100 Bands in 100 Days Presented by Verity Credit Union — Day 40: Giants in the Trees
Please check out Verity Credit Union, our great partner in the 100 Bands in 100 Days local music showcase.
Music fans of the Pacific Northwest, get ready for our sixth annual year-end daily local music showcase, 100 Bands in 100 Days, where every day until December 31st, we’ll be showcasing a new band or artist you have to know about. For the fourth year in a row, the showcase is once again presented by Verity Credit Union.
Make sure you are checking the #100Bands100Days hashtag on Twitter on a daily basis to stay on top of all the bands featured and be sure to follow Verity and NW_Music_Scene on there. Some days the featured act could be an established and locally-adored northwest-based musician and other times they could be a band with a small following that just hasn’t had their deserved time in the spotlight yet. Either way, we’re fairly confident you can come away from this daily segment with plenty of new favorites. Today’s featured act is Giants in the Trees.
About the band:
Earlier this year Giants in the Trees dropped Volume 2 on the ears of music fans of the northwest and we fell in love with it instantly.
We reviewed it when it came out and here’s some of what we had to say in the review:
Perhaps it’s living in a more remote part of the state that gives the Giants their laid-back feel. Instead of the fraught rhythms of urban life, the soothing quality of group’s music brings to mind the cool, lush environments of the dense forests that we have in the Pacific Northwest (something that’s even reflected in the band’s name). The band’s bio calls their music “Americana,” which I’ve generally found to be a catchall term used to describe music that can’t be readily categorized. It’s apt to a point. There’s certainly a roots rock aesthetic at work in Giants — sometimes. But “Americana” suggests a link to the past, and Giants definitely looks ahead to the future. Both “Star Machine” and “Weight of the World” have a touch of trippiness that grounds them in the modern world, somewhat akin to the space rock vibe of one of Krist Novoselic’s previous bands, Eyes Adrift.
It was Novoselic who got the band rolling, when he hosted a jam session at the Skamokawa grange. The musicians that showed up eventually became Giants in the Trees. And part of what keeps you guessing about the band’s music is that the players bring so many divergent skills to the table. Novoselic is best known for his bass work with Nirvana, but in Giants he also straps on an accordion at times. Lead singer Jillian Raye might be seen playing guitar, bass, or banjo. Ray Prestegard is the string meister, on electric guitar, slide guitar, box guitar, each giving a different color to the music. And Erik Friend is the secret weapon; more than the band’s drummer, he’s also adept at numerous percussion and stringed instruments (such as mandolin). He’s also essentially the band’s producer, getting a “Recorded By” credit on both Giants albums (“Recorded By” is a credit used in lieu of “Produced By” by such eminent studio personnel as Jack Endino and Steve Albini).
Watch:
Listen:
Find the band at:
A huge shoutout to Verity Credit Union for doing so much for the music community and for being such a great partner.
As an added bonus this year, House Of Cannabis will be playing the featured bands in each of their three Washington locations.
