Portland rock duo the Village Green were one of the first acts to play Bumbershoot’s third and final day, and drummer Jeremy Sherrer was already downing a beer as guitarist/vocalist Nicholas Allard announced he had a hangover.
“Oh well, that’s rock’n’roll, I guess,” Allard shrugged before launching into tunes from Feeling the Fall, which sounded not all that unlike experimental-era Beatles. “Get Out, Get Up, Get High,” was delivered with the brio of another great U.K. rock band, and the one from who the band happen to cull their name, the Kinks.
“That’s what music influences us,” Allard told SPIN.com, referring to the Kinks’ The Village Green Preservation Society and like albums. “We were in the living room trying to come up with a name and we wanted to reference something English.”
Sherrer and Allard revealed they were both going through divorces while creating the album, which could explain its melancholy tones and woeful lyrics. But those elements didn’t stop one man from throwing himself into what looked like seizure-induced contortions. “There’s some guy doing some weird gyrations out there,” Allard called out. “It’s f—king trippy!”
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More untrained dance techniques could be witnessed where funky, Seattle-based quartet Olympic Sound Collective performed. The jazzy, soulful collision of an organ, saxophone, guitar, and drums got the attention of one woman who had no intention of stopping by.
“They just killed it,” said Nora Nonnelly, 18, from Seattle. “I’d never heard of them but the sound got my attention when I was walking up the hill. They kicked ass.” ERIKA HOBART
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PHOTOS BY ERICA METZLER
At Bumbershoot ’06, Spin is on the ground with our college correspondent program. Eight college students — four writers, four photographers — earned the opportunity to cover the festival for SPIN.com, live, all weekend long. Sound appealing? Stay tuned to SPIN.com for future opportunities to apply for our college correspondent program!
