Just Plain Bill celebrating release of its 4th CD, 'Kalama Tea'
By Tom Paulu, The Daily News, Longview WA
Jun 09, 2005

The song is called "Kalama Tea" --- as in calamity.

That's the word from Patrick Storedahl, a Kalama native and chief writer for the group Just Plain Bill.
"It's basically just little tragedies that happened during the years that I lived in Kalama," said Storedahl, who now lives in the Olympia area.

The band will mark the release of "Kalama Tea," its fourth CD, with a show at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Matrix Coffeehouse in Chehalis.

The group has been together about 12 years, said Storedahl, an elementary school teacher. Other members are Douglas Blum of Kelso, who plays bass and sings; Ted Clark, a Kelso native who now lives in Olympia, drums and percussion; and Ethan Moreno of Olympia on guitars and keyboards.

"We've always done our own thing" musically, Storedahl said. The 11 songs in "Kalama Tea" include synthesizer, Mellotron, dulcimer and sitar.

Storedahl describes the new CD as "a collection of rock songs with constant changing themes and moods held together by strong melodies and intelligent lyrics about the fun and happy side of abuse, shady politics, self-designed patriotism, buxomly martial arts and self-inflicted death."

The group cites the influence of David Bowie, Wilco and Pink Floyd, though listeners might hear a touch of Tom Petty or the Beatles at times, too. All the songs are originals except one by George Harrison.

Storedahl said the new CD has less instrumentation than on Just Plain Bill's previous release, "The Hedonistic Rituals of the Unemployed," which included strings. He described that one as "like a play with four acts."

Just Plain Bill doesn't do as many shows as it used to, Storedahl said, because "we all have families and kids" and day jobs.

When the group does play, it's usually in the Olympia or Seattle area -- the group definitely does not do the danceable songs favored by Longview-area nightspots.