A Cautionary Tale Wednesday, Dec. 17

[December 17th, 2008]

[KITCHEN SINK] Getting a bead on Portland band A Cautionary Tale’s sound is like taking the pulse of a zombie on methamphetamines: The beat’s sporadic and the mission itself is more than a little dangerous.

“We reluctantly settled on ‘prog rock,’” says drummer Kevin Van Geem of the three-year-old quartet to cringes from his bandmates. “But all of us were very unhappy with that.”

Onstage, the dilemma compounds. The quartet will be riding a jazz wave until—BAM!—like a shot of adrenaline to the left ventricle, Rich Boles gets all flamenco on classical guitar and Chris Glaab drops his bass in favor of a baritone sax, letting guitarist Nick O’Donnell cover the backbone. Then Van Geem chainsaws the beat, slicing the band’s metronome into a split time. Everyone follows. And that’s just the first song of the set.

The band chalks its mutant tendencies to a simple fact: Boles can’t count to four. “I am really, really, really, really…rhythmically challenged,” Boles says shyly over a round of pints at NoPo’s Fifth Quadrant.

The mild-mannered members of Tale are trained jazz and classical musicians who, for the past three years, have shelled out one of Portland’s most unique and overlooked sounds. The band now hosts free “Unfiltered” rock showcases at the White Eagle, inviting other underappreciated and eclectic—from indie rock to hip-hop and Americana—local bands to play alongside them each month.

And while the band itself brings the kitchen sink, it never falls into the free-range concept’s booby traps. For each jam, there’s a good dose of restraint; for all that’s artsy, there’s some fartsy. A Cautionary Tale’s songs are catchy and refreshing because the band intermixes its members’ pop sensibilities.

Unlike many of their contemporaries, the members of Tale are self-aware enough that they look past themselves to the big picture. “I get bored going to shows of bands I like,” Boles says. “I kind of like the excitement of not knowing what’s going to come next at a show.” At each installment of Unfiltered—and any A Cautionary Tale show, for that matter—Boles’ excitement prevails.