Return to the Frozen North – A Monthly Look at Bellingham’s Incestuous Scene
Frozen North
November 2005
By Graham Isaac
Last month we took a brief tour of bands that have established themselves to the north, making sure that Nada readers were properly introduced to the bands that never fail to attract audiences up here. This month, I’ll talk about a couple of bands that have offshoot groups that have either broken up, or still currently rule.
First up, The Mark, formerly known as The Market Zeroes, half made up of Black Eyes & Neck Ties, who recently put on a killer Halloween show. The Mark trade in jagged post punk with a desperate edge. The songs are generally more personal in nature, ruminations on death, the future and drinking too much. Think Refused or Raft of Dead Monkeys traded with a solid dollop of classic rock sensibilities that add an accessible edge to their twists and turns. The Mark are playing around more and there are rumors of an album.
Frozen North
November 2005
By Graham Isaac
Last month we took a brief tour of bands that have established themselves to the north, making sure that Nada readers were properly introduced to the bands that never fail to attract audiences up here. This month, I’ll talk about a couple of bands that have offshoot groups that have either broken up, or still currently rule.
First up, The Mark, formerly known as The Market Zeroes, half made up of Black Eyes & Neck Ties, who recently put on a killer Halloween show. The Mark trade in jagged post punk with a desperate edge. The songs are generally more personal in nature, ruminations on death, the future and drinking too much. Think Refused or Raft of Dead Monkeys traded with a solid dollop of classic rock sensibilities that add an accessible edge to their twists and turns. The Mark are playing around more and there are rumors of an album.
Camarojuana is a duo made up of Charlie McCoy and Jeff Mitchell. McCoy was the leading man behind long-time Bellingham rockers Sharpie, which begat to the now-defunct Enders of Ozone. While those groups had walls of sound, neither had their focus narrowed to quite the extent that Camarojuana does; the two-piece bludgeons out mighty riffs and squealing psychedelics in short, bite-sized blasts. They sound like Sabbath with more pickup or something coming from a backwoods suburb of Seattle about twenty years ago but without feeling anachronistic. Maybe it’s the spiffy hats Charlie wears.
Speaking of the well-dressed, one of Bellingham’s more effortlessly fashionable groups is Treasures, who have too large a pedigree to list, aside from math-popsters Lands Farther East. In their day, LFE toured the nation, garnering props far and wide, even being mentioned in Spin magazine in an article on math rock. Treasures is a five piece, and while the math elements are strongly felt, they’ve balanced out their technical elements with a yen for huge riffs and spastic breakdowns. They don’t have choruses per se, but rather occasional refrains which have a way of sticking in one’s head. They’re planning an album for next year, and tour when singer Josh Holland isn’t guitaring it up for Black Eyes and Neck Ties.
At Bent’s Halloween show, they played several new pieces that hinted at a more genuinely dark edge, as well as veering away from some of their more garage-y elements in favor of a heavier edge. Also playing new songs around town are USS Horsewhip, Racetrack, and probably everyone else I talked about last time. So check out all current albums and know more is on the way. Until next month, this has been the Frozen North. Keep warm down there!