Port O'Brien was an American musical group combining elements of acoustic,

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fol ...

and

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

. They were named after a bay in Alaska featuring a now-abandoned cannery on

Kodiak Island Kodiak Island (Alutiiq language, Alutiiq: ''Qikertaq''), is a large island on the south coast of the U.S. state of Alaska, separated from the Alaska mainland by the Shelikof Strait. The largest island in the Kodiak Archipelago, Kodiak Island is ...

where founder member

Van Pierszalowski Van William (also known as Van Pierszalowski) is an American musician. He formed the band Waters, serving as a vocalist and guitarist, and was the frontman of the band Port O'Brien. He is currently a solo artist. Van William was born on Novemb ...

's parents met. They started out as a folk music duo of Cambria Goodwin and Van Pierszalowski while Cambria was living in

Cambria, California Cambria () is a seaside village in San Luis Obispo County, California, United States midway between San Francisco and Los Angeles along California State Route 1 (Highway 1). The name Cambria, chosen in 1869, is the Latin name for Wales. Cambr ...

and Van was living in

Oakland 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 ...

. After Cambria moved closer to Oakland they added a rhythm section composed of Caleb Nichols and Joshua Barnhart. The band has toured nationally with artists such as

Nada Surf Nada Surf is a New York City-based American alternative rock band formed in the 1990s, consisting of Matthew Caws (guitar, vocals), Ira Elliot (drums), Doug Gillard (guitar, backing vocals), and Daniel Lorca (bass, backing vocals). History ...

, Bright Eyes and

The Cave Singers The Cave Singers is an American band from Seattle, Washington. Composed of former members of Pretty Girls Make Graves after its disbandment in 2007, former PGMG-member Derek Fudesco teamed up with Pete Quirk (of Hint Hint) and Marty Lund (of Cobra ...

and toured Europe with

Modest Mouse Modest Mouse is an American rock band formed in 1992 in Issaquah, Washington, and currently based in Portland, Oregon. The founding members are lead singer/guitarist Isaac Brock, drummer Jeremiah Green, and bassist Eric Judy. Strongly influenc ...

, as well as receiving favourable reviews from Pitchfork Media,

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the dat ...

, and ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ...

''.

M. Ward Matthew Stephen Ward (born October 4, 1973) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist from Portland, Oregon. Ward's solo work is a mixture of folk and blues-inspired Americana analog recordings; he has released ten studio albums since 1 ...

named Port O'Brien his "favorite new band". To date the band has released three albums; a compilation of self-recorded and early tracks called ''The Wind and the Swell'' on American Dust Records and a studio-recorded album ''All We Could Do Was Sing'' on City Slang Records, and their latest studio album ''Threadbare'' on

TBD Records TBD Records (previously Side One Recordings) was an American record label co-founded by Coran Capshaw and Phil Costello, and is a sublabel of ATO Records, distributed by RED Distribution. The label was founded in August 2007 and quickly announced ...

. Shortly before the release of their first studio album "All We Could Do Was Sing," Caleb Nichols left the band and was replaced by Ryan Stively, who remained in the band until their last shows. Joshua Barnhart was replaced by Two Gallants drummer Tyson Vogel before the completion of the last studio-recorded album "Threadbare." "I Woke Up Today" from the album ''All We Could Do Was Sing'' was recently used as the backing music for several

Dulux Dulux is an internationally available brand of architectural paint originated from the United Kingdom. The brand name Dulux has been used by both Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) and DuPont since 1931 and was one of the first alkyd-based ...

Paints television advertisement in Australia.Dulux TV ads
The band toured Australia in February 2009 as part of the

St Jerome's Laneway Festival The St. Jerome's Laneway Festival, commonly referred to as Laneway, began in Caledonian Lane, Melbourne, Australia, in 2005. Beginning as predominantly an indie music event, the festival grew in popularity and expanded to five Australian cities ...

. Port O'Brien's new album, ''Threadbare'', was released on 6 October 2009. The band was dissolved in 2011, and Van Pierszalowski recorded an album in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

for a new project called Waters. The album was titled "Out in the Light", and was released on September 19 on

City Slang City Slang is an independent record label based in Berlin, Germany. History The label was founded in 1990 by former tour agent Christof Ellinghaus, exclusively to release The Flaming Lips' '' In A Priest Driven Ambulance (With Silver Sunshine ...

records in the UK and Europe, and on September 20 on

in the United States. In 2014, Waters signed with Vagrant Records and released a new EP called "It All Might Be OK."

Discography

Albums

*''The Wind and the Swell'' (compilation album) (2007),

American Dust American Dust was an independent record label that operated out of Oakland, California. Notable artists to have released records on American Dust included Department of Eagles, Port O'Brien and Awesome Color. In September 2009 the label release ...

*''All We Could Do Was Sing'' (2008),

*''Threadbare'' (2009),

EPs

*''Winter'' (2009)

Singles

*"I Woke Up Today" (2007) *"Close the Lid" (2007) *"The Whiskey Song" (2009) *"Tree Bones" (2009)

References

External links

*
Official WATERS website
{{Authority control Folk rock groups from California Indie rock musical groups from California Musical groups from the San Francisco Bay Area City Slang artists