Dave Gutter

Latest Articles

Clearing things up with the Fogcutters

Huge sounds
Walking into the old Hanover Street warehouse space in Portland to a full-blown rehearsal of the Fogcutters Big Band is a little like moving from a sauna to the frozen tundra.
By SAM PFEIFLE | November 30, 2011

Paranoid Social Club really are out to get you

Club-house rules
Hopefully by now you've heard the first single from Paranoid Social Club's new Axis IV , "Count on Me," and you don't need a whole lot of convincing that this is the record you'll be listening to all summer.
By SAM PFEIFLE | May 18, 2011

Kurt Baker goes solo, Rustic Overtones get a makeover

Sibilance
KURT BAKER wrapped up recording a couple new original tracks with JONATHAN WYMAN last week, his first original work since the LEFTOVERS went on hiatus.
By PORTLAND PHOENIX MUSIC STAFF | January 19, 2011

Jeff Beam navigates the Flying Trapeze

Without a net
Talk about a high-wire act. On his fourth full-length album in as many years, young songwriter/performer/engineer Jeff Beam has set out to make an important album that's listenable, a record that both challenges ideas about pop music and embraces them.
By SAM PFEIFLE | December 08, 2010

By | January 01, 0001

Ready Aim Fire debuts at Brian Boru; Poverty turns into Thommy

Sibilance
Former Gypsy Tailwind frontgal ANNA LOMBARD is now back in the game, post baby.
By PORTLAND PHOENIX MUSIC STAFF | August 04, 2010

One man’s picks for the BiMPys

Handicapping the Best Music Poll
Pffft. That Phoenix Best Music Poll is just a popularity contest!
By SAM PFEIFLE | June 02, 2010

And the award for best bad moustache and a Jheri-curl goes to ...

Sibilance
Do yourself a favor and watch the video for RUSTIC OVERTONES’ “Love and a 45.”
By PORTLAND PHOENIX MUSIC STAFF | May 26, 2010

Join the Gypsy caravan

Sibilance
The latest on Gypsy Tailwind, Low-Flying Airplanes, and more
By PORTLAND PHOENIX MUSIC STAFF | May 05, 2010

By | January 01, 0001

Rear-view mirror

Albums you shouldn't let slip by
After a few days of Indian Summer to remind us of the summer we nearly didn't have, it's timely to shed some warm light on albums released recently that didn't get their proper due.
By SAM PFEIFLE | November 11, 2009

Days of the New

The orchestral stylings of Rustic Overtones 2.0
When drummer Tony McNaboe delivered the burned copy of Rustic Overtones’ new full-length album, he tucked it inside the packaging of the re-released and re-mastered Long Division.
By SAM PFEIFLE | November 05, 2009

Space cowboys

Sidecar Radio's fiery Dreadnaught Cosmonaut
Sidecar Radio's EP Wave Principal was released in April 2008 and I've pretty much been listening to "Easy Gets So Hard" ever since.
By SAM PFEIFLE | October 07, 2009

Falling fast

Let's get things started right away
As almost always seems to be the case, I have to start the "fall preview" by detailing this upcoming weekend, which promises to be one of the most active of the year.
By SAM PFEIFLE | September 16, 2009

10 years later, we told you so

Ten years of being right (well, mostly)
Like many in the alternative press, we pride ourselves on being ahead of the game. Sometimes, of course, that means we're wrong about what might be coming down the pike — that's part of the risk of being "out front" and not just reacting to the news as it happens.
By DEIRDRE FULTON | September 16, 2009

Machigonne Festival wrap-up

Sibilance
The MACHIGONNE FESTIVAL was a major success, despite the best efforts of Hurricane Danny.
By PORTLAND PHOENIX MUSIC STAFF | September 02, 2009

Flying solo (and duo)

Elijah Ocean and Dave Gutter get busy taking it slow
Think about everything you know about Elijah Ocean and Dave Gutter: Ocean's work fronting the heavy rock trio Loverless, say, or his lead-guitar turn in the radio-rock foursome All the Real Girls; Gutter's piercing vocals out front of Rustic Overtones, or his white-hot bounce in the lead of Paranoid Social Club.
By SAM PFEIFLE | August 05, 2009

Elijah Ocean, Tony Smokes and the Ladykillers

Sibilance
Yes, we know that there are important albums being released by ELIJAH OCEAN and the new duo of DAVE GUTTER and EVAN CASAS in the very near future. Pfeifle can't review everything in the same week, for Christ's sake, so just lay off and wait till next week.
By PORTLAND PHOENIX STAFF | July 29, 2009

Regardless of the cost

Tony McNaboe testifies on sophomore release
If you were concerned that the return of Rustic Overtones would mean the ends of their various side projects, it’s clear now that was a fruitless worry.
By SAM PFEIFLE | July 22, 2009

Multi-faceted

Shardlow and Goodyear and a brand-new studio
How we think about making and consuming music is changing. It is not news that labels, albums, and record stores are dying, pushed aside by new ways of conducting the commerce of music. (Though at the turn of the 20th century the song was king and the trade was in sheet-music publishing rights, so maybe this is all a return to form, just with new technology.)
By SAM PFEIFLE | July 15, 2009

Portland Music News: June 26, 2009

Sibilance
The "Sibilance" staff sat in on DAVE GUTTER's new project, with EVAN CASAS, being mastered by ADAM AYAN at Gateway. The record's called The Key to Adore and is more organic and subdued than what you've heard from Gutter before. Watch out for his cover of "The Man Comes Around." Look for the disc by end of summer.
By PORTLAND PHOENIX MUSIC STAFF | June 24, 2009

What are the odds?

Best bets for this year's Best Music Poll
Ten years! When we organized our first Best Music Poll, way back in the day, we could only hope that it would one day wind up the institution it is today, with the annual Portland Music Awards ceremony drawing the best collection of musical talent Maine can produce.
By SAM PFEIFLE | May 27, 2009

Portland Music News: April 3, 2009

Sibilance
Make sure to swing by the White Heart April 3 to see THE LIN , who's part of the DIRT COALITION hip-hop collective and has released a five-song EP called Metal on Metal . What you might call post-hip-hop,
By PORTLAND MUSIC STAFF | April 01, 2009

By | January 01, 0001

Portland Phoenix Best Music Poll local winners 2000-2007

By PORTLAND PHOENIX MUSIC STAFF | May 14, 2008

Who's going to win?

2008 Portland Best Music Poll tote board
I give you the BMP Tote Board, handicapping the big categories — because who doesn’t like reducing real life to betting lines?
By SAM PFEIFLE | April 30, 2008

Rustic live in Philly, with candles

On the road
“I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I was impressed,” local Dave Robinson said after. “The guy’s voice is killer.”
By RYAN O'CONNELL | April 09, 2008

Rustic hit the road

Going national
Sure, you Portlanders are used to cool things like live in-store appearances from your favorite local bands, but those of us who get our pipeline of culture from the Windham Bull Moose are rarely as lucky.
By SAM PFEIFLE | March 26, 2008

Schools of rock

There’s a whole lot of moving, shaking, and band-building going on in the world of local music instruction
“You walk in here, and you feel as though you’re visiting your favorite aunt or uncle’s house ... it’s a place where you want to visit and you’re willing to take risks.”
By SAM PFEIFLE | November 28, 2007