I'm seated across from him and Blake Hickman, his partner in Good Cheer Records, a new label dedicated to the local all-ages music community. We're talking about why Portland needs yet another label. "The 25- to 30-year-olds who just moved here are in control of the means of production," Hickman says. "They have all of the money, the venues."
To Troper, a 23-year-old musician (and writer for the Portland Mercury—see All-Ages Action, this page), and Hickman, a 30-year-old KPSU college radio promotions director, the Portland music scene is fractured between aging, established bands that have a legal and financial stranglehold on venues, and young, vital bands with increasingly few places to play.
As people move to Portland in huge numbers, they "have the misconception that the all-ages scene doesn't exist," says Troper. "The reality is that there are no all-ages venues, but there is this all-ages scene that exists that isn't being documented by anyone."
Troper and Hickman see Portland youth culture's "desperate" hunger for live music stymied by the Oregon Liquor Control Commission's (OLCC) stringent requirements for serving alcohol—which remains the main source of income for most venues—while minors are present. "My brother is 17 years old, and he doesn't go to shows, because there aren't any," says Troper. "They're prevented by the OLCC."
Last year, Troper and Hickman heard the first album by local band Mr. Bones, a scrappy rock outfit with a deep, abiding love for J-pop. Troper thought, "I want somebody to take a chance on that. I want young people to find it." Thus, Good Cheer was born.
