Sam Coomes
Samuel J. Coomes (born April 23, 1964) is an American musician, and one-half of the Portland-area indie band Quasi, along with his ex-wife, drummer Janet Weiss. Coomes was also a member of the mid-1980s underground pop band The Donner Party and replaced Brandt Peterson as the bassist for the 1990s Portland indie rock band, Heatmiser, playing on their final studio album, Mic City Sons.
Sam Coomes | |
|---|---|
 Sam Coomes on stage with Quasi at the Rickshaw Stop, San Francisco, California, February 27, 2008. | |
| Background information | |
| Also known as | Blues Goblins |
| Born | April 23, 1964 Sherman, Texas, U.S. |
| Origin | Portland, Oregon, U.S. |
| Genres | Indie rock |
| Occupation(s) | Musician |
| Instruments | Bass guitar, guitar, keyboards |
| Years active | 1983–present |
| Associated acts | Quasi, The Donner Party, Motorgoat, Heatmiser, Elliott Smith, Blues Goblins, Pink Mountain, Built to Spill, Crock |
Biography
Coomes was born in Sherman, Texas, and moved to Southern California as a child. He started playing in The Donner Party in San Francisco in 1983 and released two albums with them before they disbanded in 1989. Coomes formed Motorgoat in Portland in 1990 with Janet Weiss (later of Sleater-Kinney) and they released two cassettes and one 7" single before disbanding and becoming Quasi in 1993. Coomes released a solo album under the name Blues Goblins in 2003 and sometimes performs under that name. He also performs on keyboards and vocals with the Oakland, California-based band, Pink Mountain,[1] and formed the duo Crock with Spencer Seim (Hella, Solos, The Advantage) which released an album, Grok, in 2011.[2] Coomes also appeared with Jandek in two NW shows along with drummer Emil Amos (Om, Grails, Holy Sons), documented on the album Portland Thursday (2009) and Seattle Friday (2011).[3] Additionally, Coomes has scored several of the films of underground filmmaker Vanessa Renwick [4] Coomes currently lives in Portland.
Session work since inception of Quasi
Coomes has done much recording work with other bands, mostly on keyboards and bass.
- Bugskull
- Built to Spill - Coomes has performed as a guest keyboardist on several tracks. He has appeared on every Built to Spill album since Keep It Like a Secret. In addition, he co-produced with Doug Martsch Built to Spill's most recent release, 2015's Untethered Moon
- The Go-Betweens
- Goldcard
- Heatmiser
- Sleater-Kinney - Coomes played the Mellotron on All Hands on the Bad One on the song "Milkshake 'n' Honey." He also played the theremin on the song "Funeral Song" off the album One Beat.
- Elliott Smith - Coomes played bass on the 2000 album Figure 8 on the songs "Stupidity Tries", "Everything Means Nothing to Me", "In the Lost and Found (Honky Bach)," and "Pretty Mary K". He also played bass and sang backup vocals on Elliott Smith's song "Pretty (Ugly Before)" on Smith's posthumous 2004 album From a Basement on the Hill. Quasi and Elliott Smith toured together, including during the tour in support of his major-label debut, XO. During these tour dates, Quasi performed a set of their own with Smith joining them for some songs, and also backed Smith on some songs during his set.[5][6]
- The Takeovers[7]
- Jandek
Solo Discography
Albums
| Title | Release Date | Label |
| Bugger Me | 2016 | Domino / No Quarter |
| True Death | 2020 | No Label |
Compilation appearances
- The Portland Edition — American Leather Records (vinyl, 2017)
References
- "Pink Mountain | Listen and Stream Free Music, Albums, New Releases, Photos, Videos". Myspace.
- "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-11-20. Retrieved 2014-09-19.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- "Jandek: Discography". tisue.net.
- "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2015-02-13. Retrieved 2014-11-08.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- "elliott smith seattle 9/16/98". janiceordal.tripod.com.
- "In Music We Trust - SHOW REVIEW: Quasi with Elliott Smith". www.inmusicwetrust.com.
- Pitchfork article on The Takeovers Archived 2008-03-07 at the Wayback Machine
External links
- Official Quasi webpage (Inactive as of November 2015, last archive.org snapshot from 2014 - https://web.archive.org/web/20141016045345/http://www.theequasi.com)
- Another Quasi webpage
