Chaos Love: love, life, design and more.

Last Sunday night, Colin Lake and Wellbottom played their first gig at one of Portland's main music venues, the Crystal Ballroom, as a support act to the Bodeans.

What made this show different from the usual old Colin gig was that he asked Christine to bring our video camera along to see if we could get some footage for a demo reel. Colin had been in contact with some people who are trying to organise bands for the 2010 World Expo – in Shanghai! Needless to say, Colin jumped at the opportunity to apply, but it meant that he had to get a press kit – complete with a live performance DVD – together in less than a week! And while he could rely on me for all his graphic design needs, he was getting a little desperate regarding the video. Christine had done a great job just the other week with an impromptu video for Kevin's benefit shows, so Colin turned to her in his hour of need.

We turned up at the show early and got some footage at the soundcheck, then hung out in the green room with the band - playing at being groupies - until it was time for the band to go on stage. It was Kevin's first gig back with the band after his recent illness and everyone was raring to go. Christine spent the entire show getting footage from every angle, climbing all over the stage, yet aiming to be unobtrusive for the appreciative crowd. Because, quite unusually, the crowd responded very warmly to the mere support act and gave them their full attention. I tried to help out by shooting some video on Christine's new little Olympus camera, but the format ended up being tiny and pretty much useless.

Christine worked hard in tandem with Colin over the next couple of days to produce the demo DVD, or - in essence - a music video for one of their songs. The audio captured by our little camera was pretty sketchy, so Christine ended up having to meld audio from a live track recorded on Wellbottom's Spring tour with the video from the show, and she did a pretty good job of matching elements up to give the illusion that they came from the one and same event.

In the end, Colin met his deadline and everyone loved the finished product - I think it's amazing, especially considering the timeframe it was produced in. I'm in awe of Christine's ability to work with time, something that this little print designer still has trouble wrapping his head around. So without further ado, I present Colin Lake and Wellbottom, through the lens of Christine:

Posted in: chaosboy, music, portland on August 21, 2008 at at 8:39:00 PM 2 comments    

I've just finished revamping the website that I design/manage for Colin Lake & Wellbottom, a local blues band. I've mentioned them plenty of times on this blog before, I'm sure.

The old site was perfectly functional and even looked better than 95% of band sites out of there, but it lacked a certain panache in my eyes. That, and it had been added to in a very hodge-podge manner as the site grew from its initial 3 or 4 pages to the fount of knowledge that it is now. The whole thing is definitely more unified and "designed" now, and it will be much easier to amend and expand in the future.

The real reason I went through all this work to fix a website that didn't have a lot wrong with it? Because it looks awesome in my portfolio! I don't have a whole heap of web stuff in my portfolio, so a quality piece like this will strengthen it immensely!

Posted in: chaosboy, design, internet, music on June 15, 2008 at at 2:21:00 PM 0 comments    

So Colin Lake and Wellbottom's album, Bullet, is finally being released properly. I did the artwork for this way back in February and while I've had my own sample copy of it for quite a while, it's quite exciting to think that it's out there for other people to see. As well as being in bricks and mortar record stores, it's also available on iTunes (as seen in the image above; click on it for a full size image) and Amazon.com (where it's currently rated #639,331 in their Music category!).

Of course, now that I think about it, Colin's fine recording isn't the only artwork of mine that is available for sale on the ol' interwebs, as the CDs I did for Hillsong Church are all out there too. (See here, here and here - they're on iTunes as well as Amazon). Maybe I just have a bigger sense of ownership with Colin's work, helping a new artist out with some quality artwork and design. Whatever - I'm just chuffed for both him and me that it's out there.

Posted in: chaosboy, design, music on June 4, 2008 at at 1:53:00 PM 0 comments    

Crowding In, originally uploaded by chaosgurlpink.

The Mac Store has been marking the Grand Opening of their Clackamas store in a variety of ways: the usual special deals on hardware and software, and (perhaps more unusually) with a series of live shows by local musicians and bands in both the new Clackamas store and the Portland store.

I came down a couple of times to meet up with Christine, and the music was always of very high quality. And Christine said that about the acts that I missed as well. The problem was is that it was generally played to an almost empty store, or to customers who wanted to shop rather than listen to great music. Sort of "live in store" elevator muzak, if you like.

That all changed when Laura Veirs showed up for her gig on Saturday. Suddenly, the store was full of enraptured listeners who found a position wherever they could to listen to her. As you can see in the picture above, there was even a guy who pulled up his old G5 tower that he'd just picked up from the service department as a seat! No one was interested in picking up an iPod accessory or even in the free pizza on offer until after Laura finished her set.

Of course, this reaction was to be somewhat expected - Laura Veirs is a pretty big name on the Portland scene. As Christine noted, she's the only one out of all the acts booked who has her own Wikipedia entry! She's released at least three albums that get proper distribution (ie, she doesn't rely on selling them at the end of gigs to get them out in the market) and has had successful tours and collaborations with The Decemberists, amongst others.

And that's what's cool about this small Portland moment. A successful local act who isn't above playing a very low key gig in a rather strange location (a computer store?!!). And she's rewarded for this, as the large and appreciative audience shows. A big win all around!

Posted in: chaosboy, music, portland on June 1, 2008 at at 7:13:00 PM 0 comments    

Click on the map above for a full-size image.

This last weekend, I got out of Portland with Kim, Spencer and Jaime as we headed off to Spokane, WA and Missoula, MT to see the last two shows on Colin Lake and Wellbottom's 2008 Spring Tour. Colin is a good friend of ours (and I've designed his logo, web site and latest album cover as well) and Kim's boyfriend Kevin plays bass for the band. So it seemed like a great idea to pile in the car and cheer them along the home stretch. Christine couldn't make it on the trip with us as she has to work weekends and we kinda need the cashola at the moment, but she certainly didn't begrudge me going off and having fun.

We headed off after lunch on Friday, out along the stunning Columbia River Gorge towards Umatilla, where we entered Washington State and headed up to Spokane, a 350 mile journey in total. The weather was beautiful, the first 70°F (21°C) day since last October, with hardly a cloud in the sky. The familiar verdant green and waterfalls of the western Gorge soon gave way to the very different – but no less beautiful – desert-like eastern part and plains of Eastern Oregon. Much of the area is kept alive and productive by extensive irrigation; an aerial photograph of the area near Umatilla shows all the circular fields that seem to be the norm for irrigated farmlands in this part of the country.

We finally rolled into Spokane (pronounced "Spo-can" for all the non-locals) at around 7:00pm, where we met up with band and headed up to the house of one of Kim's friends to freshen up and have a few drinks before the show. The gig was at a small bar called "The Swamp" in a semi-industrial area of town, but attracted a pretty decent crowd, all of whom seemed to appreciate the show that the guys put on. Touring for a few weeks has definitely helped the band sound really tight, the show was pretty flawless. Here's a couple of photos:

After the show ended, we headed back up the hill to the house, where the party continued until 3:00am or so, after which everyone crashed where they could. The start the next morning was slow to say the least, with no-one even stirring before 11:30am. We finally got out of the house for a late breakfast at 1:00pm at a great cafe before everyone hit the road for the next leg to Missoula, Montana – a mere 200 miles away.

This leg of the journey took us across the "panhandle" of Idaho, a narrow strip of mountainous land that extends all the way north to the Canadian border. Looking at it on a map makes you wonder why a state would bother to claim such a narrow strip of land - and it actually all comes down to a mistake. The original surveyors were meant to mark the edge of the territory along the US Continental Divide, but went the wrong way and were almost at the Canadian border before they realised their mistake. The border should have been much further to the east, but the mistake has remained. After a mere 80 miles or so, we crossed the border into Montana, the "Big Sky State", the 10th US State that I have visited.

The scenery from Coeur d'Alene in Idaho all the way to Missoula was quite spectacular, with huge snow-covered mountains and pristine lakes. We also passed the town of Wallace, which holds quite a few claims to fame. It rose to prominence as the biggest silver mining town in the US, then had the last set of traffic lights on the US Interstate system: these were removed in 1991 when the bypass around (and above) the town was completed. Finally, in need of some tourism to help the struggling town, Wallace decided to declare itself "The Center Of The Universe", with a manhole cover downtown (seriously!) denoting the exact spot. I think that Rome and Greece had that idea some 2000 years earlier, guys...

We arrived in Missoula at around 7:00pm and got ourselves something to eat before heading off to the Top Hat Club, the venue for the last show of the tour.

Note the "$5 Tap Beer" sign... I'll be talking about that in another blog soon. While fairly unprepossessing from the outside, the Top Hat was a very atmospheric bar on the inside, and had a great big stage for the guys to perform on. Another great show, and a lot of the college kids in the audience got up and danced, which was fun to see. We were way too cool to dance ourselves.

The show finished right at closing time (2:00am) and we were treated to the Missoulan way of closing a bar: the chairs and tables were all instantly stacked on top of each other while the bartenders shouted things like, "If you don't work here, GET OUT!" and, "What are you still DOING HERE?!". We helped the guys load their gear into their rig, then headed off to a nearby hotel where we got half-price rooms for the night. Some of us headed off to a nearby 24-hour diner, but I took the opportunity to get an hour's headstart on sleep.

Sunday was the whole 550 mile trip in reverse, which took pretty much the whole day. We were all pretty tired and glad to be home, but felt for the band: in their big and slow rig, they didn't get back to Portland until late in the night, well and truly tired of this whole touring thing. Kevin had to get up and go to work first thing Monday morning as well, ugghh!!

Posted in: chaosboy, music, photography, travel, united states on April 15, 2008 at at 1:08:00 PM 0 comments    

I turned 35 yesterday! Scary, huh? Here's Christine and me enjoying our joint Valentine's Day/birthday dinner at the wonderful Lovely Hula Hands on Mississippi Ave last night. The food was gorgeous, one of the best meals we have had together. Afterwards, we met up with all of our friends and headed off to the Doug Fir Lounge to see The Gourds, a great all-American party band if there ever was one. Needless to say, I had quite a few drinks bought for me and I'm feeling a little under the weather today... maybe I'm gettin' too old for all this nightlife!

Posted in: chaosboy, music, party time, portland, shows on February 16, 2008 at at 1:54:00 PM 1 comments    

... is what a fellow concert-goer called out as The Decemberists prepared to launch their nautical epic "The Mariner's Revenge Song" last night at the Crystal Ballroom. I've talked about these guys before as one of the shining lights of Portland's musical scene, but last night was the first time either Christine or I have seen them live. And they didn't disappoint, belting out their eclectic mix of sea-shanties, dirges, murder songs and strangely poppy gems with much aplomb. Front man Colin Meloy has to be one of the wittiest, most literate singers ever, entertaining the crowd effortlessly with his banter and mocking rock'n'roll posturing. The night had it all: great music, re-enactments of shanghaing in 1870's Portland and a full house screaming in agony as they were all swallowed by a giant whale.

The support act was also excellent, another Portland band called Pseudosix. We'll keep an eye on them in the future!

Last night was also interesting, because we met a guy in the crowd who was recording the show for his own personal use. Not with a mobile phone or a smuggled tape deck or iPod, but with fully professional-looking microphones mounted on a huge pole! We got to talking and he simply said that neither the venue or the band minds, and in fact, he often gets to patch into the sound desk as well! I'm more used to venues that throw you out if you try to take a picture using any kind of camera or if you attempt to record the show, so this was all a bit new. Anyway, we have his contact details and juicy MP3s of the show will be coming our way soon!

Posted in: chaosboy, music, portland, shows on January 24, 2008 at at 5:19:00 PM 0 comments    

The Decemberists: I'm really not sure how to describe these guys, they sound completely unlike just about anything else out there. Their most well known song is a nine minute sea shanty called "The Mariner's Revenge Song", which could almost come straight from the pages of Moby Dick. It even involves a giant whale who eats the protaganist and his mortal enemy (the object of revenge) alive! Unfortunately, there's no video for that song on YouTube, so we'll have to make do with something else.

This is called "16 Military Wives" and the film clip seems to be making some sort of political point. See if you can work out what is... :-)



Once again, we missed out on tickets to see these guys last time they were in Portland. They like to drop Portland references into their songs (The Multnomah County Library, the bus mall, the columns down at the Skidmore Fountain and so on) and the video for "O Valencia" features the Fremont Bridge's plentitude of off ramps and one of the seedy hotels on Interstate. Nothing like a local band that acknowledges its localness!

If you're going to listen to one album by these guys, I would recommend Picaresque. And if you only want to listen to one song, I would say "The Mariner's Revenge Song" or "We Both Go Down Together"

Posted in: chaosboy, music, portland on December 9, 2007 at at 1:34:00 PM 0 comments    

Portland is home to many, many awesome bands... all of which I hope to see live at some point. Thanks to the wonders of YouTube, we can share the work of some of these bands with you. First up is The Shins, whose concert in early December is unfortunately sold out (so sad!)... this track is obliquely entitled "Australia" (yay!), apparently because they wrote it while on tour down under. Enjoy! (It's a terribly cute clip, by the way)

Posted in: chaosboy, music, portland on November 13, 2007 at at 5:36:00 PM 0 comments    

Drats Are In Your Living Room!
Originally uploaded by Senex Prime.

So Christine and I have finally got out of our new little house to go and see what's up with Portland entertaiment-wise. On Tuesday night, we headed to the Crystal Ballroom to catch the mighty John Butler Trio (an Aussie band is the first gig I see in America, how ironic!). Christine had scored free tix because she helped the guys from the band buy themselves new MacBook Pros and iPods the day before. Sweet!

Now, I've always been aware of the John Butler Trio, but I don't think you could say I was a huge fan. Some good songs, but not great was my opinion. If we hadn't got freebies, it's not a show I would have paid to go to. Wow, would I have missed out! They are definitely a band that grow an extra leg live... they rocked all night and had the crowd (the venue was sold out, probably about 2,500 people there) screaming for more at the end. The night ended with a huge 10 minute drum solo (which was NOT boring!) and even the jaded event security guy we talked to at the end - who had never heard of the band before - was mightily impressed.

Then last night, we headed off to take in a Portland institution - "Last Thursday". On the last Thursday of each month (strange, that!), Alberta Street in NE Portland is lined with art, craft, performance artists, buskers and food and everyone in town comes along to soak up the atmosphere. Unfortunately, it was raining last night, so we spent most of our time indoors at The Porch, a live music venue that is normally the front porch of a house, but which was the living room last night because of the rain! The band that was playing was Drats (pictured), who Christine and Kim have both told me about and they were excellent! Certainly not easy to pigeonhole into any one genre, but definitely high energy and very entertaining!

Posted in: chaosboy, music, portland, shows on June 29, 2007 at at 11:31:00 AM 0 comments    

You American types probably have not heard of this guy, Josh Pyke, but not only is it a good song but it's an adorable film clip that makes you feel warm and fuzzy inside. Beware of a plentiude of fade outs....


I actually see quite a bit of symbolism in this video beside it's being cute. He sings of memories and how they can be forgotten over time which I believe the chicks represent. The crocodile is you. We have many memories but as time passes, they can fade and disappear as our mind consumes more and more. Anyway, thought I'd share. And by the way, the plant nursery on Mississippi should be getting some new chicks in tomorrow so Kim and i will try to get over there and take some pics! Yay!!!

Posted in: chaosgurl, general musings, music on March 28, 2007 at at 12:03:00 PM 0 comments