On Sunday, September 24th, the Community Center for the Performing Arts proudly welcomes Laundry, Growing Pains, and Verb8im to the WOW Hall.
LAUNDRY
One of Eugene’s most popular young acts, Laundry met in the University of Oregon dorms in the fall of 2017. The four quickly bonded over a shared interest in the local music scene. Eugene bands like Spiller, Novacane, and the Graduating Class helped them find gigs at house shows and bars around the college. During this time the band began to develop its energetic live performance and collaborative songwriting process.
Following the release of their first EP during their freshman year of college, guitarist and singer Kiki Paroissien-Arce suggested the band record at Echohill Studios in Portland with her father Edwin Paroissien. This proved to be a creatively fruitful decision, and the first release with Paroissien as producer, 2019’s Affirmation, found the band modest and unexpected success on streaming services.
Growing Pains
Growing Pains is Kalia Storer (bass/vocals), Carl Taylor (guitar), Jack Havrilla (guitar/vocals) and Kyle Kraft (drums).The members met each other playing covers at the School of Rock in Portland, Oregon when they were 16 and 17; six months later, they were trying out their own material at Portland all-ages mecca Black Water and in basements around the city, quickly turning heads at early shows that, according to more than a few of those in attendance, sounded like “if Mazzy Star were an emo band.” Lesser bands might have been content to stop there, but not Growing Pains. 18 months of house shows and opening slots for buzzing national acts like awakebutstillinbed, Diners and Macseal helped the young act sharpen a sound that could only have emerged from the post-mordial soup of internet-era rock. Sure—listen for the past, and you’ll hear the orchestrated chaos of My Bloody Valentine; the instrumental pyrotechnics and compositional sleights-of-hand that unite Smashing Pumpkins with the mathier end of emo; the patient kookiness common to 80s and 90s dream pop acts and their slowcore contemporaries. But Heaven Spots is no jaded nostalgia revue. It’s an undeniably contemporary record made by people who listen too widely to suffer from the anxiety of specific influences.
Verb8im
Verb8im is a new and young rock band native to Eugene Oregon, that is no stranger to Rock n’ Roll. With each member having an extensive relationship to music in their years before coming to be students at UO, they we’re able to waste no time and begin creating originals, performing covers, and lining up shows in Eugene.
The band-mates: Lucas Vega Vocals & Guitar), Aidan Jake-Wright (Bass), Will Martin (Lead Guitar), and Tripp Repp (Drums) have used their resources and connections to grow an energetic and passionate group of fans, friends, and family. Having only formed together in late October of 2022, Verb8im is off to a roaring start by playing gigs, shows, venues and events while cementing their sound into the ever-changing community in Eugene.
The release of their first two singles titled, “Think of Me” and “Hungover” quickly found their ways into not only the hearts of their fans, but their playlists as well. With speculations of working on an EP during their second year together, you can be sure to expect big things from Verb8im in the future.
