Bainbridge Island

November 11, 2015 1:22 PM

People think of Bainbridge Island as a peaceful, affluent, middle-class bedroom community and day trip destination, seven miles on the ferry from downtown Seattle. The island has a population of about 23,000, 5.5 percent unemployment, and the median housing price is below $500,000. Less well known is the island's role as an incubator for young and talented loud rock musicians. The suburban cocktail of teenage angst, plastic prosperity, and free time that makes angry young musicians pop up like mushrooms after a spring rain is hardly unique to Bainbridge, but the island has those ingredients in excess. What's special about Bainbridge hardcore is the scene's longevity. For more than 30 years, a metamorphosing network of house shows helmed by high-school teenagers has produced well-loved bands and musicians, many of whom never make a dent in the mainland musical consciousness—though some, like the radically unalike Murder City Devils and Holy Ghost Revival, have. The island lists Chad Channing (formerly of Nirvana), Andrew Wood (Malfunkshun, Mother Love Bone), and Ben Shepherd (Soundgarden) among its famous alumni. Governor Jay Inslee is also a Bainbridge native, but nobody can confirm ever seeing him at a house show.
posted by josher71 (8 comments total)

Neat - I had always wondered if the music and arts scene leaked over from Seattle. Kitsap County was my first experience with the Pacific Northwest - lots of green, pointy trees, etc. I would travel there for work a couple of times a year from New England.
posted by jason6 at 2:23 PM on November 11, 2015

Great post.

The Stranger is also a lot like these niche hardcore scenes whose quality and longevity seem connected to a very tight emotional bond of where we grew up and what we couldn't leave.
posted by four panels at 3:36 PM on November 11, 2015 [1 favorite]

Murder City Devils are so so clutch. Thanks for the post!
posted by Potomac Avenue at 4:12 PM on November 11, 2015 [2 favorites]

Yeah, but Murder City Devils.... c'mon! Great!
posted by aramaic at 8:27 PM on November 11, 2015

I had always wondered if the music and arts scene leaked over from Seattle.

I think most of the music scene leaks into Seattle from the surrounding areas.
posted by The Hamms Bear at 8:41 PM on November 11, 2015 [2 favorites]

Huh! I'm from bainbridge, and the majority of this came as a surprise. I knew about a little bit of this, but I feel like I never saw much of it. I graduated in bainbridge high school in 2007, and while it seemed like at any given moment a third of my friends were in some band or other, I think they all wanted to be the velvet underground, or CSNY, or the Pixies. The hardcore scene, if it was still around, wasn't something I knew about at all.
posted by Rinku at 8:53 PM on November 11, 2015 [1 favorite]

I think this article is giving a lot of credit to Bainbridge that really should go to the east side of puget sound in general. I grew up in Port Townsend and it always seemed to me that the non-seattle hardcore scene centered around Bremerton. I live one Bainbridge now, but go to bed at 9, so who knows, the scene could be bursting at the seams.
posted by Stonestock Relentless at 8:45 AM on November 12, 2015 [1 favorite]

Just found out I'm opening for Clocks! with my band Goatfinger on December 4th, in Port Townsend.
posted by humboldt32 at 10:00 AM on November 17, 2015 [1 favorite]