What Is Timber Rock? Ask Scott Pemberton.
b'Through the lens of some of Portland\\u2019s most influential music scenes\\u2014think Satyricon, X-Ray Cafe, and Jimmy Mak\\u2019s\\u2014Scott Pemberton has channelled a ray of sunlight he calls \\u201ctimber rock.\\u201d
That\\u2019s the name of his latest album, which came out last year, but it\\u2019s also the name of the subgenre he is pioneering, harvesting funk, grunge, jazz, blues, and hippie jam vibes with the epic sweep of his roaring guitar.
The resulting music is both tight and loose; recognizable as part of a lineage yet unorthodox; full of evolutions and improvisational concepts that may come and go. For some bands, the live show is a place for experimentation, the record a place for distillation. For Pemberton, even the album is just a slice of time.
"I came from very much a jazz background, so I think I naturally approached the songs that way," he says. "Within jazz, there is more of a skeletal song structure, that then every time you play the song, you add the flesh.\\u201d
Born and raised in Portland, the guitarist spent time in legendary jazz drummer Mel Brown\\u2019s band and has worked with heavy-hitting blues and soul vocalists Curtis Salgado and Linda Hornbuckle.
But Pemberton also wears his classic rock influences on his sleeve. The last track on \\u201cTimber Rock,\\u201d for example, is a cover of The Beatles\\u2019 \\u201cDear Prudence.\\u201d This track, he says, epitomizes his way of approaching musical creation: play the songs live and see what works, both for the musicians and the audience.
\\u201cI think that\\u2019s part of what the audience enjoys," he says. "Every show is different. You might hear some of the same songs from one show to the next, but they won\\u2019t be played the same way."
Scott Pemberton\\u2014undoubtedly in his patented fedora and bushy beard\\u2014is on tour now and will be performing at Star Theatre on May 28th.'