The Despots are: ---
Obadiah - Geetah / Vox / songwriting machine.
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Timothy - Upright Bass / distant Vox sometimes / Johnny Cash poses.
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Al - Fiddle / Banjo / backing Vox / singing in Spanish
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Eric- Mandolin / Harmonica / Vox
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Influences
Obadiah-
The subtle deadly grind of daily life. The fear of mediocrity. A compulsive need to play music. The blues scale and the three chords of punk rock. 200 years of American roots music. Distortion! My morning bus commute. The healing power of rock and roll. Lies. Bookstore crazies. The Spanish Civil War. Atheism. Boredom. Vodka tonics. Blind Willie McTell. Corvallis. Portland. The old testament. Egoism. Scotch Eggs! Dear departed friends. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tim-Guinness, Molsons Canadian, Hurling!, Hockey, Soccer, Brett Godrey, Les Claypool, Flea, the miscellaneous bass players from the many bands I saw in my youth in Corvallis: Vice Roy My Dead Girlfriend Severed Fetus Round 9 Sinister Prank Pond Cherry Poppin Daddies. Many big time bands like: Primus Red Hot Chili Peppers Long Beach Dub All-stars Dead Kennedy's Dropkick Murphy's. My friend from back in the day Dave McCorrmick, those Dodge truck commercials with the slap-bass line, all that junk! -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Al - Math. Stripes, polka dots, orange. The invisible hand. Old-time folk. Rebel Voices, Utah Phillips, Phil Ochs, Joe Hill, Ursula LeGuin. The folk movement. the labor movement, the hip-hop movement, the clown movement. E.T. and the boy. Mom, Dad, the Academy, BOYS 2 MEN.
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Eric- Joe Strummer, sobriety, cigars, mechanical engineering, tools, punk rock, soccer, jalapenos, fatherhood, the working class, seasons.
We'd like to invite you to come see us play on Friday, February 13th @ The Hawthorne Theatre lounge - show starts at 9 PM & there's a $3 cover - it'd be great to see you there, CHEERS!
to the Despots Happy New Year! We are starting it off by playing the Doug Fir Lounge here in Portland, Oregon this Friday Jan 9th. Ashleigh Flynn and The Taciturns also on the bill. C'mon down if you can. Cheers, Casey 8pm door, 9pm show 830 E Burnside
Hey guys! We're playing this Friday, 9/12 @ the Nine Muses Acoustic Pub with AMADAN's acoustic side-project band, THE REELKEEPERS. The show starts @ 7 PM and the cover is $5. It'd be great to see ya there! We'll totally promo your show the next day, feel free to bring some fliers.
I'd like to invite you to see us play at the Hawthorne Theater lounge this upcoming Saturday. We'll be starting around 9 PM and the cover is $3. We could really use the support, as we're making the trip up from Corvallis. It'd be great to see you there - CHEERS!
Thanks for coming down & playing Corvallis tonight! You sounded really goodl. Also, thanks for letting us use yer stuff, we appreciated it. Hope to see you all again soon!