Jackpot! Covers Portland

Lookbook
May 5, 2012

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Lookbook
"Doom Town"
A cover of The Wipers song from 1983 off the album Over The Edge

"For a long while I've had this song going through my head on a regular basis. It's so creepy! Way back in '83 The Wipers really captured a piece of Portland that really stands the test of time. It reminds me of the way the city felt when I would travel through in the late '90s and early 2000s before I moved here from Ohio. My good friend, Ryan Lynn knew I was a fan and mentioned that Larry Crane was doing a Portland covers project and wanted to include The Wipers. I figured someone had already picked this song, but asked him to email Larry anyway. A day later I received an email from Mr. Crane asking me what I had in mind and I think we were both surprised that no one had requested "Doom Town" ...yet. So we made a date and here's how it came out. Different. But still creepy, I hope. Sometimes, yeah sometimes when you're in a band things do come together exactly the way you want them to. This is a great example of that for me and my compadres." -Errant Kohl (guitars and voice), Bronco Beeghly (bass), Tom Tom Thompson (drums, timpani, spooky tube)
Recorded March 28, 2012, posted May 5, 2012.
Produced, recorded and mixed by Larry Crane @ Jackpot! Recording Studio.

Dolorean
April 13, 2012

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Dolorean
"I Wanna Live"
A cover of the Gary Ogan & Bill Lamb song from 1972

"Al James and his crew have long haunted the halls of Jackpot! Recording, having worked with us a few times under the hand of producer/engineer Jeff Stuart Saltzman. When Tape Op writer Steve Silverstein suggested someone cover "I Wanna Live" from Gary Ogan & Bill Lamb's 1972 album Portland (on Elektra Records), the first group I thought of doing justice to the tune was Dolorean. We tracked almost all of the song live, after many arrangement decisions, and then overdubbed vocals and organ. I think this cover came out so perfect - I love the mood of it!" -Larry Crane
Al James, acoustic guitar/vocals; Jay Clarke, organ/piano; Ben Nugent, drums/backing vocals; James Adair, bass, Jon Neufeld, electric guitar, Jesse Bates, lap steel; Kaylee Cole, backing vocals
Recorded March 4, 2012, posted April 13, 2012.
Produced, recorded and mixed by Larry Crane @ Jackpot! Recording Studio.

System and Station
March 31, 2012

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System and Station
"Plainclothes Man"
A cover of the Heatmiser song from 1996

"When Elliott Smith and I opened Jackpot! in 1997 his band Heatmiser had called it quits just a few months prior. Their swansong, Mic City Sons, was a highly-rewarding album, full of great songs written by Elliott and Neil Gust and powered by the rhythm section of Tony Lash (who has engineered at Jackpot!) and Sam Coomes (who's recorded many Quasi records with us). I've recorded many albums for my friends System and Station over the last decade or so, and when Ryan Heise (vocals, keys, guitar) suggested doing a cover of "Plainclothes Man" from Mic City Sons it seemed somehow appropriate. The rest of the band - Josh Vasby (guitar, keys), Adam Schultz (bass), Bryan Fairfield (drums) - are long time Jackpot! alumni, with stints in Room 101/Kieskagato. Elliott Smith obsessives will note a different arrangement and slight lyric variations - these are based on an unreleased version of the song that Elliott recorded solo after Heatmiser's version was in the can, and System added their guitar-based outro. Enjoy."
-Larry Crane
Recorded March 3, 2012, posted Mar 31, 2012.
Produced, recorded and mixed by Larry Crane @ Jackpot! Recording Studio.

The Blue Cranes
March 6, 2012

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The Blue Cranes
"Corporal's Lament"
A cover of the 31 Knots instrumental from 2002

"For this project, we originally wanted to cover someone really old school, such as the Hell Cows, The Wipers, Dead Moon, or Completely Grocery. However, when it came time to pick a song, we ended up having a really hard time finding one that would translate well into our guitar-less, vocal-less instrumentation and still remain interesting. Just as we were about to make up our minds, I remembered this amazing 31 Knots track that I used to listen to over and over again on a 2001 Portland Mercury compilation. As soon as it hit the CD player, we all agreed that this was "the one." Joe Cunningham (tenor saxophone) took it home and did the work of transcribing Joe Haege and Jay Winebrenner's haunting vocal/guitar/bass harmonies. We had fun messing with the dynamics and timing [note Keith Brush on acoustic bass and Ji Tanzer on drums] of the song, and adding new textures, such as Rebecca Sanborn's accordion at the beginning, bells, and a hole-punched melody cranked through a write-your-own music box. It is fitting that we recorded this project at Jackpot! - we later learned that the original track, which appeared on 31 Knots' 2002 The Rehearsal Dinner EP was also recorded here. Thank you to engineer Kendra Lynn for inviting us to take part in this, and to Joe Haege for writing a beautiful song."
-Reed Wallsmith (alto saxophone)
Recorded Feb 29, 2012, posted Mar 6, 2012
Recorded and mixed by Kendra Lynn @ Jackpot! Recording Studio.

Rebecca Gates and the Consortium
January 31, 2012

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Rebecca Gates and the Consortium
"Dangerous"
A cover of the Cool'R classic from 1982

Rebecca Gates has long been a friend of ours at Jackpot!, and she encouraged Larry Crane and Elliott Smith to collaborate on establishing the initial Jackpot! Recording Studio. Gates was the leader of The Spinanes in the '90s, and our first song on JCP was actually a cover of one of her songs. Here Rebecca (on guitars and keys) is joined by Jackpot!'s "first intern", bassist Joanna Bolme (also of The Jicks), and drummer Ji Tanzer (of Blue Cranes) (who also played some keys and percussion). The song they cover is from the legendary Portland R&B group Cool'R who flirted with mainstream success in the early '80s, and had formed from the previous Portland R&B group Pleasure. Both groups were well known nationally in their time, and bassist Nate Phillips went on to play with Jeff Lorber Fusion, among others. But be careful, this song is "dangerously" hook-laden. Enjoy the free download and support local music!
Recorded Dec 30, 2011, mixed various days of Jan 2012, posted January 31, 2012
Recorded and mixed by Larry Crane @ Jackpot! (of course) and produced by Larry and the group. (Check out Boing Boing's download page with this song as well!)

Mission Spotlight
November 6, 2011

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Mission Spotlight
"Noel, Jonah and Me"
A cover of The Spinanes' classic from 1993

This session was super fun, cutting Kurt Foster's live vocals along with the band in one of our iso booths. Ryan Lynn's pedal steel really gives this cover a barnstorming country edge (on the right plus a cool overdub in the middle) and you'll hear Faz Debeb's rocking guitar panned to the left. Jeremy Dietz holds down the bass and special (temporary?) drummer Evan Railton (Swords Project, Blue Giant) rocks as always. Mission Spotlight is a special band to us at Jackpot!, as Kurt was in Worthington, a band that recorded a great album at our old location in 1997, and along with Faz and Jeremy he also had the band Recall 7, whom we also recorded a few years back - not to mention that they helped us move piles of gear into our current location. Look for an upcoming 2012 EP that they just recorded (along with this cover song) with Jackpot1's owner, Larry Crane, producing, engineering and mixing.
The song itself, "Noel, Jonah and Me" is a cover of the excellent Spinanes' track from their debut album Manos (Sub Pop, 1993). The Spinanes' leader, Rebecca Gates, has been another long time client and good friend of Jackpot!, and look for her contribution to Jackpot! Covers Portland coming up soon! Enjoy the free download and support local music!
Recorded Nov 22, 2011, mixed Dec 14, 2011, posted January 3, 2012