The Dimes- Portland’s Best Kept Secret
The Dimes have become a local favorite of mine this last year. They have been getting more and more air time on the local FM as well as working hard on their fan appreciation via their online presence as well as local free shows when they are in town. The Dimes are a 5 piece folk/pop band that plays sunny-pop confectionery goodness. The band released their first full length album, The Silent Generation, on December 11th, last year. The Silent Generation is somewhat of a concept album that was inspired by a series of Depression-era newspapers that guitarist, Pierre Kaiser, found buried beneath the old floors of his 1908 Portland home. While at first simply entertaining, the band realized that the cast of characters and their stories contained within those pages offered a strong source of material for an album. They have resurrected these stories from their pages of history and told the story through their album. You can find very similar songs in another Portland band, The Decemberists. (listen to Battle of San Jacinto)
Fun fact:
The song, “Catch Me Jumping”, is a true story about a friend of the Dimes, who once jumped from the top deck of a Navy ship into the Persian Gulf; restricted to a Naval base in Japan after the incident, the newly landlocked pal put together a Japanese tour for the band.
The Battle of San Jacinto
Catch Me Jumping (Live)
“Paul Kern Can’t Sleep,” the tale of a World War I vet who took a bullet to the head and lost the ability to sleep for 30 years.
Live Podcast from Seattle KEXP radio (download mp3)
The Libertator, (Live). This song was about an abolitionist newspaper from the mid-1800s published by a man named William Lloyd Garrison, who was himself a prominent abolitionist and activist. Published during the years leading up to the American Civil War, The Liberator grew in circulation and popularity and gave a voice to those who some wanted to keep silent, at a time when slavery still plagued this country and a black man couldn’t even cast a vote.
MP3s:
The Dimes – Battle of San Jacinto
Upcoming Shows
- 05/16/09 in The Dimes in Yachats, OR at the Landmark Lounge
- 05/29/09 in The Dimes in Seattle, WA at Seattle University
- 06/05/09 in The Dimes in Portland, OR at the Doug Fir Lounge w/ The Clumsy Lovers
- 06/06/09 in The Dimes in Seattle, WA at The Crocodile w/ The Clumsy Lovers
- 06/27/09 in The Dimes in Lake Oswego, OR at the Lake Oswego Festival of the Arts
- 07/10/09 in The Dimes in Seattle, WA at the West Seattle Summerfest (California Stage)
- 07/16/09 in The Dimes in Portland, OR at KINK Noon Tunes in Pioneer Square
