Whole lotta love

When most people think of a marching band, the image that comes to mind is a gang of pimply high-school kids obtrusively clamoring for attention at some ridiculous sports event or sickly sweet parade. But, when Portlanders make a marching band, it manifests the strangeness of our city: through a rag-tag assemblage of fire-dancers, stilt walkers, unicyclists, foxy burlesque dancers and damn fine musicianship.

Those band geeks you used to know have grown up, adopted a fine punk-rock mentality, moved to N.E. Portland, and started the March Fourth Marching Band. Now they are the cool kids, and you my friend, are still reasonably lame.

The March Fourth Marching Band originally started as collaboration of artists and musicians who got together to play at a friend’s party, and since then, have grown enormously in both size and popularity. Last year’s historic performance at the Iraq war protests led a voracious crowd of over 10,000 people on a funk-filled journey through the downtown streets and culminated in a massive Park Blocks dance ceremony, one of the best Portland has ever seen.

The March Fourth Marching Band is finally returning to mother Portland after nearly two months on the road, and they couldn’t be happier. This Sunday, Nov. 4, they are playing not one, but two homecoming shows at the Crystal Ballroom: an all-ages matinee gig benefiting charity, and a 21-plus evening record release party.

At the later show, they will be debuting their new album, entitled Live, which encompasses their best live recordings from 2007. This week, The Vanguard e-mailed the beautiful stilt-walker and dancer Nayana Jennings, as well as drummer Heather McGarry.

Where are you right now, and how is your tour going so far?
Nayana Jennings: The band is in Oregon and will arrive in Portland on Halloween. The tour was great.

Have you ever had any serious accidents involving fire dancers or stilt-walkers?
Heather McGarry: Not that I can think of. Although, once, one of our dancers conked a pedestrian in the nose pretty good with her cane, there was threat of a lawsuit, but it never came.  And just at the beginning of this tour, at the Hollywood Bowl, the bass amp got out of control on a hill and rammed into a BMW!

What is the strangest place you’ve ever performed?
HM: Ahhhh…there are so many. To pick just one? One that comes to mind is a Governor Kulongoski breakfast at the Hilton in downtown Portland at 8 a.m. You should have seen the looks on the barely awake constituent’s faces!

Are band members allowed to date each other?
HM: We don’t have any rules governing that. We have married members, couples and everything in between. At times, you might say, it borders on incestuous.

For the record, what actually happened on March 4?
HM: The first and infamous March 4?  We got together for a one-off show for Mardi Gras 2003 at a club in Old Town called “The Level.” We had five or six drummers, four horn players, a few dancers, stilt-walkers and the all-important bass guitar to glue us together. We had learned five or six cover tunes over a three-week period of time and we put on quite a memorable performance.  A few weeks later the war started, and we led a huge processional from the Hawthorne Bridge all around the city. I think that solidified us as a force. We’ve been doing it ever since. Incidentally, it’s also the day the U.S. Constitution was ratified.

Your shows can be extremely wild. Do you think that it’s physically possible to dance your face off?
HM: I’ve seen it done…multiple times.

How long will it be until you put out a new record?
We are releasing a new CD on Nov. 4 at the Crystal Ballroom. It is called Live and is, you guessed it, a live CD of tracks recorded in 2007. We will have our studio album out sometime this winter.

One of these shows on Sunday at the Crystal Ballroom is for charity, right? Who, or which organization is it benefiting, and how did you get involved with this project?
NJ: The all-ages afternoon show is the benefit (not both) and all proceeds go to Mercy Corps. “Voices for Silent Disasters” is an annual humanitarian concert series that benefits the Silent Disasters fund at Mercy Corps. This year’s concerts bring aid to the crisis in Uganda.  March Fourth has supported Mercy Corps for years.

Righteous. Are the songs you perform mostly originals or cover songs?
NJ: At this point, it’s about half and half, I’d say. Though the band plays well over 50 songs, and I haven’t counted recently.

How do you fit such a large group onto one tour bus?
HM: Lots of various types of lubrication.

Any plans yet for a repeat performance at next year’s Iraq War 5th Anniversary Peace Protest in Portland?
HM: Absolutely.

How does the band perform indoors, where there is no room to march?
NJ: We usually march into a room, take the stage, then perform a stage show, which varies depending on how much space we have.

What role does audience interaction play in your live performance, and have you ever seen a crowd lose control?
HM: I would say we are like an energy amoeba. We absolutely feed off of the energy; we love the give and take you can have with a really great crowd.  I have witnessed, up close and personal, things like girls ripping off their shirts, bras, people thrashing into trance-like frenzies and other bacchanalian actions. There’s a fine line between losing control and riding the edge. M4 likes to call that place home.

What are some of your favorite performers to share a stage (or street) with?
We played with Balkan Beat Box in Philadelphia, and they were great! There’s a good chance we’ll be playing with them in Portland in the spring, it’ll be their first time here.

Does the band make enough money to live off of, or does everyone still have day jobs?
NJ: Most people in the band have jobs (or are between them). Several are self-employed so they have more flexibility in their schedules. We are getting closer to paying the 35-member payroll a living wage. That’s the goal this year.

Is the band planning to do anything special to celebrate Halloween?
NJ: Most folks will be snuggling with their sweeties and sleeping in their own beds for the first time in almost two months!

Do you have any advice or thoughts for the good people of Portland?
HM: We LOVE YOU!  You are the best people on the planet, in our travels, so far. We are always ecstatic to come home and play for the beautiful, generous, smart, savvy and sexy people of P-TOWN!

March Fourth Marching Band
Crystal Ballroom
Sunday, Nov. 4

Matinee Show (Proceeds go to charity)
All-ages
2 p.m.
$12 day of show, $10 advance

Evening Show:
21-plus
8 p.m.
$12