The Out Crowd By Tim Hinely Matt Hollywood, leader of Portland's The Out Crowd can write a damn good tune. The band's debut EP, Go On Give A Damn (Elephant Stone Records) is chock full of them but you gotta see this band live. I mean it. Matt was nice enough to answer some questions via email… D: I know you spent some time in LA w/ BJM…. Are you originally from LA? Portland? Or somewhere else? M: I grew up in various places in southern California. I spent a lot of my adolescent years sitting on the beach by myself writing and fishing. When I was 18 I moved to San francisco to become an art school drop out like so many great musicians. I think you have a choice, art school or pick cotton, and where I grew up it was mostly avocados so I bought a bus ticket to the big city with plans to be the next great american painter. I had a room right on Haight street and Anton used to walk by and see my bass amp and this huge Stone Roses poster on the wall. One night I was playing my bass when this greasy-haired, wild-eyed cat in a parka knocked on my window and asked me to join his band. Art school seemed pretty tame compared to the things we got up to then. I quit school and spent the next few years playing shows, "experimenting" with my mind and making more love and records than I ever imagined. D: Why did you quit BJM? is Anton as crazy as everyone says he is? We moved to LA a few years later and after living in squalor for a while we signed a deal with TVT. The only noticeable effect of all the major label money was that anyone who'd been a casual drug user up to that point now had enough bread to plunge headfirst into addiction. The rest of the dough was busy being stashed away in our manager's bank accounts. That was the hardest time in my life. I think we all went off the deep end a bit. I did quite a few things I'm not proud of but a lot that I am. As for crazy, I don't know, pretty much everyone I've ever cared about has been out of their mind in one way or another, myself included. There's definitely an overlap between prophet and madman. Anton has very strong ideas about things and the methods he uses to bring about his creations can be unorthodox. When I was 19 seeing him come down the street in leather pants, wearing a disguise and playing a snakecharmer pipe seemed a bit loony. Now it kinda makes perfect sense to me. I think the curse of the artist is to feel things more intensely than others. it allows us to create beauty but it makes it extremely difficult to be understood by most people or to live what you might call a normal life. D: When did The Out Crowd first get together? How did you meet all of the other members? M: I guess I moved to Portland because at the time it was the only place I knew people who weren't strung out or dangerously insane. I started a band with Spike Keating (Swoon 23), Eric Hedford (1st Dandy Warhols drummer) and Carl Radovich (who went on to start TV Eye with Spike), called the Magic Fingers. Things went well for a while but for whatever reasons we just couldn't keep the momentum going and it fell apart. After that I became extremely depressed and couldn't think about music for about a year. About the time I started writing songs again I ran into Elliott Barnes who I'd met a couple times at parties in LA and who'd moved here shortly after I did. We started playing together but I was still feeling a little fragile so I told him if I started to flake he should kick my ass. Sure enough I blew him off and then ran into him at a Dandy's show. He called me some names and made me promise to come to his house the next day. We started working on songs again and looking for musicians. We decided to book a show even though the band wasn't complete yet. I was at a bar asking a friend if they would fill in on drums for the show when Stuart came up, introduced himself as a fan of Magic Fingers and asked if I was playing music. I said yeah I have a band and a show booked but no drummer. He said, I'm a drummer so I said, yeah, well what are you doing standing here talking to me, go get a pen and write down your phone number. Halfway through the first song we played with him Elliott turned to me and said, I think I'm in love. Zed was the guy at the mini-mart who would sell us six-packs for like 50 cents and give me free cigs all the time. We knew he was a kick ass guitarist, better than either of us so we made him play bass. It's kind of the Brian Jones thing, if you need an instrument but don't play it you teach yourself how. Now he makes guitars for us. D: Who came up w/ the title of your record, Go On, Give a Damn? M: Zed had this Al Green record where right before the solo the Reverend yells out the guitar players name and instructs him to "give a damn!" We all thought that was a beautiful thing to say. D: Do you guys always play in the matching white suits? M: White isn't what we wear all the time but I like the way it looks with good psychedelic lighting. It stands out and it's a symbolic thing too, like here we are, the forces of good. And it's neutral, you can project things on us, literally and emotionally. It creates a visual spectacle that eventually blends in or gets filled up by your own unconscious so you're no longer seeing white, then the music can take you where it wants to. In nature it's called dazzle camouflage. You overwhelm the senses with so much input that they register nothing. D: How did the deal with Elephant Stone Records come about? The record came about the same way everything does these days, over the internet. We have a page on our website where record labels can make us an offer. Ben's a huge fan of psychedelic music and heard the demo and knew he wanted to do something so he sent us an email asking us to come to LA. We booked a tour, sent our love down south and when we got to LA Elliott followed Ben home and kept him up all night hammering out the details. They're both Ukrainian and I think maybe Elliott told him he'd use his connections to make life hard for Ben's people back in the old country if he didn't treat us right. D: What is your favorite thing about playing live? M: I know I'm not the first to say this but playing live really is like making love to everyone at once. You lay yourself bare emotionally and give all you have and if you're careful and perceptive you anticipate what the audience wants to feel and you give it to them. If you do it right they reciprocate. I think it's astounding that we've evolved as a species to take pleasure in certain rhythms and and vibrations. We can only speculate on why it was evolutionarily advantageous to enjoy particular sounds but I think it's no coincidence that the best rock and roll and rhythm and blues evokes the sounds of fucking. The heartbeat and the flow of blood are the first things a baby hears. Later it's the cooing and sighing of a comforting mother and maybe a purring cat. After that the cries of passion from your lovers and the beat of a shaking bed. All of these go into our music. What was the question? D: Best & worst things about living in Portland? M: People in portland are just amazing. I have some of the best friends now I've ever had. The music scene can be a little cliquish but that happens everywhere. I've never lived in a city where the music I make is totally appreciated. There's always someone who wants to put it in a category that doesn't fit the one they've chosen to confine themself to. It was amazing playing a couple shows with BJM on this last tour and seeing Anton finally playing to packed houses. 6 years ago we'd play to 75 people in LA. Now there're 300 people singin along, requesting songs at shows there. Man, they used to hate us, people would throw beer bottles at us while we played. But there are a few good bands and venues in portland and we have fans who love us, and I don't think I'm being conceited, I do get a genuine sense of love from people who are into our music. So we make them our friends so we can love them back. D: Who are some of your favorite current Portland bands? M: I think people are going to be blown away by the new Warhols record. It's just totally different yet totally them. Courtney's really one of the few really good songwriters these days and his band is so talented. Expect phat beats and way more emotion than Andy W would've been comfortable with. Also keep your ears open for Brian Coates. I think he's calling his new band Foreverlove and it's about time. This guy is the insane genius producer you've never heard of but who's already recorded more great songs than you'll ever write. If he can get it together to put out an album you'll be floored. We've also been riding the cocaine unicorn with jackie. D: Top 10 desert island discs? M: The Velvet Underground and Nico changed my life Beggar's Banquet is probably the best sounding rock album ever Piper at the Gates of Dawn still blows my mind Marquee Moon is beautiful poetry Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy takes me to another planet Loveless by My Bloody Valentine changed my life a second time Psychocandy made all things possible Spacemen 3 The Perfect Prescription is Forever Changes long live Arthur Lee Their Satanic Majesties 2nd Request by BJM—we put a lot of good stuff in there D: What’s next for the band? Tour? Records? M: We plan on hitting the roads every few months now that we have a van. We want to visit Seattle and Vancouver soon. Hopefully we'll go out east this summer. I'm trying to set up something for the midwest with the Volta Sound. The follow up to go on is written we just need someplace to record it and someone to put it out. In fact there's enough songs for at least 3 more albums within the next year so record moguls get out your checkbooks and pick up the phone. D: Closing comments? Words of wisdom? M: Things are going to get crazy soon so keep your ear to the ground and your eyes open. Watch your back and baby keep your noses clean. Love thy neighbor and thou shalt not kill. I don't see any room for argument there, do you? Make sure you know who you are and look out for the re-evolution! Peace. Matt Hollywood, from planet earth, 18/3/2003

The Out Crowd Go On, Give A Damn (Elephant Stone) The chiming opener “Good Morning” from these jolly rogers caught me by surprise with its Subsonics playing Searchers covers—up in the ionosphere aura. This song floats on a jingle-jangle carpet ride out to an apogee of a Holly-esque "Everyday" inspired guitar solo before the drums roll around to bring it all back home again. “Good Morning, deserves to be in the same sky high echelons as “Here Comes Your Man” by the Pixies. They come back to quarterdeck and precede to swashbuckle the shackles with their shaking shards cutting through on guitars submerged in appealing and lavish reverb. Surefire drumming and guitars imbued with echoes of R.E.M., Suede, Cast/the La’s and the Dentists (or the Chills and the Clean to place the comparisons in antipodean terms) are the “X” marks the spots of “Time Enough.” With his voice quivering like Clay Reed of the Subsonics, “The Gospel” according to Matt Hollywood is a palimpsest cranked with fractured detached visions of waiting for the man somewhere between attachment, the gang plank and salvation. So whether you’re on crumbling lands, high seas or in deep space, this is a treasure worth searching for between the current major label wreckage. —Ted Liebler (January 2004)

The Out Crowd Go On, Give A Damn (Elephant Stone) Go On, Give A Damn is an album that brings to mind a bunch of different things at once—the infectious sound of garage rock, the warm fuzzy feeling of indie music, and the intriguing sounds of the 60s. From the promising opener "Good Morning", to the lyrically gripping "Reptile", and on to "Honey, I Ain't High", The Out Crowd presents a wonderful rock n' roll rollercoaster—and it's no surprise considering that this Portland band is comprised of such seasoned musicians. Hailing from great acts such as The Brian Jonestown Massacre, The Harlots, and Richmond Fontaine, and enhanced by Dandy Warhols' producer Gregg Williams, this is truly an endearing journey. —Liz Worth (Spring 2003)

The Out Crowd Go On, Give A Damn (Elephant Stone) This is former Brian Jonestown Massacre guy Matt Hollywood and some other Portland miscreants doin' their '60s pop thang, and very well I might add. You know the deal: very Stonesy, a bit of Kinks, toss in some drugs and tambourines and voila! You've got another fine Portland band breathing the air in this fine city. But as good as these 7 songs are (my fave is "Reptile") you gotta see this band live. They rock the hell out while Sarah Jane is shakin' her maraca (real maracas, no tit jokes here). Oh, and one of the band member's names is Zedekiah Lost. —Tim Hinely (July 2003)

The Out Crowd Go On, Give A Damn (Elephant Stone) I was thinking this was an amazingly mature sound for a debut release. Then I read the promo sheet and discovered that the Out Crowd's guitarist/vocalist Matt Hollywood was the co-songwriter and co-founder of the Brian Jonestown Massacre. I'm not crazy about Matt's singing, which reminds me of an American Damon Albarn, but his and Elliott Barnes' guitar playing more than compensates and has me reaching for Stones, Yardbirds, Them, Searchers and Pretty Things comparisons. However, don't be thinking that the Out Crowd are merely another bunch of Yank Anglophiles pastiching some of the all-time greats, as they've input more than enough of their own personalities to help create some timeless garage pop. In a world where bands like the Warlocks, the Sights and the aforementioned Brian Jonestown Massacre are picking up rave reviews in the mainstream press, the Out Crowd deserve similar treatment. —Carl Superstar (June 2003)

The Out Crowd Go On, Give A Damn (Elephant Stone) For a long time one has made fun of the name of the bassist of the Brian Jonestown Massacre, Matt Hollywood - "Surely a psuedo! hahaha!" Besides, this character (fellow) left (without obvious cause) and the rumors persisted "he plays country in Portland." Fortunately the rumours were unfounded. Matt Hollywood formed The Out Crowd and signed on the label of the mysterious Ben Vendetta, Elephant Stone. After some demos and MP3s, this the first official official release of the group. The west-coast style is very distictive, how you say, completely San Francisco flower power. The Out Crowd flirt with a psychedelic aesthetic which recalls the best of Brian Jonestown Massacre's "Take it From the Man" period. Affifiation is indisputable. The combination solo of guitar on a cord/tambourine in its more beautiful tradition. No error of taste: very pretty 7 titles, including a terrific hit "The Gospel". —Pierre Priot (May 2003) (translated from French into English by Anastasia Roderick)

Splendid Magazine

The Out Crowd Go On, Give A Damn (Elephant Stone) Portland, Oregon's Out Crowd begin their debut CD in an interesting way: for the first 30 seconds, the listener hears the sounds of birds chirping, whistling, footsteps and street traffic. Then a door opens and shuts, closing out all sound from the outside world, and after a few footsteps and some guitar tuning, the band launches into the Byrds pastiche "Good Morning". After a first pass at this seven-song album, it's tempting to interpret that opening as a kind of confession: this is music locked away in climate-controlled, shag-carpeted seclusion, not something you're likely to find wandering around in the daylight. After a few more listens you'll feel a little guilty for being so cynical, but by front-loading their campiest, most bald-faced tributes, the Out Crowd set themselves up for that kind of dismissal. Led by Matt Hollywood, formerly of the Brian Jonestown Massacre, the band plays the kind of note-perfect psychedelic rock that would make even the most circumspect listener shout "yeeeeah, bay-bee" in his best Austin Powers voice. They sing several tunes in fake British accents. They have a dedicated tambourine player (and a foxy one, at that). They do a fine job of imitating their idols (Syd Barrett, the Stones, the Velvets). And yet you'll feel a little silly taking them seriously, as though they might be mocking you for not getting such an obvious joke. On the other hand, interpret that last sentence broadly enough and it probably applies to half of your record collection. Rock and roll's dirty little secret is that it's built as much on reverence and idolatry as on rebellion, and it compensates with a wink and a nudge. So the Out Crowd, like their hometown compatriots the Dandy Warhols, are merry pranksters who dare you to suspend your disbelief, and pointedly ask just how much tribute-band replication you can take. What's so wrong with that? About a minute into "The Gospel", a nifty Velvets-style rave-up with lyrics that sound like the New Testament rewritten by Iggy Pop, you may find yourself swept away by the Out Crowd's goofy élan and frank wish fulfillment. If you're still unmoved by all this studied grooviness, take heart: the new Dandy Warhols album comes out this summer, and it sounds just like Duran Duran. The retro mill grinds slowly, but -- with that much repetition -- the results can be exceedingly fine. —Sean Thomas (May 2003)

The Out Crowd Go On, Give A Damn (Elephant Stone) With a name like the Out Crowd you’d expect music far more insular and marginal than the seven swinging numbers on their debut EP Go On Give a Damn, an album that does exactly what a good EP should; it makes the listener want to speed up time just so the full length can come out that much sooner. This Portland band has what some insiders like to call ‘promise’, heck I’d say with this classic album lengthed EP, they’ve delivered. For a few in the band this isn’t a first time attempt at making it, guitarist/vocalist Matt Hollywood was a co-founder and co-songwriter in the Brian Jonestown Massacre, while drummer Stuart Valentine was a four-year member of alt-country act Richmond Fontaine. Zedekiah Lost the band's bassist is both a former guitarist in the Harlots and a past Dandy Warhols collaborator, Sarah Jane the band’s obligatory tambourine banger and guitarist Elliot Barnes seamlessly fill the rest of the ranks. And yes she does shake it well. Since we’re talking about an EP, albeit one with more than thirty minutes worth of music, I think we have time to get into what makes some of these songs tick, songs that upon first listening seem cut whole from someone else’s songbook. Although it’s true that these guys may have looked at someone else’s notes in class, the influences come out more in the structure and color of the songs than the content. They start out with a number called “Good Morning”, an impossible to better title for the opening song on your debut, and it’s a keeper too. It starts out like one of the strummier numbers off of Wilco’s Being There album, until it morphs into the most joyful song the Go-betweens never wrote. All the lyrics are affectionately slurred until the last few bars of the song when they proclaim “good, good morning/ good, good morning!” making you feel all warm inside as if you know that the coming day is going to be better than the last. The track “Reptile” sounds as if it could have been written by some lost paisley underground band mostly because it has that strange whiff of a young band trying to re-capture old influences, a feat they accomplish with no embarrassing results unlike say most of Kula Shaker’s catalogue. With lines like “Its time to hatch the leather eggs/ she keeps it cool between her legs” the band utilizes enough reptilian innuendo to make a young Robyn Hitchcock blush. In fact a number of these tracks echo Hitchcock’s early love of combining the Velvet Underground’s literate swagger with a healthy dose (pun intended) of Syd Barrett’s skewed worldview. Then when you add a few key 60’s garage rock flavorings to the brew you have a tasty Out Crowd number. Both the “Gospel” and “Honey I Ain’t High” take a page from Spiritualized main man Jason Pierce’s good book, offering with “Gospel” a song reminiscent of Pierce’s song “Electricity”. Vocalist Matt Hollywood insistently repeats that he’s “on fire” with either biblical hellfire or as it seems from the way he squeezes out the lyrics with an impatient lisp, that this fire is of a sexual nature. Either way its perfect rock and roll ambiguity. On Go On, Give a Damn the Out Crowd offer up enough swagger for almost any rock revivalists, and normally I’d say that emulating your heroes would be a weakness but when you have classy heroes such as the Velvet Underground, Spiritualized, and if my ears are correct Syd Barret by way of Robyn Hitchcock then who can really complain? Those who choose to dig beneath the surface with repeated listenings, and I do recommend repeat listens, will discover a rich vein of eccentricity holding up this already solid album. Being in the Out Crowd suddenly doesn’t seem like such a bad thing anymore, especially if it sounds this unashamedly suave. Bring on the full length! —Seth Frisby (April 2003)

The Out Crowd Go On, Give A Damn (Elephant Stone) Portland, OR's Out Crowd makes music that reaches for the sky, going for those heavenly ideas just out of reach. Building off the great Psych foundations of LA pop, (Byrds, Love, Rain Parade,) one moment and a Stonesy Velvets base the next, they push themselves to the creative max, with a sound that is always clean and aggressive. But don't think its urgent-style Punk, instead its Rock from a bunch who remain in control even as they go for broke. Matt Hollywood of the Brian Jonestown Massacre plays guitar and sings, while Stuart Valentine (from Richmond Fontaine,) drums and Sarah Jane shakes the tambourine. Elliott Barnes also plays guitar while Zed plays bass. Seek out any CD these guys make and file it next to the Warlocks, Richmond Sluts, Snakes and the Volta Sound. —Tucker Petertil (April 2003)

The Out Crowd Go On, Give A Damn (Elephant Stone) Give the Out Crowd credit - like that dorky kid in high school who surprises you with a genuinely funny line every week or so, they prove that persistence pays off. From the start of this record, they sound like another group of British rock wannabes who have decided that having guitars and retro jeans are all it takes to be the next Strokes. But then the songs kick in, and what do you know: they stick. "Good Morning" and "Gemini" in particular show off this band's ability to make easy, breasy, carefree rock that would run the Billboard charts in a perfect world. Nothing groundbreaking, but the best rock album you're likely to hear all year. get it now, or hear about it from a friend a month from now and feel silly. —Ryan (April 2003)

The Out Crowd Go On, Give A Damn (Elephant Stone) You may as well file Go On, Give a Damn next to the Brian Jonestown Massacre records, as ex-Massacre member Matt Hollywood's band the Out Crowd is nearly identical to the strung-out kaleidoscopic rock of his former group (hell, they even have a tambourine player and the two groups have played shows together!). Listening to the standard yet quality tripped-out tunes here might make fans yearn for Matt Hollywood to return to the BJM horde, though those ringing and jangling Rickenbackers on "Good Morning" and "Reptile" will keep you satisfied with the Out Crowd every step of the way. Chips from early Rolling Stones and the Velvet Underground are all over this seven-track release, especially on the rock ‘n' rolly "The Gospel." Why should you give a damn? Because this is psychedelic rock played the way it should be. The Out Crowd is definitely in. (4/5) —Kenyon Hopkin (March 2003)

The Out Crowd Go On, Give A Damn (Elephant Stone) Take an ex-member of a band such as Brian Jonestown Massacre, a Dandy Warhols' producer, a label name with the Stone Roses-reference, which is a subsidiary of another one, with the Love-reference, and that should be enough a reason to keep you interested. In contemporary terms, this is what you'd call a mini album, but from a 6Ts-point of view, a period from where most of the ideas are drawn from in this case, this is a regular half-an-hour long album.There's general looseness about the songs here, both production and rendition-wise, making it an ideal “weed-bus” ride. The opener Good Morning, is something like the BMX Bandits “riding” some of the Velvets' tunes, adding some extra jangle, complete with those Duglas- like, slightly de-tuned “Syd-den” vocals, and there's some more Barrettisms, namely in Gemini, which is kinda like Syd covering Gloria for one of his solo records. Outta garage also comes C'mon Children, a Stones-ish bluesy popsike, the way it was done by the 'Watchband, The Gospel (yet again according to the Velvet Underground) comes with that hypnotic, repetitive guitar riff, and moving a bit towards the moderndaze, there's Time Enough, a British sounding lo-fi indie pop (think Sarrah and the like ...) with an eastern- influenced acoustic solo, recalling the “kaleidoscopic” works of David Lindley, and you'll find them getting all “spiritualized” (in a bit rawer way though) in the closing number Honey I Ain't High. Despite their name, these guys (and one girl!) could actually become the “In-Crowd” very soon. —Goran Obradovic (February 2003)

The Out Crowd Go On, Give A Damn (Elephant Stone/Orange Sky) The Portland band's seven-track debut isn't so much an album as a ready-to-wear lifestyle. If you are part of the sizable sub-demo that likes its drinks strong, hair shaggy and vinyl vintage, this hedonistic retro-pop is for you. (If you frequent "Mardi Gras Night" at the New Copper Penny, your entertainment dollar may spend best elsewhere.) The Crowd's been accused of enslavement to the Velvet Underground, which is unfair; they also sound quite like the Beatles, the Byrds, the Band and a taster's choice of other grandfatherly acts. Go On, Give a Damn is the sort of album that's easy to dissect into identifiable ingredients, which is not to say it isn't hellaciously enjoyable. —Zach Dundas (February 2003)

The Out Crowd Go On, Give A Damn (Elephant Stone) Before you hear any of it, you will know it’s good. Co-founder and co-songwriter of The Brain Jonestown Massacre vocalist/songwriter Matt Hollywood is here, Dandy Warhols’ producer Gregg Williams was behind the board and it’s on Elephant Stone Records. Clocking a little over the half-hour mark, in seven tracks, Go On, Give A Damn starts with lush ‘Good Morning’ (“Wake up darling/ You look swell”—how often does it happen that you’d want to tell anybody this?) It’s all medley from here, with Austinite atmospheric guitars—it’s the basement party you missed last year or the one before. ‘C’mon Children’ somehow resurrects Surfer Rosa-era Pixies’ demons, a song written for adults to make love to in the back seat, stopping on the drive from Santa Barbara to Santa Cruz—and do stop for the hitchhiker, it could be Jim Morrison. Like most great things, it expands the further you dive through it. ‘Reptile’ recalls The Church’s Magician Among The Spirits’ faster tracks while bearing no resemblance to the latter’s song of the same title; ‘Gemini’ is what The Beach Boys would write today; while ‘Honey, I Ain’t High’ is Hollywood’s excuse in the tone of Jason Pierce’s plea ‘Stop Your Crying’. Wherever this came from (Portland!), don’t stop it rushing it forwardly along. 8.5. —ea1 (January 2003)