by Corbett Cummins
photos by Heather Christianson

Few Seattle institutions have been as responsive to the rising popularity of comedy as Bumbershoot. Over the past few years, the festival has added comedy stages, brought it bigger names and been forced to deal with larger and larger crowds.

This year is no different. On Saturday alone, Bumbershooters were forced to figure out if they were going to see, Tig Notarro, Matt Walsh, Janeane Garofalo, Nick Thune, David Cross, Blood Squad, Laff Hole or perhaps some music.

In an effort to stay sane, WTFM checked out two shows, the 2:00 show at Intiman featuring Hannibal Buress, Karen Kilgariff, Doug Benson and the Best of Laff Hole, featuring Travis Vogt, Kevin Hyder, , Daniel Carroll, Emmett Montgomery and Ryan Cuddihy.

The 2:00 show was hosted by comedian Pete Holmes from New York. In his opening remarks he came across the one person in the entire room who was suffering from a gun shot wound. He then found out that the guy was still friends with the shooter.

^{Pete Holmes learns about youth violence}

“What!?” Holmes replied “ That is a deal breaker, even Dick Chaney does not hang out with that asshole anymore”

After coming to terms with the gunshot victim, Holmes turned the show over to Hannibal Buress. Hannibal Buress, first got into comedy in 2002 when he went to an open mic.

“I saw some people who were horrible” he said “and thought, I could be at least that horrible.”

So he gave it a shot. Soon, he was doing shows around town and had a campus TV show, called The Hang Over which got him some exposure on campus. So he flunked out of school and in 2004 began doing comedy in a serious way. He has since won Time Out Magazines Funniest Person in Chicago and now tours regularly… and he is not horrible, not by a long shot.

^{Hannibal Buress explores a possible career in fire management}

Hannibal has an easy delivery, like somebody cracking jokes over a pizza. His set ups and punch lines are slow and deliberate and he times them to hit the audience at just the right moment. At one point he was talking about driving the Fire Fighter SUV.

“I don’t know what it does” he said “you arrive and just have to wait until a real Fire Truck arrives. We need to get water on that shit. People are gonna burn.”

He was followed by Karen Kilgariff. Karen has had a pretty steady career as a writer in L.A. She has worked on the Mr. Show as well as the The Ellen DeGeneres Show. On stage she has a great presence as a real sweet person with a nasty edge. Her set was mostly her trying to relay a few simple stories, but then getting bogged down by the details which were hilarious. She began by talking about how she had recently lost 60 pounds and then go immediately miffed that the audience did not applaud her appropriately for it.

^{Karen says that she still needs to lose 50 lbs to be a citizen of is of L.A.}

“Do you know anybody who lost 20?” She sneered. “Well triple that! Motherfucker!”

She went on to talk about really bad tattooes and sugar free slurpees that taste like nickels. She also delivered an impression of Bjork if she had won the presidency of the U.S. that was very funny and involved a promise to deliver a bear to every American.

She was followed by Doug Benson, who can be seen on VH1’s Best Week Ever, last years Last Comic Standing and his new movie Super High Me. Doug has a very sweet, almost goofy presence on stage. He was like your good natured, pot smoking brother. But his jokes were not stoned out party antics. They were precisely worded, and delivered with ninja accuracy.

^{Doug Benson: Sweet natured, comedy killer}

He started by saying that interviewers are always asking him, who he is voting for and why. To which he responds:

“One: That is none of your business. That is a private decision that I will make. And two: Because he is black.”

He delivered short, hard jokes throughout his entire set and rarely gave the audience the chance to breath. Even as he was talking about his movies, he peppered everything with so many one liners and side jokes that the audience never stopped roaring.

It was a great way to start the weekend.

At 6:30 we went to the Vera Project stage for the Best of Laff Hole. Laff Hole is one of the longest running comedy nights in Seattle. For about three years its has been the flagship of the People’s Republic of Komedy and has provided a stage for their friends, out of town comedians, and the occasional international celebrity. It has also served as a lunching ground for them. Now, the PRoK runs shows all around Seattle as well as in Los Angeles and New York, where they see people like Patton Oswalt and Eugene Mirman.

The show was hosted by Scott Moran, who has been managing the PRoK New York show called Sweet Haven. Scott got the all ages audience excited by telling them that their brains were about get a blow job but then warned them that because he was sober (due to Vera Project rules) we would be 35% less funny.

^{Scott Moran explains the importance of beer to the Vera audience}

After Scott, the first person up was one of the founding members of PRoK, Kevin Hyder. Kevin’s comedy is like surreal observational humor. He began by warning people about taking the phrase “Do you what you love and you will never work again” too literally, as apparently you can die masturbating.

^{Kevin impersonating every movie hacker from ‘84 to ’96}

“I’ve been to the edge people” he said, “and I came back to warn you.” The audience loved it.

He was followed by Ryan Cuddihy a 17 year old Seattle Prodigy. Ryan has been doing comedy for a while with great success, he has headlined all around town and won 2nd place in the Seattle Laff Off. On stage, he is young and it shows. Which is fine because that is what he jokes about. His opening joke was about how he invented the hand powered electric tooth brush (the batteries died). He went on to talk about how uninspired bullies make fun of his name (“yea, I’m cuddly”), drinking and traveling through time with Stephen Hawking (Cuddihy tells us that Hawking is a beast) and pulling out his underwear at a school show and tell. And the audience followed him through it all.

^{Ryan helps the audience feel really old}

He was followed by Daniel Carroll. Daniel Carroll, a founding member of the PRoK, is very different from Ryan Cuddihy. Daniel was unapologetic, cocky and ready to kill some sacred cows, such as Special Olympics Body Building,“That’s putting the body of a man on somebody with the mind of a child, that’s how the Hulk got started.” The audience was there with him some of the time, and when they weren’t he scolded them and got them back in shape. By the end of his routine they were all in line.

^{Dan doesn’t know why the audience is so fucking offended}

The following comedian was Travis Vogt. Travis is part of a comedy team called Clarkthevogt productions, who do a lot of things, they make comedy videos, weird action films and a show called The Entertainment Show. He joked about sports “if your definition of a sport is something I can’t do, then everything is a sport, paying my bills on time is a sport…bathing regularly is a sport, having a girlfriend is a sport.” Travis was a little worried about money so he came up with some slogons to use when he finally goes homeless such as

^{Travis gives us his take on the sporting life: “Jesus loves you. Don’t let his apparent hatred of me stop you from giving me 3 quarters”}

The final comedian was Emmett Montgomery. Emmett was walking with a bit of a limp due to a recent hernia, which gave him an unnerving presence as well as some good jokes. He told us about two things he learned from being injured.

1. Pain killers aren’t as fun when you actually need them.
2. There is law and order on all the time.

Emmett continued to get unnerved laughter as he joked about finding a space time portal in his apartment (handy cuz his toilet is broken), and becoming the type of clown that parents hire to scare their kids.

^{Kids be ware Emmett is available for hire}

After the laughter, Alex Malloy from Golden Robot Army and gently rocked the crowd. And that is how the comedy ended on the Vera Project stage on Saturday. Stay tuned for notes on Sundays funnies!

^{Alex bids the audience farewell}

photos by Chad Syme

For a musician from Scotland or the UK opening for Morrissey must be the US equivalent of opening up for Michael Stipe or Eddie Vedder. With just four albums under their belt Glasgow’s Sons and Daughters have already been there and done that. With the help of a broody and sassy second album, The Repulsion Box, in 2005 they found themselves openers for the legendary Scottishman by February of 2006. Adele Bethel (vocalist, guitar, keyboard), Ailidh Lennon (mandolin, bass), David Gow (drums) and Scott Paterson (guitars, vocals) have put out three albums with the most recent, This Gift showcasing their ability to refresh their love for rock with radiant energy and sex appeal that places Adele in the ranks of Blondie and VV of the Kills. The hit single “Gilt Complex” is a theme song for anyone on a mission to stamp their attitude all over their victims and leave them sweating in shame. Infectious upon first listen the tempo and Adele’s voice are aggravated and aggressive and should come with a warning label for the meek at heart. At home with their record label, Domino this is a band that is only practicing for the big leagues. Oh and if you hadn’t already taken note, they are looking to win you over, or beat you into submission… whatever you are up for.

photos by Chad Syme
review by Eric Mahollitz

The Whigs is a trio of musicians from Athens’ steadily growing music scene. Parker Gispert (guitar, vocals, keys), Julian Dorio (drums) and Tim Deaux (bass) created a lot of buzz following the self-release of their 2005 album, Give ‘Em All a Big Fat Lip — being billed as the top unsigned band in America. Shortly thereafter, the band was signed to Dave Matthews’ ATO Records, home to My Morning Jacket and Rodrigo Y Gabriela, to name a few. Their ATO debut, 2008s Mission Control, is a rock ‘n’ roll tour de force. On the Rob Schnapf-produced (Beck, Elliott Smith) record the band takes listeners on a sonic journey through all of rock history, most prominently 90s garage- and alt-rock but reaching all the way back to the genre’s roots. They’ve mastered the art of insanely catchy guitar riffs, Dorio’s drumming is the quickest way to master your heart patterns and Gispert’s vocals are indescribably timeless. Fans of other timeless bands like The Replacements and The Pixies take note — The Whigs perform the Rockstar Stage @6PM.

Their highly entertaining soundcheck over, Dorio and Deaux brought out their cameras to take pictures of the crowd. You know you’re in for something good when the band is that excited to be there. Opening with the title track off of Mission Control, the trio immediately brought to life the wall-of-sound KEXP listeners have grown to love from the album. Gispert jumped around the stage uncontrollably, his hair covering his eyes. For their second track, Like a Vibration, the audience got its first glimpse of Dorio’s manhandling of the drum kit. Cheers echoed through the audience as Dorio played the opening drum line to Right Hand On My Heart. The live rendition gave new meaning to the radio hit, showing the heart and hunger that drives the young band. Gispert and Deaux gathered around their amps for some added distortion as Dorio beat the S*#t out of his drums. The only casualty of that giant performance was Deaux’s bass strap. Another anthemic album standout, Already Young, followed, Gispert now sweating through his shirt and the whole band playing with more ferocity. The announcement that they would play one more was answered with resounding applause and Need You was promptly delivered. Their chemistry and stage presence has to be seen to be believed. Catch them when they take their show outdoors, playing the Rockstar Stage @ 6PM.

photos by Chad Syme
review by Chris Estey

Orgone is the energy of orgasm, as Wilhelm Reich theorized, and this band (affiliated with the Underground Kings), coming on right before The Saturday Knights and Lee “Scratch” Perry, create a steady deep stew of funk bliss. Their song “Sophisticated Honky” found much love on KEXP this year, and their album “The Killion Floor” reminded many of the 80s go-go inspired soul-groove of Trouble Funk, and Afro-beat shamans Fela Kuti. Fanny Franklin has a more laid-back style than a certain Ms. Jones when in front of the Dap-Kings (which shares some members with Orgone), sort of like the smooth Marie Queenie Lyons compared to the raw Betty Davis. This will be in the middle of that whole funky party that afternoon/evening, and Orgone were perfect choices to offer up a soul chanteuse at the right time and place.

For their Music Lounge performance, LA’s Orgone tested the limits of the space with a three-piece horn section and dueling percussionists in the mix, jumping into a funk onslaught. As a group of steady studio musicians, they looked right at home on the small stage. A bustling nine-piece band, Orgone produces a much fuller sound than Forro In The Dark, their predecessors on the stage today. Members of the audience remained on the edge of their seats throughout the entire set, and it didn’t take long for a full-on clap-along to get started. Fanny Franklin shined on vocals, commanding the stage at times and lending minimal but much welcomed support at others. In the midst of a soulful, afro-beat tune, guitarist Sergio Rios wouldn’t hesitate to throw a rock riff in there, adding yet another dimension to this multifaceted group. The band does the occasional instrumental tune, making it seem like adding anything else would be overkill, but as soon as Franklin walks back on stage, you don’t want her to leave. Whether you’re hosting a lively backyard BBQ or a large urban festival, you can’t go wrong with Orgone. If you’ve missed them on any of their previous stops in Seattle, don’t make the same mistake again. They’re starting the party early tonight, playing the Fisher Green Stage @ 5:45PM.

photos by Chad Syme

Born out of NY’s eclectic East Village club, Nublu, Forro In The Dark is a group primarily made up of Brazilian ex-pats. Musically, the group follows the meaning of their name to a tee. Forro is a traditional dance performed in Northeast Brazil, a more sophisticated sister to the better known samba, bossa nova and the like. Another aspect of the band’s adherence to Forro is the use of traditional themes such as love, passion and the hardships of migrant workers. But by positioning themselves in NYCs thriving urban scene, they’ve taken their brand of Forro, literally, in the dark, captivating dance floors the world over. In a single set, they’ll often take audiences through all aspects of Forro and beyond, enabling a rowdy dance party and a slowed down contemplative respite. Since their inception, members of the band have attracted high profile collaborators such as Bebel Gilberto, David Byrne and others. With backgrounds in jazz, classical and hip-hop, this melting pot of knowledge and energy is truly captivating. Be sure to pay them a visit when they perform the Fisher Green Stage today @ 4PM.

photos by Chad Syme
review by Leigh Bezezekoff

Still riding on the success of their 2007 dance punk epic record Myth Takes, !!! has been touring exhaustively with the likes of Red Hot Chili Peppers and playing at festivals like Bumbershoot all over the world. The album, their third full-length effort, came about from a continuous, almost spiritual quest to find the ultimate groove while enduring rigorous physical training. Because !!!’s musicians live all over the country (Sacramento, Portland, and New York City), they rehearsed their special brand of party punk while crashing together in a rented house in Nashville, TN, where they would start their day practicing Kung Fu each morning. Something about hanging out together in short shorts and jamming for 45 minutes at a time must have worked because the resulting album was magic. The magic got its start in Sacramento, CA, where these multi-instrumentalists came together to play an all-night party. This ability to keep the party going is still evident in their music as they take a crowd’s response and incorporate it into their music before it’s recorded. Yesterday’s set proved it as they tested a few new songs on the Bumbershoot Music Lounge audience. Then, they set off to face Beck in the final slot of the night.

photos by Chad Syme
review by Chris Estey

This year, Brooklyn boys Nada Surf played the posh Triple Door and shortly thereafter released an album that attempted a very tricky proposition for any recording artists from the alternative canon — a thematic full-length based in acceptance and joy, Lucky. Most people aware of the group’s ups and downs knew that they had the good humor and optimism to create such a song cycle, however uncool it might appear (and the lack of buzz around its issue is a sign how challenging breaking this rule can be). Nada Surf is no stranger to breaking rules when it comes to releasing an album. Discrepancies with their major label (Elektra) led the band to break their contract because they refused to write another hit akin to their breakout single “Popular” on their 1998 release, The Proximity Effect, believing the album was complete as they submitted it. They were right. Fans and critics alike embraced the album and it was released on their own label. In 2002, Nada Surf found a home on local indie label Barsuk Records, who also released this effort. Lucky was a sublime record, a sleeper that adults could turn to for the kind of bliss that comes with a life keenly aware of the blues.

After Nada Surf finished an amazing set in the filled-to-capacity Bumbershoot Music Lounge, Jason Kinnard had an opportunity to ask the band a few questions:

KEXP: I was doing a little research last night and discovered the first time I had listened to Nada Surf was back in 2004. You’ve been around since 1996, but when I bought an iPod back in 2004 your song “Popular” was the second song I downloaded from iTunes. In the 4 years between now and then there have been a lot of changes in the industry between now and then, what is your take on this new economy of Music?

Nada Surf: Well, it’s hard for me to work up an interest in what’s going to happen on the “financial” side of things. Something will happen, someone will figure out how to make money. Maybe not as much as records. I mean, a bands life - we pay the rent from concerts and licensing. As far as what’s going to happen musically, it’s exciting that people have so much access, they can listen to bands so fast, but the downside is that you’re kind of overwhelmed, people don’t really sit down and listen to whole albums as much as they did. I don’t think so anyway. Bands and record companies keep saying that they’re going to move to more singles and move away from albums, yet people still make albums and I think that will stick around a bit. In the same way breakfast, lunch and dinner has lasted this long. Even though the supermarket is open all day, we still eat three meals a day. The choice is there, we’re just looking for our own way.

KEXP: Another thing I’ve noticed is that there seems to be a correlation between Seattle and New York bands, do you know what the connection is?

Nada Surf: A lot of the sensibilities seem to be shared. I think it’s just the love of the melodic stuff, music with guitar.

KEXP: For instance you say you sell the most albums in Seattle even though you’re a Brooklyn band?

Nada Surf: Yes. Well, we do well in New York too. I think it’s just the Barsuk connection and the fact we spend so much time here it just feels kind of “hometowny”. I don’t know what the connection is really. I’m not sure there was one before. Maybe it’s that Seattle is the new England on this Coast? And maybe the rain helps. There aren’t a lot of places that are as oppressive weather-wise than New York.

KEXP: Well, Seattle may be right up there.

Nada Surf: I don’t think your summers are as brutal. Just that you have to deal with that “saddening” effect of the weather.

KEXP: Is that the translation, poor weather equals good music?

Nada Surf: There might be something there, yes. The amount of good bands that have come out of L.A. is actually pretty low. Bands went to L.A. cause their “industry” was in L.A. — bands like the Germs and X were from L.A., but the actual amount of bands is quite low.

photos by Chad Syme
review and interview by Leigh Bezezekoff

Tacoma-based baroque poppers Mono In VCF create a dense mood as singer Kim Miller’s haunting vocals give life to guitarist Hunter Lea’s dark lyrics. The result is a stylistic sound that treats the listener to sweeping synth overtures as well as subtle nuances. The project began with Lea and bassist Jordan Luckman as the two experimented with various recording techniques including discreet panning which gives the album the elaborate space associated with 60’s psychedelica. With musical influences as varied as Terry Jacks (Seasons in the Sun, The Poppy Family), Lee Hazelwood, Phil Spector, and 60’s Philadelphia soul group The Delfonics, Mono In VCF is a homage to these artists as well as to the equipment and techniques they employed create their music. In fact, Lea and Luckman were so enthralled with Canadian singer/producer Terry Jacks, they looked him up in the phone book and started a friendship with their soon-to-be mentor who even contributed vocals and a song to their debut album.

As sometimes happens with live broadcasts, Mono In VCF was the first victim of technical difficulties. Shortly before going on air, Hunter Lea’s amp was giving out a little more distortion than is desired. A different amp and a brief soundcheck later, the set went off without a hitch. The first track started with pulsing, cinematic synths atop a subtle bass-driven melody. All the while, Kim Miller’s girl-next-door vocals ebbed and flowed with understated emotion. Each track swelled with organ and piano lines, filling the tiny space with psychedelic key taps and bright, airy guitar strums. For their third track, the band debuted a brand new song with Miller and Lea sharing the microphone. Drummer Jason Falk utilized some maracas and Miller added some bells towards the end. The added percussive elements were a good match for their already stellar sound. The next track, a darker, moodier piece, brought Miller’s vocals down almost to a whisper. Together with talk of knives and death, the song brouht the band into an entirely different realm, bringing to mind early Portishead. From there on out, the instrumentals reached for the sky and never looked back. Lea occasionally used the head of his guitar to press keys on his organ, multi-tasking to say the least. In the end, the audience was spoiled with more than a handful of tracks, giving more than a preview of what can be expected when they play the Sky Church tonight @ 6:30PM.

KEXP: Hunter and Jordan, you guys have worked together for quiet some time, how did you guys meet?

Hunter: We meet in high school actually. In Journalism class.

Jordan: We both really liked The Beatles and just kind of hit it off. Hunter was playing in bands with a different friend of his and we kept working together. Hunter really wanted me to do music and play with him.

Hunter: He started with keyboards then moved to bass.

Jordan: It just worked out.

Hunter: We met Charles our first singer and kind of got like half of the vision of where we’re at now from him-the dark lush side of things. We both already liked the melancholy stuff, but with Charles it was kind of re-defined and once we parted ways with him we incorporated the 60’s cinematic orchestral sound. We found Kim’s vocals interesting in that kind of combination.

KEXP: How did you find Kim?

Kim: Craig’s List.

KEXP: What drew you to the project?

Kim: It sounded interesting…..

Hunter: It was a “Casual Encounters” kind of thing. No strings attached…..

Kim: No, I remember that the whole first part of the ad was talking about a male singer and at the very bottom there was a little sentence that said: “If you’re female and you think you fit these qualities also apply”

Jordan: Really? I said that?

Kim: Yes. I actually replied to him twice before he got back to me.

Jordan: No way…

Hunter: So he’s a flaky misogynist?

Kim: It’s true. I could probably find the email somewhere….

KEXP: So you guys are also influenced by [Canadian singer] Terry Jacks of the Poppy Family Singers and he actually contributed to your album. How did that come about?

Hunter: I was introduced to Terry Jacks and the Poppy Family by a friend on a mixed CD and I just loved the two tracks I heard so much I went and found the albums. When I had those, I couldn’t believe they weren’t on CD. It’s like psychedelic Beatles meets Everly Brothers but with tons of sitars and synths. It didn’t make sense that it wasn’t huge-they were just really great pop songs. We just got an idea to call Terry Jacks up to find him. We found the Canadian White Pages online and just called him out of the blue. He’s awesome, just really cool….we asked to meet him. He’s like “Well, I’m not really worth it. I guess if you’re going to be up here we can go to lunch or something. I’m not really worth coming up here though.”

Jordan: So we get up there and he’s watching the NBA Playoffs.

Hunter: Then we went and go Korean barbeque with him and after played him our songs. He actually didn’t like our music. And he didn’t like the vocals. He didn’t like the songs. He wasn’t into it. He did like our enthusiasm and he liked us.

Jordan: He didn’t deter us.

Hunter: It didn’t deter us. We then worked on the music for like six months on songs and wrote a bunch of new stuff. We were trying to play stuff we did with Charles and make Kim’s vocals work.

Jordan: It just wasn’t the right fit.

Hunter: We were trying to hold onto our old band instead of reinvent it. So we took six months and listened to a bunch of 60’s psychedelic pop records and worked at our house on songs. Then we sent him a CD to his house.

Jordan: Right before we were going to do our album.

Hunter: We said “Terry, we’d love to have you to work with us.” We didn’t hear back from him for like three weeks. Then out of the blue when we were in the studio we got a call from him.

Jordan: He said “I got your CD! It was such a hassle.” He told me that he had to go to his PO Box like three times and he finally got it. “And I love it. I don’t know what happened…the singer sounds fantastic.”

Kim: He thought I was a different singer actually.

Hunter: Yeah, and he said “the songs are so much better and the recordings are great. I’d love to help you guys any way I can. I really like this stuff.” We were blown away because we respect Terry and his music so much. And it was awesome to have him want to play on our record. So he came down and sang and insisted on having fish n’ chips at Ivar’s.

KEXP: The quintessential Seattle experience…

Jordan: Yeah really….

KEXP: You guys played a couple of new songs for us today. And there was one that was pretty Lee and Nancy sounding….is that a sign of things to come?

Jordan: It’s already been happening.

Hunter: Well, we’re kind of working on our next album. It kind of sounds like orchestral….folky…hip hop.

Kim: Making us even harder to categorize…..

KEXP: I’ve heard rumors that you might be joined onstage later tonight by a special guest? Are you at liberty to divulge?

Hunter: We’ll divulge. We’re actually going to sing a song from a Lee and Nancy record and we got our friend and fellow Lee Hazelwood fanatic Mark Pickerel to come and sing Lee’s part. He actually knew Lee Hazelwood so it’s like a direct connection. He’s a disciple like we are and he has that lonely boxcar baritone that Lee Hazelwood sound. We’re excited to play with him.

KEXP: What song are you playing?

Hunter: Some Velvet Morning.

KEXP: I look forward to that.

Hunter: Us too.

photos by Chad Syme
review by Sheryl Witlen

The Bumbershoot lineup is so strained with heavy hitters that it might be a bit difficult for an innocent concert-goer to decide who to go see in three short days. Lucky for you-KEXP is here to direct your eager ears to Thao with The Get Down Stay Down. Formerly of Falls Church, Virginia, the foursome now calls the streets of San Francisco home and have been touring tirelessly since the release of their most recent record, We Brave Bee Stings and All, which hit shelves this past January care of Kill Rock Star records. Before breaking into their songs you should meet the band which consists of Adam Thompson on bass, Willis Thompson on drums, Frank Stewart on lead guitar and Thao Nguyen on vocals and guitar. Describing their sound as “tangles of guitar, knots of singing, threads of beat and thump make a rope fit for hauling the heavy machinery of your day” they could possibly be the most appreciative band currently on the scene. Don’t believe me, visit their blog where almost every entry is overflowing with affection and gratitude for their fans who have come out to see their shows, the bands they have played with and most of all, your clapping and loving hands. Gleeful, yes; foolish, no. Though armed with melodies and tempo’s that are on the lighter side of the spectrum they sing about heartbreak and the trials of relationships like the best of the moody swingers. Thao and company also find time to lend their support and attention to Oxfam America and us their public position for the betterment of mankind. This global sense of identity helped led her to find Willis Thompson who was studying Environmental Sciences and Music during their days at The College of William and Mary. Shortly after the pair found Adam Thompson who at the time was performing as a solo jazz artist, The OK Bird. Frank Stewart prior to completing the collective was working as a producer and his adept skills are apparent on their crisp and clever record that is deserving of all the airplay we have given it thus far.

Interview by Jamie H

After their performance at the uber-exclusive (not really, but it makes me feel special) live, on-air performance at the Music Lounge at Bumbershoot, I had a chance to chat a bit with Thao from Thao With The Get Down Stay Down. Thao was a student of Environmental Studies and Music during her time at The College of William and Mary and her band has a close relationship with Oxfam America, a non-profit organization who “addresses social injustice through advocacy, public education, and emergency assistance programs.”

Thao has a reputation for being goofy on and off stage and this interview was no let down — it started with her receiving a gift of a wall clock with her name on the faceplate and ended by her walking off with the wall clock around her neck, held by a string of white beads because she wanted to “do this Flavor Flav style.”

J: Tell me about Oxfam, how did you end up working with them?

T: Well, they approached us a few months ago wanting to create a whole concert outreach program. The guy who does that got in touch with us and asked if we’d consider participating in letting people table at our shows. We knew of them, but I wasn’t incredibly familiar with their work. We started researching and we met them at headquarters in Boston and we hung out with them all day and they were amazing. In the way that organization is run and the transparency it has and the levels of accountability and their mission is so amazing, so we totally wanted to accelerate beyond just having a table at our shows and now we’re pretty much doing whatever they want, like whatever seems to be helpful.

I, on a personal level, have always - well, what I studied in school and what I was going to do before music all centered around non-profit and social work so it is seriously an honor to be working with them because the things that these people do - you walk in and it’s like this brain trust of the most intelligent, compassionate people. I think, I mean, it all sounds kind of weird because what is it? But when you say we’re trying to end poverty, we’re trying to end social injustice on such realistic and comprehensive levels.

J: Yeah, it seems like the areas they cover are really specific, but fall over a broad in scope.

T: Sure, yeah, and it’s all with more sustainable agriculture and addressing climate change and stuff, but doing it, like, on a grassroots level and doing micro-financing for women, well all of it, they are just very realistic. I think it’s an amazing combination of realism and idealism that can affect change.

Catch Thao With The Get Down Stay Down at the Bumbershoot Broad Street stage at 4:00pm today.

photos by Chad Syme
review and interview by Eric Mahollitz

Austin’s Asylum Street Spankers formed in ‘94 as multi-instrumentalist Christina Marrs and washboard master Wammo playing country/blues throwbacks. Fourteen years later and with nearly 50 musicians having come and gone, ASS is now a bawdy, vulgar foot-stomping vaudeville act. The group has always stuck to largely acoustic arrangements, forcing an increased energy and enthusiasm in order to crank out enough sound. While their theatricality complements their songs and elevates their music into something more, everyone involved is a seriously talented musician. With enough personalities on hand, a lot of groups could stumble through a decent vaudeville set, but this group encompasses the genres core elements, including swing, jazz and comical elements, with conviction and, dare I say, panache. For their most recent release, the band spent two weeks performing a live revue at NYs Barrow Street Theatre, capturing the best of the group’s lengthy catalog in its purest form. Don’t miss their performance tonight @ 6:45PM on the Starbucks Stage.

True to form, the group started 7-members strong in radio show fashion with hushed vocals laid down over a raucous melody. For their second track, Wammo stripped away his signature washboard, taking the mic and leading a country revival rendition of their amazing Winning the War on Drugs. Next, Christina Marrs slowed things down, executing a little back-porch baladeering. Not a group to remain quiet for long, the lengthy track wasn’t without its adrenaline rush transitions. After each track band members switched positions, passing lead vocals from one to the other and showcasing the individual as well as group talents. One of the subtler highlights to the set was Marrs soft, breathy vocals cooing over brushed drumming and an old jazz/blues melody that was absolutely transporting. A slight change of pace followed with Charlie King announcing his favorite prison song. With King on the jug and Wammo back on the washboard, the song was full of organic instrumentation and no contemporary prison song would be complete without ripping on the current administration. The audience couldn’t have asked for a greater opening to the Bumbershoot weekend.

Following the set, we sat down with Christina Marrs and Wammo for a little question-and-answer session:

KEXP: Your band has a lot of different musical styles and backgrounds coming together. How do you reconcile that in the recording process?

Wammo: Well, I guess it just depends on whether the record has a theme or not. We’ve done some records that have themes and some that don’t. Most of ours do, so in the recording process the writing process comes first. We individually write songs and then bring them to the group, and then every once in a while Christina and I will collaborate on a duet. So, most of the time for the recordings it’s already pre-set. We’ll decide we’re going to do a reefer tunes record, a sex record or a kid’s record.

KEXP: Who’s the jokester in the group? You all seem like fun-loving, easy-going folks, but where does the comedic element come from?

Wammo: I think everybody’s funny. Christina tends to do more serious stuff than I do, but I also write serious songs and she writes funny songs. So it just switches over — there’s always a gray area. So it’s hard to say this guys a jokester. It just depends on the day — who’s in what mood and how high they are.

KEXP: And you’ve got a double-disc live album coming out pretty soon. You’ve done live albums in the past. How does the new one compare to the old?

Christina: Well this one was recorded over two weeks at a theatre in New York. We did a show called What? And Give Up Showbiz?. It was a musical revue we did off Broadway. The show was a collaboration on one aspect of the Spankers — our theatricality. The show had good lighting cues and scripted dialogue, which is unusual for us. There was a lot more storytelling and a theme to the show, whereas during most of our shows we play songs and improv inbetween and joke around with the audience. This was definitely a more scripted show with the central theme. The set was culled from 14 years of being a band so the songs on the record are from our entire history. And it’s a double-disc set, so that makes it different right there.

Wammo: And it’s out now.

Christina: Maybe not in stores, but we have it on the road. I think it hits stores on September 30th.

KEXP: Speaking of your 14-year history, you’ve had so many lineup changes. How does the current lineup work and how does it compare to lineups you’ve had in the past?

Christina: Well, it went from being on the older end of the spectrum to being on the younger side. We’ve got a bunch of young guys in the band now. We’ve just got a great band right now. We’ve always had a lot of great musicians, a lot of talent.

Wammo: Except for that one guy.

Christina: Yeah, we just have a lot of young blood right now.

Wammo: It’s a boy band now. We’re the next NSYNC.

KEXP: So you’ve got songs with title like Beer, Boogers and Shave ‘Em Dry. I’m wondering if you’ve ever dismissed a song for being too crass?

Christina: I don’t think we would ever do anything that was hateful or sexist or racist, or anything like that.

Wammo: Except for that one song — the hateful, sexist, racist song that we use as an encore every night.

KEXP: Can I find that online anywhere?

Wammo: Yeah, it’s just called the The Hateful, Sexist, Racist Song.

Christina: We’ve cut songs because they weren’t working out musically. And we’re never shy about taking any song from any era and making it our own, but sometimes it just doesn’t work out. So we’ve definitely tossed songs out not because of content but because they weren’t working out musically.

KEXP: OK, and you guys have two more shows today — one for the kids and one for a general audience. Do you approach the kid’s show differently at all?

Christina: Well, we don’t say cocksucker…or motherfucker.

Wammo: Too much.

Christina: We, just say it backwards. Um, well we have a children’s record so we play a lot of songs from that record. It’s a tough crowd. Those kids have short attention spans.

Wammo: They’re all hopped up on Ritalin.

Christina: And sugar. But that really is the only difference — we don’t use curse words. But musically, we like to think that the music we wrote for the children’s record is just as accessible as any of our other records and is appropriate for people of any age. The key difference is subject matter and language.

KEXP: Well, that’s all I’ve got. It was a great show, and I look forward to seeing you at least once later on today.