Scherler Sundays: Gun Outfit, Amps For Christ, Blues Faeries

On this year's final installment of highlights from the Scherler Sundays live series, headlining act Gun Outfit is a twangy , dreamy rock band that started in Olympia in the mid-aughties, and relocated to Los Angeles several years later.  Carrie and Dylan still have family around these parts, so they brought their kid up to visit with the kinfolk, along with the rest of their crew as they share some favorites from their catalog and surprise with a handful of new tunes.  Amps For Christ is the long-term project of Henry Barnes, and he's a friend of the show (See episode 15).  He also happens to play guitar in Gun Outfit, so he gets a bit of a double feature today.  Opening the show is a new power trio called Blues Faeries, comprised of Olympia heavy hitters Jon Merrithew (C Average, Mosquito Hawk, The Noses), Dave Harvey (Nudity, Tight Bros From Way Back When) and Jaysen Lee Peters (The Cold Sweats). We'll get to hear insights and anecdotes from all the performers here as well.  This year's Scherler Sundays concert series was such a blast, and it was great to see so many of you there! Looking forward to plotting one in 2024...

This episode was engineered by Kefa Crow, documented by Andrew Ebright, and mixed + edited by Rose Nielsen. 

Scherler Sundays: Morgan and The Organ Donors, XOHNO, Chance of Ghosts

In this eighth installment of highlights from 2023’s Scherler Sundays live series, we have another all-Olympia showcase. This time, we hear performances and stories from Morgan and the Organ Donors, XOHNO, and Chance of Ghosts.

The MODs feature Sara Peté's soft dreamy vocals and rhythmic 60s garage riffs, with "Wildman" James Maeda weaving in subtle guitar complexities, all held together by COCO's Olivia Ness and Bikini Kill's Tobi Vail on bass and drums. You may have seen wife and husband duo Sara and James playing a couple of songs together when James opened for Michael Hurley at last year's Scherler Sundays. If you missed it, check it out here!

X.O.H.N.O. is Olympia’s own glossy arena pop anthem machine, blending the shimmering sweetness of Donna and Summer’s vocal delivery with the hard-hitting dance floor grooves of producer/songwriter DR WOW. Expect a hefty serving of earworms.

And kicking off today’s show is Chance of Ghosts- a new post-punk group comprised of folks who have been rocking Olympia since before you were probably born. It’s a perfect storm, featuring members of Tiger Trap, C Average and more!

Scherler Sundays: Riley Kendig, UK Gold

In the seventh installment of highlights from this year’s Scherler Sundays concert and interview series, we’re getting another healthy helping of Olympia, WA rock and roll music. First up is Riley Kendig and his newly christened Magenta Sextet in their first public appearance, performing fully-realized arrangements of tunes off his excellent debut bedroom pop cassette entitled “Yr Car.” Next up, local power trio UK Gold takes the stage for a blistering onslaught of urgent post-punk outbursts. This episode was engineered by Kefa Crow, documented by Andrew Ebright, and mixed by Rose Nielsen.

Some more recordings from this episode’s guests:

Scherler Sundays: Kicking Giant, Anna Oxygen, Guidon Bear

When I started this show five years ago, I made a short list of artists I wanted to feature. Near the top of that list was the British musician Vashti Bunyan. Vashti Bunyan released her beautiful album “Just Another Diamond Day” in 1970, and it was almost immediately buried in time.

She’d had her fair share of disappointment in the music business and walked away from it altogether, until some three decades later when people like me discovered her music for the first time. Suddenly, Vashti was in demand, and her music career was back on track. In her recent memoir, “Wayward” from White Rabbit publishing, she chronicles her early days in the pop music world, collaborations with members of The Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin, her unbelievable horse and wagon journey throughout the UK that inspired her first album, and her unlikely return to the music world. Vashti speaks with me today from her home in Scotland.

Available now for patreon supporters at patreon.com/lowprofile and across streaming platforms on January 11th, 2024

This episode was edited by Rose Nielsen.On July 23rd, 2023 a meeting of the minds occurred behind the Carnegie Library in downtown Olympia, WA. Pat Maley and Mary Sharp (formerly of Oly rock duo Little Red Car Wreck) arrived with their new band Guidon Bear to warm up the grassy knoll for Anna Oxygen, who has lived in New York for almost twenty years, and Tae Won Yu + Rachel Carns, better known as Kicking Giant. In between all the music, I spoke to the five of them about their glory days in the 90s Olympia punk scene, and got caught up on what’s been going on since. Spoiler, a lot’s been happening!

This episode was engineered, mixed and edited by Rose Nielsen, and documented by Andrew Ebright.

Scherler Sundays: The Gift Machine, Joshua James Amberson, Hot Rush

Still from video by Nathan Reilly

This is the fifth installment of highlights from this year’s Scherler Sundays concert and interview series. Today’s show was recorded on July 16th behind the Carnegie Library in Olympia, WA and features performances from San DiegWhen I started this show five years ago, I made a short list of artists I wanted to feature. Near the top of that list was the British musician Vashti Bunyan. Vashti Bunyan released her beautiful album “Just Another Diamond Day” in 1970, and it was almost immediately buried in time.

She’d had her fair share of disappointment in the music business and walked away from it altogether, until some three decades later when people like me discovered her music for the first time. Suddenly, Vashti was in demand, and her music career was back on track. In her recent memoir, “Wayward” from White Rabbit publishing, she chronicles her early days in the pop music world, collaborations with members of The Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin, her unbelievable horse and wagon journey throughout the UK that inspired her first album, and her unlikely return to the music world. Vashti speaks with me today from her home in Scotland.

Available now for patreon supporters at patreon.com/lowprofile and across streaming platforms on January 11th, 2024

This episode was edited by Rose Nielsen.o band The Gift Machine and Hot Rush, plus Joshua James Amberson reads from his latest book “Staring Contest.” The Gift Machine is returning to Low Profile, after being featured way back on episode 7. Their latest album is called “Consolation Prize.” This episode was engineered by Kefa Crow, documented by Andrew Ebright, mixed and edited by Rose Nielsen.

Scherler Sundays: Karl Blau, Tim McBride & the Divide

Pictured: Jon Hyde (sitting) , Karl Blau (standing). Still shot from video by Nathan Reilly

Karl Blau makes his fourth appearance on Low Profile- as featured guest back on episode 29, and then taking over the show producing interviews with Temple of Bon Matin and Hermit Thrushes. This episode marks his first appearance on the program as a live performer, with a smoking hot quartet behind him. After the performance, we discuss his goings on in Philadelphia and back here in the Pacific Northwestern United States. Good thing this was an early show, he had to head to a gig down in Portland right after. Enter Olympia’s own Tim McBride and the Divide, a band that started just in time for the global pandemic and re-emerged about a year ago, uncaging a skillfully crafted world of punk rock storytelling. Tim and co. stick around for a disarming round of “gotcha journalism.”

Recorded before a live audience on July 9 2023 in downtown Olympia, Washington outdoors behind the historic Carnegie Library by Kefa Crow and Andrew Ebright, post production by Rose Neilsen.

Scherler Sundays: Heatwarmer, The Purple Shadows

Recorded live on 07/02/2023 from this year's Scherler Sundays concert series, prog-pop trio Heatwarmer returns to Low Profile in person performing a handful of songs from their latest album "It's A Nightmare" and catches up on what's been going on since the geographically dispersed group's previous appearance on this show. Olympia honky-tonk mainstays The Purple Shadows kick this event off with a hearty helping of original cosmic American music.

Scherler Sundays: Ralph Reign, Doctor Sleep

Jason Traeger of the Traegermethod podcast fills in as host, presenting performances and conversations with Olympia synth rock artist Doctor Sleep and Tacoma rapper Ralph Reign. Interestingly enough, both of these guys incorporate a Nintendo Game Boy into their distinctly different sounds. This episode is being cross-released on both Low Profile and Traegermethod via the podcast universe. If you like one show, you’ll probably like the other, and there’s a lot of episodes to dig into. This is the second installment of Scherler Sundays 2023, recorded by Andrew Ebright and Kefa Crow, in front of a live audience behind the Carnegie Library in Olympia, Washington.

Scherler Sundays: Elf Power, Your Heart Breaks, Kinetic Paranormal Society

This is the season eight premiere of Low Profile.  This season is gonna be coming at you every Friday for the next couple of months, and it’s all pretty fresh stuff.  Right now we are in the middle of Scherler Sundays, a weekly concert and interview series hosted by 3 Magnets Brewing in downtown Olympia.  If you’re in the area, it’d be great to see you there, every Sunday at 3pm through August 13th.  This is the first one, recorded on June 18th 2023.  First up is a puppet theater troupe from Arcata, CA called the Kinetic Paranormal Society.  Unfortunately, there were some technical difficulties with the recording of their performance and it just didn’t turn out, but we did manage to get a good recording of my interview with  Bartleby, one of the puppets.  You can hear their scripted podcast wherever you’re hearing this, just look for the Kinetic Paranormal Society podcast.  After that, it’s a performance from Your Heart Breaks, the long term project of musician, filmmaker and visual artist Clyde Peterson. We’ll be talking about his new documentary about the band Earth, and his new Your Heart Breaks album “The Wrack Line” out now on Kill Rock Stars records.  Finally, a set from our friends Elf Power, who drove out west from Athens, GA to play a show in the rain.