EOFF2011 releases headlining musicians to accompany 3 nights of independent cinema in Eastern Oregon. The 2011 Eastern Oregon Film Festival will be held on October 20th – October 22nd in historic downtown La Grande, Oregon. The three day event features award winning independent cinema and hottest up and coming bands from the northwest.
EOFF after-parties will feature the likes of Portlandʼs Jared Mees & The Grown Children, Boiseʼs Hillfolk Noir, Finn Riggins, and Atomic Mama, La Grandeʼs own, Elidila and Sons of Guns, and from Pendleton, Oregon – J.D. Kindle & The Eastern Oregon Playboys. Times and schedules will be available on the festival website found here: www.eofilmfest.com/2011-music
JARED MEES & THE GROWN CHILDREN (Portland, Oregon)
Hailing from the tenderest parts of Portlandia, EOFF welcomes, Jared Mees & The Grown Children. Jared Mees, at the helm of both the band and Tender Loving Empire (the Portland- based record label, screenprinting studio, and local-centric handmade consignment shop he runs with wife Brianne) is no stranger to La Grande. This gang has experienced, participated in, and impressed upon the music community here for years, conveying Mees’ lighter side of the darkest darks in their upbeat yet savagely heartfelt performances. EOFF is pleased to bring their presence out of the Crawlspace and into the Grande Ronde limelight.
Jared Mees and the Grown Children examines the give-and-take inherent in struggles for self-fulfillment while walking a tightrope between naive exuberance and cynical skepticism. This balancing act results in a sound that is joyful yet introspective; a rollicking Americana tale of modern life, be it hellish or heavenly.
“With heartfelt lyrics and spirited rhythms, the latest from Jared Mees & the Grown Children is just as soulful as someone like Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes and equally as fun.”
-Nylon
ATOMIC MAMA (Boise, Idaho)
Reentering the atmosphere from their west coast tour Atomic Mama from Boise, Idaho lands in La Grande to accompany Mees & his children for the Saturday after-party finale. Atomic Mama arrived on the Boise music scene early in 2011. Spawned from the same creative pool that manifested the likes of Youth Lagoon and Teens, Atomic Mama has a wholly unique sound; synthesized from a lofty combination of organic blues and shamanistic dance beats. It’s equal parts space rock, drugged out garage fuzz, dance floor boogie, and noodle-shaking rock and roll. Imagine a delicious musical stew of Black Keys style riffs, Mos Eisley Cantina band charm, Yeasayer electronic experimentalism, and impenetrable lysergic ambitiousness—lick your lips—and then you might get some idea of the vast territory that this band likes to explore.
FINN RIGGINS (Hailey, Idaho)
Photo by Bobby McHugh
Returning this year to Eastern Oregon Film Festival Finn Riggins, is the result of a longtime collaboration between Cameron Bouiss, Eric Gilbert and Lisa Simpson. Having met while completing their music degrees at the University of Idaho, the trio began playing music together in 2000, an endeavor that would ultimately culminate in what is now Finn Riggins. In August of 2006, Bouiss, Gilbert and Simpson quit their jobs and moved to Sun Valley, Idaho to stitch together the outlines of Finn Riggins at “the helibase” – a secret practice spot/tour launch pad. Practices yielded shows, shows yielded tours and by the end of their first year as a group, Finn Riggins found themselves a national touring act who lived as much on the road as they did at home.
“Drawing inspiration and influence from several musical realms– a bit of prog here, some indie rock there, an occasional steel drum thrown in for good measure, Finn Riggins’ sound is slippery to say the least.”
—Oregon Public Broadcasting
ELIDILA (La Grande, Oregon)
Long time La Grande musicians Wayne Callahan and Jeff Grammer bring their most recent project / band ‘Elidila’ (pronounced ela – dee – lah) to the table. Elidila returned from their first West Coast tour – playing with the likes of Tartufi, The Music Wrong, Lia Rose and many more. This experimental/rock combo recently added the bass of La Grande’s Matt Hibbert grounding their unique and edgy beats to the melodic and lyrical overtones.
SONS OF GUNS (La Grande, Oregon)
Sons of Guns is a four-piece Northwest band that brings together acoustic and electric, rock and poetry, sweaty beats and folk stories. We’ve all seen the dual frontman bit, where two guys share the stage and a rhythm section, taking turns as they back each other up, but Mike Surber and Gregory Rawlins act as a unified songwriting and singing unit, in the same way that Wayne Callahan’s intricate bass lines are a pea in the pod of Jeff Grammer’s merciless drums. Fresh from their new album release ‘Oregon Slogan’ the band brings to the table a local flavor with a regional appeal.
JAMES DEAN KINDLE & THE EASTERN OREGON PLAYBOYS (Pendleton, Oregon)
Eastern Oregon Film Festival is delighted to have our neighbors over for a visit.
James Dean Kindle and the Eastern Oregon Playboys have enjoyed tremendous response from audiences of all ages while playing venues from dive-bars, coffee shops and house parties to rodeo arenas, water parks and even medium-security prisons for inmates on good-behavior (No joke!). In October of last year the they performed a collaborative concert with the Oregon East Symphony where an ensemble of the symphony accompanied the band on a selection of James’ songs. They have also enjoyed exposure on Oregon Public Broadcasting and Boise State Radio. With all this behind them and a full-length in the bag and a recently released 7 inch record the band is gearing up to record a proper follow up album this November.
“Hailing from the land of rodeos, whiskey, high desert and crystal, James Dean Kindle and the Eastern Oregon Playboys boast the rare ability to genre hop without losing steam. “ …
HILLFOLK NOIR (Boise, Idaho)
Eastern Oregon Film Festival is pleased to announce Boise, Idaho’s Hillfolk Noir as our festival kick off band Thursday, October 20th at the Granada Theater.
Fronted by singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Travis Ward, Boise, Idahoʼs Hillfolk Noir(petometz.com) has been described as a dark, country-tinged, swampy- swinginʼ, hillbilly-delta-blues-ragtime word machine. The band calls it Junkerdash, but no matter the descriptor, youʼll find Hillfolk Noirʼs psychedelic swamp-shack rags equally spooky and toe-tapping.
“If John Steinbeck owned a speakeasy, Hillfolk Noir would be the house band.”
— John Doe (X, The Knitters)
Eastern Oregon Film Festival is a 501c3 non-profit organization dedicated to creating a cinematic experience in Eastern Oregon that promotes discovery, entertainment, and education via artistic exhibition and viewership. Through the mediums of independent film and music we aim to expand the cultural experience within our region.
Nestled among the Blue Mountains and the Eagle Cap Wilderness, La Grande, Oregon is located in the center of the largest fully-enclosed valley in North America. The town itself is approximately 13,000 people and is a nationally accredited Tree Town. Sweet.
Eastern Oregon University, along with the numerous boutiques, art galleries, coffee shops, living room jam sessions, bike trails, bodies of running water, dive bars, drifters, and train cars, help to define the cultural landscape.
Plan to attend this year’s festival in beautiful Eastern Oregon, October 20, 21, & 22 in La Grande, Oregon and catch the best line-up of up and coming musicians in the northwest. Visit the festival website or connect to facebook/twitter to learn how to participate, attend, and interact at this year’s event. Official 2011 music information can be found here: http://eofilmfest.com/2011-music/
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