The Joggers, formerly known as Stateside, are a four-piece band from

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...

. They play complex songs with elements of

math rock Math rock is a style of progressive and indie rock with roots in bands such as King Crimson and Rush as well as 20th-century minimal music composers such as Steve Reich. It is characterized by complex, atypical rhythmic structures (includi ...

which retain a pop sensibility. The guitar style of (lead singer and songwriter) Ben Whitesides and the second guitarist rejects a traditional rhythm & lead style for more scale exploration and includes elements of call and response. Murphy Kasiewicz played second guitar on ''Solid Guild'', but left the band before the recording of ''With A Cape And A Cane'' and was replaced by Dan Wilson (from Alaska) after that album, touring the US in support of it. Jake Morris has also played drums o
tour
with

French Kicks French Kicks are an American indie rock group from New York City, United States. Their sound is a mix of garage rock, post-punk, and modded pop. History Three of the original four band members, bassist Jamie Krents, vocalist/drummer Nick Stumpf, ...

and played drums for

The Shaky Hands The Shaky Hands were a Portland, Oregon-based rock group, formed in 2003 by musician Paul Culp (Lonesome Radio Heart, Culpepper), and Colin Anderson. Nicholas Delffs joined soon after on vocals and guitar. They spent the next three years graduall ...

from December 2008 to March 2010. All members sing parts at various times, with unique and sometimes antique harmonies, and sometimes play various instruments. Ben Whitesides is the son of

George M. Whitesides George McClelland Whitesides (born August 3, 1939) is an American chemist and professor of chemistry at Harvard University. He is best known for his work in the areas of nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, organometallic chemistry, molecu ...

, one of the most decorated chemists in the world. The original members are mostly former New Englanders, and after meeting in Portland formed a band in 2000 under the name Stateside and released one self-titled EP. After a name-conflict with another Stateside they changed their name. In 2002 they released the eight-song self-titled EP ''The Joggers'' (also called "The Birds" because of its cover) on TLA Records. From that EP, the song "Devil Wears Earplugs" appeared on ''Supercuts'', the compilation from Startime International, who signed the band. Three other songs from the Joggers debut EP appeared on their proper debut album, 2003'
critically acclaimed
''Solid Guild''. 2005 saw the release of "With a Cape and a Cane", which brough
morecritical
if not commercial success. Ben and Darrell also make up the Cajun Gems, who have one self-released album with a more folkier sound than the Joggers. Dan has been recently playing with the Cajun Gems as well.

External links

MySpace site
2001 establishments in Oregon Indie rock musical groups from Oregon Musical groups established in 2001 Musical groups from Portland, Oregon Flameshovel Records artists {{US-indie-rock-band-stub