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Sounds like: A buzzed and sunny downhill bike ride on the last day of school.
For fans of: P.S. Eliot, Swearin', the Get Up Kids, Hop Along, Lemuria.
If you're in a band that's stuck in that bummer interim between formation and validation, you might want to stop reading right now, because Blowout is making it all look way too easy. Two months after playing its first show last February, the pop-punk newcomer released a hastily recorded EP titled We All Float Down Here. People really liked it, and since then, Blowout hasn't had to go begging for more shows. It's a seemingly minor accomplishment, but ask anyone who's started a band—this is a big deal. Such a quick turnaround is rare, and singer-bassist Laken Wright fully appreciates the weirdness of it.
"We never expected people to hear [the EP] and be into us," she says. "It got the ball rolling super-quick, and ever since then it's been really shocking where we're at now."
Which isn't to say the attention is unwarranted. We All Float Down Here is a thrilling 13 minutes of keen and twitchy pop punk that bridges the distance between erstwhile champs like the Get Up Kids and latter-day saints like Hop Along, with Wright's bright voice dancing in and around the lovely, sun-kissed tumult summoned by guitarists Travis King and Brennan Facchino and drummer Nick Everett.
Blowout's gestation was certainly expedited by a convenient living situation—Everett, King and Wright share a house—but it also helps that Portland's music scene is especially receptive to the band's rough form of beauty.
"I definitely think there's something in Portland where people are drawn to the unpolished side of music," says Wright, who, like her bandmates, is a California transplant. "People can cut through the musicianship and see the songwriting and energy."
Blowout will begin recording its first full-length album (tentatively titled Okay Okay) this month, with concurrent plans to transform its home base in North Portland into a much-needed all-ages show space. But the band won't rely solely on the kindness of neighbors for too long.
"We're gonna get a van once we pay for this record," Wright says. So Blowout could blow up. Or not. Who knows? Wright seems like she'd be happy either way. "We just really enjoy playing with each other," she says. Maybe that's the secret.
SEE IT: Blowout plays the Know, 2026 NE Alberta St., with Bud Bronson & the Good Timers and Goth TV, on Wednesday, July 15. 8 pm. Call venue (473-8729) for ticket information. 21+.
WWeek 2015