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At the same time Menomena was flipping the nostalgia switch for a few hundred indie-rock enthusiasts at Revolution Hall, a smaller but no less impactful reunion was happening on the other side of town at Turn! Turn! Turn! Thinking Fellers Union Local 282, a clattering noise pop group from the Bay Area, played a pair of shows at the humbler North Portland venue, the band’s first live appearances in 13 years. Though advertised mainly through word of mouth, both of this past weekend’s nights sold out, inspiring fans from Minnesota to fly in and drawing in luminaries like documentarian Lance Bangs, producer Larry Crane, and members of various like-minded local bands.
Befitting the space and the tone of TFUL282′s music, the shows were rough, loose and devilishly entertaining. The occasion may have been made possible by reissues of some of the band’s work released by Bulbous Monocle, an imprint overseen by Sublime Frequencies co-founder Hisham Mayet, but the spirit of the shows were more family reunion than promotional responsibilities. To the point that, on Sunday, Aug. 10, the children of some band members hopped onstage to provide backing vocals for “My Pal the Tortoise,” a fan favorite from 1994′s Strangers From the Universe, and spent the rest of the show front and center, singing along and dancing.
I have a tendency to be skeptical of most band reunions as they tend to be motivated more by profit than fan service. I spied none of that through the Fellers’ performances over the weekend. The feeling was more about four old friends reconnecting (original member Anne Eickelberg opted not to participate) through the rangy, ramshackle, and ultimately beautiful music they made together. If anyone wanted to fly thousands of miles and squeeze into an early August sweatbox to witness this noble experiment firsthand, who were they to stop them?