Text and photos by Claire Evans
There's nothing likely about
YACHT–stuttering proto-grunge laptop slammers zygoted in the Goonies-era boondock of Astoria, Oregon? What?– so it's no surprise that the CD release party for Jona Bechtolt's latest, I Believe in You. Your Magic is Real. would be completely bonkers. Dude held the thing on an actual yacht cruising down the Willamette River in Portland, which apart from being semantically fantastic, resulted in a packed-to-capacity crowd of captain's hat-sporting thrilled teenagers hoisting Bechtolt to the low ceiling of the Crystal Dolphin (no joke) during the three song, river-journeying YACHT set. Bechtolt, sweaty in a navy-blue cardigan with embroidered anchors, elatedly yelled, "I am not a rich man!" A feathery Bobby Birdman played too, although not on the boat's electronic piano ("You have to pay a deposit," he noted forlornly to the audience), and after
DJ Beyonda's champagne-swilling set of already loud jams, the PA literally started smoking.
If that wasn't enough, a stinking procession by mobile noise jammers Rob Walmart led the survivors to a nearby warehouse, where the YACHT on a yacht afterparty featured a pair of drunk Juice Team DJs, Adrian Orange and the Child Slave Rebellion, E*Rock. To crown off the night, YACHT busted a set with a full backing band of Portland grungerati, including Jackie-O-Motherfucker alum Honey Owens and White Rainbow's Adam Forkner. Teenagers sporting rainbow bandanas and plastic sunglasses pulled Bechtolt back off the stage and into the neu-mosh pit, a tumble that exemplified the night.