"Rock Rhetoric"

By Matt Driscoll

"It's funny how things can sometimes look so different depending on where you stand.

Take the music scenes in Olympia and Tacoma, for example. The history of Olympia's music scene is legendary — so much so that I really don't even need to go into detail. It's well known that both the K and Kill Rock Stars record labels started in the capital city, and that iconic bands like Beat Happening, Sleater Kinney, Bikini Kill and many others emerged from the liberal bastion. There have been movies, books, blogs, and even numerous articles here in the Weekly Volcano about how diverse, artistic, influential and just plain kick-ass Olympia's music scene is and was.

Tacoma's music scene, on the other hand, isn't exactly as celebrated. Over the course of the almost 10 years I've been covering Grit City music — since before there was anyone here clean enough to market the Grit — I don't believe I've ever heard the kind of praise about T-town that Olympia receives. Sure, plenty of good bands have come from Tacoma — Seaweed, Girl Trouble, the Sonics, the Wailers, the list goes on — but T-town has never been hip. When it comes to perceptions about Tacoma's music scene, this is a fact that Tacoma will likely be fighting forever.

Or maybe not. Perhaps perceptions are changing. Maybe Tacoma is on the verge of hipness. Maybe our moment is right around the corner.

When perceptions change, often times it starts with the youth. If guitarist Trav Criscola of Olympia's pop punk darlings Avenue Rose is any indication, perceptions may be about to swing in Tacoma's favor. Criscola and his Avenue Rose bandmates, all in their early 20s or younger, will make a stop at Bob's Java Jive this Saturday, May 31, and then play Tacoma Community College Friday, June 6. For what it's worth, they seem to think Tacoma is the cat's meow.

"When we first started, our bass player, Eddie was really involved in the music scene in Olympia. We had an immediate connection getting shows and meeting touring bands that had been passing through. It was a great start for networking," says Criscola. 

"The music scene has changed drastically (in Olympia) since then. I guess that's how a lot of smaller towns are. It comes and goes every few years it seems. We're pretty disconnected from the music scene here now. A lot of the music venues have been closed down and the local bands we were once connected with have all died."

"It is a little frustrating that playing a successful show in our home town isn't easy, but we've been pretty busy playing a lot in areas outside of Olympia," continues Criscola. "When we met Dillan (Avenue Rose's new drummer), it opened a lot up for us in the Tacoma area. He's been active in that music scene for a long time and had played in a few bands up there. Tacoma definitely has an amazing music scene. We've all been big fans of bands like The Freakouts and Durango 95. It seems there are so many talented people doing some pretty cool things here. We love playing Tacoma and hope the scene here lasts a long time!"

As strange as all that might sound to someone who hasn't been paying attention to the strides Tacoma's music scene has made in the last few years, there's truth to it. Olympia's music scene has struggled some lately, especially to maintain an all-ages music venue, and those struggles may come at the benefit of Tacoma. While something tells me whatever lull Avenue Rose has encountered in Olympia will soon be replaced by good times and plenty of exciting bands, if musicians are being forced to rethink their preconceptions of what Tacoma has to offer to bands and artists, it can only be a good thing for those of us in the 253.

That benefit is blatantly obvious when a band like Avenue Rose makes their way to Tacoma twice in two weeks. Led by the vocal power of Jason Mendoza, and plenty of catchy guitar licks, Avenue Rose is raw enough to be relevant and glam enough to twinkle with potential. The band's Clash-like sound was the perfect putty for Steve E Nix (of the Briefs and Cute Lepers Fame), and the rocker turned producer recently helped mold the Avenue Rose sound, working with the band to lay down and record Electric, a 7-inch released on Slab-O-Wax in March. Electric has been putting Avenue Rose on plenty of rock and roll radars ever since.
"Working with Steve is great! He's really talented in a lot of different areas. We did the Electric recordings with him, as well as some new tracks that we just finished up for a couple other releases due out this summer. He's always got really good ideas and works really hard," says Criscola of working with Nix.

"We were all huge Briefs fans so we had seen him at a lot of shows around the Northwest. After a show one night he told us he had heard some of our demo tracks we recorded. He said he had been getting into recording and producing music, and that he thinks he could make them sound better if we had him do it. So a couple weeks later we were in his basement recording the EP."

Avenue Rose will play Bob's Java Jive this Saturday, May 31 and TCC Friday, June 6. Both shows are well worth your attention. While no one is suggesting Tacoma is the next big thing and Olympia is old news, the scenes in both places — as with all music scenes — are constantly changing. If Tacoma's got some momentum at the moment, we might as well all enjoy it. Momentum never lasts forever."

Here's a review for our debut E.P. "Electric" from No Front Teeth!

AVENUE ROSE – 'ELECTRIC' 7"

I was really looking forward to this 7" cause I'm a  sucker for AVENUE ROSE's blend of power pop and gritty rock 'n' roll, they remind me a lot of a Full Breach Kicks style band and it's no secret that I'm a fan of that sound!! The whole thing is raw but with a polished edge- trademark Steve E. Nix production that really defines this sound because rock 'n' roll's gotta be raw and urgent but when it's mixed with that power pop clean-ness, shit, it's something else. There's balls and melody in this very addictive sound…think a mix of the EXPLODING HEARTS, THE GO, THE JONESES, THE SCRUFFS and THE NICE BOYS. Three killer cuts on clear blue wax...get it before they're all gone.

Here's a rad write up from KEXP.org!
(http://depts.washington.edu/kexp/blog/?p=4530)


"ROCK N' ROLL PEST CONTROL: MELODY MEETS GLITTER

by Gary Miller

In last week's post I mentioned that Central Services, Friday Mile and Brides of Obscurity are in what I think of as an affinity group of organic pop bands. As is likely true in every music community across the country, there are a number of such affinity groups in the powerpop community, often based around friendships and shared band members. A good example would be the Unsmashable Records clique that's made up a core of The Riffbrokers, Young Sportsmen, The Doll Test and The Small Change

To some degree I think of the Sunset Tavern as ground zero for much of that part of Seattle's powerpop scene. Equally, I think of the Comet Tavern — mostly thanks to Mamma Casserole's good taste in music — to be the primary place to find powerpop's dirtier, rougher, glam-influenced brethren.

This amalgam includes bands like The Cute Lepers, The Greatest Hits, Avenue Rose and others, as well as, to a lesser degree, The Pop Machine and The Boss Martians. Like the more melody-driven powerpop bands around town, these bands pull liberally from 1960s and 1970s influences. But, they're much more likely to rely on punk rock and Sweet and Phil Spector's girl groups than The Raspberries or Big Star.

But, where these various groupings of bands overlap is their dedication to the simplicity of pop songs played with power."

"My first Date with Avenue Rose & The Greatest Hits

By Lauren Takores

    With a driving passion for reviving the glorious original rockers, local act Avenue Rose and Seattle superstars The Greatest Hits are out to get your attention then drink your blood, but can be distracted by beer.
    The dynamic between these two bands lets slip a brother/sister relationship; the two groups shared the stage before their show last Saturday, September 29 at McCoy's, and band members make a point to support each other at each other's gigs. That's a unique element to the modern DIY punks: they drop self-centered pretension and recognize there are other bands worth paying attention to besides their own.
    There is a certain romantic desperation, not pathetic but urgent, coming from the modern punk songwriters and musicians: what was vital in the beginning is still essential now and it must continue. But maybe the best answer is no answer; no certainty, no implication, just rock.
    The old bands are dying. But if something is dying, it must be alive. Punk is still kicking, and these two bands will rub your face in it and make even the most reformed hipsters not totally regret their punk phase. I got a brand new rose in town.
    "Olympia's a great place to grow up if you're into music. The Scene comes and goes but there's always some kind of music scene here. It's really easy to get into punk rock." Ed, Avenue Rose.
    In a town with a music scene that's often a muddle of amateurs modeling themselves after K Records artists, Avenue Rose is a departure from indie rock, revitalizing the simpler elements of punk like heavy guitar riffs and power chords.
    The combination of hanging out in downtown Olympia and his father's Rolling Stones records brought Ed, Olympia native and bass player, around to music. But when Jason, on guitar and vocals, was growing up in a suburb of Fresno, there was no punk or even a rock scene. During his freshmen year of high school, two older senior girls made him a mix tape of The germs and Black Flag, which he sentimentally keeps around despite its worn out age.
    Jason met guitar player Travis in Chehalis and the two became friends. Their previous bands split around the same time, so Jason and Travis began writing songs together. Ed came into the picture one drunken night at an Olympia house show through a fifth of whiskey.
    The original drummer was a hot rod enthusiast and left the band Plastic Letters to play with Jason, Ed and Travis. After his departure, Dillan swept the rest of the band off their feet and became the band's drummer.
    Avenue Rose laid down six tracks with Steve E. Nix of Seattle band The Brief's last summer in his basement studio over the course of a week. Next up for the band is finding a label to release the recordings; right now, there is nothing to leave behind with fans at shows except another great live experience.
    Avenue Rose is like Christian Slater in Heathers: setting off a pack of thermals in the boiler room because Dad did. Taking cues from Joe Strummer, his pseudo-sons are a time bomb - not quite ready to explode but unstoppable, poised to blow and leave an impact."

"If a one trick pony is ridden over and over again, do you end up with an eight trick pony, or is it called something else since it's the same trick, but a different pony? Bar rock n' roll, not offensive enough to need the chicken wire and not good enough to be the reason to be at the bar. Forgettable at best."

- Megan, RAZORCAKE