For more than nine years, Amadan has cut its teeth on the clubs, bars, stages, and highways of the Pacific Northwest. In the blue-collar tradition of other regional celtic- and folk-inspired rock acts, Amadan spent five years filling a heavy ~100-gig-per-year schedule with music and cultural festival appearances, college campus events, and the obvious staple: three- to four-hour, high-energy house gigs in various pubs throughout Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana. Amadan swiftly developed a reputation for raucous, energetic, beer-swilling, punk-inspired shows. Filling those time slots with Gaelic traditionals, American folk tunes, and punk rock covers gave the Amadan players the sustainable energy and cohesive trad and rock chops to churn out a number of developed original songs.
Amadan’s second full-length record, 2004’s “Hell-Bent 4 Victory!,” represented a culmination of those strengths and efforts and an earmark from which the musicians could grow. Amadan filled the next three years honing performance at an increasing number of festival and rock performances on bills with bands ranging from the Clumsy Lovers to The Supersuckers and Eek-A-Mouse to Pepper. During the same period, members Eric Tonsfeldt and Kevin Pardew wrote, arranged, and, ultimately, co-produced the record that became 2007’s “Pacifica.”
Seeking to break the molds of traditional music, punk rock, and live performance with their intricate and fast-paced three-hour rock shows and searing musicianship, their third full-length album betrays a sound that is both post-punk and post-celtic in composition, feel, and influence and post-barroom in energy level and maturity. This is world music from the picket lines and the surface streets, and rock and roll from life’s daily struggles and rewards. This is music for the revolution. This is Amadan.
Amadan's third full length album, Pacifica, is available at CD Baby and Itunes. Here's what people are saying:
The interaction between the instruments is what really shines. Banjos and didgeridoos weave in and out of fiddles and distorted guitars to create interesting tableaux, making for something unique but still familiar and comforting.
“Pacifica” allows Amadan to continue to embrace broader world music influences that go beyond the Celtic punk core...In a genre where it can be difficult to tell one band’s sound from another, Amadan has created a sound all its own here.
Instead of just copying other Celtic/punk bands, these guys make their own way; set their own course--and it makes them stand out from the crowd...Traditional rock music makes an appearance here and there as well for a braid of three influences.
In much the same way that contemporary bands like the Dropkick Murphys or Flogging Molly take a flight to Dublin without ever leaving your room, this bunch offer up 12 tunes with a kindler, gentler approach than the 2 previously mentioned bands. "Used to Know" should be a major hit.
One of the most pleasant surprises to reach these ears in some time, Portland, OR's AMADAN is a Celtic-fueled punk band that combines all sorts of world music influences with the accessibility of THE CLASH, the irreverence of THE POGUES and the insight of that liberal professor from college that you liked so much.
When we get new music around Celtophilia HQ, I have a tendency to just throw it on while I’m doing something else. Pacifica is not that kind of CD. It demands your full attention, if you’re going to get the most out of it. Thoughtful lyrics, inventive instrumentation, and masterful blending that require the listener to be on guard at all times.
Musically, these Oregonians have typically been all over the place, as much country and “oi!” as they are Celtic and “aye!” and though this time around the sound is no less varied, it’s a much more focused affair.
WRITTEN AND CREATED FOR FILM BY MIKE DECKER.........TO BE FILMED AND DIRECTED BY DAMON PARSON.........
Born without a chance to a prostitute mother and a bedroom in the closet this young individual will rise to become much more then whatever you think he is…
In the beginning you think of him as dumb, slow, screwed up from childhood, haunted from his mother’s murder, and homeless other then, well, your closet… You’re scared of him because you never know which closet he may come out of and no idea what he’ll look like when he does, as his disguise changes with each closet he visits, and stalking you from the inside of your own home for up to weeks before he strikes!
Later you mystically begin to realize there is more to this Closet Man killer then ever imagined and eventually chilled as you digest just how much more to him there really is, a story, a goal, and even an end game that is revealed in twist after twist up until the final twisted moment revealing the truth and making sense of all the previous twist and turns that baffle you right till the very end, leaving you breathless…
Portland's Action Sports Expo is this weekend (MAY 15-17) @ the Oregon Convention Center!! Come hear Amadan along with lots of other live bands, climb a 32' rock wall, see pros rip it up on the Gromshop Brickyard Skatepark and much, much more!! There's alot to see and do! Go to extremeexpos.com for details
Where were your trucker hat girls billy? They had become part of the Amadan experience for me. Still managaged to have a great time. The sound was amazing last night..
So I didn't get to party like a rock star with you guys this weekend. Instead I was broke and doing mass amounts of laundry. I will surely be there at the fir. Can't wait to hear new stuff!
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