Portland noise-punk band Help comes to Bend

Published 9:30 am Tuesday, March 22, 2022

Portland noise-punk trio Help will visit The Capitol in Bend to promote its new concept album, “2053,” about the downfall of humanity. “This is absolutely the band for right now,” said cofounder Ryan Neighbors.

The Portland noise-punk trio Help won Willamette Week’s annual Best New Band poll in 2019, but Bim Ditson and Ryan Neighbors are hardly newcomers to the city’s vibrant music scene.

Ditson spent a decade behind the drums for DIY stalwart And And And, while Neighbors spent five years in psych-rock chart-toppers Portugal. The Man and has long made electronic music under the name Hustle & Drone.

But when you listen to either of them talk about the music they make with Help, they sound like they’ve landed where they were supposed to be all along.

Or maybe it landed on them. Ditson and Neighbors started Help a few years ago with their buddy Boone Howard, who has since moved out of state. The goal: To play loud, aggressive music. And that’s it.

“We never had any real idea how this was going to sound,” Neighbors said. “I honestly expected it not to work as well as it has.”

The three spent months jamming and writing, and then released a blistering six-song, 15-minute EP in 2019 that begins with Neighbors howling a literal cry for help and ends with the refrain “class war now!” repeated a dozen times over a thunderous hardcore punk attack. In between are songs about anxiety, inequality, disillusionment and exhaustion — and this was before the pandemic.

In other words, the guys’ loud, aggressive, no-expectations punk band turned into a loud, aggressive, pissed off and politically charged punk band. For Ditson, however, Help’s music is less about politics and more about pure personal expression.

“We’re not running for anything. We don’t have an expectation that we’re going to change anything, and I don’t think a song will have more impact than a policy,” he said. “Culture doesn’t drive change, it just talks about change, and when it comes down to it, my job as somebody engaging in culture is to be honest. That’s all.”

With that said, there is no question that the state of the world over the past few years has helped create an audience that is ripe for Help’s particular brand of honesty, Neighbors said.

“This is absolutely the band for right now, and I think people are resonating with it more than ever,” he said.

Just last week, Help released its debut full-length, “2053,” a concept album about the downfall of humanity. It didn’t start out as a concept album, but it became one, Neighbors said, because all of the songs kept revolving around the same feeling: “It’s only going to get worse because things aren’t going to change,” he said. “I think that seems relevant to people.”

What: Help, with Spoon Benders and Chupra Cobra

When: 8 p.m. Wednesday, March 23

Where: The Capitol, 190 NW Oregon Ave., Bend

Cost: $10

Contact: facebook.com/TheCapitolBend/events.

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