I’ve been attending Nuggets Night for 3 years, 2 years of which I’ve been lucky enough to also be covering the event for POW. Each year I’ve attended has been like a religious experience for me. Since I’m from a much less happenin’ town than Portland (cough…Sacramento..), I’m lucky if I get to see 1 band play real garage rock at a local show. So when I attended my first Nuggets Night in 2015 and found myself up against a stage watching nearly 20 incredible bands perform legendary Nuggets tunes, while a packed audience sang along to every word and go-go dancers grooved on the catwalk upstairs…..it was unreal. It still is every year for me (as clearly evidenced by the text messages I sent during Nuggets Night weekend, some of which I’ve included throughout this writing), and it’s the one event other than Halloween that I look forward to all year long.
For those completely unfamiliar with the event, Nuggets Night was founded 10 years ago in Portland, OR by Luke Strahota. According to the Nuggets Night website, “The idea behind Nuggets Night was to bring together fans of obscure ’60s garage and psychedelic rock and provide a night for musicians to play covers from the influential Nuggets compilations. As the idea came to fruition, news spread that legendary garage rocker Question Mark, of Question Mark and The Mysterians, had lost his home to fire. Bands throughout the country held benefit shows to help him recover. On Saturday, May 12, 2007, the first Nuggets Night featured 11 Portland bands. Ticket sales raised money for garage rock royalty, contributing to Question Mark’s fundraising. Nuggets Night has become a beloved annual event based on generosity, community, and the desire to pay tribute to some of the most revolutionary music ever created.”
In my own words, Nuggets Night is an annual gathering where a ton of Portland’s coolest bands (along with some huge, legendary bands from around the world as of the past few years) get together and have a giant party to raise money for a worthy cause. The bands each spend about 15 minutes on stage rocking legendary Nuggets tunes, everyone dances their ass off and has a great time. It’s Portland’s most shakin’, psychedelic weekend of the year.
Nuggets Night celebrated it’s 10th anniversary this year. With a bigger venue, huge headliners (The Pandoras! The Loons! The Woggles! The Shadows of Knight!), and several days’ worth of events, the annual shindig has truly grown into a can’t-miss event. As previously mentioned, Nuggets Night always sponsors a music-related charity. This year, funds from Nuggets Night benefited The Jeremy Wilson Foundation, a non-profit organization which makes it possible for friends, family and fans to directly assist individual musicians and their families during medical emergencies. You can learn more, as well as donate to the cause here.
Nuggets Night 1
“Jesus Christ, watching the Pandoras sound check is unrealllllll”
Nuggets Night’s first night kicked off for me with watching The Pandoras sound check, which was beyond amazing and completely surreal for me. Shortly thereafter, I had a 15 minute sit-down interview with Jimy Sohns from the Shadows of Knight (full write-up coming soon!), and then an interview with The Pandoras, during which I believed myself to be cool and composed but after watching the video back realize I sound like a hysterical fangirl. Meeting garage rock legends who you’ve worshiped your entire life will do that to you.
The doors of the Star Theater officially opened at 7pm, and music started promptly with The Sellwoods– Nuggets Night veterans with garage-punk sounds and signature style. They were followed by Magic Wandas, who opened their set with a killer psych cover of Wanda Jackson’s “Funnel Of Love”. Next in the night’s lineup were The Foolish Pride, a supergroup of other beloved Portland bands whose set showcased outstanding vocals and powerpop sensibilities.
“Oh don’t mind me, just listening to a group of kids kill a Seeds cover at the best musical event of the year”
Fourth to take the stage were Lagoon Squad, a band who made their debut at last year’s Nuggets Night. This year’s performance showed a newfound cohesion and confidence within the band, particularly in frontwoman Rachel, who now commands attention of the stage (and has fantastic taste in shoes!). Lagoon Squad were followed by a debut Nuggets Night appearance, Fire Nuns– a quartet of boys who barely looked to be legal drinking age, whose set ranged from The Equals to The Seeds. Seeing a whole new generation embracing Nuggets and taking part in the event was very cool.
“Goddamn, I can’t believe there’s still several bands. I’m so overstimulated”
The night continued with The Mean Reds, Portland’s resident girls of garage, another group that’s really come into their stride since their first Nuggets Night performance in 2016. The Mean Reds were followed next by The Strange Effects, whose cover of The Choir’s “It’s Cold Outside” was so good that my video of it is basically unusable because I was dancing too much. Also, The Strange Effects’ drummer, Thom Sullivan (who also drums in several other Portland bands), is quite possibly the best drummer I’ve ever seen play live. Every single time I see him play, no matter what band he’s playing with, I feel genuine sympathy for the drumset- he’s just rocks THAT fucking hard.
**SMOKE BREAK INTERLUDE**
While outside smoking, I spoke with several friends, some old and some new. Topics of conversation included our thoughts on the acts so far (SO good), the quality of the Star Theater food (surprisingly great), and our own musical backgrounds. My favorite moment of small talk came when a new friend told a story about how years ago she’d given an ex-boyfriend a copy of the original Nuggets album after their break up, thinking she thought she could at least help improve his taste in music. It worked- he’s a Nuggets Night legend nowadays. So..what was he listening to before shown the light?
“Ugh…stuff like Ram Jam”.
**BACK TO THE MUSIC**
Nuggets Night continued with The Lovesores, who played maximum rock n roll that completely tore the place up. Their version of The Easybeats’ “Sorry” was one of my favorite performances of the entire weekend. The Lovesores were followed by all-girl quartet The Nastees, and then the heavy psych sounds of Paradise– Nuggets Night veterans and the last Portland band of the evening.
“The Reverberations are the best band out there right now, I say it all the time but they still floor me every time. I can’t believe I actually know them and they’ve slept on my floor.”
The Shadows of Knight (aka Jimy Sohns backed by The Reverberations), played all the hits- “Oh Yeah”, “Gonna Make You Mine”, “Dark Side”, and of course the immortal, legendary, “national anthem of garage rock” as Jimy Sohns called it, “Gloria”. Jimy, despite his 71 years and despite suffering a stroke last year, was every bit the rock n roll frontman, wielding the mic stand and leading the crowd in sing-alongs. The best part of the “Shadows of Knight” set, however, was when Jimy stepped off stage for a breather and his backing band The Reverberations performed the Shadows of Knight instrumental “The Behemoth”- their take on it was dark, psychedelic, and hypnotic. Lead guitarist Dave played the hell out of it, and it was a brilliant performance from the entire band. Jimy has now named The Reverberations as his official west coast band, and he couldn’t have chosen anyone better.
“I can’t believe there’s another night of this tomorrow. Goddamn”
The Pandoras closed out the night, and were just as fucking amazing as you’d expect The Pandoras to be. Their set included all their greatest tunes- “You Don’t Satisfy”, “I Want You”, “In and Out of My Life in A Day”, “Stop Pretending”, “It’s About Time”, “The Hump”. To see those songs played live, about 20 feet away from me, was so incredibly surreal that I can’t really even put it into words.
During my interview with the band, I asked what song they each consider to be the #1 most garage rock song of all time. Kim didn’t even hesitate before answering “‘You Don’t Satisfy’ by The Pandoras“. After seeing it performed live, I think I agree. Watching The Pandoras on stage, it was so clear that they were having a great time performing, and that they were really digging being a part of Nuggets Night. Kim announced during their set that it was also Paula’s (founder of The Pandoras, who tragically passed in 1991) birthday. She also announced that a new Pandoras record will be out soon, featuring re-recordings of Pandoras songs as well as brand new material.
“Truly one of the best nights of my life”
Nuggets Night 2
“Hot damn the first band just tore this place up with a Love cover!”
The second and final night of Nuggets Night began with Salamander Island, fronted by Jeremy Wilson (of The Jeremy Wilson Foundation). They opened with a cover from Portland’s own garage legends The Miracle Workers, and closed with a scorching rendition of Love’s “My Flash On You”. Salamander Island were followed by Cigarette McQueen, whose ultra cool set included a brief, unexpected appearance by Jimy Sohns and closed appropriately with a Shadows of Knight tune, “I’ll Make You Sorry”.
RAF Mod band came on third, with their matching suits and 60s sounds. Every performance I’ve seen from RAF has been impeccably sharp- they know what they’re doing, and they do it very well. Their performances of “I Need You” and “David Watts” were some of my favorites of the weekend.
“Oh man 3 bands in and I could leave right now and be fully satisfied. Sooo good.”
Things got psychedelic with Ten Million Lights, a band who are no strangers to Nuggets Night, with their unique sound and instrument-swapping members. They were followed by the long-awaited reunion performance of The High Violets. Several audience members I spoke to told me that The High Violets‘ performance was their entire reason for coming out.
On the flip side, the band that took the stage next, Silver Ships, announced after their set that this would be their last performance for some time. But, what a way for them to go out- the band absolutely nailed more obscure Nuggets like The Smoke’s “My Friend Jack” and Rockin Horse’s “Don’t You Ever Think I Cry”.
“You’re a hell of a drummer. Especially for sitting in at the last minute. You guys sounded great.”
Dartgun & The Vignettes were next in the Nuggets Night lineup, and brought their signature fashion and flashing light-up rings to the stage, which they shared with the crowd so everyone could join in the party. They were followed next by the masked man of The Shriekers, who kept the party going on stage with their wild set of garage-punk.
“The best, most garage rock band in Portland is on”
Finally, the last Portland band to perform at Nuggets Night, The Pynnacles, took the stage. By this point the venue was packed, the dance floor was full and I was fighting to find a decent place to record video (while still being able to dance and enjoy myself, of course). The Pynnacles absolutely KILLED their entire set. Frontman Sean has such explosive energy, and the whole band just rocks so damn hard (The Pynnacles are another group featuring the incredible Thom Sullivan on drums). Each year, The Pynnacles are band I’m most anxious to see, and Nuggets Night wouldn’t be the same without them.
“Holy fuck seriously my brain can’t even handle this”
The Loons were the first of the night’s headliners to take the stage. Hailing from San Diego, they’ve been part of the garage scene for nearly two decades. Bassist Anja Stax had the best outfit of the entire weekend, coming out on stage in a custom minidress made out of fabric which was screenprinted with the iconic Nuggets album art. All the agonizing I did over my own outfits suddenly seemed completely useless once I saw her- that dress was one of the hippest things I’ve ever seen. The Loons gave a hell of a performance, playing a set of their own tunes before driving the crowd wild and finishing their set with an immortal Nugget’s classic, The Thirteenth Floor Elevators’ “You’re Gonna Miss Me”.
The final act of Nuggets Night was The Woggles, legendary garage rockers from Georgia with close ties to Little Steven’s Underground Garage (the band was one of the first signed to Little Steven’s Wicked Cool Records, and singer Manfred Mann is a regular host on The Underground Garage Sirius channel). With their matching red and black outfits and their southern charms, The Woggles rocked the roof off the Star Theater. The whole place was one big sweaty dance party- the energy these guys brought was unreal. I actually broke one of my boots while dancing during The Woggles‘ set, like some sort of garage rock Cinderella. The highlight of The Woggles‘ performance was their version of “Jezebel”- singer Manfred appropriately performed it like a man possessed, then jumped down into the crowd to single out several lucky chicks who shimmied along with him and played up their evil vixen roles perfectly. The Woggles‘ entire set was just SO FUN.
“The show is over. I am so sweaty, and my feet hurt so bad from dancing and my arms hurt from filming, but I had a fucking incredible time and I’m so glad I came up!”
Nuggets Night 2017 was beyond amazing. This year’s lineup of bands was spectacular. The weekend, as it always does, felt like entering some sort of ultra-hip parallel universe where all the chicks are in go-go boots, all the guys wear paisley, and garage rock rules the world. For everyone who wasn’t able to be there, I’m sorry. But you’ve got a year to start planning your pilgrimage to Portland for Nuggets Night 2018, so consider this your official invitation. Be there or be square.
Watch all the Nuggets Night performances recorded by POW:
Learn about Nuggets Night here
Learn about & donate to The Jeremy Wilson Foundation here
Written by Sheena Salazar for POW Magazine
sheenacheyennesalazar@gmail.com
From Sheena:
Special thanks to EVERYONE at Nuggets Night who is always so kind and welcoming to me, to all of the bands for blowing my mind, to my ex for letting me crash on his sofa, to Kevin for bailing me out when my battery died driving back to Sac, to Andrew for the secret note and the encouragement, and of course to POW for trusting me to cover the event. ❤
