Seismic Preview: Bird By Snow
With all this beautiful weather happening, why not pair it up with some equally beautiful music in a nice out-door setting. Sunday at 3 pm near Green Lake(click on directions) … San Francisco band Bird By Snow will be doing an outdoor show in tribute to the eclipse. Not to mention its a potluck….yes you heard me right, a potluck. It’s not required, but they ask you bring a dish to share. Music, food and friends…I mean can you beat it?
Bird By Snow was formed in the weather, wild, and little towns of Northern California. Cold water, dark woods. Fog in the branches, sunlight through a Pelican-wing. Abundance in all directions. This is the place that has informed the aesthetic of the whole Lo-fi, Pacific Northwest Indie Scene. Bird By Snow can be seen there too, but not limited to one view, instead at home in the limitless, expanding west. — You’ll find genres bent as if light through a prism. Song-craft as ritual, where themes of primitivism, pagan meditations, and transcendent dronings breathe deeply. Only one constant member: words, tunes, recording and much playing by Fletcher Tucker. (Via Myspace)
Sure it would be nice to see Carissa Wierd’s to play again, but why? I mean why even come together for one show if you’re not going to do at least another album or some new material. I know, I know people would argue that, but I feel teased. So I say go out and buy the new or should I say re-release of their work on the Hardly Art label that’s coming out on July 13th called “They’ll Only Miss You When You Leave Songs: 1996-2003”, because if you haven’t heard them…their music is beautiful.
What I do recommend is going up to Capitol Hill and checking out The Head and The Heart. This six-piece is made of up of some of Seattle’s finest talent; some members coming from The Maldives and Grand Hallway. Heavily compared to Bon Iver, and even a folksy version of The Beatles, I am not sure where you can go wrong. Their vocal harmonies give you goosebumps, the melding of sounds make you swoon and the combination of everything make you a fan. This is a band to be watched, because I guarantee you they have what it takes to take it to the next level….if the EP they released is a jumping off point than good lord I can’t wait to hear whats to come. But don’t take my word for it, come out to The Comet and make your own judgements. One of 2010 best bands in Seattle, hands down.
If you’ve never had an opportunity to witness the glorious sensual raciness of a Hunx and his Punx show … well you’re gonna have to wait till the next time they come back to town, but a double dose of dirty is what you missed. Hunx(AKA Seth) strutted out on stage with some above the belly button skin-tight black and white almost giraffe print pants and a short matching jacket, sans a under-shirt… in tow he brought along some delicious looking punx; guys and girls alike. For anyone who pawns this act off as campy kitsch is poorly mistaken. They may be fun and seem a bit over the top, but when it comes down to it; they got what it takes. This posse of beautiful misfits may not put down the most intricate riffs or maybe they don’t have the quickest chord changes in the business … but what they do give you is a hawt and tight sounding live show with oodles (yes oodles) of showmanship.
No sooner did Hunx & Co. take the stage, when all of a sudden Hunx say’s to a tall man leaning against the wall midway back and pointing at him … “you’re cute” then abruptly broke into the popular song “Cruising”. Hunx quickly took to the front of the stage where he put his foot up on one speaker and pointed his groin in the direction of a male who was front and center, he quickly grabbed the back of this mans head and gave him an offering of his bulge while singing, and humping his head simultaneously. The whole front row was made up of both straight and gay men all eagerly awaiting their turn for some “gay” attention. He seemed to pick only a few of these lucky or not so lucky ones; and I just so happen to be one of them (as you will see in the video). The set progressed and the energy of the crowd followed as they shredded through eleven fun danceable garage-punk songs. With every song they finished, the crowd erupted more and more. A mini-mosh pit ensued but nothing that was endangering, just a whole lot of movement and over excitement. Hunx continued on in his musical molestation until it was time to say goodbye, but instead of doing an encore he just finished the crowd off with a fan favorite of “Gimme Gimme Back Your Love”. C’est La Vie Hunx!
Sometimes (o.k. almost daily) I find myself scouring the internet for unknown music…. it’s a bit like pan-handling for gold; sometimes it brings some small pieces but it’s mostly a fine powder and rarely ever that elusive nugget. Well not to long ago while doing this at 3 am I ran across an artist by the name of Oberhofer and hit play … a few chords in I was immediately riveted and fixated on his howling & whistles……I found a nugget!. I googled the name and found out some tidbits of information. Are you kidding me … this guy is from Tacoma and he’s 19? And he plays all the instruments!!! I instantly found him on Facebook and sent him a message asking him an onslaught of questions, no sooner did that happen and I had a friend request, we chatted for about 30 minutes about music in general and the direction of his music, Washington and so on. He stated he was coming home to Tacoma to see family and friends, so I asked him for an interview; he agreed. Here it is.
Walking towards me in the bright Seattle sun (yes I said sun), was a thin kind of gangly looking kid; from the front a great head of curly kind of unruly hair, some skinny jeans and 4 layers on top … his exclamation piece being his short fitted vintage brown leather jacket and THE happy Face brooch which is quickly becoming the symbol of Oberhofer. I asked him how the traffic was from Tacoma and he stated that he had slept at a friend’s house in Seattle to avoid traffic. He then he went on to tell me that his hair on the back of his head was driving him crazy last night, so he decided to shave it free-style with a clipper ( I assumed alcohol was involved, and I also assumed it was that silly game of whoever passes out first at the party that gets a sharpie to the face or in this case a hair clipper, but I never verified this). He then turned around and showed me the back of his head … well lets just say” don’t do this at home!” But he seemed unfazed and joked about it, as he settled into his chair for the interview.
SS: So Brad being that you played all the instruments on all of your current material, and you now have a band. Do you let them put their own spin on the sounds you created?
O:Its complicated but I am comfortable because the only thing they are manipulating is the material in the live shows, where I believe live shows and recorded music are two completely separate mediums. The recorded music comes out because it’s a complete extension of myself, it’s very personal, a very emotionally constructed thing. Where as the live show is an emotional investment between four people and we are all collaborating which makes the live show so great.
SS:What kind of process was it finding the right musicians?
O: My guitarist Andrew and I hung out , so I just told him we should play music and he turned out to be a great guitarist. Mike and I had been friends for a while. He played bass on a project and he was awesome. I had a mutual acquaintance with Pete, and he turned out to be a really skilled percussionist so it all worked out perfectly.
SS:So being that you’re from Tacoma, did any PNW bands have any kind of influence on you?
O: I certainly love bands like Modest Mouse and The Shins, but if there were to be a Northwest band that has really influenced me I would say has to be The Microphones. A lot of stuff that came out of K-Records blew my mind.
SS:How did you come across The Microphones?
O:Primarily through friends in High School.
SS: So your 7″ comes out on August 3rd, Do you have enough songs written for a LP?
O:I have enough songs for 2 or 3 LP’s, but I am still in the process of getting everything in order. It’s a complicated process, but I am still hoping to record this summer.
SS:Have you done any gigging in Tacoma or has this all happened in New York?
O:I did my first Oberhofer show in New York at a place called Death By Audio, a little DIY venue.
SS: You’re a sophomore at NYU. It seems as though you have a lot on your plate. How do you juggle it all?
O:Its taxing. I’m not doing the best job at juggling school and music right now. I tend to sleep through lots of classes, and I am not on top of my homework
SS:I’m sure mom and dad are happy to hear about this.
O:Maybe, but somehow I manage. If I miss a class, I go to a tutor session but its been way busier than I can handle lately, but I’m so excited about this music stuff that I find myself up till 5 in the morning recording something new. I get antsy so I am always writing or recording as much as I can.
SS:So if you could tour with anyone who’s alive, who would it be??
O:Wow, that’s a cool question (Long pause). I love Arcade Fire and have never seen them live, so I think that would be incredible. I think Win Butler is an amazing song writer…. I love them. I also heard The Unicorns are getting back together;I would tour with them in two seconds … I imagine that would be the most fun in the world.
SS:I have heard your music playing in two different Sobe commercials on MTV …. How did that come about?
O:They heard my stuff online and approached me about it. It’s obviously great for exposure, but I don’t fully understand that side of the business yet, but I am slowly learning about the different pieces you need such as; PR agent, lawyer, and manager. All these significant roles that I had no idea were really a part of it.
SS:Any plans on coming back to Seattle to showcase the band for friends or family?
O:If I can ever work that out I would be so stoked. I would love to do that. I would actually love to record my album in Seattle and be inspired by the nature and beauty.
SS:You’re not signed right now, have you ever thought about contacting any of the local record companies such as Barsuk, Suicide Squeeze or Sub-Pop?
O:I did intern at Sub-Pop for a while so I am friends with a couple of people there, but no-one from the Northwest has kept in touch or gotten a hold of me.
SS:If someone were to offer you something with their label would you take it?
O:I don’t know anymore. I have no idea. Being unsigned sometimes feels like a good thing. Being self-produced is I think a good thing, but I know in order to access as many people as possible I would probably have to sign onto a label. I would like to stay non corporate, but you never know.
SS:Well I want to thank you for the time. You know I think you’re an amazing artist, and can’t wait for you to get your stuff out there.
O:Hey man thanks a lot for all the support…
To pre-order the 7″ inch click here
Oberhofer-oo0o0oo
Oberhofer-Away Frm U
Oberhofer-Dead Girls Dance
Seismic-Sound 