$15-$30 Door, 21+, 7PM Doors/8PM Music
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https://creativemusicguild.org/
https://www.instagram.com/creativemusicguild/
Ches Smith, Mike Gamble, Todd Sickafoose
Ches Smith (drums), Mike Gamble (guitar), and Todd Sickafoose (bass) tear through genre lines with raw energy and fearless improvisation. In the tight quarters of No Fun, expect explosive drumming, jagged guitar textures, and deep, driving bass that blurs the line between free jazz, noise, and avant-rock. These are three heavyweights from the experimental scene—veterans of underground clubs and international stages alike—bringing wild dynamics and spontaneous chemistry to a space built for intensity. No setlist, no safety net—just three minds colliding in real time
Ches Smith (drums)
Originally from Sacramento, California, Ches Smith is a drummer, percussionist, and composer based in New York. He has collaborated with a host of artists on many scenes since the early 2000s, including Marc Ribot, Tim Berne, John Zorn, Darius Jones, David Torn, John Tchicai, Nels Cline, Mary Halvorson, Trevor Dunn, Terry Riley, Kris Davis, Dave Holland, Secret Chiefs 3, Xiu Xiu, Good for Cows, Theory of Ruin, and Mr. Bungle, among others.
He has nine records to his name as a bandleader that feature his writing and ensemble curation, and is a devout student of Haitian Vodou drums, performing in religious and folkloric contexts in New York and Haiti for the last decade.
https://chessmith.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/smithches/
Mike Gamble (guitar)
Mike Gamble is an adventurous guitarist, composer, and multi-instrumentalist whose work with improvisation and new technology predominantly inform his practice. Gamble has spent the last 20 years immersed in the creative jazz, experimental rock and improvised music scene primarily in NYC, with close ties to New Orleans, Burlington, Boston, San Francisco and now the Pacific Northwest. He has had the pleasure of recording over 50 albums and has been touring the states, Canada, and Europe with his critically-acclaimed guitar trio The Inbetweens, Mike Gamble Solo, and alongside doom-metal originators Earth. His more recent collaborators include Bobby Previte, Todd Sickafoose, Nels Cline, Wayne Horvitz, Matt Chamberlain and Lori Goldston.
Since relocating to Portland, Mike Gamble has dived into the jazz and experimental, Pop, Indie Rock, and electronic/modular scene and gigs in several groups including Neighbors, TWANS, 2uo, and GAMSIM. He currently holds a position as a Contemporary Music Industry instructor at Oregon State University, and as a guitar teacher at Reed College. He has been the Artistic Director of Portland’s long standing experimental music organization, The Creative Music Guild since 2016.
https://mikegamble.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/instagambz/
Todd Sickafoose is a Tony and Grammy award-winning composer, producer, arranger, orchestrator, bandleader and double bassist. He makes richly moving, imaginative music which has been called "thoroughly original, endlessly creative” by Jazz Times and "stunningly brilliant” by Bassplayer. He has performed on hundreds of recordings, toured internationally, appeared at music venues and festivals from Carnegie Hall to New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. Known as a musical cross-breeder who stretches across genres, Sickafoose has been described by the San Francisco Chronicle as “a captivating improviser, imaginative composer, and master of collaboration”. In 2004, Sickafoose began performing and recording in a duo format with folk poet, activist and cultural icon Ani DiFranco. Their relationship has developed for two decades – together they have made 10 albums, two concert DVDs, and performed thousands of shows. In 2007, Sickafoose began working on Anaïs Mitchell's folk opera, Hadestown, wearing many hats including arranger/orchestrator and music producer. After years of development and regional productions, the show opened at the Walter Kerr Theater on Broadway in 2019 and won 8 Tony Awards, including Best Musical and Best Orchestrations for Sickafoose and collaborator Michael Chorney. Sickafoose produced the Hadestown Original Broadway Cast Recording which won a 2020 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Recording. Hadestown recently celebrated 5 years on Broadway while also continuing to perform as a North American Tour and an open-ended run at the Lyric Theatre in London’s West End. Straddling the worlds of folk, indie rock, jazz and chamber music, Sickafoose’s own band Tiny Resistors has performed at the North Sea Jazz Festival, Stern Grove Festival, Angel City Jazz Festival and been featured on many “Best-Of” lists including the Village Voice, DownBeat, and JazzTimes. Writing for Tiny Resistors, he recently composed and released BEAR PROOF, a long-form chamber jazz hybrid commissioned by the Doris Duke Foundation.
https://toddsickafoose.bandcamp.com/
https://www.toddsickafoose.com/
https://www.instagram.com/todd_sickafoose/
Blak Lively
Blak Lively is the solo project/moniker of composer, improviser, and multi-instrumentalist Nick Dunston. Using mics, contact mics, transducers, battery powered amps, and various resonant objects, through Blak Lively, Dunston explores the moments of where sound, physicality, and performativity coalesce.
https://nickdunston.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/nick.dunston/
Christopher/Bee/Nolan
(electric guitar and percussion improvisation)
Christopher Adams, guitar - is a multimedia artist who has played guitar in the Phull Collums Ensemble and Amanda Berlind's HAL The Musical band. He also makes comic books and poetry books and organizes and participates in conceptual reading events.
https://vimeo.com/968446484?fl=pl&fe=sh
https://christopheradams.bandcamp.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLDzb__nY_Q
https://www.instagram.com/christopheradamsonline/
Bee Dunlap, percussion - (they/them) is an artist, musician, and community member from Portland, Oregon. Some of their notable recent work includes bombastic live performances with dance group Fox Walker, as well as the April release of a folk-adjacent EP of hauntingly intimate originals under the name Benj.
https://noisebybenj.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/noisebybenj/
https://www.instagram.com/anything_works_for_now/
Nolan Plummer, percussion - is a local musician, failed magician.