Artist profile: Rainstick Cowbell

Rainstick Cowbell promotional photo
Rainstick Cowbell promotional photo

Rainstick Cowbell is a unique musical entity from Portland, Oregon, one man with his own distinctive vision of music. An acoustic guitar and a voice — what could be more common? But there’s nothing common about Scott Arbogast’s music. From his lyrics, to his playing, to his singing, to his attire, you never know what to expect from Rainstick Cowbell.

Personnel:

  • Scott Arbogast — Guitar, vocals

Links to artist websites:

Links were good as of when the artist performed. Some may no longer work.

Performances:

Artist profile: Points North

Points North promotional photo
Points North promotional photo

Points North is a Bay Area power trio comprised of three experienced session players with a mind-boggling array of credits to their names. When they get together for their own music, they play an engaging flavor of rock that balances technical prowess with melodic hooks and influences from progressive rock, classic rock, and melodic hard rock.

Personnel:

  • Eric Barnett — Guitar
  • Uriah Duffy — Bass
  • Kevin Aiello — Drums
  • Kristina Borja — Guest vocals

Links to artist websites:

Links were good as of when the artist performed. Some may no longer work.

Performances:

Artist profile: Pinto Wagonfire

Pinto Wagonfire promotional photo
Pinto Wagonfire promotional photo

Pinto Wagonfire is a newer Seattle band with its individual roots spanning over three decades of writing and performance. Joseph, Dave, and Tom last performed together in the mid-90’s band Chalkline Dogs. With the recent addition of drummer Will Bagby (from So-Cal jazz-rock group Rullian, among others) the spark for making music together was reignited. Purely an instrumental outfit at this time, their brand of Progressive hard rock is riff centric, and slightly cosmic, foraging the spirit of their past collectives with new, energetic creativity, and a collective love of Progressive music.

Personnel:

  • Joseph Fischer — Guitars
  • Tom Prather — Organ, synths, piano (2017)
  • Steve Miller — Organ, synths (2019)
  • Will Bagby — Drums, percussion
  • Dave McClelland — Bass

Links to artist websites:

Links were good as of when the artist performed. Some may no longer work.

Performances:

  • Seaprog 2017 — Day Zero
  • Seaprog Presents — September 2019

Artist profile: Paraesthesia

Paraesthesia promotional photo
Paraesthesia promotional photo

The Seattle band Paraesthesia was born out of the solo recordings of Robert Svilpa. Wishing a band to present his new music, he brought together Paul Harrington, John Hernandez, and Graham Usherwood, all of whom are experienced players in a wide range of styles, and formed a group which fuses elements of many styles into a satisfying mix that has been garnering them positive reviews from around the world.

Personnel:

  • Robert Svilpa — Guitars, keyboards, vocals
  • Paul Harrington — Keyboards, vocals
  • John Hernandez — Drums, vocals
  • Marc Miller — Bass, vocals
  • Art Bromage — Guitar

Links to artist websites:

Links were good as of when the artist performed. Some may no longer work.

Performances:

Artist profile: Omni

Omni promotional photo
Omni promotional photo

After many permutations of the lineup over the years, OMNI has recently reconvened in its most focused and modern interpretation of the band: a trio. With wide ranging instrumentation that includes Warr guitar, percussion, and analog synths as well as the standard guitar, bass, and drums, the band creates a lot of sound with just three humans. A love of music from influences such as King Crimson, Peter Gabriel, and Brian Eno all the way to Boards of Canada, Killing Joke, Faith No More, and Death Grips/Hella inform the sound. The goal has always been to bring in visceral emotion in balance with competence of musicianship.

Personnel:

  • Chris Cullman — Bass
  • Will Andrews — Drums
  • Patrick Allen — Guitar

Links to artist websites:

Links were good as of when the artist performed. Some may no longer work.

Performances: