Sunday, May 26, 2013

NARROWS. TOTAL.


I've always been interested in towns and cities where bands come from, and like to think about how they might impact the music that bands play. It's probably a long shot, but its fascinating and important to know where bands come from for me. So, here's the rest: Olympia, Washington's got it's less-cool neighboring communities. Your Tumwaters, your Laceys. Kind of far, but maybe Bucoda. Etc. Your, uh, you know, western Washington strip malled, pawn shop and payday loan dusted, mostly city-centerless mossy-sidewalked whateverlands. Softball gets played. Budweiser drank.. Its from one of those places that the Narrows come from, and for me, that's added an authentically western Washingtonian vibe to their slow, slow, built-around-incredible riffs, jams. 

Technically, the Narrows began as a band and did most of their most active years from the area code known as Bellingham in northwestern Washington state. They toured with Federation X, and by themselves, they were interested in ghosts. And horrible malt-liquor/Cisco wine concoctions. Most of all, they made music that transferred raw human emotion into guitar, bass, drums and vocals better than anything.

Time intervened, and members started up new endeavors. Law school and practice. Bar/resaturant ownership, married life, kids. But there wasn't ever an end to the Narrows because the idea of the Narrows is more of a family affair than a business proposition. They've been playing a couple shows lately, and we got 'em for Total Fest XII. Yup.

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