Portland’s own genre-bending band, SeepeopleS, has been on an involuntary hiatus since the Pandemic shut pretty much everything down.
But, with vaccinations rates climbing and venues starting to reopen, Seepeoples is swinging back into action, too, with a couple of high-profile gigs coming up on the immediate horizon.
On Dec. 4, they’ll be opening for Faith No More and Imperial Teen keyboardist Roddy Bottum’s new outfit, Man on Man, at the Press Room in Portsmouth, NH, and on New Year’s Eve, they’ll be playing with the legendary Colorado band The Samples at the Bayside Bowl right here in town.
SeepeopleS is the longtime project of Portland’s Will Bradford, who also plays bass with The Worst. Bradford said he’s excited to be back in front of an audience with Seepeoples.
“When everything shut down because of the pandemic, Seepeoples was actually on tour with The Samples, so it’s kind of appropriate that we’re playing this show with them here at the Bayside Bowl,” Bradford said.
Both bands share a reputation for creating music that is not easily categorized — which can make it hard to reach new audiences, particularly when the almighty algorithm demands a hard answer to the question.
And while SeepeopleS could be tagged as a guitar-centric band, the SeepeopleS sound draws on elements of rock, jazz, reggae, soul, funk and even electronica, and the often lush production featured on their recorded efforts has led some to characterize the Seepeoples sound as psychedelic.
Bradford said he prefers the term, “anti-genre,” when it comes to describing SeepeopleS’ music. But there’s no anti-genre tag on Spotify, so when it comes to reaching people who might not have heard Seepeoples before, playing live shows and getting in front of folks who might not otherwise find the music on line becomes that much more important.
SeepeopleS has toured extensively throughout the years, and the band has earned a reputation as a transcendent live act that consistently delivers the goods on stage. That reputation, Bradford said, helped them nail down the show with Bottum’s Man On Man project, which is touring in support of their debut album on Polyvinyl Records.
“I’m looking forward to playing in front of people again,” Bradford said.
Bradford said the idea to pair SeepeopleS with Man On Man came from the crew at The Press Room.
“They get great acts there,” Bradford said, “and they know their audience. They had the chance to get Man On Man, and they thought putting us on the bill, too, would be a great fit.”
Bradford said SeepeopleS was slated to release a new album in 2021, but that’s been pushed back to, “sometime in 2022,” because of COVID-related delays. In the meantime, though, the band has dropped two new singles from that upcoming release, which features a guest appearance from Vapors of Morphine‘s sax man Dana Colley, on Spotify,
Tickets for both shows are going fast.
Get tickets for the SeepeopleS show with The Samples here.
Get tickets for the SeepeopleS show with Man On Man here.
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