MUSIC .

Smile, You're Doomed

Did Quasi just put out the feel-good record of the year? (No.)


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Published: Apr 20, 2010

FANCY THAT: The newly minted Quasi trio (L-R) Weiss, Coomes and Bolmes.

[ indie rock ]

It's not that American Gong (Kill Rock Stars) is a happy record. Like every album in Portland band Quasi's 17-year history, it's full of privilege-baiting rock songs, odes to the disappointed and anthems of worker-bee drudgery. But there are a couple moments of pure, wild resilience. Like "Everything & Nothing At All," which repeats "Don't let them get you down" and culminates with "I just know I love you so."

Sitting in a shady parking lot after a sunny SXSW show last month, frontman Sam Coomes isn't sure what to make of this idea that he's trending "happier." Quasi albums, musically and lyrically, never spring from concepts or prevailing moods.

"We don't have a plan. We don't have a concept. We don't sit down and say we wanna do this, we wanna make this kind of record and write these kinds of songs. We just live our lives, write about it, work out the songs, and go out and play them.

"There's more happiness in my life so it seems natural there should be more happiness in my music," he concedes politely. "Just being older has a lot to do with it. The other thing is I've got a family now. I've got a 7-year-old daughter, and that just takes you out of your own mind. I think a lot of the unhappiness you have when you're younger is because you're just locked in your own mind. Once you have a kid, you can't be that way. ... All your little hang-ups, and your little neurotic things, seem very self-centered relative to the wider world."

Coomes and drummer Janet Weiss (you might also know her from The Jicks and Sleater-Kinney) have recently expanded their little duo to include a bassist, Joanna Bolme (also a Jick). This gets Coomes out from behind the keyboards more often.

"The piano has been reduced to a minority of the songs in the set, and that's mostly because the guitar's more fun," he says. "Now with the bass holding down the low end, I can just go off and do my thing."

Which on this day entailed him standing on his amps and monitors and just wailing on the guitar. With the sun shining and a gentle breeze blowing, he pretty much smiled the entire show. (There wasn't a keyboard in sight, but you can chalk that up to SXSW's hectic pace.)

The 12-year-old "You Fucked Yourself" sounded fresh and sprightly on guitar. "The chords worked out easy, I didn't have to do any finger stretching," says Coomes. The old favorite fit nicely in a set that included a Who cover and a bunch of new ones — especially "Little White Horse" and "Bye Bye Blackbird" — that stick to the classic Quasi formula: high energy, inventive arrangements and witty lyrics of doom and despair.

"We are doomed. We're all gonna die," shrugs Coomes. "And, I don't know what kind of doom that is — I don't think that's exactly doom, but there's no way out. So. That's the reality."

(pat@citypaper.net)

Quasi plays Fri., April 23, 9 p.m., $12, with Let's Wrestle, Johnny Brenda's, 1201 N. Frankford Ave., 877-435-9849, johnnybrendas.com.