For the past six years, the Take Action! Tour has been circulating throughout the nation and bringing ideals of hope and change to crowds of punk rockers, concepts commonly forgotten amid the spiked hair, studded belts and heavily distorted guitars. This year’s tour kicked off at the start of February and is focused on raising suicide awareness and prevention.
The tour will be in Portland on Sunday, March 4, at the Roseland Theater, a general admission venue located at 8 N.W. Sixth Ave. Tickets cost $17 and can be ordered online through TicketsWest. Admission may still be available at the Roseland entrance the night of the show.
The tour’s headlining band is The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, a post-hardcore emo band from Florida. Their single “Face Down” was recently featured on MTV and the band has been in heavy radio circulation for the past year. Droves of heavily made-up high school girls with a desire to cry along to their lyrics are RJA’s key demographic. Though their music is extremely whiny in spots, they do a great job of catching a listener’s ear, and their dual guitar sound is matched by all five members on backing vocals.
Supporting band Scary Kids Scaring Kids, a group that blends pop-punk and new-wave synth, has been previously featured on the Vans Warped Tour.
Emery, a Christian rock outfit from Seattle, is also in the Take Action! lineup and was similarly featured on the Warped Tour last year. Supporting band A Static Lullaby has played in Portland several times on various tours. They mesh their screaming lyrics with melodic guitars and heavy drumming.
The final support band, Kaddisfly, hails from Portland, and Sunday’s concert marks their first hometown show of 2007. They also have a new record, Set Sail the Prairie, slated for release on Monday, March 6.
Kaddisfly’s music is difficult to describe, given the range of tonality and styles used. The new album features several obscure instruments such as an optical Theremin and bassist Kile Brewer’s invention, the water-bottle slide. Brothers Kelsey and Beau Kuther play guitar and drums, respectively, and are natives of Bend, Ore. Guitarist Aaron Tollefson is noted for his powerful playing style and intricate solos that lend to Kaddisfly’s unique sound.
Kaddisfly formed in 2000 and they have been on various tours across the nation. They are currently signed to Hopeless Records and lead singer Chris Ruff said that the band is happy with the label.
“We’re just sort of playing it by ear right now, but I think that we’ll stay with Hopeless for a while,” Ruff said. “We may try and set up a tour later this year with some of our labelmates.”
Ruff, a Portland State graduate, said that the band is very excited about their homecoming show and the forthcoming CD release. Ruff said that it is still possible to pre-order the CD online and some sites, such as interpunk.com, are offering free T-shirts with the purchase of Set Sail. He also said the Take Action! Tour has been a huge boost for the band and that the tour has been enjoyable so far.
“The tour has been pretty rad,” Ruff said. “We’ve had some awesome shows and the bands we’re playing with have been great.”
Kaddisfly intends to continue touring this year after the Take Action! Tour ends in March. The band also has several previous albums available through several online merchants, and Ruff said that their third album, Did You Know People Can Fly?, is due to be re-released later this year and will feature newer artwork.
The band is currently working on an animated music video for their first single from Set Sail, “Campfire,” and expects the video to be online by the end of March. Ruff said that their second single, “Empire,” also has a video in the works and he expects that the video will be finished and released by the end of 2007.
Kaddisfly’s members aren’t slouches about having a good time, especially when visiting their hometown. Ruff said the group is looking forward to a weekend at home before they head back on the road through Idaho and Utah next week. He also said that the band is no stranger to Portland’s microbrew scene.
“If I had to say that we have a favorite domestic beer, it’d probably be Miller Lite,” Ruff said. “We definitely prefer some good hometown microbrews though and expect to have a good time.”