Donerail's Official Website — Portland Band

I gotta say, I love road trips and I think I can comfortably speak for the rest of the guys when I say that Donerail loves playing in Seattle, especially at the Skylark Cafe & Club in West Seattle. If you haven’t been to the The Skylark then do yourself a favor and go. It’s a great bar and a great venue. To me, it just oozes rock ‘n roll…in a good way. We made the three hour, blustery and very water logged, trek North to play with two bands that we were excited to play with: Oldman Winter and Static Radio, both hailing from the Seattle Area.

Oldman Winter kicked the night off in grand fashion unleashing a twangy re-verb soaked dirge that just kind of grabbed you and didn’t let go. You knew some sort of emotional explosion was going to happen and some point, but when was unclear. I love it when a band ups the ante with suspense and keeps bringing you to the edge of your seat with anticipation that builds with every swell and crescendo, only to pull back to leave you wondering and wanting. They finally let the crowd have it about 4 songs in and smacked us upside the head with the upbeat Winder Ups. After that, you couldn’t help but be hooked.

Donerail took the stage next and we really didn’t waste any time, kicking off (and setting the tone for the rest of the set) with a blistering version of Bozeman. I don’t remember a night where we played as aggressive and up tempo as we played that night. I don’t know if we necessarily played with a swagger, but there definitely was a sneer. Maybe it was the wind and rain. Maybe it was JP almost getting washed off I-5. Maybe we were that excited to be back in Seattle. Our mellow songs ended up a little fast and our up tempo songs just got faster. Looking out and seeing smiles, heads bobbing and random people throwing the “hoodlum horns”, I couldn’t help but smile and play that much harder. We played roughly a 45 min set and played mainly newer material, but we did include a few favorites.

Static Radio ended the night on a happy note with swirling pop rhythms and harmonies that made it apparent of their love for The Beatles. They even treated us to a cover of an early song by the Fab Four. The Seattle trio capped of an already awesome night by keeping everyone’s head’s bobbing.

Highlights:

• Talk 2 Me – It really doesn’t matter where we go, this song (off the My Friend The Bear EP) never fails to be a crowd favorite. Seattle was not an exception. My voice checked out after this song and still hasn’t come back.
• ViceCop – One of the most physically painful songs to play in our catalog. We dedicated it to our good friend Tara as a birthday wish and then whipped an excited crowd into a frenzy!
• Left Of The Dial – Playing a Replacements cover has never been so fun. Turned out that this is one of Brent from Oldman Winter’s favorite Replacement songs. In one of the more rock ‘n roll moments of the evening, he agreed to jump up on stage and lend a hand singing. As Duncan stated on the drive back, I thought the roof was gonna come off the joint.

Next Stop: November 14th – Waldo’s  in Klamath Falls OR

-Dan