 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
FRI 10.30.15 - Secret Society - "From Smiths to Smithereens": a tribute to '80s College Rock, featuring 18 great Portland bands, including Summer Cannibals and Eyelids. This is a benefit for p:ear. After a month that we can sincerely call ROCKTOBER, we'll be taking a break from live shows till 2016! |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
10.16.15 The May Pang EP is out on all the digital music sites!
iTunes
Amazon
Spotify
Soundcloud
Bandcamp
---
10.15.15 We have some nice reviews coming in for the EP! The Portland Mercury says:
"For myriad reasons, it took Wild Bells 12 months to record four songs. (Shifting lineups, crashed hard drives—you know the drill.) It's a testament, then, that their new May Pang EP doesn't sound overly fussed over. While it's certainly a pretty and polished-sounding effort, Wild Bells' gentle rainy-day pop—reminiscent of Brits like the Clientele and those four lads from Liverpool—has a genial immediacy that's as warming as a mug of tea. Needless to say, it's all over too quickly. Let's hope it doesn't take Wild Bells another three months per song to follow it up."
And check out the Willamette Week review here!
---
10.07.15 Well, Rocktober officially kicks off tomorrow with a 3-day weekend of shows. Woo-hoo! And here's another new band photo. All serious-like. Photo by Eric Maxen.
09.24.15 Our EP is coming out 3 weeks from today and we are very excited to share another of the songs with you. This is Wimbledon Bardot, written about the '60s Pop artist Pauline Boty. And a perfect example of what we like to call the "Pacific NorthWes Anderson" sound...
---
09.21.15 Well, it's the first day of Fall and we're getting excited about the next batch of shows. We don't like to use this word lightly, but we are definitely looking at a Rocktober situation here... A battle of the bands at Mississippi Studios, two nights at the Adrift Hotel, our EP release show at the Secret Society and then back there again for a 80's college rock tribute/benefit for p:ear. Damn.
---
09.07.15 We have some good news and some sad news. The good news is that the upcoming release of the new May Pang EP has forced us to to finally have some new band photos after 2 years! Thanks, Eric Maxen! More coming soon...
Sad news, as you may have noticed in the photo, is that our keyboard player Sean Farrell has left the band. We bid him a fond farewell and wish him all the best in future endeavors.
(Left to right: Scott Pettitt, Rachel Coddington, Pete Ficht, Jeff Porter, Sean Tichenor)
---
09.02.15 Here's a sneak peek preview of the EP, with the title track May Pang. Coming out on October 16, 2015.
---
08.24.15 We are happy to announce that our new 4-song EP "May Pang (& 3 other songs they sang)" will be released on Friday, October 16th. We'll be celebrating with a release party at the Secret Society. Here's a first look at the artwork, created by the amazing Eric Coddington!
---
05.09.15 We have our SUMMER shows booked and they are looking great!
Saturday, May 30th at Mississippi Studios
It's Nuggets Night with 15 great Portland bands covering classic garage rock songs
Friday, June 19th at The Secret Society
withThe Low Bones and Moody Little Sister
Friday, August 28th at Portland Abbey Arts
with The Corner Laughers (from San Francisco) and Urban Wildlife
---
02.28.15 Brand new video for Housewarming Party, starring our pal Ric Walker, pressed into action while on a visit from Chicago last summer.
02.07.15 Here are some shots from the first show with our new lineup...
01.09.15 We have our Winter shows booked and they are bad-ass. Starting 4 weeks from tonight!
Friday, Feb 6th at Mississippi Pizza Pub
With 1776 and Private Boat
Saturday, March 7th at The Secret Society
with The Cry! and The Zags
Friday, April 24th at Alberta Street Pub
with Love Gigantic and Pacific Mean TIme
Damn. Can't wait for these shows! Also, here's a new video for Precious TIme - the first song on our album. Enjoy!
12.31.14 Happy new year, everybody! We have a couple of end of the year announcements. FIRST, we are super excited about our 2 new members: Jeff Porter on lead guitar and Rachel Coddington on vocals! We wish all the best to Ellen and Mark in their future endeavors. SECOND, we are putting the finishing touches on our 4-song EP for release early next year! THIRD, we just got a sweet (and lengthy) review on our debut album (better late than never), so check it out:! We are looking forward to a great 2015 with you all. Cheers!
09.27.14 Very excited to be playing our last show of the year (and celebrating Pete's 50th birthday!) with Eyelids and Paradise at the Secret Society. Work is progressing on the 4-song EP, which we are recording with King Black Acid's Daniel Riddle at his Mazinga Studio. The songs are May Pang (written by Pete and Ellen), Still Summer (written by Sean T and Pete), Wimbledon Bardot (written by Pete, Sean F and Ellen) and Shining On (written by Pete and Sean F). We can't wait for you to hear them! Looking like a early 2015 release.
Here's a preview of the show from Go Local PDX: ""Wild Bells is the latest group from guitarist and singer Pete Ficht, a veteran of such notable local outfits as Joy Pop Turbo, State Flowers, and King Black Acid. Wild Bells have a potent pop sound held aloft by jingle-jangle guitars and sturdy vocal harmonies."
---
08.23.14 We are heading back into the studio with a brand new batch of songs. These are ones written for Kickstarter backers (finally) and we hope to release a 4-song EP in the next month or two...
---
05.30.14 We have a brand new "old" video of Curtain Call to share. This was filmed as part of our Kickstarter campaign about a year ago. Still with Craig on guitar and before Ellen and Mark joined the band. This was fun to do because we actually only filmed the outro of the song, and so we had to fill out the rest of the video somehow! Filmed by Eric Maxen and edited by Pete.
05.11.14 Hey! We're doing a FREE family-friendly happy hour show at Mississippi Pizza Pub. Wild Bells have 8 kids between us all (ages 3 - 13), and we really wanted to play a show they could attend. So, gather the family unit and come on down from 5 - 7 on June 1st!*
*Kids/family unit not required.
---
03.17.14 Well, we just had our first show with our new guitarist, Mark Pickett. Mark (originally from Fayetteville, Arkansas) is not only an exceptional lead guitarist but a strong singer - so get ready for some 4-part harmonies! And here's a new picture - click to view the large version.
01.19.14 We've been wood-shedding and working up some new tunes and getting ready for our next show, which is at the Alberta St. Pub on Saturday, March 15th with Wilkinson Blades and the Stubborn Lovers.
And, not to bury the lead, but here's our first video! The Portland Mercury says "The video was made of Super 8 footage shot in the '70s by band member Pete Ficht's father in the rural town of Mantua, Ohio (current population: 1,033). Over Ellen Louise Osborn's vocals and heartwarming "la las", the warm glow of nostalgia rings deep. Wild Bells' next hometown show is March 15 at Alberta Street Pub."
10.15.13 The WIld Bells album is out today! Available on:
iTunes
Amazon
Bandcamp
Spotify
eMusic
---
10.08.13 One week to go till the album release and we've got 2 new song to share with you: the epic Skyscraper and the wee Golden Boy. The old Wild Bells ying/yang, if you will. You can stream and share it from the Soundcloud site or listen right here!
09.24.13 HOT DAMN! It's finally here - check out the new single from the upcoming Wild Bells album: Precious Time with Parasite on the virtual flipside. Precious Time features our newest member Ellen Louise on co-lead vocals. And Parasite is one of bassist Sean Tichenor's two lead vocals on the album. You can stream and share it from the Soundcloud site.
---
09.05.13 Wild Bells, our debut album is coming out on October 15th. It will only be available through download, so you will be able to find it on iTunes, Amazon and all the typical sites. Preview the single “Precious Time / Parasite” here!
This is the beautiful album artwork created by Jolby. See more of their stuff on their site.
08.02.13 Beloved Portland rock writer John Chandler wrote us a new bio! You can read it here or get the PDF here.
---
07.20.13 We are excited to announce a new member! Ellen Louise, formerly of the Shee Bee Gees and Les Etrangers is now onboard, singing harmonies and some lead vocals.
---
06.20.13 Great news - our Kickstarter campaign was a wild success and we have just finished recording the album. We have the Kickstarter video on the Music & Media page.
We are much more active on Facebook, so LIKE us there!
