Red Fang Trailer!

Winter Lunch w/ Red Fang

When they left, there were not mountainous piles of beer cans lying around.  That was mostly because Red Fang (well, 3/4 of Red Fang) was distracted by the small army of Wealth Underground dwarf goats that attacked them upon arrival.  No amount of resistance could stop the tiny, mud-crusted hoof massacre.

Once we pushed the goats off of us (the first time), we cruised around the farm and through the field of vegetables, which is now pretty desolate.  Regardless, we were still able to taste some mustard greens that had sweetened from the recent cold spell we've experienced in Portland.  The rain that fell the night before broke the cold, so it was mildly cool out.  That said, we quickly moved the party into the house where a fire was burning in the stove and hot food waited for us on the counter.

We started the meal with a green tomato and onion pickle plate and chips and husk cherry salsa.  The last of the field husk cherries were spread out on the bed like squashed corpses so we didn't get to try any on the tour.  The husk cherry salsa was a decent substitute, though nothing like popping a fresh version out of the husk and into your mouth.  We sat down to a creamy delicata squash soup, roasted root vegetables (rutabaga, beets, parsnips), and some baked squash.  The beer on hand was the Brrr winter seasonal from Widmer.

We talked for a while about the recent tour with Mastodon, meeting and working with Brian Posehn, great things about being home, and then passionately discussed the best places to eat in Portland.  If you are looking for a new spot for some prime eats or want a recommendation for pho then I highly recommend listening to the podcast.

I want to thank Red Fang for joining me at the farm and participating in the project.  I also want to thank the guys for allowing me to test my new video camera on them.  You can see a short trailer for the upcoming podcast on Facebook, iTunes, or on the blog (coming soon!).

For more info or to hear some music by Red Fang you can check their website or visit them over at Relapse.  Do yourself a favor and check out their newest album Murder the Mountains, watch their video for Wires, and go see their raucous live performance when they come to a venue near you.  

Lunch w/ Shellac - Podcast now available

Head on over to iTunes or the sidebar to hear the latest installation of the Farm to Artist project.

Podcast featuring Helms Alee now available

And of course it's free.  Go to the iTunes store, search for "Road Snacks" in the podcasts, and download it for free, making sure to subscribe to the podcast in the process.  You can also stream it directly from this blog. 

Shellac of North America meets Wealth Underground of Oregon

Q.  What's the quickest way to Shellac's heart?  A.  Starting a fire in a wood burning stove.  That may not be true but that was the first place they went to upon entering the house at Wealth Underground Farm, Bob volunteering to stoke the fire and crank the heat emanating from the stove.  And why not?  It was a cool, overcast day in Oregon when Shellac and Helen Money pulled in to our driveway after the drive up from Eugene and disembarked from their Bandago sprinter van; next to the fire was the obvious place to be.  After meeting Ram, our cat, and fighting the chill by the ire for a few minutes, we were ready to dig in to the food, which was set out on the kitchen counter.

We sat down at the table after serving ourselves the pickled green tomatoes, risotto a la milanese, steamed kale, and baked delicata squash.  The risotto, adapted from the River Cottage Meat Book, was incredibly rich so I served the rest of the vegetables plain.  That said, the squash was incredibly sweet and had the best reception from everybody sitting around the table.

During the conversation we discovered that bad pizza exists and is being proliferated in Southern Oregon, the joys of a wood burning stove are immense, rabbit hunger is a problem we should be aware of, and that Shellac are masters of French cooking terminology.

The crew was running short on time so we had a quick tour through the garden before they loaded up and headed to the Holocene.  There are only a few weeks left of the CSA and the beds of vegetables are starting to become thin but we found a variety of foods to taste.  The star, as always, was the husk cherry.  The dominating thought was that the taste of the berry most closely resembled cheddar cheese.  You'll have to try one at some point to see if you agree.  We snapped a few pictures and then Shellac and Helen Money were off in order to set up and run sound check for a sold out show in Portland.

You can hear more from Shellac at their Touch and Go Records page.  They will be coming out with a new record, tentatively titled Dude Incredible, at some point before the year 2020.  To hear the haunting songs of solo-cellist Alison Chesley aka Helen Money, you can visit her myspace page or website.

First Road Snacks podcast is up!

The sound during the conversation is a bit quiet, when I first uploaded it there were 34 copies of it on iTunes, several glitches kept reoccurring as I was attempting to podcastize the audio I edited, but the situation has mellowed and you can now listen to the first podcast with Before the Eyewall and 19 ADD on iTunes.  Open the iTunes store and search for "Road Snacks" and it should pop up.  Make sure to subscribe, in a couple of weeks the podcast with Helms Alee will be available. 

Godammit, I'm fine: An Early Dinner w/ Helms Alee

Despite the sun's seasonal fickleness, Helms Alee joined me at the Wealth Underground Farm on an especially bright and beautiful day.  We lingered in the garden for a while, tasting our way through the rows of vegetables.  We could only stay in the hoophouse long enough to harvest the tomatoes for lunch due to the heat from the sunlight.  In the Pacific Northwest, it is a privilege to be that hot this time of year, a fact Helms Alee understands hailing from Seattle and Tacoma, WA.

Inside the house, we sliced the tomatoes and added some salt and vinegar to make a quick salad.  Along with the salad, we had gluten-free pasta with a buttery rutabaga/chanterelle mushroom dish and corn bread.  Throughout the meal, we snacked on dehydrated tomatoes and husk cherries, which were a hit in the garden tour.  Everybody also sampled a cherry ale I brewed this summer using cherries harvested from Sauvie Island.  The beer received a mixed response, which is understandable as the flavor from the natural yeast of the cherries is a bit overwhelming.

During the recorded conversation we talked about bike-by knivings, getting eaten alive by mosquitoes and dodging thunderstorms, home slaughter, and gardening.  After the dinner, we went outside to enjoy the last of the daylight.

The Portland show at the Rotture was the second to last show of their West Coast tour with Narrows and they played second to last.  They effectively fit an entire tour into seven days and were definitely feeling some fatigue before taking the stage.  I was also extremely tired and had harvest the following morning, so I almost cut out before they performed.  I'm glad I stayed because they're set was energizing and lots of fun.  The diversity of sound throughout the music kept me, and all the other Tuesday late night ragers, engaged up until Hozoji's screams that ended the set.

Check out Helms Alee at their Myspace page or at their Hydra Head Records page, where you can purchase their newest album, Weatherhead.

Before the Eyewall and 19ADD

This past Tuesday two vans filled with gear and instrumental three pieces pulled up to the Wealth Underground Farm in Portland, OR.  Before the Eyewall (from Columbus, OH) and 19ADD (from Denver, CO) are both relatively unknown bands nationally, on tour to gain some exposure and to share their love for music with metal fans across the country.  Though they play divergent brands of metal, Before the Eyewall crafting long songs that carry you across sonic landscapes, 19ADD pushing the limits of metal with strong technical playing that can make an individual of sound mind feel the need for medication, both readily shed formula songwriting, creating their sound through a process of experimentation.  In that spirit of experiment and exploration, they agreed to visit the farm and take part in the inaugural Farm to Artist gathering.

Once the bands arrived around 1:30 pm, after driving down from Seattle where they had played a show the previous night and running errands in Portland, we took a walk around the farm.  Though the Oregon skies unrelentingly nagged us with mist and rain, everybody was in high spirits as we walked through the rows of vegetables.  We stopped and tasted some cherry tomatoes, which primed us for the meal.  The rain picked up and we decided it was time for lunch, quickly moving inside where it was warm and dry and food awaited us.

The meal consisted of homemade corn bread, spicy cucumber and bean salad, grilled vegetables (carrots, summer squash, rutabaga, and sweet peppers) mixed with pasta and homemade pesto, a fried egg, and fresh apples.  We had an excellent conversation that I recorded, which will be released near the end of the month as a podcast.  The conversation mostly consisted of jokes and laughter but it is sprinkled with some serious and even profound moments.

After lunch we headed outside to say goodbyes when someone discovered the blueberry patch, which is nearly past producing but still contains many small, delicious berries.  We spent some time eating blueberries, some of the guys found some of the Mongolian blackberry, and then we moved over to the champagne raspberries to complete the berry tasting trifecta.  Sated, we took some pictures by the chickens and then parted ways.  I went inside to clean the dishes as the bands headed on their way to Northern California and the Bay Area where they were going to camp for the night and then continue their tour.

Check out 19ADD's newest album Gaia here or on the bands website.  Also, keep an eye on Before the Eyewall as they will be recording and releasing an album soon.  Until then you can listen to their music on their myspace page.

The Beginning

Content you will eventually find on this website:

-Information about the Farm to Artist project

-Recorded and visual content related to the project

-Information on the potential to participate in the project

Check back in the coming weeks for updates as this project lurches forward.