If there’s one thing that raw, energetic bands command, it’s raw, energetic youth.
The Ax, one of Portland’s most turbulent and chaotic rock bands, is returning to the Tonic Lounge on Saturday. The show may be one of the last times you get to catch this band before they blow up.
If there’s one thing that raw, energetic bands command, it’s raw, energetic youth.
The Ax, one of Portland’s most turbulent and chaotic rock bands, is returning to the Tonic Lounge on Saturday. The show may be one of the last times you get to catch this band before they blow up.
To the uninitiated, the Tonic serves as a spot for local up-and-comers to pay their dues before graduating to the more lucrative venues of downtown Portland. A quick look at any Tonic Lounge show schedule will tell you as much: Many bands on the list are relative unknowns, cutting their teeth in Portland’s vast music scene.
Last year, the Tonic welcomed a new booking agent into the fray with vague promises of bringing “new music” to the venue. It’s safe to say that the promise has been fulfilled: Tonic’s lineup is as obscure as ever.
If anything, Tonic’s goal should have been to unite the strange schism between certain bands and venues.
For example, the same bands seem to play at the same venues. The smaller bands play almost exclusively at venues like the Tonic, The Knife Shop and Ella St. Social Club. When a band makes the jump to venues like Holocene, Dante’s, Mississippi Studios and Doug Fir, it’s a big deal.
That said, The Ax is the cream of the crop in that circle. They are essentially Portland’s McLusky or Future of the Left, and their live show speaks to this fact. If you venture to the Tonic on Saturday, expect a raucous act—lots of mid-tempo riffing and strained bluesy vocals. Also expect to see a lot of movement, as The Ax’s music practically commands it.
For you unlucky souls that have never seen The Ax (or McLusky and Future of the Left, for that matter), you’ll see the energy level maxed out further than the Tonic has ever witnessed.
Because many nascent bands in this city play music for a short time, then abandon it, The Ax has truly made a home at small venues like Tonic and The Knife Shop, venues that many groups use as stepping stones. And they’ve carved out a following in the most organic way possible—not by word of mouth, not with goofy press photos set against brick walls, but by kicking ass at every single show. Ukuleles and glockenspiels be damned, The Ax is bringing the rock out and has been doing so for years now.
The Ax’s last record, 2008’s Our Queen of Dirt, is a lo-fi slice of overdriven garage rock, washy cymbals and snotty-cum-bluesy vocal work that begs for moshing. The band’s 7” before that—which was also released on Whoa! Boat Records—was a little more varied than OQoD, but that can be chalked up to the band finding its sound and, thankfully, a two-song affair spares the masses a full-length record of unsavory experimentation.
Label-mate Death by Steamship shares the bill with The Ax for this show, and the two nearly sound like they were formed in conjunction with one another. That isn’t to say that they are carbon copies; rather, they are complements. Death by Steamship’s vocals are a throwback to early Gravity Records-era emo like Angel Hair and Yaphet Kotto, and the instrumentation is just as angular albeit more sparse. It would be wise to liken them to a cross between Angel Hair and Eronel-era Saetia.
Tonic Lounge might not be a place that you would consider a “hip” venue. And who cares, maybe it isn’t. But that doesn’t mean that newcomers don’t claw their way up from there. You have to start somewhere, which may be why The Ax chose to stay, to finish something it started years ago.
