Slabtown Announces Bender 2012 Lineup

Well, well, well, this is a nice semi-surprise.

For a while there, it seemed like the 2012 installment of the Slabtown Bender—the Northwest Portland dive bar's annual weekend-long showcase for local and national (and sometimes international) punk and garage rock—wouldn't happen at all, due to the announcement back in November that the bar had been put up for sale. Speaking to owner Brenda Coleman a few weeks ago, however, she confirmed the event would indeed go off this year. Now, we have a lineup, and well, it's a doozy, as usual.

Booked by longtime Bender stage manager Courtney Crusher, this year's fest features 40-plus bands from up and down the West Coast and, of course, from right here in Portland. It also continues in the tradition of topping itself off with a pair of cult legends, which in the past has included the likes of Mudhoney and the Paul Collins Beat. This year, the festival is headlined by Stiff Records icon Wreckless Eric and L.A. punk journeyman Kid Congo Powers with his current group, the Pink Monkey Birds.

Here's the full lineup for all three days, Feb. 3-5:

Friday, Feb. 3

Trashies (Seattle/Oakland)
Top Ten (Bay Area)
Unnatural Helpers (Seattle)
Stan Mcmahon (Salem)
Denizenz (PDX)
Tacocat (Seatle)
Huff Stuff Magazine (Oakland)
Needful Longings (PDX)
Arctic Flowers (PDX)
Billions and Billions (PDX)
MOM (Sacramento)

Saturday, Feb. 4

Wreckless Eric (from New York, full band & doing Stiff classics)
Head (Seattle)
Chuck Chuck and The Chuckleberries (Oakland)
Guantanamo Baywatch (PDX)
The Tripwires (Seattle)
Courtney n' the Crushers (Oakland)
Primitive Hearts (Oakland)
Polaroids (PDX)
Pityfucks (PDX)
White Fang (PDX)

Saturday Matinee

The Cry (PDX)
Di Di Mau (PDX)
Boom (PDX)
Queued Up (PDX)
Flash Flood (PDX)

Sunday, Feb. 5

Kid Congo and the Pink Monkey Birds (ex-Gun Club, Cramps, Bad Seeds)
Don't (PDX)
Problems (PDX)
Forever Baby (LA)
Cyclops (PDX/Oakland)
Blood Beach (PDX)
Knifey Spoony (Oakland)
Diskords (PDX)
Chemicals (PDX)
Autistic Youth (PDX)

Sunday Matinee

Bellicose Minds (PDX
Shark Pact (Olympia)
Vaj (PDX)
Memories (PDX)

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