Established band seeks drummer - heavy eastern psych rock / exp /out

Portland OR

Description

Guitar and Bass player looking for a new drummer for an established project with plenty of local/regional gig opportunities. We both use a lot of effects to make a big sound for a trio. Bass player also plays electric saz and oud- also w/ effects. At this time we are an instrumental band, no vocals. Guitarist makes epic videos for projection behind us when we gig live. We tend to play in modes and scales from the east– mostly Arabic and Asian, or various minor scales– i.e., more modal and expansive passages. We generally avoid blues-based rock. We use experimental/abstract improvisation in some of our songs– typically prior to launching into a song, but songs are structured on big eastern riffs and big beats. The music is fairly heavy, but we are totally open to head into an even heavier sound direction too. Most of our songs are in the 5-10 min range. We just finished recording/mixing 1.5 albums worth of songs, which we hope to have released sometime in the coming year. We can share the mixes with anyone interested. We can also point you to some live/rehearsal Youtube videos. Who we are looking for: A drummer with a range of playing ability and a full kit. Jazz, soul drumming skills would be a plus– but mostly openness to get out of 4/4 and into odd times. Occasional hand drum playing would be a plus, but not required. Someone who is comfortable in doing some improv. Non-smoker (ideally), no junkie business. He/She/They, variety of ages, etc– we are open to all players regardless of identity. Mostly want a positive person who wants to play in an interesting project with a unique sound and play out live. We love hearing everyone’s ideas and someone bringing new beats to rehearsal. Practice space in safe, heated/AC basement with a functional 4-piece kit, but welcome to leave kit set up in practice space or just bring select kit pieces. We practice once a week in SE Portland and try to gig roughly once a month (worked out to 7 gigs this year, i.e., Holocene, PICA, Turn Turn Turn, No Fun). It’d be nice to play some out of town shows occasionally, maybe some light west coast touring. Who we are: Guitarist is an Oakland ex-pat, been in PDX about two years. Has had a previous noise, experimental, rock projects over the years and does all video montage creation for live shows Bass/Saz/Oud player is a Michigan native,been in PDX 12 years. Has deep interest/upbringing in Arabic music. Prior noise, rock projects. Dad w/ two teens. DJ on XRAY.FM; does the artwork for fliers, etc. We are both deep music diggers with a wide range of influences, lots of Krautrock, British Psych, Arabic/Turkish electric music, but aspects of prog rock, surf guitar, spiritual jazz bass, spaghetti western, 60s/70s cinematic, and metal can be heard in what we do. A ton of influences, only some of which is in the ballpark for the sounds we are shooting for: Amon Duul II, Ash Ra Tempel, Omar Khorshid, Erkin Koray, Baris Manço, Mogollar, Stooges, Can, Budgie, Edgar Broughton Band, Savage Republic, Neu, Faust, Don Cherry, Alice Coltrane, Beefheart, Soft Machine, Television, Silver Apples, Robert Wyatt, Sun City Girls, Ghost (the one from Japan), Embryo, King Crimson, Agitation Free, The Monks, Hawkwind, This Heat, The Scientists, Pharaoh Sanders, Spritual Jazz in general, Krautrock in general, early 70’s German synth stuff, early 80’s Post Punk in general, Miles Davis electric (Bitches Brew, Agharta, Silent Way, etc) Magma, Suicide, Tangerine Dream, Goblin, German synth stuff such as Conrad Schnizlter or Edgar Froese, Gong, Snakefinger/Residents and related, the Pop Group