Lights Out personnel have since made waves beyond the Pacific Northwest.
With tape restoration and mastering by Gus Elg, this painfully obscure recording has been waxed and buffed by one of the reissue industry's greatest. The vinyl package includes a 12-page booklet of the band's oral history and deluxe archival photography. When Solar fumbled it, Collins and Dalton left Portland for Los Angeles signaling the end of the group.įorty years later, the legacy of this canonical Stumptown act has been remembered in devastating detail. As a touring trumpeter for The Whispers, Collins was to pass the reel up the chain.
Recorded in 1982 at Wave Sound Studios - a facility that housed local punk acts such as The Wipers and The Rats - the material on this LP was intended as a demo for Solar Records. It’s this era of Lights Out that is being celebrated on this release. It's this era of Lights Out that made converts of the haters and annihilated 800-capacity dancefloors. Knee-deep in the jazz fusion sound made popular throughout the city, Lights Out soon evolved into a synthesizer-fueled funk group fronted by vocalist Andy Stokes and featuring guitarist Greg "Gee Mack" Dalton. "When Peter Mott at Last Hurrah called to book us on a Tuesday, I was elated." "I remember it being tough to get this band booked on the West side of the Willamette River back then," remembers bassist John Mazzocco. "There were rules to these things and you had to play by them," remembers Walker. "Everybody grew."īut even with platinum level players holding recording contracts a la Fantasy Records, Lights Out struggled to find bookings in Portland's white-owned club circuit. "We wanted to be better at what we did," claims Collins. They were led by Pleasure's trumpeter Tony Collins, whose agenda involved prodding his group with gnarled fusion covers, complex horn arrangements, and masterful wardrobe flexing. Lights Out gained traction when Pleasure wasn't in the studio or on the road. Calvin Walker's recollection above speaks to the sovereignty of an independent community devoid of the recording industry's bottom line. Musicians could make a living in a multitude of clubs throughout the city. In 1982, it seemed club nightlife in downtown Portland had reached its zenith. People in Portland were out to see music seven nights a week" We didn't have streaming services, cable television, or even VCRs.
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