Maybe some of you knew it was coming and maybe some of you didn’t. Either way, our punk scene is about to lose one of its active and integral collection of members. As of Friday, we’ll be saying goodbye to local melodic punks Steel Chains.

They dropped their demo tracks just a little over two years ago and an EP not too long after, instantly making them favorites without fault. Steel Chains render a more harmonious version of traditional punk, using a post-like execution of catchy, quickly paced riffs. On top of their talent they were also just enjoyable to see perform overall, so it’s really quite the bummer to see them go.

Join Steel Chains for their last performance Friday at The Know with Macho Boys, Mr. Wrong and Petite. Every bit of the show’s $7 cover will be donated to the Trans Lifeline, so they’re going out on a charitable bang to boot.

 Whether you feel like they’re overrated or not, it’d be hard to deny the influence the Beatles had and still has on music. Their career filled with the quintessential hits that define them, the Beatles were some of the "first" to bring pandemonium, romantic pop and the steady transition into drug life to the public eye. Seeing as the first day of June marks the 50th anniversary of their considerable opus Sgt. Pepper’s The Lonely Hearts Club Band, of course a commemoration had to take place, and of course it would be in fun Portland fashion.

The Funhouse Lounge will house a tribute show as an ode to the band Thursday night, featuring local rock musicians and special guests, many of which are likely to be in some sort of Beatles-like garb. Advertised are The Toads, The Dark Backward and comedian/loud sound creator Tinn Itus and the Strobing Visions covering hits from all throughout the Beatles’ extensive catalog. The 21 and over event is only $10, but those that come in costumes themselves only pay half price. Those in costume will also be automatically invited to partake in other Beatles’ themed special activities, so a lot of fun is sure to be had.

Horse Movies are a band to pay attention to. The trio recently won our artist of the month poll, with their album Switch Flipper being one worthy of constant plays. They’re heading off for a tour in the next couple weeks, so we wanted to exchange a few words with the band in hopes of getting to know a little more about them. Here are our 6 questions with Horse Movies…

Deli PDX: What are the songwriting dynamics in the band? Is it mainly one of you that writes the songs, take turns between the three of you or go into each track together?

 

Horse Movies: We get together and do that thing that birds do where the mom chews up the food and feeds it to the baby bird. But we do it back and forth with song ideas. 

 

How did Horse Movies come to be a band? Where does the name come from?

 

We’re firm believers that all movies could use more horse characters. We originally met because we were all very active on a horse meme sub Reddit. We thought it’d be funny to start making music too, and eventually drifted away from our love of horse memes to focus more on the music. 

On your upcoming tour, are there any particular dates/cities the band is more excited to play than others?

 

Honestly we’re just stoked to get out of Portland for a while, meet new friends and see cool bands. Hanging out with Mom Jeans for a week is gunna be a blast. And we get to play with Adult School in Santa Cruz, who are probably the best band ever. 

 

Who are some acts that have influence Horse Movies sound? 

 

Robin Williams circa ’85, children’s books involving lonely insects, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 soundtrack, and Toy Story on ice.

 

Being a somewhat "newer" band, how do you feel about the politics of Portland’s music scene? What place do you all feel Horse Movies holds within the scene?

 

We’ve met a lot of great people in the PDX scene. Good hearted kids, ya know? Kids who constantly go to shows no matter who’s playing. They’re just in it for the music. It’s frustrating when people are in it for the drama. We’ve learned to stay off the internet and use horse blinders on Facebook haha.

 

If there’s one thing each of you could change about the current state of music (locally or globally), what would it be and why?

 

More all ages venues for sure. Kids need places they can feel welcome and enjoy themselves. Also, when it comes to music, we wish people would use their ears and not so much their eyes.

 

See Horse Movies off properly by hitting up their tour kickoff show June 19 at Black Water with Lubec, Tallwomen and Prison Dress. 

 

There’s someting hypnotic about watching bands perform. Audience members and viewers can zone out in watching the meditative motions of instrument playing and sometimes mesmeric singing, but not every show allows for such reflective instances. Being able to experience them at home can be much better, and the new Atomic Candles video offers up those vibes.

The duo, consisting of Matt B. and Ryan W., released a live video of them performing their song "Do" in their practice space. It gives a more intimate look at two goth pop musicians doing what they do best with a synth, a guitar and two pairs of pretty sweet headphones.

If you can’t get enough of them through their video performance, you can catch Atomic Candles on June 7 with White Rooms and Sex Park at the Know.

Most of us don’t have many artifacts documenting the last 10 years of our lives. Some may have social media albums worth of selfies and party memories, others still have numerous notebooks worth of entries to sift through. But for multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Luke Messimer, logging thoughts and emotions happened through the realm of music. Tomorrow, Messimer is celebrating his compilation of chronicled songs, aptly titled Ten Years. 

Totalling 32 songs in length, Messimer recorded the tracks for Ten Years from 2005 to 2015 in various places along the west coast, plus Arizona and Wyoming. He commissioned the help of quite a few others in the making of all these delightful indie pop songs, like Adam Fight of local band Loveboys and California pop artist Molly Marlette. Despite all the hands involved in this process singing, songwriting and producing wise, the songs on Ten Years are presented in their originally recorded form – no editing, remastering or re-recording, just as they were recorded using the built-in mic on Messimer’s Macbook using Garageband.

Follow Messimer through his sonic journey the last decade by streaming Ten Years below and checking out his album celebration show tomorrow at The Fixin’ To, where Star Club and San Francisco math punk duo The Brankas will also be playing. 

It may not seem terribly obvious, but Portland loves basketball. We rep Rip City’s team the Blazers to no end and when the suns out, a great deal of Portland residents flock to parks and playgrounds to partake in said blacktop court games. There’s one instance in the year that blends two of the city’s loves, music and basketball, together. That event is Rigsketball, and they’re hosting their kickoff party tonight.

The actual Rigsketball tournament isn’t happening yet, but those that head to the Doug Fir tonight will get to peep the premiere of the Rigsketball video, a 30 minute promo video pulling inspiration from old school Sports Center, Yayoi Kusama and WWE episodes. It’ll also include clips from 2016’s festivities, as well as some specially created ad breaks from the band Heavy Breather.

Rigsketball’s kickoff party will also feature performances by Deathlist, Nasalrod and tournament creator Bim Ditson’s band And And And. Bands that wish to participate in the Rigsketball tournament this summer have a chance to sign up for early registration at the show, as long as they get there early!

Music starts at 9pm but the premiere of the promo video is at 8:30pm, so be there on time with $5 in hand for the cover. There will even be some extra special announcements before the video screening, for those that want in on some secret info.

The Vans Warped Tour was the first festival for many of us back in the day. As young’ns, it’s likely we didn’t necessarily think about all that went into figuring out the bands to book and play the whole shebang. Part of that process, at least locally, seems to be through a series "battle of the bands" style competitions specifically for landing a spot on the fest. Quite a few Portland bands have been furiously playing against one another for said spot, and djent/prog metal act Vow of Volition are one of the acts that made it to the finals.

Warped Tour was always the type of festival that included much in the realm of pop punk, punk punk, emo and metal, so Vow of Volition’s advancement to the final round is no surprise. Their incredibly technical, at times jazzy metal stands out in Portland’s pretty linear popular music scene, and is much worthy of the attention its getting.

Those that want to support Vow of Volition in driving home the permanent spot can go to the Battle for Warped Tour finals Saturday at the Hawthorne Theatre.

When We Met brings a loving dynamic back into rock. The duo, consisting of Bryan Casey and Melissa, create fully textered sounds with just the two of them. Sounds are created on a solely collaborative basis by the two songwriters and musicians, who also record and produce everything all themselves. Aside from the occasional use of a drummer, When We Met is a true DIY effort of blending indie, alternative rock and electro pop elements.

Keeping the band as stripped down as possible has meant that Bryan and Melissa have developed an even better stage presence, with a certain intimacy to their chemistry that can only be achieved by working so well together. See for yourselves during When We Met’s free show at Slim’s on Saturday, along with Avalanche Lily and Rascal Miles. Give "Ride the Tide" a listen below.

Everyone has got to know about Cat Hoch and her band by now.

Hoch, along with bassist Theo Craig, guitarist Eric Sabatino, synth and vocalist Anna Tyler and Adam Breeden on drums, has established a top slot in Portland’s music scene over the last couple years. Coming out leading in best new band polls, getting premium bookings at local music festivals and clocking in hours of hard work in general have kept Hoch and her band in the eyes of a music adoring public. The band is currently reaching out to fans for help and if it all works out, fans will be pleasantly delighted.

Thank goodness this isn’t coming in the wake of an equipment theft like Hoch’s last crowdfunding campaign. Instead, Hoch is reaching out in hopes of raising enough money to produce and release a full length album. Recording isn’t the easiest or inexpensive feat, so Hoch’s GoFundMe is asking for $4,000 to hop back in the studio with one of Portland’s finest – Riley Geare.

More details into the prizes offered are given on the GoFundMe page, but include cute prizes like "a physical copy of the EP, as well as a digital download of the new record and a vociemail from me singing to you telling you I love you and thank you" for a $50 donation, and "we throw a house show personally for you in Portland, Or (as long as you can find a house). Dedicated to you and personally love you forever" for a $350 donation.

For those that still somehow haven’t seen Cat Hoch and her band play live, you can catch them tonight at Bunk Bar opening up for some pretty legendary Portlanders, Colin Hegna (of Brian Jonestown Massacre) and his band Federale. 

Originally, celebrating this year’s Memorial Day weekend was highlighted by a much-wanted performance by Frank Ocean at the Sasquatch Music Festival in the Columbia Gorge. But, in true Frank Ocean fashion, fans were faked out as he dropped off one of the headlining slots. In all honesty, heading out to the Gorge is a hassle anyway, especially when the chance of running into Fred Armisen, who’s got a set of his own at the fest, is ever increased. Thank goodness the first annual What Was Sound Fest is happening, so much closer to home, with so much less hipster novelty to deal with.

Sub Rosa Curation teamed up with the Portland Mercury, Do503, Next Northwest, XRAY.fm and the Rose City Festival to bring Brooklyn dream rockers DIIV and El Ten Eleven‘s mellow post-rock with everyone’s favorite indie folkers Woods and Fruit Bats down to Tom McCall Waterfront Park. Local support from Bed., the 11 piece funky afrobeat of Jujuba, Small Leaks Sink Ships and the recently added Sunbathe round the lineup out with some good balance in their first year.

Next Northwest and Vortex Music Magazine are hosting a free What Was Sound launch party tonight at White Owl Social Club, featuring a performance from Small Leaks Sink Ships. Come through and get a sneak peek of what will be happening at Waterfront Park on Saturday, and listen to the newest Small Leaks’ track "Dancing Devil" below.

Spare Spells first caught our eye at the top of the year, when we nominated them for our Artist of the Month poll. Their haunted synth rock granted them the win, of course, but at the time the only peeks into it we had were from Neon/Noir EP. We longed to hear more and after being teased with the prospect of their first full length The Narrows coming out at an undisclosed time. Finally, Spare Spells adorers have gotten their wish, since The Narrows officially comes out today.

You can stream it below, but stopping by the Waypost tonight to see them perform the tracks live will be even better. Combined with some visuals from Ash Plains and the night becomes elevated in its perfection.

Vikesh Kapoor has his mastery of acoustic folk down to a science. For the last three years, the Pennsylvania transplant took to Portland’s usual grey skies smoothly in the further development of his songwriting and musicianship. Kind of like Portland’s own Iron & Wine, his music progresses in a similar manner to the beverage, only getting better and better as it ages with time.

"Down By The River" is the newest track to come from Kapoor. It’s beautiful in its simplicity, with Kapoor’s vocal delivery and strumming gently guiding the listener throughout the song. It’s a track perfect for a summer evening drive or being stuck inside all day watching the rain fall.

Vikesh Kapoor is officially dropping the single tonight at his show at the Beacon Sound, with accompanying sets from Haley Heynderickx and Claire Puckett of the Austin, Tx orchestral indie band Mother Falcon. The all-ages show starts at 8pm and is just $10.