By James Tibbets, Pendletonian Times
PENDLETON, Ore. – Night Heron and mega cat provided an evening of psychedelic space-rock at the Great Pacific on South Main Street. Red Lion sponsored the event, providing lodging for the bands.
Night Heron is made up of founder Cameron Spies (pronounced “speez”) who plays guitar and contributes vocals, bassist and vocalist Grace Bugbee, trumpet player and synthesist Jordan Vale, percussionist Ian Hartley and drummer Tyler Verigin. Night Heron hails from Portland and their debut album “Instructions for Night” was available at the merchandise table both on vinyl and as a cassette.
Bugbee plays bass lines that tightly follow the melody established by Spies and Vale. Verigin is hot on the drums and seems to be influenced by jazz while Hartley fills out the sound with his steady, rhythmic pattering and the trumpet propels the band forward. It seems miraculous that the trumpet player can also double on keyboard; playing both instruments without missing a beat.
In celebration of Spies’ birthday, Night Heron tour manager Andrew Robinson brought out a cupcake with candles and led the crowd through a stirring rendition of “Happy Birthday.” “You can buy me a birthday shot if you’re so inclined” joked Spies.
The crowd demanded an encore and Spies played “Crazy” by Willie Nelson, joined by Verigin on percussion and Vale’s unwavering trumpet.
Night Heron was followed by headliner mega cat (all lower-case) who came all the way from Seattle. “We are an instrumental band” announced bassist Ryan Devlin before tearing into their set. mega cat is made up of Devlin, keyboardist Kim West, drummer Aaron Benson, percussionist Jacob Whiniham and guitarist Dave Dederer. Dederer is formerly of the band The Presidents of the United States of America, another Seattle band who provided the song “Cleveland Rocks” to 1990s television hit The Drew Carey Show.
mega cat sounds psychedelic with a well-rounded sound; pure groove with a side of synthesizer. Space rock to the extreme and tight as Hell. “Every show is different” exclaimed Devlin. Their song titles include “Celebrate with Port!” and feature odd time-signatures at times, but they effortlessly bounce back to a steady 4/4 beat that carries the listener onward.
As they were wrapping up the evening, Devlin invited members of Night Heron back onstage for a jam session. The event turned into a whirlwind of dancing and madness ensued:
“Come on, you can’t stop now” exclaimed a member of the audience. “These are all the notes [that] we know how to play” replied Devlin before launching into the groove once again.
Ken Schulberg, co-owner of the Great Pacific told Pendletonian Times that the Red Lion Hotel in Pendleton donated lodging for the event. “Cheryl at Red Lion supports local arts and music” says Schulberg.