As The Angry Orts, Aaron Ettlin, Matthew Hernandez, Sara Hernandez and Emily Seabroke combine to form one of the most unique indie bands to hit the Portland music scene in recent years. Their music began as an energetic mix of dance-punk and pop, with the band performing at super crowded house parties in front of scores of sweaty, music hungry 20-somethings, and has evolved into a catchy combination of gritty garage-rock and melodic pop. This compelling young garage-pop band is up and coming in the Northwest scene, with glowing reviews from local and national periodicals and blogs. We recently had the chance to chat with vocalist Sara about how the band got started, her favorite gig and where you can see The Angry Orts next.
When did you decide to make a career/focus of music?
We've all been involved in music for most of our lives, be it in school bands or choir or rock bands, so it was just a natural progression to want to have it go from something fun to do with our friends to something fun to do with our friends while being able to support ourselves with it.
Beyond just the band, Emily makes a living teaching music around Portland and I run a small booking/management agency with my friend/business partner. Aaron and Matthew are both in side projects, so all of our lives are pretty entangled in music.
What’s the best gig you ever played?
Our favorite show so far has to be our last album release at the Doug Fir. The place was packed and full of raucous energy and we were surrounded by a bunch of drunk, sweaty, dancing people and our friends and family (some of whom were the drunk, sweaty, dancing people) and it was so fun and crazy and generally just a really great party.
We've had a ton of other shows that we love - we once played a house show at this place called PALS Clubhouse and the living room was tiny and we could all move about an inch to either side. I ended up covered in mud and beer and sweat and Aaron had to keep squishing back towards the drums because people kept cramming in closer and closer - it was awesome. Another favorite is playing the Wonder Ballroom, which is a really great venue in town with an awesome stage and beautiful sound. It was so amazing to be up on the stage, looking out at the crowd and just being really excited.
Back in the day, most people found music on the radio or MTV. Obviously, today there is a plethora of ways to hear about new music. How do you find new bands or artists that you like to listen to?
There are so many different ways we find music - we love a lot of local bands whom we meet at shows or through friends or compilations that come out for festivals. I find a lot of bands via my booking agency, either through booking them with bands on my roster or inquiries from the bands about booking. We also read music blogs (local and national) and listen to a lot of college/local radio.
What’s the most challenging thing about being an emerging artist personally, for you?
I think the biggest challenge right now for any band is actually making a living from music. Music is so easy to come by today, people don't place as much of a value on it. It's not like when we were younger and you'd spend all your money at the record store, poring over the latest release of your favorite band. Nowadays, people just download it, throw it on their iTunes and that's that. Even though we love the accessibility that the new shape of the industry gives to fans, it can also be a double-edged sword.
Right now, we're just focusing on creating the best possible sound we can, so that we can really push ourselves further.
What’s your next big gig coming up? When/Where?
We're playing at our friend TOPE's cd release on March 16th at Backspace in Portland and we're totally pumped. He makes some really sick hip-hop and we can't wait to hear his new album. You can also check out our other future dates on our Facebook page or our website.
Check out more on The Angry Orts here.
