By Whitney Hawke
This is probably un-ethical. In fact, I know it is. But I'm plugging my own goddamn bands, wanna fight about it?
In addition to twirling the quill for this illustrious music blog, I also run a record label - Brave Recs - in my hometown of Portland, OR. And three of our bands (The Old Believers, Congratulations, and The Red River) are playing the Silver Lake Lounge this Thursday, September 3rd, and an in-store at Origami Records on the 4th. So you should probably go, obviously. And pick up one of our new, silky-sweet double-7'' (pressed on gold vinyl), featuring a track by each band and a hella cute digital download card. So here's the scoop...
You could pussyfoot around the situation – say that The Old
Believers and Congratulations (formerly Eskimo & Sons) are good
friends, partners in crime, accomplices. But that just wouldn't capture
the gravity of the situation. The Old Believers and Congratulations are lovebirds. “You complete me” says The Old Believers. “You had
me at 'Hello'” sobs Congratulations. It's that deep.
Who are The Old Believers? Who are Congratulations? Well, the answer is physically the same for both questions – Nelson Kempf, Dhani Rosa, Keeley Boyle, Danielle Sullivan, Clayton Knapp, Thomas Himes, Jordan Bagnall, Dan Galucki, Tanner Johnson and Morgan. But The Old Believers and Congratulations are chemically different. Sometimes the two Portland bands play together, as a dream team. Sometimes they play apart. And while they appear as the same bands on stage – the singing, songwriting, and backgrounds of the bands are separate and distinct.
The Red River- When We Are Wild- Portland 8.23.2009 from BraveRecs on Vimeo.
Congratulations began in 2005 when the band's chief songwriter Dhani Rosa cajoled friend and classmate Danielle Sullivan to give him a taste of her saccharine croon. The two met at Lincoln High School, where Rosa listened to rap music and dropped out. And where Sullivan killed it in the classroom, and kept her soul-crushing voice a secret from everyone. Soon thereafter, the band grew to include Thomas “The Holy Grail of Male” Himes on the piano, and Dylan Reed on the drums (Reed is no longer with the band). In 2006, Congratulations – who at that time was still operating under the moniker Eskimo & Sons – released "Oh It's Even More Crash", a two-track 7'' EP on white vinyl. The band soon added audiophile and bassist, Clayton Knapp, who had just attended Harvey Mudd College and Brown University because he's a bona fide smarty pants. After releasing their second EP – "How Does it Feel to be Crushed by One Man With the Strength of a Million?" – in 2007, the group toured throughout the western half of the United States and had a wee of a time. Throughout 2008 and 2009, Congratulations has been reinventing. First of all, they pulled a switcheroo and changed their name from Eskimo & Sons to Congratulations. The name change came after they began teaming up with The Old Believers – which is when Rosa began churning out songs that were more lyrically honest and sonically gratifying than any songs he had previously written. Congratulations also added one helluva horn section, with Tanner Johnson on the trumpet, Morgan on the saxaphone, and occasionally little Sofie on the big Sousaphone.
The Old Believers have come a long way – literally. In 2006, Nelson Kempf and Keeley Boyle picked up their Kenai, Alaska roots, slung them over their shoulder and headed southbound on the Alaskan Highway towards the contiguous United States. Specifically, Portland. Shortly after the arriving in Stumptown, the Portland music scene adopted The Old Believers into their family. Towheaded Boyle's sultry soprano and baby-faced Kempf's courageous tenor complement one another like PB and J, ice cream and sprinkles, beer and orange juice – having one is just dandy, but putting them together makes the world seem right. After releasing their first EP, "Some Songs By The Old Beleivers", Kempf and Boyle went on a full national tour to support the album, joined by their drummer Dan Galucki, Andy Schaafsma, and Joshua Northcutt. In 2007 and 2008 the duo recorded their first full-length – Eight Golden Greats – at Type Foundry studios in Portland, OR under the direction of producer Jason Powers. 2008 was a big year for The Old Believers. Eight Golden Greats was name one of Under The Radar magazine's Top 50 Albums of 2008, and soon thereafter was voted onto Willamette Week's list of Top 10 New Bands of 2008 by Portland's music community. The Old Believers are nearly finished writing their full-length follow-up to Eight Golden Greats, which is slated to come out in February 2010 on Brave Recs, and undoubtedly feature accompaniments by Congratulations.
The Red River (from Long Beach, CA) is the newest addition to Brave Recs. You can just watch the video above to see how mind blowing they are. They will be releasing their new full-length, "Little Songs About The Big Picture" on Brave Recs this fall.
The Old Believers video and Photo taken by Tom Hanks (aka Chris Carpenter)
The Red River Video by Brave Recs resident video demon Draeger Gillespie
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