Port O'Brien rolled through Indianapolis, on tour with Bodies Of Water, and put on one hell of a show at Locals Only.   Touring behind their 2008 release All We Could Do Was Sing, an incredibly honest, autobiographical album put together by the band's two primaries Van Pierszalowski and Cambria Goodwin.  Many songs deal with Van's time spent on his father's fishing boat in Alaska.  Some are joyous.  Some are sad, lonely and heart-wrenching.  All are quite good.

Port O'Brien has seen a slow rise into the eyes and ears of indie music fans in 2008.  But that's mainly because these two are no strangers to hard work.  Outside of making quality music and having an exciting live show, throughout the year, they have released many high-quality, or at least interesting, videos, demos and live cuts to the internet to keep them in the public eye.  On the flipside, they aren't all business.  This band was a tight-knit group, full of laughter and jokes.  They were open and honest almost to a fault.  Despite the long tour and even longer drive home ahead of them, they were conversational and available to and with any and all in attendance.  Of course the true test of a band's mettle is when then get up on stage together, especially at the end of a long tour.  This band definitely liked playing music together.  The music was tight, but not overly controlled.  They had what some of the kids in the music biz call "chemistry."  At least I think that's what they call it.

At the end of the night, the band opened up a big chest filled with pots and pans, handed the out to the crowd and all joined in the merry-making for a rousing rendition of I Woke Up Today.  It capped off what was a fantastic night of music from two incredibly talented California-based bands sure to continue making amazing music for years to come.

Earlier in the day we enjoyed each other's company at The Laundromatinee's VIBES II performance space.  It didn't long to feel at ease around Van and his band.  He joked about his name being "Van" and mine being "Dodge" and the fact that they drove a "Dodge Van", so we were fated to meet and would always be linked...or some such silliness.  We joked about his hat and how he makes it fly off during  performances to add "flair" but also about how you couldn't make it looked forced.  There was actually quite a bit of science and analysis to it, but as you'll see in the videos, he pulls it off pretty naturally.  
 

MP3 Session Downloads:

Port O'Brien - Tree Bones
Port O'Brien - Sour Milk/Salt Water
Port O'Brien - Rooftops 

Bonus Album Download:

Port O'Brien - I Woke Up Today

Recorded and mixed by Perry Stevens of Snapjoint Recording Studio
Mastered by Jeff DuPont
Shot by Keith Toombs
Edited by Tim Wilsbach