Following a successful tour that resulted in glowing accolades from coast to coast, Wild Flag returns home to Portland for an intimate engagement at Bunk Bar – a newer offshoot of recently established local restaurant darling, Bunk Sandwiches. The venue is, in fact, so new that Google Maps has no listing for it. I finally arrive at the secluded Southeast Waterfront location, still more than an hour before tickets go on sale, and settle in at a booth that offers a good vantage point. I was fortunate enough to see Wild Flag's first show in Portland a mere two months ago, and am expecting a similar level of greatness from these seasoned performers. Though they have yet to record an album, a considerable buzz follows Wild Flag wherever they go.
Tickets go on sale at 8:00, but audience members are perched atop every available surface long before that time. A Bunk Bar staff person makes the rounds and politely asks each person to step outside, pay, and return to his or her seat. A bit disorganized, but it seems to work. The opening band begins their sound check, and whispers travel through the room. The scheduled openers, Drew Grow and the Pastors' Wives, are not onstage. Through the grapevine I learn that Drew Grow was involved a nasty car accident the night before, resulting in broken bones and the cancellation of the band’s appearance. Replacing them on less than twelve hours' notice is Ramona Falls, founded by former Menomena member Brent Knopf.
Ramona Falls offer a solid, well-crafted sound that floats and echoes through the small space. The stage is lit sparsely from below, making the band difficult to see. Bunk Bar must have added live music as an afterthought, and the venue wasn’t built with good acoustics or a proper stage in mind. Nonetheless, the band is energetic and upbeat, and vocals are strong if slightly garbled. Five performers are crammed onto a stage no bigger than two restaurant tables sitting side by side, but they make it work. Knopf shares vocal harmonies with Cheri MacNeil on several songs, resulting in lovely complexity. The crowd is amped as Ramona Falls’ final number builds to a crescendo, and the band leaves the stage amid well-deserved cheers. They deliver an excellent performance considering the short notice.
The members of Wild Flag gradually gather onstage, giggling quietly with one another as they take their places. An overly dark performance area prompts a Bunk Bar staffer to hang a yellow shop light from the rafters, and the cord stretches precariously above Janet Weiss' drum set. The band dedicates the set to Drew Grow – revealed to be Weiss' boyfriend – except for any mistakes they may make. Their raucous first song is sullied by terrible squealing feedback that drowns out much of the lyrics and overshadows the instruments. Mary Timony's voice is off during the second song, and the feedback continues with no effort to fix it. The resulting atmosphere is reminiscent of an early '90s basement show in Olympia, rather than a performance by a supergroup with decades of combined experience.
Guitarist and primary vocalist Carrie Brownstein, whose "Portlandia" television series is scheduled to begin lampooning our city on cable later this month, tells us she is glad to be playing a casual show. Casual may be too kind a word for this mess. Bunk Bar’s sound is atrocious, and the band members are completely out of step with one another. Wild Flag isn’t a noise band by any measure, but the audio interference places them squarely in that genre for the evening. Janet Weiss creates a solid beat during "Future Crimes," and Brownstein makes a point of telling us that the next two songs are new. Until an album is released, though, all Wild Flag songs are new. The next song is a Fleetwood Mac cover, "You Make Loving Fun," and the crowd eats it up. Water from an unknown source begins dripping on the drum area, distracting the band once again. False starts plague this performance, making it seem like more of a practice session than an official gig.
"Romance" is next, and it's the strongest delivery of the night. Brownstein growls suggestively into the microphone, and the drumbeats behind her are bold. A few good songs at the end could salvage this event. “Romance” ends in a long jam session that leads into "Race Horse." By this time, the band has embraced the shrill feedback and begun to encourage it. Brownstein coaxes the ear-splitting sounds out of her amp, running half of the remaining audience out the door. Wild Flag ends their set abruptly, and we are quickly shooed onto the sidewalk without an encore. There is a glaring disparity between their previous Portland show, which left audience members clamoring for more, and this one that drove us prematurely into the rain. I can only wonder what went wrong, and hope for salvation in their forthcoming album.
