BLOGTOWN

Gin Blossoms Shervin Lainez

What separates them from the flailing moves of some of their contemporaries is that their most popular songs—”Til I Hear It From You,” which got to #11 on the Billboard charts in 1995 and “Follow You Down,” which was a #9 hit the year later—aren’t tied to a ’90s aesthetic. This was a power pop band that could have emerged alongside Big Star and The Knack some 15 years before its formation. Sure, they had tunes on the soundtracks for Wayne’s World 2 and Empire Records but the reason Gin Blossoms still get played on the radio today is that, melodically and spiritually, their work had a melodicism and drive that unashamedly sought out and impressively achieved timelessness.

As well, Gin Blossoms has maintained their remarkable work ethic since reuniting in 2001 following a break up four years earlier. The group has toured steadily since, both to support new albums and to pay heed to their past successes. They are more than happy to play every song off of their 1992 album New Miserable Experience as long as there are people who still want to hear them.

With Gin Blossoms returning to the area this weekend to perform at ilani Cowlitz Ballroom in Ridgefield, we caught up with founding guitarist Jesse Valenzuela to talk about keeping the band afloat after more than three decades together and whether he still gets something out of playing the group’s hits after all this time.

Leading Psychics Kristin Neuschwander

That's not to say the alternatives are all bad. But guitars sure are cool. So are saccharine-laced hooks. And silky vocal harmonies. Portland's Leading Psychics deliver all of this unabashedly on their forthcoming debut What About Lonely? (via This-A-Way Records). The record is seemingly at odds with the members’ punk roots.

“When we started the Psychics, it was based on the notion of indulgence—layers galore, harmonies—things that aren't always so punk, but felt so good,” explains guitarist/vocalist (and co-founder) David Frederickson, who also formed one of Portland's longest running bands, the Prids, with Mistina La Fave back in the mid-'90s.

Briana Cerezo

My search may have come to an end with the news that AU is digitally releasing a live performance of this same set, recorded earlier in 2016 at Yale Union. It is, as the PR copy for this release states, “the summation of a yearlong project that found [keyboardist/vocalist Luke] Wyland working directly with Camas students to produce an entirely new body of music that blurs the lines between propulsive art-pop and avant-garde choral soundscapes.” While it can’t beat the experience of seeing the pure delight that played across everyone’s faces as they played or the visceral feeling of soundwaves hitting my chest, it will help scratch that peculiar itch in me nicely.