Gull podcast - ready for download

Check out the Gull podcast via the sidebar or on iTunes.  Also, if you haven't yet, jump over to facebook (www.facebook.com/farmtoartist) and "like" the project so you can get updates via that social media leviathan.  While you are there, check out the pictures from the lunch with Screaming Females.

Lunch w/ Gull

Gull showed up at Wealth Underground Farm after a snow flurry and before a flurry of other Farm to Artist bands.  Nathaniel Rappole, the everything man/creator of Gull, recently joined me at the farm for a really pleasant afternoon.  The visit was easy going and spending time with Nathaniel was like reconnecting with an old friend even though it was the first time we had met. 

We walked around the snow covered farm and then enjoyed lunch indoors.  We had a simple meal consisting of delicata squash, mustard greens, and roasted beets and rutabagas.  I tried going into the conversation with notes, a few questions to keep the conversation going, but they were not needed.  We talked about Nathaniels travels, the inspiration behind Gull, and projects he has coming up in the future.


That evening I travelled east of the Willamette to see Gull play at the Doug Fir.  Nathaniel went on relatively early, opening for White Rabbits.  Though the band consists of just one person there was a lot of movement and activity on stage and the songs were strong and filled out.  He was primarily behind the drum kit with a guitar strapped on and wearing the skull mask, which contains the microphone that picks up his vocals, but Nathaniel often times left the drums to play guitar or stand on his amplifier.  The set was energetic and I think that if you were to see him in a tiny basement, on the street, or in a stadium, that Nathaniel could fill out the space with a one of a kind performance.

Thanks to Nathaniel/Gull for a great afternoon and conversation.  To hear more from Gull, visit him on Facebook, at his website, or check out his music here.  Also, Nathaniel talks about a successful Kickstarter campaign for a project he's working on called Street Muse.  You can learn more about that project on the Kickstarter page.

Dinner w/ Yellow Ostrich

The guys in Yellow Ostrich are familiar with Oregon.  They spent several weeks in Portland this past summer recording their new album, Strange Land.  For them, it was like a homecoming visiting Portland and playing a show at Mississippi Studios.  Fortunately, while they were here, they agreed to join me at Wealth Underground Farm to participate in the Farm to Artist project.

With help from Talia, we cooked the meal, which consisted of steamed brussel sprout raab, an egg scramble, and roasted rutabagas.  After the tour of the farm we sat down to eat the food.  The conversation varied but we talked about the transition from singer/songwriter to full band, their 10 show marathon at SXSW, their best tour meals, and the future of the band.

They had the night off and stayed at their producers house in the Mississippi neighborhood.  The following night my folks, Talia, and I had dinner at Interurban and then headed down the street for the show at Mississippi Studios.  My mom had arrived by train and my father by plane earlier in the afternoon, both travelling to Oregon from Indiana.  Yellow Ostrich started their set around 10 pm, which was 1 am for my folks, who drowsily watched the show from the comfortable movie theater style chairs in the balcony. 

Yellow Ostrich, as a full band, had an incredibly rich sound.  At times they lost the sparseness of the earlier recordings with the arrangements for multiple instruments but the set-up also allowed them to swell to heights that were previously unreachable.  As musicians, you could also sense how much they loved playing the songs and were willing to pour their emotions into the music.  They sounded great.  I'm also glad that I got to see them at this point in their band life.   I'm excited to hear more output from them and to witness them grow and evolve but it's exciting to get to hear all of your favorite songs from a band, which will change over time as they write more music and have to remove songs from their set.  

 

Thanks to Yellow Ostrich for joining me at Wealth Underground Farm.  You can find more from them at their website or on Facebook.  Stream/purchase their early ep's on their bandcamp page.

Like southern food?

Listen to the newest podcast featuring Black Tusk via iTunes (search "Road Snacks") or the podcast player to the right of this post.