Tuesday, October 25, 2011

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. 

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

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

Helms Alee tomatoes farm to artist

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.

Helms Alee Farm to Artist

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

Sunday, October 2, 2011

Before the Eyewall and 19ADD

19 ADD Before the Eyewall farm
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.
19 ADD Before the Eyewall Farm

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.

19 ADD chickensThe 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.
19 ADD Before the Eyewall Farm to Artist

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.