History

Through mutual theatre pals of Eastern Oregon University, Mike Surber and Gregory Rawlins found themselves sudden roommates one bronze day in October 2002. Their meeting proved to be an instant priority; and can be likened to one long and prosperous swap meet.

But instead of trading furs and medallions and rubies, the two offered one another the gift of expression. In exchange for Mike’s cherished knowledge of the thunderous E-minor chord, Greg reimbursed him with a command of slant rhymes and couplets. For his stanzas, Greg got a ballad, and for his ballads, Mike received a poem. And so on. Tit for tat and perry for thrust.
Thus, the two became one another’s comma, hyphen, period and apostrophe; engaging in a friendship that explored the possibility of artistic creativity in a myriad of mediums.

In the ensuing year, both were cast in local theatre productions of Margaret Edson’s “Wit” and “The Laramie Project” by Moisés Kaufman. Surber wrote, directed and co-starred in “Owen Story,” a full-length feature film in which Rawlins plays a small-time crook with high aspirations.

By the summer of 2003, the two had moved with a few other comrades into an old commercial building now known affectionately as the “Union House” or “The Commune”. It was neither a house nor a commune, but it was in the town of Union. There, the houseful of merrymen enjoyed a string of highly prolific months, composing plays, poems, and songs, in junkyard jam sessions that would often last throughout the night.

It quickly became apparent to the young men that of all the mediums of creative expression swirling about, for them, music was the ultimate culmination. So, with a carload of belongings and several original tunes, Mike and Greg hastily left La Grande, Oregon to seek a few things out in Seattle.

At the close of 2003, they were living on the 13th floor of the Kelleher Apt. building on First Hill. A quaint pad with a panoramic view of the Emerald City, this tenement’s most charming feature was its balcony. From this perch a great many paper airplanes were raced and a handful of bottle rockets drunkenly fired.

An open mic at the Sunset Tavern in Ballard yielded quick results for the two guitarist/singers thirsty for a bassist and drummer. A one Elmer “Trojan Horse” Sander was also trying out his ditties that evening, and afterward approached Mike and Greg with the proposition of getting together and working up some tunes, stating, “I have a bass, and a basement to make lots and lots of noise in!” Mike and Greg were so excited by this prospect that they spent twenty-five minutes in the venue’s bathroom stall calming each other down. When they came out, they decided to tell Elmer that they were very interested, but should also look into finding a drummer. “That’s okay!” assured the Trojan Horse, “I’ve got a friend named Seth Johnson who is heading up from Flagstaff to beat his skins with us!”

Mike and Greg returned to the bathroom.

SONS OF GUNS!! SONS OF GUNS!! SONS OF GUNS!!

The stars had aligned, and their first show was in February. They continued to play the bars, halls, festivals, lounges, convention centers, weddings and wakes of the surrounding region for the next year, releasing a six-song EP in the summer of 2004 then embarking on a two-week tour down the western United States in the spring of 2005.

However, dear reader, greener pastures always seem somewhere else, and the troubadours who had once left La Grande for good returned two summers later. SONS OF GUNS?!? SONS OF GUNS?!? SONS OF GUNS?!?

Rest assured, it turned out to be merely a new chapter. When Mike and Greg arrived back in La Grande, they gasped to gaze across a valley lorded over by the evil multi-instrumentalist Luke McKern.

Luckily for the township, Mike and Greg’s melodies helped mend the darkened heart of the beast within McKern, and on Sept. 8th 2005 they performed their first show together. Following their set, McKern’s father, a retired teacher who ran a mobile laundry service, called his son to tell him his sudsy skills were demanded in New Orleans ASAP– to wash clothes for the victims and relief workers of Hurricane Katrina.
And just when it seemed like another musical endeavor had dissipated, Luke informed his new friends that there were two more spots on the crew that had to leave immediately.

Four days later, the members of Northside Mobile Laundry rolled onto the eerily evacuated streets and surreal wreckage of the Big Easy. Stationed on the west bank across from the Mississippi, the three laundry technicians/musicians worked out of a trailer and slept in a tent for six months, sneaking away in their spare time to peform for other camps (under the moniker “The Spin Cyclists”) and listen to the blues and jazz make a speedy recovery in the nooks and crannies of the French Quarter.

In the summer after their return, Sons of Guns recorded their first full-length album entitled “Clutch.” Their CD release show at The Crocodile Cafe in Seattle was smash success, and the band continued to frequent the region’s venues with the likes of Finn Riggins, Blitzen Trapper, Oh No Not Stereo, Tartufi and many others, in between pursuing other creative and musical endeavors.

By mid 2010, Mike and Greg had teammed up with local musicians Jeff Grammer and Wayne Callahan–two former members of Test Audiences who welcomed the prospect of assisting the creation of a forthcoming SOG record in their off-time from Elidila– the duo’s main project.

“Oregon Slogan,” the title of the second full-length album by Sons of Guns was recorded in a basement of the Maridell Center in La Grande, OR, from Februrary 23-28th, 2011. Brad Kaminski of Vertigo Studios travelled from Seattle to capture their sound and take it home with him, and by the end of their five-day session, he had 13 tracks in tow. The band had always wanted to avoid the ho-humness of track by track recording, and sought to capture the essence of a live performance on the record as best they could. To do this, they all set up around one another, sticking their amplifiers in separate rooms, then played the songs as they would during a show. The result is an energy and grit yet to be captured in the band’s history, and a string of release dates are underway. SONS OF GUNS!! SONS OF GUNS!! SONS OF GUNS!!

Stay tuned…