Renegade, Wednesday, Aug. 22

[August 22nd, 2007] [AUDIO-VISUAL BADASS] Describing his multimedia film-rock productions, local jack-of-all-trades Dave Jaber says, “It’s pretty much theater for ADD—for people that get bored easily.” Jaber, who goes by Renegade onstage, is among today’s many tech-savvy artists, but he takes modern-day advancements—from do-it-yourself home-recording and video-editing software to the benefits of YouTube and MySpace—to another level, a badass level.

More than a decade ago, when Jaber, 30, first began recording and mixing his music onto a cassette four-track and making improvised (and often ridiculous) comedic home movies with a cheap camcorder and VCR, it wasn’t so easy to meld the two. But many of the burdens that came with the processes of working with audio and video cassettes have been practically eliminated by the computer. And Jaber, who was already proficient as both a musician and filmmaker, is using his newly found free time to make the most of both, together.

“I’ve always being dually fascinated with video and music, but have always done them separate, mainly because I was always in bands with other people,” says Jaber. “Being in a band is like having a bunch of girlfriends at once, so finally I was like, ‘Fuck it, I’ll go renegade.’” Jaber, who always appears to be inwardly smirking, continues, ”I figured it would be boring with just me and a drum machine, so I got this concept of making film and rock all in one. Why not make something a little more entertaining, doing something other than just standing there?”

True to form, Renegade shuffles between an arsenal of instruments—including guitar, drums, keyboards and ukulele—onstage, playing slightly demented yet undeniably catchy synth-filled, lo-fi fuzz rock. And he does it all in sync to his own multi-tracked music videos, which feature everything from handmade claymation creatures storming a toy castle (during “Coming of Age”) to real-life backdrops. The visual accompaniment to “Mean Streets,” for instance, prowls the streets and sidewalks of Portland at night in hyper speed.

Sure, it would be easy to label Jaber as a quintessential audio/video geek. And he brands his creations very matter-of-factly as “film/rock,” much as you’d image any serious knob-twister would. But he’s quick to dismiss any nerdy comparisons: “I like to think of myself as a little cooler than that,” explains Jaber. “I’m more like an audio-visual badass.” .