Yacht sweating it out at Holocene. Pic ©Nilina Mason-Campbell
Nilina Mason-Campbell reports from the PdxPopNow! show last night:
I was a bit surprised that Fist Fite opened the PDX Pop Now! CD release show last night at 9:25, but maybe it was so drummer Christian Carmine could still make it to work on time as he works as a night cabbie. For me the highlight of their set was the final song which had a more dance-able beat than the songs it followed. It definitely got me psyched on their new material which you can find streaming on their myspace.
Next up was Southern Belle who I caught last Saturday at the Hush when I DJed a set before them. I reached a new level of excitement by seeing how everyone in the audience was also excited for them. That excitement had not dissipated by the time it came to the Holocene show. They were super tight despite bassist Nicole Perry’s bout of bronchitis that left her unable to fulfill her backing vocal duties. While the quartet didn’t play its cover of Britney Spears’ “Lucky,” they do welcome stage invasions which always earn a gold star from me.
If there’s any band in Portland that I have a crush on, it’s definitely White Fang. Big time! If they sold posters, my room would be decorated with them. Actually, I’m going to start lobbying that a poster series become a part of White Fang’s merch offerings. I will buy. And on a regular basis seeing as their line-up seems to change with every show. I’ll own one of every current and past member!
Last night not only did they have four drummers for a total of five percussionists, but States Rights Records honcho Steve Schroeder and White Rainbow pulled techie duty by making sure everything stayed plugged in while White Fang went about their brutal, but totally fun show.
About third of the band played on the floor while the others moved about the stage as if navigating an obstacle course. I use the word “third” liberally since I couldn’t quite tell how many people were actually in the band on Thursday. Does their seemingly official photographer count? I’d say he was just as much apart of the show. I’m gonna go with seven, but if the photographer counts, that’ll round it up to eight and then with the additional of two techies would make White Fang two shy of a dozen.
They ran through their set with inevitable speed, stage diving, audience participation (I briefly screamed into the mic for “Breakfast”) and when it was over no one needed a gurney to exit the mosh-pit. A success! The supposed reason for White Fang playing second to last on the bill was a rumored set cross-over with fellow Marriage act Yacht, but alas there was a proper set change over with DJ Manny Lennox providing the entertainment during the transition as he had for all those before.
