Basin & Range

Formed in Eugene, Oregon in 2005, Basin & Range consists of Phil Allen (drums, samples), Swan Burton (drum set), Mark Macomber (saxophone, keyboards), Dan Mahoney (guitar, keyboards), and Johnny Schlea (bass, keyboards). Basin & Range formed when Phil Allen and Linh Renken of seminal Eugene band Lucidic decided to start a new, more dance-oriented project. The realization of this goal would prove to be a longer process than the two of them had anticipated, due to the many different musical influences of the members of the various line-ups. The initial group consisted of Phil Allen (drums), Jacob Elias (guitar), Xander Kahn (keyboards), Allan McKinley (bass), and Linh Renken (violin). This quintet played only three shows before guitarist Jacob Elias left for Mali, West Africa, to study local music and culture. During the months he was away the band continued writing and soon added saxophonist Mark Macomber to the line-up. When Elias returned to the US, he found that the band had an entirely new repertoire which was drastically different stylistically from the material he had been writing with them. Basin & Range performed a handful of shows as a sextet before ultimately deciding to continue without a guitarist, though the band remains close with Elias to this day. This new quintet (Phil Allen, Xander Kahn, Mark Macomber, Allan McKinley, Linh Renken) played around the Pacific Northwest from 2006-2007 before bassist McKinley announced that he would be moving to Philadelphia to be closer to family. He was replaced by a former Lucidic bandmate of Allen and Renken’s, Johnny Schlea. Shortly after McKinley left the band, Renken announced that she, too would be moving away from the Pacific Northwest, to Arizona. At this point Basin & Range decided to continue as a quartet: Phil Allen (drums), Xander Kahn (keyboards), Mark Macomber (saxophone), and Johnny Schlea (bass). This group was decidedly more jazz- and fusion-oriented than previous incarnations, and recorded their debut self-titled EP in 2008 (which has since been re-released by bCd Records as Early Recordings). After the release of their first EP, the band decided to move away from the jazz-fusion sound they had developed and return to their progressive-rock and funk roots. The addition of guitarist Colin Ward (also an ex-Lucidic member) coincided with Allen, Macomber, and Ward moving into a house in the country outside Eugene and founding the bCd. Originally a simple rehearsal space and home base for Basin & Range, bCd Enterprises evolved into a fully-functioning professional recording studio and record label in the pastoral setting of Spencer Creek, 7 miles south of Eugene, before relocating to the Whitaker neighborhood of Eugene in the Fall of 2013. The new quintet released an EP of all new material in 2009. Release Party was an extremely limited-edition pressing that has since been re-issued on bCd Records. Shortly after recording Release Party, keyboardist Kahn moved to Seattle to study medicine. The band re-grouped as a quartet once again (this time with electric guitar, no keyboards, and a heavier low-end) and embarked on a Northwest tour in support of Release Party. Shortly after returning from tour, Ward left the band due to “irreconcilable differences.” The trio of Allen, Macomber and Schlea continued to play the shows that they had booked before Ward left while working on refining their sound and focusing on strong writing and powerful melodies rather than the improvisatory sound they had become known for in previous years. They also began to experiment more with electronic textures at this time, with Macomber and Schlea switching off keyboard duties and Allen making extensive use of samples that had been pre-recorded by the band. It soon became apparent, however, that to reach the dynamic and textural extremes that the new music was calling for would require the addition of a fourth member. Dan Mahoney, guitarist/keyboardist and founding member of Bazil Rathbone, a much-loved Eugene band that Basin & Range had shared the stage with many times, joined the group in 2010. The newest quartet of Allen, Macomber, Mahoney and Schlea found an immediate rapport and embarked on a whirlwind of activity, writing new music that emphasized the collective sound as the focal point over any of the individual elements. The addition of another multi-instrumentalist gave the band a versatility and dynamic range that it had not seen before, opening the door to a new kind of experimentation. The quartet began to craft a new sound that incorporated more electronic elements into their live shows, including strategic use of effects on both guitar and saxophone, multiple synthesizers, sample pads, and an emphasis on danceable basslines and 4/4 rhythms, as opposed to the complicated time signatures that had become a hallmark of much of their previous music. Almost five years after Allen and Renken had the initial vision of starting a dance-oriented band, the sound was now naturally approaching this due to continual experimentation in many genres, including funk, jazz, fusion, progressive rock, hip hop, and electronic dance music, resulting in a return to basic structure. Also important was the continual sharing of music between the four members, who had extremely different musical backgrounds and interests but who all shared a love for the minimalism and dynamic potential of much electronic music. Basin & Range released their first full-length album, Is My Sound Working? on bCd Records in March of 2012. Entirely composed, performed, engineered, mixed and produced by the band at Studio bCd, Is My Sound Working? brought the band’s signature Instrumental ElectroFunk to a whole new level. While incessantly playing shows throughout the Pacific Northwest, the band managed to record, mix and produce Is My Sound Working? in spite of numerous setbacks including a studio robbery in which they lost much of the equipment they had been using to record the project. This album was recorded and mixed at Studio bCd and marked the first time that the band had taken responsibility for all aspects of the recording process. Basin & Range’s previous recordings were made live at Sprout City Studios in Eugene and engineered by Thaddeus Moore, who mastered Is My Sound Working? Is My Sound Working? was officially released on March 6th, 2012 on bCd Records, and is available on CD or as a digital download from basinandrangeband.com, and on iTunes, Amazon.com, and CDBaby. In May of 2013, Swan Burton of Bazil Rathbone joined the group on drum set, with Allen focusing more on production, sampling, and percussion (both electronic and acoustic). The quintet spent the rest of 2013 writing new music that explores the more progressive roots of the band, with the new dynamic range that two percussionists have allowed and a return to more complex rhythms and structures, while keeping the soaring melodies that have become the band’s trademark. An entire set of new music along with a few new re-interpretations of live favorites will debut in early 2014, first in Eugene, Portland and Seattle, then throughout the Western U.S. Basin & Range’s sophomore LP, (tentatively titled The Uncanny Valley), is scheduled for release in Winter 2014. Stay up-to-date with the band while they’re in the studio and on the road by reading their blog, Words About Music Without Words, and by following them on Twitter @BasinandRange. "An army of sound marching towards one funky-ass dance party." - Oregon Music News