By Josh Hughes
The upcoming BAMF! Festival on May 6 and 7 features a range of local and semi-local musicians and artists performing for a whirlwind 24 hour concert at the Lookout Arts Quarry just south of Bellingham. While nearly all the names come from the greater Seattle region stretching up to Bellingham, a good portion of the groups have ties to Western in one way or another.
Students engaged in the house show scene will recognize names like The Dawn Bombs, Step Dads and Babe Waves, while those involved in various Soundcloud communities will recognize acts like Danny’s Dead, Lil Buddha and Arbour.
With so much music being made around Bellingham and Western in particular, here are spotlights on some of the local BAMF! artists:
The Dawn Bombs:
Made up of singer and guitarist Ben Waight, bassist Ruben Gomez and drummer Will Luckensmeyer, The Dawn Bombs have been around in the Bellingham scene since 2015 when they first formed at Western. Their music ties a fine line between 50s pop and doo wop and the scattered, mathematical grooves of Local Natives and Dirty Projectors.
Their first official EP, titled “Greetings From…,” includes three songs and is available through Bandcamp and all streaming services, though the band plans to try and release a full length album this coming winter. They also currently hold a spot in the UGCH Sounds of The Underground final performance, competing against We Won’t Leave, Breakside and Sweaty Already.
Arbour & Club Mage:
Arbour, a main and solo project by Western student Hans Wankins, has gained a steady following through platforms like Soundcloud and Bandcamp over the years, creating lo-fi bedroom electronica. “Sunday Piano Music,” a minute and a half long ambient instrumental has over a whopping 100,000 plays on Spotify, yet Arbour is only one part of Wankins’ musical repertoire.
Beyond his dreamy field recordings and experiments in transcendental ambiance, Wankins is additionally part of the group Club Mage, another Western-based group.
Step Dads:
Quartet of Nick, Nate, Zack and Sacky, Step Dads are the type of Bellingham band that have a man in a cat mask as their album art. It should also be noted that this same album has a song called “La Croix” on it that is, indeed, an ode to the enhanced sparkling water. It’s also probably the best song on the album.
Step Dads, who have been playing house shows around Bellingham for a while now, also competed in this year’s Sounds of The Underground.
Their style fits nicely in line with the equally quirky guitar pop of Mac Demarco or a less tamed Real Estate. Their groovy, borderline jazzy guitar lines complement eccentric vocals and a tightly knit rhythm section, giving off carefree, dad rock vibes.
Bob Fossil:
Self described “fossil rock,” Bob Fossil combines a blend of rock’n’roll, funk, jazz and prog rock to create an immensely unique sound that jumps all over the place in the span of one song.
A four-year-old band, Bob Fossil has put out two records, and currently exists as a five-piece group. Both of their albums have sprawling, five minute jams that follow unconventional structures in favor of sporadic, exciting shifts in atmosphere and dynamics.
Once a staple of Bellingham’s house show scene, Bob Fossil has extended tours into Seattle while still maintaining their presence at Western and throughout Bellingham as a whole.
Danny’s Dead:
Folk songwriter turned electronic R&B singer, Danny’s Dead has made a name for himself at Western through online communities, notably a large following on Soundcloud. While maintaining a minimal presence online, his music speaks for itself by relying on excellent lead vocals and crisp production.
A recent EP, “Perfume,” produced by WWU sophomore and producer Oddlin, features spacey, catchy late night beats and sultry vocals drenched in various effects.
Lil Buddha:
Jon Inonueri, a Western student originating from Albuquerque, New Mexico, makes dreamy trap, trip hop and instrumental hip hop beats under the Lil Buddha moniker. His music rests at a corner where dreamy electronica, like Emancipator, meet the menacing horn trap of Hudson Mohawke.
After having played various house shows around town and even landing spots at the Wild Buffalo, Inonueri has spent much of the last few years recording and producing new material; his last EP, “Seven,” came out late last year. Songs like “Regal” build distorted, dark atmospheres around tense, cutting percussion that builds up for the entirety of the song. His music never functions simply as a copy/paste of buildup and drop.
Tetrachromat:
A progressive metal quartet, Tetrachromat contributes a rather unexpected sound to the usual slew of “indie rock” that consumes Bellingham’s house scene. Their music relies heavily on technical chops. They forge long, epic metal instrumentals that combine an ideal blend of melody and brute intensity.
While their music would never (and should never) be called shoegaze, the guitar patterns and riffs from Frank Rowland and Nathan Malick rely on immense levels of reverb, adding an oddly celestial quality to their headbanging belligerence. Their live shows notoriously strike a strangely perfect balance between spiritual transcendence and sweaty, overwhelming moshing.
Other Western related artists at BAMF! include Momo Grace, Mhostly Ghostly, Babe Waves, Metsa, The Katie Gray, Kuvoza, Faux Pause and more. The full lineup can be found online at BAMF!’s Facebook page, or on the various lineup posters that have slowly been circulating around Bellingham. Tickets for BAMF! can also be purchased on their site, starting at $40. The festival marks the biggest amalgam of Bellingham’s local musical talent in the history of the city.