The World Famous Kenton Club hosts a wide variety of music in North Portland. It’s about as DIY as it get’s, you contact booking set up a show via email and you are on your own. The advantages of this are they book a wide variety of music all the time, and allow up and coming bands a decent venue with a small scene built in. The shows are free and they pay you a percentage from the bar, which is the perfect formula really for this type of venue. This bill on Jan 12th was designed to bring together some of my favorite local heavyweights, and well…turn up the volume a bit on the bass.
Lord Master is one of the first bands I saw when I moved to PDX from Tucson. They are an amazing blend of humor and craftsmanship which you don’t see done successfully all that often. It had been a few yeas since I’d seen then so I was pleased to hear everything was still rolling. They ripped through a crowd pleasing set including my favorite “Pack of Wild Dogs”. Guitar Master Cosley had lopped off part of his finger earlier in the day, but it seemed to have no effect upon his mighty chops…you decide, but avoid falling into…
After a short equipment change and some PA adjustments (DIY means no sound guy people…which can often be a blessing. Don’t get me wrong…I love a good friendly sound guy) American Friction blasted out of the starting gate like honey badger fired from a bazooka. 3 songs in strings were broken, fingers were bleeding profusely, and cords were tangled everywhere. Typical Friction assault.
Rounding out the evening was local heavyweight Bison Bison. These guys may not be breaking new ground, but they have clearly spent years in headphones listening to 70′s hard rock. They pare down metal grooves and add a steely focus to the actual groove, the part that makes you nod your head, and get the lady parts bouncing. The amazing part of this is how heavy they are for only a three piece, a real testament to the overall musicianship of all three band members, as well as the time they invest in fine tuning their tone. Turn it up and shake it.