CATCH THEM SATURDAY AT THE DEN >>>

In my interview with offbeat Portland musicians Ghost to Falco (Eric Crespo) and Dragging an Ox Through Water (Brian Mumford) for this week's issue of the Volcano, I begin by asking how the two tour-mates and DIY label co-founders got to know each other. I only had room in the finished piece for Eric's side of the story, and it turns out these two dudes' relationship is a tiny bit more complicated. Here's what Brian had to tell me:

BRIAN MUMFORD: We've known each other for a long time. I think we met kind of gradually just through various musical communities, but we really started to hang out more once I had moved to Portland and was living with our mutual friend Mike McKinnon (Reporter). Mike was playing drums in a former incarnation of Ghost to Falco for a little while, plus we just had tons of mutual friends through assorted bands we played in, and shows, and living situations.

I also decided to pick their brains about the Infinite Front label they started together, which released Ghost to Falco's most recent LP, Exotic Believers, as well as material by Aan, Weaver, and Ohioan.

ERIC CRESPO:  There was just a need for it within our circle. There were folks, myself included, who were making albums that they worked really hard on and not finding any label who would release them. Some fledgling label here or there might release something, but nothing ever felt like it could be a lasting home. It's nice know that there's the Infinite Front home base, so we don't have to just float out there alone in the ether. Infinite Front allows all involved to unite under a common banner and lift each other up.    
BRIAN MUMFORD: It's good that it's a collective sort of formulation of a label. It makes it looser and less centralized in many ways. I've been putting out some cassettes under the label name: "musical impressions," they haven't been so far, but some future releases will be co-released by both labels. This month I'll be putting out a tape by a band called Grandfather Claws that Eric and I played in together with our friends Morgan and Cortney Ritter.

Clearly, community is something that's important to these guys. Knowing how socially tight-knit (while musically diverse) the Portland music scene can be, I thought I'd ask Eric about all the collaborators he had on Exotic Believers. Its roster of guest musicians is positively massive (seventeen in total!).

ERIC CRESPO: I've been playing around Portland for awhile so I know some people, but there were actually a number of people who played on Exotic Believers who I had never met until they walked into the studio. Heather Broderick (Horse Feathers, Efterklang) was good about bringing talented friends of hers along with her. There was one day where I tried to get as many people as possible to come in for a group singing part so I asked the people who I had asked to bring as many people with them as they could. There were some people in the studio that day that I had never met. So maybe I don't actually have that many friends.

Chin up, Eric! I doubt Kanye West personally knew all of the 45 guest artists (incl. studio musicians) on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, not that is an even remotely fair comparison.

Dragging an Ox Through Water and Ghost to Falco

Saturday, Jan. 15, 7 p.m., all ages, $5 donation
The Den@urbanXchange, 1932 Pacific Ave., Tacoma
253.572.2280

LINK: The original article

LINK: Live music tonight in the South Sound