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Pickathon: Eclectic lineup, sonic adventures

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Viet Cong, Quebe Sisters, Summer Cannibals offer varied sounds

COURTESY PHOTOS - Starring at Pickathon, the Quebe Sisters bring country swing from Texas and Summer Cannibals  serve up hot rock n roll right here in Portland.It’s time for one of the Portland area’s best and most popular summer festivals.

Pickathon, Friday through Sunday, July 31 through Aug. 2, at Pendarvis Farm, 16581 S.E. Hagen Road in Happy Valley, features a host of acts, including Ty Seagall, Langhorne Slim, Don Flemons (of The

Carolina Chocolate Drops) and Tinariwen.

In addition to these acts, here’s a deeper look at three must-see performers (for complete info, see pickathon.com):

Viet Cong

11:20 p.m. Aug. 1, Galaxy Barn

2:50 p.m. Aug. 2, Meadow Stage

Sounding like David Bowie drinking an Iggy Pop, and drawing on Dandy Warhols, Psychedelic Furs and This Heat for inspiration, Viet Cong hails from Calgary, Alberta, and features Scott “Monty” Munro on guitar and synthesizer, Matt Flegel on bass and vocals, Mike Wallace on drums, and Daniel Christiansen on guitar.

Touring to promote their eponymously titled debut record, Munro says such songs as “Death,” a driving, pulsating tune, go over well live.

“We’re a reasonably high-energy live band, and I think people enjoy that,” he adds.

Sometimes he and Flegel co-write, and sometimes the band as a whole composes songs.

“Usually now someone will have a riff or a beat idea, and we’ll all just jam it out until we have a few parts and then go from there,” he says, noting the band enjoys noisy, droning, dreamy music.

“This is just the kind of music we make when the four of us get together,” he says.

The band has had its challenges — one gig almost did them in.

“Matt (Flegel) got electrocuted by the mic bad enough that he bled out his ears.”

Like true artists, however, Viet Cong turned the experience into a song, namely “Silhouettes,” which alludes to the manic microphone incident.

Munro adds the band looks forward to Pickathon.

“Some of my closest friends now are people I met on the road,” he says.

Quebe Sisters

5:20 p.m. Aug. 1, Tree Line Stage

2 p.m. Aug. 2, Lucky Barn

Few sounds are lovelier than the ones made by the Quebe Sisters, vocally harmonizing country swing fiddle-players from Texas.

Hulda, Sophia and Grace are all in their 20s, and hail from outside Fort Worth. Their fiddling has earned them kudos from such country stalwarts as Marty Stuart, who featured them on his TV show, and their voices got a push from Ricky Skaggs, who encouraged them to start singing after he shared a bill with them when they were still an instrumental group. Since then, they’ve developed a sound akin to the Andrews and McGuire sisters.

“We listen to a huge variety of eras of music, everything from now to the 1920s,” Hulda Quebe says, noting the girls like jazz, bluegrass, Doris Day and Ray Price. “We’ve gravitated to some styles that tend to be more traditional, but that’s where our tastes lie, and acoustic music has a longer tradition than electric music.”

Primarily a cover band, the women are now writing their own material, and are touring

to promote their third album, “Every Which-A-Way.”

The band’s accomplishments include playing the Ryman Auditorium, former home of the Grand Ole Opry radio show, in Nashville, Hulda says, adding that she and her siblings also enjoyed playing a concert with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra.

“It was a pop series of all our music,” she says. “The entire auditorium was sold out. It was kind of an affirmation that we’re doing something right.”

COURTESY PHOTOS - Starring at Pickathon, Summer Cannibals serve up hot rock n roll right here in Portland.

Summer Cannibals

4:40 p.m. July 31, Galaxy Barn

2 p.m. Aug. 2, Tree Line Stage

One of Portland’s hottest bands, Summer Cannibals is putting just a little bit of ugly back into rock ‘n’ roll.

“Although I guess there can be some exceptions, I’m not really into ‘pretty’ music,’” says the band’s chief songwriter, Jessica Boudreaux, who’s in the band along with Marc Swart, Devon Shirley and Jenny Logan. “I think even though our songs are rooted in pop structures and melodies we try to keep it grounded in punk and rock ‘n’ roll.”

Boudreaux attributes her guitar sound to her influences, which include Black Sabbath, Mission of Burma, Ty Segall and Parquet Courts. She’s also a fan of fuzzy guitar tones.

“Two fuzz pedals worth,” she says. “I try not to focus on ‘tricks’ and showing what I can do, just write something that fits with the rest of the song.”

The group’s debut record is “Show Us Your Mind,” and the group is already working on a follow-up, Boudreaux says. Although she’s the chief songwriter, she prizes band input.

“When I present a demo to the band I look to them to listen with a critical ear, cut down on parts that maybe drag on too long, and add more interesting bridges and parts,” she says. “I write and arrange the songs, but it’s not until everyone starts playing them together that they feel alive and I get really stoked on them.”


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