Bellingham: Punks, Hippies, Pizza and Good Music

I lived in Bellingham, WA, from 2002-2007. During that time I earned a mostly worthless degree in journalism, booked a shitload of shows on Western's campus and in various basements around town, played in several bands, had a long term relationship that lasted far too long, worked at a record store for about 18 months, refused to grow up and had a lifetime's worth of good times with friends. My feelings on the city of Bellingham have ranged from blissful to indifferent to hateful and everywhere in between. I wrote at least 2 or 3 regretfully angry and cringe-worthy songs about the place, that's for sure.

Having lived in Seattle for the last 4 years, I've come to realize that my ugly feelings towards the place were more indicative of my own unhappiness with myself during those years. Sure, Bellingham has plenty of annoying shortcomings and utterly bizarre characteristics, but it's just a goofy small college town in the northwest corner of Washington and it certainly has it's own charm. I've been fortunate to make regular trips up their for band practice with my buds in envision for the last 2 years and I really enjoy maintaining a connection with the place. And going to Rudy's Pizza on the regular, of course.

It's come to my attention recently that there is a recent bumper crop of bands playing some particular styles of music that really do it for me and I feel compelled to write about them. Now, obviously I'm no Bellingham expert anymore and my perspective is definitely skewed as an outsider, so take all this with a grain of salt or as the ramblings of ex-Bellingham dickhead on the wrong side of his 20s.

Trees & Stars

15 seconds into the "Kientz EP" and I was sold. My jaw physically dropped. The bands that do the American Football/Mineral/"End of the Ring Wars"-era Appleseed Cast kind of sound this well are few and far between. I mean these guys nail it, but in a way that doesn't sound like a cover band. it sounds like a bizzaro version of those previously mentioned bands that could have easily been a contemporary of them. The opening song "200 Mississippi" gives me chills as it captures feelings of hopelessness and resignation with such flawless, raw authenticity that it's just breathtaking. By the time the last song "Unfortunately, This is The Apocalypse" comes along with its somber trumpet melodies in the background and then the searing reverb-drenched guitar lead kicks in, well, it's pretty much game over. I look forward to seeing this band live some day soon, I hope.

Download/stream the EP here

So Adult

Full disclosure, this band features and has featured in the past some of my favorite people in the world, so I'm highly biased. That said, So Adult seem to have emerged as one of the best and hardest working bands in Bellingham these days, playing tons of local shows and even touring to the East Coast and back. They do an incredible job of paying homage to bands like The Replacements, The Lemonheads, Husker Du and bits of Dinosaur Jr all while delivering catchy tunes that are all their own. Their "Rookie" Ep from last year is one of my favorite EPs ever and they have a full length on the way.

So Adult's Facebook page has some tunes on it you can download/stream.

Anyway, Soon

Another band that totally took me by surprise by doing a Mineral/Sunny Day Real Estate/Appleseed Cast-influenced sound shockingly well. That is to say, this is as wussy as it gets. Which is awesome. What I really like about this four song 2011 demo is how sparse-sounding the songs are. Nothing showy, just mellow guitar noodling and sad sounding melodies all held together by rock solid drumming. The last song, "Listless" showcases the band at it's most Mineral-y and even throws in a nice, warm sounding keyboard line. In case you can't tell yet, I'm a complete sucker for this shit. Also, excited to see this band live someday.

Download/stream a whole bunch of Anyway, Soon's jams here.

Livingston Seagull

This band of Bremerton transplants know how to make compelling pop-punk. It's hard for me to name any solid comparisons, but at times they sound like early-era Jawbreaker and Dillinger Four and then other times get kind of Husker Du-ish. The demo CD-R I picked up from them when they opened for  Algernon Cadwallader has 5 songs on it and they all have a refreshingly raw sound and honest vibe. Not to mention almost frustratingly catchy. Shit gets stuck in my head for days. If someone were to ask me what pop-punk from the Northwest sounds like I would definitely point to this band. There's something just intangibly great and comforting about these songs.


Livingston Seagull is also apparently single-handedly keeping Myspace alive, jam some 'Gull here.

Omnivore

I recently stopped calling myself a vegetarian and have been thinking a lot about kinds of responses I've been getting so far. To be fair, I've been a really shitty vegetarian for a long time, taking occasional meat-cations when the mood would strike or if it was something that was too good to pass up. Baby back ribs and steaks have long been weaknesses of mine. And as any uptight PC vegan warrior would gladly point out, I was technically a "peskatarian" all along since I occasionally ate fish. Mostly sushi because, well duh.

I started going vegetarian around 2004 in an effort to "eat healthier." Well, that didn't really happen for a couple years as I was pretty much just eating the same bullshit without beef, chicken or pork. It wasn't until I learned more about getting protein and other needed nutrients from other non-meat sources that I started getting healthier. I also started losing weight sometime in 2007 due these dietary changes and walking to work and all around Seattle in general. Then I actually started working out again a little bit and lost more weight. Then I met Cassie who got me back in running and now I'm a fucking runner and can do nearly 10 miles with relative ease. These changes would have seem unfathomable in say, 2005.

These changes were partly spawned by the choice to become vegetarian. Now that I'm healthy, I feel perfectly okay with eating meat on a more frequent basis. But, being the environmental sustainability nerd that I am, I like to make the effort to make sure I know the source of the meat, as well as avoiding fast food. For me, it was never about animal rights. It was about reducing impacts on the environment through not supporting the current mainstream food and farming system in America and being healthier at the same time. I still believe in that, but there are plenty of ways to do so and eat meat when you feel like it, too.

But, the way people have been reacting to me not being vegetarian anymore has bothered me. Some act like they won some of competition that I wasn't aware of participating in. Some react in a told-you-so kind of fashion, like it was just a phase. Some just can't believe that I'm no longer the one being picky about what's for dinner and having to be like, "Um, yeah I don't eat chicken soooo..." Which I still kind of do depending on the situation.

I don't think it's fair to call it a phase since it was a choice that helped jumpstart the way view food and a healthy lifestyle. And it just goes to show that despite how much more socially acceptable being vegetarian has become in the last decade or so, it's still one of those stigmas that people (read: meat-eaters) really hold onto as something that's strange or peculiar.

So here's to being an omnivore, but remaining conscious of what you put in your body and where it comes from. Uptight vegan warriors can still fuck off and die.