Portland Oregon is different  from a lot of other cities in terms of art, music, lifestyle, coffee and beer, but what it does have in common with other large cities is skateboarding. If you know skateboarders then you know how passionate about this particular sport they are. Unlike team sports, their passion defines who they are as people and armchair quarterbacks will argue with me about this. The obsession for this activity is unprecedented to point that the lifestyle can take over the decisions they make on a daily basis. You could look at the shoes of any skater and see the same wear patterns from skater to skater, you might be able to see the thumb calluses on the average  American male to tell which sport they watch.

Two guys meet at a party and inevitably one will ask the other if they like like football or baseball. Two skaters meet at a party and they the first question asked is always “where do you skate?”

Oli owns this ramp and he opens his garage, cracks a six pack and twenty minutes later there are half a dozen skaters fuckin’ it up oldschool. You build it and they will come!

Well, I gotta say, I had a bad feeling about this place. The soundman one minute would give me a bad feeling, and the next minute he would seem perfectly normal.. Needless to say AND AND AND were kicked out of the venue before there set was even over. They were invited to play by another band, that band bailed on the show at the last minute.

There are local bands in every city in America, they do for the love of music, and artistic expression. Digital technology has made it possible for the little guy to get out there and do their thing without the weight of a Record Label breathing down their necks. In fact, many would argue that the record Industry as a whole will soon go the way of the dodo. A dying business model left to the way side as digital distrubution becomes easier for Local Bands.

And And And (a stupid name for a band, I agree) is no different. A six piece band from Portland Oregon. They have been friends for years and have learned each others styles of play, they write songs that define life in the Pacific Northwest.

Showing up to band practice, I knew what I was getting into. Seven of us crammed into a little practice space. These guys are loud, very loud. To the untrained ear (people that listen to pop-music) it sounds like noise, but it is definately much bigger than that. On this night our heros are  preparing for their gig at the Red Room in Portland, and naturally had low expectations for the show. Which is it’s own story and those pictures will be following soon.

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http://www.superdreammusic.com/go/

These pictures were all shot on T-Max 400 from my Rollie 35SE.

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