in the biz. Hello there,
Kottonmouth Kings fans. Put down your giant bongs, step away from the
half-eaten bag of Cheetos and come up from your parents stank basement. Safely
find your way down to the Midtown Ballroom for a night of worship for the Kings
of your kingdom. The Kottonmouth Kings, a rap-rock crossover based out of
Orange County, California, come to Bend to promote the green movement, and
we're not talking sustainability and recycling here.

The Kottonmouth
Kings have described themselves as "psychedelic hip-hop punk rock" and the
band's latest, The Green Album, reached number five on the Billboard
Top Rap Albums chart and is the outfit's tenth full length studio album. The
tracks range from the straight-up rap anthem "K.O.T.T.O.N.M.O.U.T.H. Song" to
the more rock-influenced "Where I'm Going?" The Kottonmouth Kings are probably
the hardest working stoners in the business-running their own record label,
which hosts 24 other acts as well as their own clothing line.

If you're more on
the straight-up hip-hop side of things, Vancouver, BC hip-hop heavy hitters
Swollen Members split the headlining bill. In Canada, Swollen Members are one
of the best selling urban acts of all time and have worked hard over the years
to create a name for themselves in the international hip-hop community. The
Members create hip-hop in which the strength lies in the songs, not in flashy
grills and gimmicks. Which is probably why they've taken home multiple Juno
Awards (aka the Canadian Grammy) for Best Rap Recording, most recording for
their song "Black Magik."

Holy Rolling Empire will build their psychedelic-rock empire from
the ground up, literally. Three of the five Tucson, Arizona emperors
worked in construction while recording their full-length debut album,
Gigantis. The other two make a living as bartenders, so you know in
their kingdom they will serve up wickedly good rock and roll cocktails.

The band, formerly known as The Crowd, signed to indie label
Burning House Records after touring up and down the West Coast in
support of their self-released six-song EP, Secret Serpents. The band
started work on their debut and what resulted is an album full of
intricate, polished songs influenced by psychedelia and the classic
rock of the '60 and '70s, but with modern pop riffs and melodies.
Their
leadoff single "Bi-Polar Bear Mania" has been described as sounding
Beatles-esque. The lyrics are all over the place, which makes sense
with the title. My favorite quip from the should-be hit: "I am not
convinced. There's a hole in the wall where the camera's rolling.
They've got film of everyone," which basically describes the mania in a
post-1984, post-Patriot Act, "Big Brother" America.
 

An all-star version of The Mostest rocking Bend Roots '08.Before closing out an intensely jammy set with his band, The Mostest, at the Show Us Your Spokes series at Parrilla Grill last Friday night, Mark Ransom took a moment to talk about the Bend Roots Revival, which is slated for September 25-26 at Parrilla and the Victorian Café. He was urging community members to support the festival and help them create a friendly relationship with the neighbors.

Also, he mentioned the fundraiser show on Thursday night to help raise money for the massive community music event that this year is expected to include as many as 55 total acts, in addition to workshops and other activities. Although a community event and project of KPOV, Ransom insists that every performer is paid, even if only a modest amount. With that in mind, Bend Roots - far and away the best local music event of the year - needs some cash, especially this year, when the harsh economy has prevented some contributors to cut back on donations.
"We try to get at least a little stipend to each artist. Even though it's a small amount, the artists and the [musical] community feel appreciated," says Ransom.

We're dutch, isn't that crazy?!If there is one thing the Central Oregon music scene is severely lacking its electro, indie-pop, which is a shame because, well, it's a pretty freaking awesome genre. But the time has finally come for synth-rocking electronica to make an appearance and Anderson, a Netherlands-based duo, is the band to bring it to the High Desert. We caught up with Jeroen van der Werken to talk about the band's U.S. tour and their Postal Service-ish sound.

tSW: How did you guys get started together?
Jeroen van der Werken: About five years ago, Bas and I met in the Netherlands when we were camping out in the summer. We found out that we both were working on writing songs and that we were into the same music. I really liked his stuff and he really liked mine, and one thing led to another.
Coming to America, what are you guys most excited to see? Experience? Try?
Jeroen: The West Coast is made for being on the road, we love it! Long drives, empty roads, good music on the iPod, meeting nice people, enjoying local food. We just spent some time in Los Angeles - we had our album release party in Hollywood and that was great. We're very much looking forward to visiting San Francisco, but also to our time in the Northwest, our favorite part of the U.S.

Poor Man’s Whiskey Dark Side of the Moonshine
We love Poor Man’s Whiskey here in Bend so much, in fact, that we built an entire music festival around them in 4 Peaks…sort of. During all of these appearances in Bend, there has always been chatter surrounding the band that goes something like this: “These guys can play a complete bluegrass version of Dark Side of the Moon.” But the problem has always been that PMW – although playing ass-kicking shows, has never given us a taste of this project.
Well, time to taste the whiskey. PMW has finally released Dark Side of the Moonshine, the miraculously ambitious and nearly frighteningly dead-on acoustic (or at least mostly acoustic) recreation of the Pink Floyd classic as well as a second disc of 10 original cuts. The Darkside portion of the record plays almost precisely like the original, including the eerie laughs and dog barks included on “Speak to Me/Breathe” and the choral backing vocals on “Brain Damage.” But they take plenty of liberties along the way, including changing the title of “Money” to “Whiskey” and replacing each lyrical mention therein, as well as singing, “I’ll see you on the dark side of the moon…shine” on “Brian Damage.” We heard some recordings of Dark Side when PMW played it live in San Francisco a while back and knew these guys could pull off the seemingly impossible feat of melting together bluegrass music with the world’s most well-known piece of psychedelia, but we were nonetheless impressed by the finished studio product. Yeah, Dark Side has been manipulated before, as it was when the Easy All-Star’ Dub Side of the Moon, but PMW has stretched Floyd’s vision even further.