About 60 people are packed into a basement venue with the unlikely name of “My Friend Ben Scott’s House.” On other days, the house is the Southeast Portland residence of the band Sioux Falls. But on this Saturday night, a combination of sweat and beer drip from the ceiling, and a single backlight illuminates Sioux Falls.
Their rowdy set is just winding down, bringing an end to a night of friends, barbecue, and local music. A basket goes around to collect gas money for the evening’s touring band, who performed earlier. The room falls silent. Guitarist Isaac Eiger looks up past the crowd to make sure the basement door is closed and keeping the room soundproofed before bassist Fred Nixon launches into a punk cover of R. Kelly’s “Ignition (Remix)” for Sioux Falls’ encore. Everyone erupts in a well-timed bounce, clutching their drinks and shouting the lyrics back at the trio.
House shows like these provide a valuable space for do-it-yourself musicians to play in inclusive, all-ages settings. Portland basements were once a stronghold for these types of house shows through the ’00s, but the scene was diminished by the disappearance of venues like Dekum Manor, Robot Steakhouse, and the Pink Room.
Now it seems that house shows—and their attendant scenes—are gradually returning to the city. In Sioux Falls’ case, they’ve joined forces with other local bands and friends to form the Semi-OK Collective, based on their shared love of each other’s music. The scene has vague sonic similarities, and bands tend to fall somewhere on the indie-emo grayscale, ranging from Snow Roller’s western-tinged power pop to Sioux Falls’ Modest Mouse-esque emotional post-punk, from Blowout’s weighty distorted pop-punk to Caregiver’s twinkly screamo. It was not until earlier this year that they gave themselves a name by creating the Facebook group “PDX Semi-OK Shows” to make it easier to communicate about their musical projects.
