Samuel J. Coomes (born April 23, 1964) is an American musician, and one-half of the

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

-area

indie Indie is a short form of "independence" or "independent"; it may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Gaming *Independent video game development, video games created without financial backing from large companies *Indie game, any game (board ...

band

Quasi Quasi (phonetics 'kwa - zee') is an American indie rock band formed in Portland, Oregon in 1993 by former spouses Sam Coomes (vocals, guitar, rocksichord, various keyboards, bass) and Janet Weiss (vocals and drums). Joanna Bolme performed and ...

, along with his ex-wife,

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one mem ...

Janet Weiss Janet Lee Weiss (born September 24, 1965) is an American rock drummer, best known as a former member of Sleater-Kinney and a current member of Quasi. She was the drummer for Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks, leaving after the album ''Mirror Traffic' ...

. 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 Heatmiser was an American rock band, formed in Portland, Oregon in October 1991. Consisting of Elliott Smith (guitar and vocals), Neil Gust (guitar and vocals), Brandt Peterson (bass; later replaced by Sam Coomes, frontman of Quasi) and Tony La ...

, playing on their final studio album, ''

Mic City Sons ''Mic City Sons'' is the third and final album by American indie rock band Heatmiser, released on October 29, 1996 through record label Caroline. Recording ''Mic City Sons'' is the band's only recording for a major label. However, when individ ...

''.

Biography

Coomes was born in

Sherman, Texas Sherman is a U.S. city in and the county seat of Grayson County, Texas. The city's population in 2020 was 43,645. It is one of the two principal cities in the Sherman–Denison metropolitan statistical area, and it is part of the Texoma region o ...

, and moved to

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...

as a child. He started playing in The Donner Party in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

in 1983 and released two albums with them before they disbanded in 1989. Coomes formed Motorgoat in

in 1990 with Janet Weiss (later of

Sleater-Kinney Sleater-Kinney ( ) is an American rock band that formed in Olympia, Washington, in 1994. The band's current lineup features Corin Tucker (vocals and guitar) and Carrie Brownstein (guitar and vocals), following the departure of longtime member J ...

) and they released two cassettes and one 7"

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

before disbanding and becoming

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 Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

-based band, Pink Mountain, and formed the duo Crock with

Spencer Seim Spencer may refer to: People *Spencer (surname) **Spencer family, British aristocratic family ** List of people with surname Spencer * Spencer (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) Places Australia *Spencer, New ...

(Hella, Solos, The Advantage) which released an album, ''Grok'', in 2011. Coomes also appeared with

Jandek Jandek is the musical alias of Houston, Texas based lo-fi folk singer Sterling Smith. Since 1978, Jandek has independently released over 45 albums without granting interviews or providing any biographical information, releasing on a self-made lab ...

in two NW shows along with drummer Emil Amos (Om, Grails, Holy Sons), documented on the album ''Portland Thursday'' (2009) and ''Seattle Friday'' (2011). Additionally, Coomes has scored several of the films of underground filmmaker

Vanessa Renwick Vanessa Renwick (born 1961) is an American artist and filmmaker living in Portland, Oregon. Since 1981, she has been working in experimental and documentary forms—writing, producing films, videos, photography, sculpture and installations. In 1996 ...

Coomes currently lives in

Session work since inception of Quasi

Coomes has done much recording work with other bands, mostly on

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

and bass. *

Bugskull Bugskull is an American musical group originally from Portland, Oregon, United States, that performed and recorded during the 1990s and early 2000s. According to a local newspaper, the Portland Mercury Review, discussing a one-off comeback conce ...

* 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 ''Keep It Like a Secret'' is the fourth studio album released by American indie rock band Built to Spill, and their second for Warner Bros. Records. The initial tracks for the album were recorded in November 1997 at Bear Creek Studios in Woodi ...

''. In addition, he co-produced with Doug Martsch Built to Spill's 2015 album, ''

Untethered Moon ''Untethered Moon'' is the eighth studio album by American rock band Built to Spill. The album was released on vinyl for Record Store Day on April 18, 2015, and on CD and digital format on April 21, 2015. It is the band's first album in nearly s ...

'' *

The Go-Betweens The Go-Betweens were an Australian indie rock band formed in Brisbane, Queensland, in 1977. The band was co-founded and led by singer-songwriters and guitarists Robert Forster and Grant McLennan, who were its only constant members throughout it ...

*Goldcard *

- Coomes played the

Mellotron The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which pushes a length of magnetic tape against a capstan, which pulls it across a playback head. A ...

on '' All Hands on the Bad One'' on the song "Milkshake 'n' Honey." He also played the

theremin The theremin (; originally known as the ætherphone/etherphone, thereminophone or termenvox/thereminvox) is an electronic musical instrument controlled without physical contact by the performer (who is known as a thereminist). It is named afte ...

on the song "Funeral Song" off the album ''

One Beat ''One Beat'' is the sixth studio album by the American rock band Sleater-Kinney, released on August 20, 2002, by Kill Rock Stars. It was produced by John Goodmanson and recorded between March and April 2002 at Jackpot! Studio in Portland, Oregon. ...

''. *

Elliott Smith Steven Paul Smith (August 6, 1969 – October 21, 2003), known professionally as Elliott Smith, was an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Smith was born in Omaha, Nebraska, raised primarily in Texas, and lived much of hi ...

- Coomes played bass on the 2000 album ''

Figure 8 Figure 8 (figure of 8 in British English) may refer to: * 8 (number), in Arabic numerals Entertainment * ''Figure 8'' (album), a 2000 album by Elliott Smith * "Figure of Eight" (song), a 1989 song by Paul McCartney * '' Figure Eight EP'', a ...

'' on the songs " Stupidity Tries", "

Everything Means Nothing to Me Everything, every-thing, or every thing is all that existence, exists; the opposite of nothing, or its Opposite (semantics), complement. It is the totality of things relevant to some theory, subject matter. Without expressed or implied Maxima and ...

", " In the Lost and Found (Honky Bach)," and " Pretty Mary K". He also played bass and sang backup vocals on

's song "

Pretty (Ugly Before) "Pretty (Ugly Before)" is a song by American singer-songwriter Elliott Smith. It was released as a limited-edition Gramophone record, 7" vinyl single in 2003 by record label Suicide Squeeze Records, Suicide Squeeze, Smith's final single released ...

" on Smith's posthumous 2004 album ''

From a Basement on the Hill ''From a Basement on the Hill'' is the sixth and final studio album by the American singer-songwriter Elliott Smith. Recorded from 2000 to 2003, and faced with multiple delays due to Smith's personal problems that resulted in his death, it was rel ...

''. 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. * The TakeoversPitchfork article on The Takeovers
*

Solo discography

Albums

Compilation appearances

*''The Portland Edition'' — American Leather Records (vinyl, 2017)

References

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
{{DEFAULTSORT:Coomes, Sam Musicians from Oregon Living people 1964 births The Go-Betweens members