You ready for Portland’s next great band? Get a load of this lineup: Shawn Saindon (Vacationland) on guitars and vocals, Ryan Dolan (Lincolnville, Sheila Divine) on drums, Mike Hamlin (Peepshow, Vespertine) on guitars, and Jasper Rice (any relation to bassist Andy Rice? We don’t know) on bass and vocals. Saindon reports that the band are “very rock and dance and anthemic,” but “we’re still searching for that perfect name.” You can get your first look and listen July 25 at Geno’s. The “Sibilance” staff highly recommend you attend.
A brief history of Zion Train: Up until about two years ago, the reggae/soul outfit played the Big Easy every Wednesday to some packed houses, releasing an album of new material in 2004. Then drummer Eddie Dickhaut moved to Nashville to become a successful touring musician, bassist Adam Chilenski moved to New York City (for the reasons that people generally move to New York City), and the rest of the band broke up to form bands like the Awesome, Zeno’s Arrow, 8 Track, the Press, and the Mike Taylor Band. Now, says guitarist Matt Shardlow, “we have decided to kick it back into high gear with what we consider to be Maine’s premier reggae band.” Hey, they did take home the Best World Music Act Bimpy in 2004 and they were popular enough to hold the honor of having been the band playing on the Jones Landing deck when it famously crashed two summers ago. Check them out now, every Sunday night at the Port Hole, with new drummer Gary Gemmiti (I-Rates, Chronic Funk), sax player Lucas Desmond (Esperanza), and none other than Dave Noyes (Rustic Overtones, Dulce de Leche, Seekonk) on trombone.
Speaking of Eddie Dickhaut (also of the original Inside Straight), he’s coming back from Nashville home to Portland. Shardlow says he’ll start a new rock band with him and guitarist Nate Soule.
And while we’re mining Shardlow for information, we’ll let you know that original Inside Straight bassist Jon Lammi just landed the assistant engineer gig on the upcoming Aerosmith album. Likely, the “Sibilance” staff would be impressed by the budget on that one. Must be nice.
Shardlow’s even got news about his significant other: Nikki Glaspie, a drummer who’s been with the Sam Kininger (of Soulive) band and Zion Train, recently auditioned for a touring gig with Beyoncéand (well, would we be writing this otherwise?) got it. She’s now part of Beyoncé’s 10-piece (plus two alternates) all-female touring band, which she put together for the tour to support B’Day, her second full-length solo album (she was part of some other group, with think). Album drops September 5, with tour to follow.
