Sound Stories & Interviews

Wild Eye Revolvers
Pierced and tattooed, cracking beers and lighting up smokes while sitting on the floor of their gutted van, Wild Eye Revolvers explains their sound as “thrashacana,” a term I’m sure they made up. It means something like punk rock with a mandolin with a banjo. You’ve probably unintentionally heard them play before. Lukas Johnson (guitar/vocals), Hondo Hernandez (mandolin) and Nate Irwin (banjo) started the group by busking on the streets of downtown Bend.
“That’s band practice for us,” said Hernandez. “It was the easiest way to play in front of people, no strings attached.”

Lucas Alberg, front man for the The Beautiful Train Wrecks, is a renaissance man.
The lanky 33-year-old Bend resident brews beer, builds hip websites and collects cool art. He also runs sub-three hour marathons, plays guitar and writes songs—good ones.
In 2007, Alberg, then in Portland, formed a roots rock band and named it The Beautiful Train Wrecks. They put out an 11-track album, Rainy Day Parade, which received lots of positive reviews, and the band booked shows all over the Rose City, including at the Doug Fir.

If you haven’t studied up on your French diction recently, you’re likely to mispronounce this Seattle-based band’s name. Don’t be embarrassed, with a name like Hey Marseilles and song titles like “Goodbye Verseilles” the guys are used to errors. And rhymes.
“It’s our own fault, kind of,” said lead singer, guitarist and lyricist Matt Bishop, of his band’s French fascination.
To save you from being corrected by someone with a pretentious accent, their name is pronounced “Mar-Say” like the city in France: and their worldly influences put them light years beyond your standard pop band. With a cello, viola, accordion, piano, a couple of guitars, a bass, a trumpet, and a bass clarinet Hey Marseilles is a veritable folk-pop orchestra that can create both nostalgic instrumentals as well as catchy, full-flavored pop songs.

The year 1978 was filled with notable milestones. Among them, President Jimmy Carter signed legislation allowing home brewing in the United States, Pete Rose tallied his 3,000th hit, and Mike Ness formed the iconic California punk rock band Social Distortion.
It was also a time of palpable social angst. High gas prices, poor economic growth and foreign affair debacles dominated the headlines and when Americans turned to music during those hard times, and specifically punk rock, it was Mike Ness' Social Distortion that was there to meet them.

In 1977, NASA sent music into outer space aboard the Voyager Spacecraft. Now it's coming back, in a way, thanks to Mickey Hart. Next Monday, Hart will bring his cosmic sounds and the Mickey Hart Band, to the Tower Theatre in support of Mysterium Tremendum, his first studio album in five years and follow up to 2007's Grammy-winning Global Drum Project.
For many Bend deadheads, the stars are aligning for this performance, which happens to fall on the 35th anniversary of the Grateful Dead's seminal performance at Cornell University in New York. The “5/7/77 Cornell” concert is regularly included in any, “best Grateful Dead show” discussion.

Eric Tollefson once wrapped his hand in duct tape to improve his playing. That's how much his music means to him. Such dedication is part of what's propelled Tollefson to the top.
The longtime Bend resident is the new king of Central Oregon pop, and his new album, The Polar Ends, proves it.
For his sophomore self-release, Tollefson employed the help of a number of notables from within the music industry to create an all-star cast. From the producer, to the backing musicians, to the recording studio itself, Tollefson spared no expense in his quest to create a solid offering. In doing so he’s recorded an album that stands apart from the rest of the pop pack.