The Portland Gig

Band Photography in Portland, Oregon, 2003-2018

The Portland Gig is now available for purchase, including new images not seen previously.

I spent fifteen years photographing bands playing small venues in Portland, Oregon. The Portland Gig is a slice of a motley scene of mostly struggling bands and grungy clubs of the time; not encyclopedic, but made with affection for the musicians and their passion for making music.

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…the thick type for the really dreadful sets, angry sociopolitical statements, and any group that shows up with multiple laptops. Honestly, why would anyone come out to see a band? With the proliferation of self-production, indy labels, Facebook, YouTube, and iTunes, more bands can put more new music in front of more new listeners than ever before. But going out to a show is work, fraught with perils- bad clubs, bad mixing, bad lighting and a better than 50% chance that the keyboard player is pissed off or the drummer is too drunk to play; too many sticky floors, surly bouncers, singers who are confused about the difference between singing and howling, the long wait for an inexperienced band to setup, the never ending sound check, awful opening bands, stinky/sweaty/pushy crowds, or worse, no crowd at all. I’ve seen cleaner bathrooms in third world countries.

Then again, all that might be part of the charm and energy. Sterile and clean does not equal good music or a good time. Go out and catch a show by some group you’ve never heard of in a skanky, underventilated bar. It’s about the spectacle and the electricity. For the bands that have made their measure of success, it is at once hero worship up close and music made personal, sharing your space, towering over you and near enough to touch. And the bands that haven’t made it might provide the best show of all. There isn’t much at stake and nothing to lose. They are paid in beer tickets and a fraction of the door, sometimes more, sometimes nothing. Some play for only the excitement of rock and roll, some have their eyes on bigger things. But at the end of the night, most are going to put down their gear and get down off the stage, have a drink with the rest of us and watch the next band.

Angus – The Liars
Adrien – Hell’s Belles
Emily – Attrition
Guitarist – Aces & Eights
Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears
Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears
Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears
Bernie Worrell
Christian – Lookbook
Empty Room
Singer – Cursed Lullaby
Daniel – King Black Acid
Daniel – King Black Acid
Eric and Amanda – King Black Acid
Mystina – The Prids
Mystina and Dave – The Prids
Neil and Bree – Kuma
Troy – Empty Room
Helen Money
Kiisu – The Oblik
Johnny Locke – Locke & Loaded
Samael
Samael
Viktor – Xploding Boys
Cedric – Xploding Boys
Soriah – Xploding Boys
Ginny – The Nightmares
Randy – No Age
Drummer – No Age
Todd – Firewater
Singer – Paterini
Attila – Sunn(O))
Una – Stalking Jane
Jyri – The Sins
Nightmare Boy – The Sins

The technology changes, the genres and the personal dramas change, but the musicians really don’t. This is a basement operation of black clothes and tattoos, of sweat and smoke and a certain ecstasy of expression. They are always young, always in motion, and nobody’s getting rich. It’s making and playing music.