It’s been one year since Peter and I moved to Portland. We’ve met so many incredible musicians that it’s really just baffling. In fact, I think that more or less every one of the friends I’ve made is a musician, or at least very involved in the scene (i.e. sleeping with musicians). So now’s the time for a brief looking-back, a frank self-appraisal and then a willful push into the enormous cluster of shows/recording sessions and video shoots that are already inked- (or penciled-) in on our calendar. 

Alex “Nando” Hernandez has moved to Brooklyn and will not be playing shows with us anymore. We’re very grateful to him for his time (working around a full-time job), the selflessness with which he allowed me to use his equipment, despite my propensity for breaking it, and his general willingness to deal with our considerable foibles. 

Last night was our first show with our new bass player, Jeff Beam (pictured). We’re very very excited to have him on board. In my mind, he makes the best pop music in Portland, so I feel genuinely guilty about taking him from his solo career to the degree that we will. But he seems as excited as we are, so we’ll just encourage him to play whenever we’re not and we’ll have him open shows. Listen to him yo:

I’m gonna do another post in a few days about our upcoming shows. A pretty extensive tour with Brooklyn’s Cuddle Magic is in the works as well as at least one showcase at CMJ (hopefully more) and, of course, the now perhaps overly announced October release of the “Texas Hold Me/Little Bird” 7” through Eternal Otter Records.

H.