How One Local Musician Connects Portland's Greatest Bands
DAVE DEPPER
has played his way through a full-throated chorus of Portland bands over the past 12 years. This month finds him on the road with his most potent allies yet: platinum-certified indie rockers Death Cab for Cutie.
Tap the animation to discover videos from the bands Depper worked with over the years, either on studio albums, as a touring musician, or as a producer. (Not all songs here include Depper in the recordings)
Image: Michelle F. Mitchell
Team Player
It started with a Craigslist ad in 2003. Dave Depper, new to Portland, was in search of a keyboard. Enter musician Chad Crouch, who was offloading a keyboard and looking for a bassist. “He asked if I played the bass, and I lied and said I did,” Depper recalls. Back to Craigslist to find a bass, which Depper learned to play in a week so he could join Crouch’s band Blanket Music.
Thus began more than a decade of band-hopping all over Portland’s musical map, with Depper playing a dizzying array of musical instruments in the process. Along the way, he also recorded a cover album of Paul McCartney’s Ram, playing every instrument himself. That project brought him a whole new fan base—including R.E.M.’s Peter Buck—and a gig on Ray LaMontagne’s Supernova tour last year.
Now Depper is touring with alt-rock emperors Death Cab for Cutie, on the road behind their new album, Kintsugi.
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Music Review: A Monument by Tu Fawning
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