Great show last night at the Doug Fir, check out Phosphorescent as they shred their keyboard to bits.
Shovels & Rope @ The Doug Fir Lounge
Last night we rounded up the Generator crew and headed out to the Doug Fir to catch a performance from Shovels & Rope. Our good buddies Denver opened up as we watched from the crowd with the Lonesome Billies. It was like a Generator family reunion. Lot's of good people there to see these two good people, here's "Keeper" off O' Be Joyful.
Exploding Hearts Tribute Project
Willamette Week recently contacted us about an interesting project. The 10 year reunion of "Guitar Romantic" the Exploding Hearts album, was about to come around and the paper planned to commemorate the album on the cover that week and inside featured an editorial piece about the band. 10 years ago the Exploding Hearts were on the up and up coming out of the Northwests punk rock scene, but tragically all but one of the members died in a car crash on I-5 heading back to Portland after playing a show in San Francisco. We were honored to shoot 10 videos, one for each song on the album and throughout the week that the cover story was spread around town we dropped a new video on the Willamette Week website each day. Here's Portland's own, Brownish Black, covering "I'm a Pretender". Click here to view all 10 songs.
Divers @ The Doug Fir Lounge
Last night we headed down the Doug Fir to check out Divers, which I'm told are Portland's "most under-rated band". They put on an intense show, I can see why people like them. This is a track called "Blood Song", good stuff.
Red Fang @ The Wonder Ballroom
The dudes from Red Fang are at it again, with a new song called "Crows in Swine" off their latest 7". After editing this video my computer was covered in sweat, it was crazy.
The Lonesome Billies @ The Doug Fir Lounge
If you're not a Billy, just come see these guys once and you'll be a Billy for life. They'll have you shouting "Right On" and pounding beers like it's nobody's business. This song is called "They Broke My Guitar" and was recorded at the Doug Fir, in Portland, Oregon on February 13th and online for you viewing pleasure February 14th. How do you like that service Bill?
Ra Ra Riot @ The Wonder Ballroom
Last night we shot a new song from Ra Ra Riot called Beta Love. It was our first time filming at the Wonder Ballroom and they were all great to work with. This snappy little edit was done within 24 hours for your viewing enjoyment. Lots of Portland landmarks and I believe it does a good job of capturing the aesthetics of a night out on the town.
Red Fang with the School of Rock
When you were 16 did you ever dream of getting on stage with your favorite band, playing a guitar solo and shredding one of the biggest venues in your town? Well, for the kids from the School of Rock this is reality, even though it may seem like a dream in the video since the second drummer has a horse head.
Denver @ Mississippi Studios
Tonight was our first night filming at Mississippi Studios. The staff was amazing to work with, the show was sold out and Denver sounded great, all of which makes our jobs much easier. Tonight did bring a new challenge that we have added to the Generator playbook. We had to record our own audio, which we usually get off the sound board, or a studio track if need be. However, the sound at Mississippi is dialed in just right for the room, which means an output sounds vocal heavy and a bit inaccurate to what you actually hear in the venue. Also, Denver hasn't recorded a studio version of "A Way Out", so just hours before the show we scrambled to find a condenser mic and a camera with XLR inputs to see what we could come up with. We're all happy with the audio and the video as well. The most important part of the Generator model is to get things off the camera and onto the internet as fast as possible. We're not trying to polish or overproduce our content anyways. Our hope is to have it true to life, how it felt and sounded at the show, nothing fancy but concise and fun.
Thanks to camera operators James Mustico, Tyler Downs, Chris Ryan and Chris Mulcahy. Great to see so many old friends and make some new ones tonight. Come see Denver on April 6th at the Doug Fir and if you see a bunch of creepy cameramen lurking in shadows, don't be afraid to say hello.
The Wildlife Blocks
We love to make videos about process. Human curiosity makes these pieces easy to film and fun to watch. When Twenty Four 7, a local branding agency, contacted us about shooting a video that included chainsaws, welding, painting and tons of power tools, how could we say no? The mule deer building in NE Portland is adorned with 4 wooden deer heads, one on each corner, that create intrigue and an interesting juxtaposition amongst the city skyline. Here's a behind the scenes look at all the processes that brought them to fruition.