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Modern rock in an underwaterpsychedelicpoprock type of way.
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1. Busted
Reprise
2. More
3. Mountains
4. Kings & Queens
5. Spike
6. New River
7. Velviteen
8. Meal
9. Crum’s Butterfly Song
10. Fields©2004 Üai Wee One Official Website
E-mail
Hailing from the great northwest, in the rainy city of bridges and roses, Portland,
Oregon, Üai (pronounced "way") thrives in the rock and roll tradition
of testing the boundaries of beauty and raw energy; and, with influences ranging
from Sigur Ros and The Flaming Lips to the Grateful Dead and John McLaughlin’s
Mahavishnu Orchestra, Üai also celebrates the totem of rock and roll which
is its continual evolution and recreation through the influences of popular music
of the present as well as the recent past.
The cultivation of Üai began in the spring of 2003, and the product was released
to the public in live form in the fall of that same year. However, the members
of the band have been performing in Portland since the mid nineties, together
and with separate projects, at such venues as the Satyricon, the Blackbird (both
now sadly closed), the Fez Ballroom, the Medicine Hat Gallery, and the Ash Street
Saloon. Beginning as an ambient psych-pop duo, Üai began playing at the Jasmine
Tree’s Tiki Lounge, the Green Room, Club DV8, local art openings at the Gallery
Co7, as well as maintaining a unique and popular weekly at Ladd’s Inn for over
six months. While consistently hosting local up-and-coming talent and forwarding
an open and creative environment, the Üai weekly also allowed the duo to
truly formulate and mature its unique sound, add many adoring fans, and, in the
spring of 2004, find the perfect bass player, Bianca Grace.
Reared in the cornfields of Iowa, Bianca has been deep in the rock and roll maelstrom
for over fifteen years since she joined her first band at age 15. Playing in a
wide variety of acts over the years, Bianca is most easily recognized for her
role in Adickdid, an all girl grunge group who opened for such acts as Hole and
Fugazi in the nineties while also releasing a full-length record. Bianca also
has another full length album under her bass strap and continues to pulse the
groove deep into the soul as she abides in the pocket with Hal, Üai’s driving
drumming machine.
Hal was raised in the warehouses of Japan and, at a young age, imported to the
United States. With his sleek look and impeccable sense of rhythm, the Korg ElectribeR
Rhythm Synthesizer soon became a staple in many electronic acts before his desire
to apply himself in a more organic musical environment led him into the hands
of Üai. He’s since become the adoree of many a lusty Üai fan who just
can’t resist the depth and girth of his clockwork beats. Now, linked up with the
experience of the rock saturated Bianca on bass, this rhythm section’s dependability
and keen ear for the pocket lay down a wonderfully driving platform for the musings
of guitarist and lead singer, Andy Bergeron.
Andy grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, but has been living and playing in
Portland since the late nineties. His diversity with instrumentation has led him
into a variety of roles in the Portland music scene, the most dominant of which
being guitarist/vocalist in SpaceBreath; a powerful rock quartet scorching the
Portland area for more than three years from 1999 to 2002, while also producing
a number of studio recordings and a full length album, Cloudland. His other projects
have included playing bass in the hard rock trio Astrella, bass and keyboards
in the more folky Mo and the Donuts, drums in the duo Loris Lane, as well as composing
and producing the music for a play written and directed by Charlie Orphanides,
the Üai keyboardist.
Raised in coastal Connecticut, Charlie was classically trained in piano since
the age of six, but not until 2001 did he switch focus to improvisational and
electric music. Prior to this transition, his attention lent itself to more literary
and performance art pursuits resulting in a small book of poetry, a number of
short films, countless multi-media performances including film, dance, theatre,
and music, many involving the music of SpaceBreath, and the culminant grand comedic
fantasy, "The Birth of the Stick-Figure Battery Baby," which was performed
for ten nights at the Back Door Theater in Portland in June 2002 while receiving
rave reviews from the media, including a Portland Mercury ’pick of the week,’
and selling out the final four performances.
With all focus dedicated to the cultivation of Üai since its conception,
the band has harnessed its underwaterpychedelicpoprock sound and spent much of
the summer of 2004 in their basement studio recording their first LP, Wee One.
Now, Üai is continuing to vehemently play in and around Portland and bring
you steadfast brand new rock and roll music.
Category:  Rock
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