What's Up! Magazine

Home Bass, one of the newest house venues in Bellingham, hosted its fourth show ever on a subdued Sunday night. As I approached the house in the York neighborhood, I could hear the first band warming up. This would prove be to be an omen for what would happen later that night.

As I entered the house, which is the home of Lumpkin’s members David Ney and Kevin Lee, Bellingham up-and-comers Falling Upstairs were beginning their set. The band, formerly known as PayMeNoNever, is a three-piece consisting of Brendan LaBotz on a fretless bass, Jonathan Sherman on drums and Ryan Wapnowski on an effects-laden saxophone. I’ve seen this band a few times now and they get better every time. LaBotz churns out heavy riffs, while Sherman bangs away wildly on the drums. His drum playing is somewhere between punk and jazz with its tricky time signatures and pure aggression. While all this is going on, blurts of saxophone are laid down over the top, which simultaneously accentuates the groove while keeping the listeners on their toes.

About three quarters of the way through their set the first noise complaint of the New Year was received from a neighbor. David Ney respected the neighbor and asked Falling Upstairs to turn it down a bit for the last couple songs of their set. It was pretty obvious this band isn’t used to turning it down. Despite having to turn down, Falling Upstairs still sounded great and are definitely a Bellingham band to keep an eye on as there is nothing like them in town.

Next was Sam Humans, a quirky three-piece from Portland, Oregon. As the noise was still an issue, this band was also asked to tone it down some. The majority of the crowd sat on the carpet (an unexpected luxury compared to the sticky, beer-soaked floors of some venues in town). With a minimalist flamenco-inspired finger picking technique and delay-laden vocals, singer/guitar player Sam had my head boppin’ and my feet tappin’ within seconds. About half way through the set, Bellingham’s finest interfered due to said noise complaints, which was disappointing as the band wasn’t even that loud in the first place. Everyone turned down their amps and the drummer used his hands and only the snare drum for the final portion of their set. Once the police left, the show was put on hold while Ney attempted to find another venue to move the show to, Cap Hansen’s being the most promising.

But, alas, the show was unable to be moved and came to an abrupt and unexpected end. The Lumpkin’s did not get to play and both bands that did play were hampered by the noise limit. But, despite all these factors, both bands were awesome and I had a great time.