Once A Year Not Enough For Motherload

Like drinking champagne on New Year’s Eve, seeing long-lost punk favorite Motherload back on stage has become a kind of post-Christmas/year-end tradition in Spokane.

Now, for the third year in a row, the Motherload trio of Scott Kellogg, Geof Templeton and Brian Parnell are reuniting for a show in their former hometown.

It won’t be on New Year’s Eve. But since it’s tonight, it’ll be pretty close.

And, if all goes as the band hopes, we may not have to wait a year for them to return.

“There’s been constant interest since we broke up, you know,” guitarist Kellogg says, explaining that Motherload will soon release a CD full of previously recorded but unreleased songs. They also expect to perform more often now. “When we get together and play just once a year it doesn’t seem like it’s enough.”

Motherload formed in 1990 and rapidly became one of Spokane’s most promising bands, playing a potent and quirky brand of rock and roll.

They released a four-song EP on Seattle label eMpTy Records and a full-length album, “Buck Toothed Dream” on Trench Records. They also appeared on several other recordings.

“It’s probably the best thing I’ve ever done,” says Kellogg of his Motherload days. “I mean, it was me, Geof and Brian, you know. There weren’t any outside influences. It was the three of us the whole time. Plus those two are my best friends in the whole world so it just made it that much easier.”

The question is, then, why did the band disband nearly three years ago?

“There were a lot of reasons,” Kellogg says. “Me and Geof were pretty messed up. Brian was pursuing other interests.”

Kellogg moved to Portland. Parnell moved to Seattle. Templeton moved to Alaska.

Kellogg says they decided to give Motherload a more-than-once-a-year try again when a friend offered to help release their previously recorded material.

The songs, which they had expected eMpTy Records to put out years ago, are being revived from recording sessions three and six years ago. The band plans to have their latest album available sometime shortly after the first of the year.

Certainly a few things have changed since the old Motherload days.

Kellogg now plays in the bands Elmer and Bomf. Templeton recently moved from Alaska to Portland and he, too, has joined Elmer.

“Me and Geof, to tell you the truth, we’ve kind of cleaned up our acts,” Kellogg says. “Our lives are more straightened out. We’re both a little bit more reserved than we used to be.”

But if their lives have changed, the Motherload music hasn’t.

“It’s not going to be any different,” Kellogg says of tonight’s show. “In fact, we’ll walk up on stage and we’ll probably say the same things and do the same things and play the same songs. I think people like it that way.”

For those who’ve never heard Motherload before, Kellogg describes it this way:

“Bomf is punk rock. Elmer is hick rock. And Motherload is weird rock. I think we went over as well as we did in Spokane because we were never like anything anybody had heard.”

And Kellogg says tonight’s show will be even better since The Fumes and Lopez will be playing and Big Comb also will reunite and perform.

“All those bands were around at the time we were doing Motherload so it’s going to be like an old time show.”

Music starts 9:30 tonight at Ichabod’s North. Cover is $5.

Oil Filter

With lyrics like “Sustain the pain, maintain the pain” and songs called “Excrement” you can probably guess that Oil Filter’s first CD doesn’t exactly arrive bearing good tidings of comfort and joy.

Of course, no one ever accused this Spokane fivesome of being easy-listening schlock.

But if you like your music heavy - and I do mean heavy (say something akin to a locomotive) - then Oil Filter’s your group. And their first album makes its debut Saturday at a CD release party at Ichabod’s North.

Vocalist/guitarist Matt Carver, gives his throat a full-throttle workout as he growls, roars and rumbles his way through the CD.

Thunderous guitar riffs and meaty bass grooves lead the progression through songs that are both weighty and bruising.

From the dirgelike ponderousness of “Move” and “Bleached” to the spacey orchestration of “Placebo” and “Unknown Journey” these guys definitely have a knack for exploring the dark moods.

So, if you like it dark and you don’t have the urge to flee at the first sign of unbridled sonic aggression then check out the Oil Filter CD (it’ll cost you $8) and Saturday’s show at Ichabod’s North.

Carver will be joined on stage by Synthia Jenkins on drums, Tony Franz on backup vocals and guitar, Don Larson Jr. on keyboards and Ryan England on bass.

The band members also plan to have their personal artwork, done in various mediums, on display. BTB opens the show at 9:30 p.m. Cover is $5.

Too Slim alert

Too Slim and the Taildraggers take over the Fort Spokane Brewery tonight and Saturday.

Need I say more?

OK, just a little.

Their brand of rockin’ blues is among the best in the Northwest. And if you want to give yourself a post-Christmas treat, buy their new CD “Blues for EB.” It’s superb. Really.

Show starts both nights at 9:30 p.m. Cover is $6.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo

MEMO: Send nightclub news to Winda Benedetti at The Spokesman-Review, 999 W. Riverside, Spokane, WA 99201 or fax it to (509) 459-5098. She can be reached by phone at (509) 459-5089 or by e-mail at windab@spokesman.com. Deadline for Friday publication is the previous Friday.