dennis mitchell: guitars, vocals, songs.
jon beyer: drums, tambourine.
andy ricker: guitar, bass, vocals, clams.
Influences
Record collection: Small Faces, The Jam, The Kinks, Buzzcocks, Troggs, Big Star, Go Betweens, The Clash, Bob Dylan, Beatles, Stones, Verlaines, Television, Sex Pistols, Curtis Mayfield, Elvis Costello, The Chills, Sonic Youth, The Wipers, Dead Moon, etc.
Other: The cool guys who hung out at the record shop and smoked pot when we were kids. The music our parents listened to. Whatever was on college radio in the 70's and 80's.
Sounds Like
Fred Mills, Magnet ..56:
“Hereby welcome, then, Portland, OR’s Quags as class valedictorian. The band is fronted by Dennis Mitchell, who croons and bellows like a cross between Alex Chilton, Tommy Keene and Ray Davies and slings muscular riffs as if he grew up worshipping Pete Townshend, Mick Ronson and Paul Weller. Mitchell gleefully struts and stomps out his tunes, invoking everyone from Sparks and Mott The Hoople to the Stones and Small Faces but shines most brightly when steering into classsic Big Star, Plimsouls, Let’s Active and Posies territory. Never mind all those emo bollocks, here’s the Quags.”
Hailing from Portland, OR and featuring the songs, voice and guitar of Tucson expat Dennis Mitchell (Brementown Musicians, Dennis Mitchell and the Wilsons, Crack City Rockers), the Quags are quite simply a good old fashioned 4 piece rock band. Dennis is joined by Andy Ricker on guitar and bass (44 Long, Vehicle, J Hell, Nancy Hess Band, Moxy Love Crux), Jon Beyer on drums (Mission 5, Pacific Wonderland) all veterans of the diverse Portland music scene who have found common ground in Dennis' songs. Mining influences like the Kinks, Buzzcocks, Big Star, Small Faces, Curtis Mayfield, and The Jam, the Quags turn out the type of smart, fun, hooky and rocking tunes that back in the day were trotted out to the masses under the moniker ..powerpop... Though looking to the past for inspiration, the Quags are firmly grounded in the present, equally at home in front of a crowd of young indie popsters or old school rockers.
Wanted to let you know our new album "Don't Be Like That" is available as a FREE download for 2 weeks, via a link on our MySpace page....hope you enjoy it!
Had to do a quick double take as the opening track reminded me of Mick Jones a-la "Lost In The Supermarket"...and there's nothing wrong with that...it's up there with our favourite Clash songs.
Hoped you enjoyed our choons...home recorded for nothing by ourselves..not bad for two ol'deaf guys!!
Am a big fan of all things Portland and would love to get to the Doug Fir lounge someday....any more local bands we should know???
We really like your material-keep up the good work..all the very best..
Fancy-A-Spin? That's right, it's our new record. There's 4 brand new songs on our page. If you guys come over here and want give them a try, leave a comment or just say hello... We'll love it. Oh, and if you like it... tell a friend to stop by. He's welcome too. Cheers, GR
12 songs of fantastic beach pop punk from Germany for your listening pleasure!
You can listen to four songs on our myspace profile.
you can buy the CD from us:
-5 Euros in Germany - 6 Euros in Europe - 8 Euros from the rest of the world (USA etc) (we're sorry that it's so expensive, but the postage is really expensive)
Just wanted to shout out that The Phoenix Foundations debut record Horsepower is in stores in the USA now! Highly acclaimed in New Zealand and Australia for there blend of indie pop with 70s prog horror tripped out ummm music TPF are really excited to be joing forces with Young American Records and will be on tour in the states throughout June playing with The Veils, Voxtrot, Au Revoire Simone and followong the release of NZ indy film Eagle Versus Shark for which they provided the score.
Thanks for accepting our semi spammy comment! here are the tour dates.
Weds May 30: Bishop, CA – The Masonic Temple
Sat June 2: Seattle, WA – The Crocodile w/ Voxtrot, Au Revoire Simone
Sun June 3: San Francisco, CA – Amoeba Records In-Store Performace
Mon June 4: Los Angeles, CA - Spaceland
Weds June 6: Santa Barbara, CA – Velvet Jones
Thurs June 7: New York, NY – The Veils @ Mercury Lounge
Fri June 8: Brooklyn, NY – The Veils @ Union Hall
Sat June 9: Boston – The Veils @ Great Scott
Mon June 11: New York – ‘Eagle V Shark’ premiere party
Tues June 12: Philadelphia, PA – Flight of the Conchords After party @ World Café
Hi Dennis! I am a voice from out of your distant, dark past ... Tucson, circa 1986-'87! Hope the last 20 years have been good for you. I'm in Seattle now, so hope to see you if you come north to play!
Hi Dennis! I am a voice from out of your distant, dark past ... Tucson, circa 1986-'87! Hope the last 20 years have been good for you. I'm in Seattle now, so hope to see you if you come north to play!
Oooooohhhhhhh! 44 Long. Why you two-timing devil.
That was a fun show. I don't think I met you, but I'll tell Adam you said hello. This is Greg commenting at you. We call Adam "The Cord Kicker" now (he kicked the power strip and knocked half the amps out during our last song). It isn't the first time he's done this. We make sure he won't forget.
But that was a fun night. Good luck and cheers,
Greg, 20ML
Friends for life!
Always invited to our birthday parties!
Your music is mighty fine; it did make me want to listen to Setting Sons again, especially "Saturday's Kids." Nicely done, stay in touch, friends for fricking LIFE.
That Magnet review--"never mind the emo bollocks."
Emo. What an insipid descriptor.
I saw a band's page--a group from Wales--and they had a new song posted with the reassurance, "This is a little different, but don't worry, we're still twee!"
Boy, it made me wipe my brow, and say, "Phew!"
Which is also a kind of music: phew.
Between the excessive references to other bands, poorly coined neologisms, and silly puns, we have described absolutely nothing.
This is more than a comment. This is a holding-forth. My apologies.
But friends for life, yes!
If you're not doing anything this weekend, were playing a show at the Ash Street Saloon dowtown and we go on around 10:00
We'll have CD's for sale and are debuting a couple of new songs.
Hope to see you there!
Jimi, Mike, Eric & Paul
p.s. we should do a show together sometime. I think we'd be compatible
Dig the Band!! Do I hear a little of "in my life" in devil's music? or am I high ....well yes im but am I right ? When you guys get down to orange County, california let me know would love to see you guys live.
Oliver of Anaheim
Hey guys....Still lovin' your tunes. We're looking for an opening slot on Fri. December 30. Are you guys performing somewhere that night. We'd love to open for you at some point. Take care. -Brian of Cumulus
