BUCKHORN

Buckhorn is three chums from way back who are into metal, jazz, and plenty else: Jake Pavlak on guitar, Dana Axon on bass and Ches Smith on drums. The band has been active off and on since 1991. All three are involved in numerous other projects as well in Eugene, Portland and NYC. Jake is a Eugene OR guitar staple, also a prolific songwritter for Yeltsin and Ferns. His music and guitar playing regularly shows up on best-of lists. Dana lives in Portland, playing bass in a host of bands. Ches Smith lives in NYC and collabs with Secret Cheifs 3, Marc Ribot, John Zorn, Craig Taborn, Vijay Iyer and many others and leads his own bands Clone Row, We All Break and Laugh Ash.

Bandcamp

Website

Instagram: @buckhornband, @smitches

Facebook: @Chessmith1

Halfbird

Halfbird is a noise jazz / punk maximalist improv trio from Portland, OR composed of Grant
Pierce (Young Hunter, June Rose) on drums, Brandon Conway (former president of the Creative
Music Guild) on guitar and Ben Kates (Thicket, Orchestra Becomes Radicalized) on saxes.
Equally influenced by hardcore punk and free jazz, their music is a maximalist mix of
chromaticism, layered tempos, and walls of noise all shaped together into intuitive forms via
active listening and luck. Halfbird has played with and/or shared the stage with the likes of Kelli
Schaeffer, Ava Mendoza, CSTMR, The Social Stomach, Arrington De Dionyso, Inhalant, Dead
Airfresheners, Sea Moss, Yardsss and many more since forming in 2014. Halfbird have
released five albums (available at halfbird.bandcamp.com) and have toured the west coast.
From Turn Turn Turn “I can recall the first time I saw Halfbird, probably at an Outset Series
show. I was struck by the look. The sax player resembled a middle school principal trying to
pass a kidney stone with each blast. The guitarist looked like an IT professional whose dog had
just been run over by a garbage truck. And the drummer? Full on hippie type! So you can
imagine my surprise when they began belting out Ayler/Sharrock-esque free punk that gave no
fucks! Ten years later, we celebrate a decade of uncompromising skronk! Fuck yeah!”
From the Portland Mercury about our debut album, “Halfbird, a trio of gents who recorded an
incendiary live performance for the [SDM Records] that’s got enough saxophone skronk and
guitar ooze to fuel a small flotilla of cargo vessels.”
From Subito Magazine (Portland State online journal), “It was like hearing a metal band who
had been studying Albert Ayler recordings on their way to Portland. Intensely collaborative,
Halfbird sounded like one living organism who had spent the week leading up to this concert in
incubation together, honing their telepathic communication.The room echoed their confident
passion for sound, encouraging their exploration of the present moment.”
From Activator Magazine, “Halfbird is a major achievement of musicianship, creativity and real
feeling.”
Bandcamp: https://halfbird.bandcamp.com/
Instagram: @halfbirdpdx
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/artist/0rAeTZAyrkqk5RDfNMjxGG?si=z49n8i4TQ5q1sr0EdBX6TQ

NAH

Portland OR born multi-instrumentalist Nick Hamel has spent the better part of his human life tapping, strumming, humming, plucking, clicking, and clapping his way through a diverse mix of sonic spheres from across the known musical universe and beyond. In the manic pursuit of stretching his own creative abilities, Nick has spent the last several years building his own instruments, crafted with a combination of conventional techniques and the act of chance creation using found and repurposed objects.

Instagram: @hicknamel

Bandcamp