The Lives Of Famous Men Friday, Dec. 18

TLOFM actually is kind of famous. Just not so much in Portland.

[SULTRY POP-PUNK] By the criteria typically used to measure an artist's popularity these days—national television appearances,

MySpace hits, corporate sponsorship—the Lives of Famous Men should be one of Portland's biggest young bands. How many other unsigned groups in Stumptown can claim to have shared a stage with Billboard heavyweights, done events for MTV and played a late-night talk show, anyway? And yet, ask the local music cognoscenti about buzzworthy acts, and chances are its name won't even come up. That's partially due to the fact that the band—whose members are originally from Alaska—has spent so much time on the road since forming in 2006, guitarist Ari Katcher says. But there could also be a deeper reason.

"Maybe we're not exactly Portland's style," says Katcher over the phone from Los Angeles, where he is interning at punk label Hopeless Records. "Maybe we're a little more pop for a Portland band and not 'indie' enough."

Indeed, with its radio-ready hooks and singer Daniel Hall's earnest croon, TLOFM isn't exactly aiming for a high Pitchfork rating—and its shaggy-haired, mall-punk pinup look doesn't help, either. But that doesn't mean the band falls into the mushy emo morass. On the two EPs it's released so far—with a third coming this month—the quintet tempers its sugary energy with a willingness to experiment, varying the instrumentation and adding touches of jazz, sunny piano-pop and even flamenco. So yeah, perhaps it's not quite "Portland's style," but TLOFM's music is certainly well-crafted.

Of course, considering the band's accomplishments thus far, it's doubtful these guys worry much about the approval of its adopted hometown. All five musicians are imports from Anchorage, Alaska, where they played in much heavier bands. After moving, independent of one another, to Portland, they decided to start a new project—something less restrictive and genre-specific. It's caught on more back home, where TLOFM will play a handful of shows at the end of December. "Even though it didn't start in Alaska," Katcher says, "it's like a hometown thing up there."

Still, the sonic expansion turned out to be a wise choice. In 2008, TLOFM won an MTV-sponsored contest for the right to play a date on the network's Campus Invasion Tour, opening for Wyclef Jean and Cobra Starship. And earlier this year, Samsung handpicked the band to perform on an episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live, where it played the jittery "You're Everyone I Know Right Now" for a crowd of appreciative teenage girls waiting to see Kelly Clarkson. Add a small feature in Spin, and that's an impressive résumé, especially considering the band doesn't yet have a label.

With Katcher in L.A., the members of TLOFM are currently trading demos over email for a potential full-length. Katcher won't give too many details at this early point, but insists the new songs will stretch the boundaries of the band's buoyant power-pop sound even further.

"As people, we're all very ADD," Katcher says. "What we try to do with Lives is incorporate elements of a few different genres, so it stays fresh."

SEE IT: The Lives of Famous Men plays Satyricon on Friday, Dec. 18, with Splashattack!, the Welcome Home and Delta!Bravo. 8 pm. $8. All ages.

WWeek 2015