Thursday, March 14, 2013

Pierced Arrows (#1): No Halloween Costumes Required.



Pierced Arrows dressed as themselves, Halloween Night 2012. Ash Street Saloon. Portland, Oregon.

 Fred Cole

A word often used to describe the husband (guitar/vocals) and wife (bass/vocals) team of Fred & Toody Cole is "legendary." After all, Fred Cole has a rock 'n' roll pedigree dating back to the '60s with his band the Weeds/Lollipop Shoppe, and their previous group Dead Moon garnered fans on at least a couple of continents. But I'd be remiss not to add "fun" and "intense" as onstage characterizations for them, as well.

Last night, I re-watched the Coles perform as part of Dead Moon in the 1996 documentary Hype! about the Seattle grunge scene. Although they're certainly representative of a Pacific Northwest psych-garage-punk sound, what's not mentioned in the flick is that the Coles pound terra 173 miles to the south in Portland -- not belly up to Puget Sound. Ah, the days when Portland got no respect!

As for the Coles and drummer Kelly Halliburton--"Much Respect," as the saying goes, for their gritty, gutsy playing, and Fred Cole's switchblade-insightful lyricism.

Toody Cole

Kelly Halliburton


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