Uploaded October 2024 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
HELP "Help" from the Courage EP available from Three One G at threeoneg.com/archive/vinyl/courage
Filmed, edited, and directed by Tyler Bertram.
Portland’s Help is the frenzied sound of a broken and collapsing society. In a world beset with anti-human reactions to daily struggles, Help responds with ways to dismantle evil machines and systems. It is this pro-human mindset that brought Help band-mates Ryan Neighbors (Guitar/vocals), Morty (bass), and Bim Ditson (drums) together. All three had spent the last decade or so in other, perhaps more restrained, bands: Ditson with grinding indie rockers And And And, Neighbors with alt-pop dynamos Portugal. The Man and with his electronic project Hustle and Drone. With Help, they are retrieving punk roots each member had put down in their teens. They are ripping the seams back open to see what’s really inside. “Everyone is angry,” says Neighbors, “Make some art about it.” Help is the band Portland needs right now. Fuck it, it’s the band the whole world could use a heavy dose of if we want to climb out of the dark ages of greed and into the next century of mutual aid and collaborative self-directed communities of creativity.
Help’s new EP “Courage” is centered around heartbreak and pain. Progress as a series of fresh new hells. Hoping that it is better to be in love than to be right, while enduring the apparent absence of both love and coherence in American culture. The short version of the story of this record is that both Ryan and Bim’s lives were exploding and falling apart. Okay, okay, it's a breakup album. Their vulnerability in these songs became necessary for their survival. Though deeply personal, these songs are meant as an invitation for others to feel and hurt freely. After all, this may be one of the last freedoms we get to enjoy in this crumbled world. Courage. In the face of hopelessness, in the face of everyone pretending anything is fine, in the face of the end of things meant to last and last. Courage. For the band, Courage is a step towards a broader sound and an experiment in honesty over security. The upcoming vinyl release from Three One G Records also includes the band’s debut self-titled EP. Their focus in all they do: Remove fear from decision making. Act in defiant joy. Refuse to dominate others. Do not hoard the gifts of the universe. Remember: the future is uncertain. Ends don’t justify means. Solidarity now. If the goal is growth, success is an ending. War and love are forms of death. This record is an example of the destructive nature of growth: on the planet, on the human spirit, on our ability to hold on.
HELP "Help" from the Courage EP available from Three One G at threeoneg.com/archive/vinyl/courage
Filmed, edited, and directed by Tyler Bertram.
Portland’s Help is the frenzied sound of a broken and collapsing society. In a world beset with anti-human reactions to daily struggles, Help responds with ways to dismantle evil machines and systems. It is this pro-human mindset that brought Help band-mates Ryan Neighbors (Guitar/vocals), Morty (bass), and Bim Ditson (drums) together. All three had spent the last decade or so in other, perhaps more restrained, bands: Ditson with grinding indie rockers And And And, Neighbors with alt-pop dynamos Portugal. The Man and with his electronic project Hustle and Drone. With Help, they are retrieving punk roots each member had put down in their teens. They are ripping the seams back open to see what’s really inside. “Everyone is angry,” says Neighbors, “Make some art about it.” Help is the band Portland needs right now. Fuck it, it’s the band the whole world could use a heavy dose of if we want to climb out of the dark ages of greed and into the next century of mutual aid and collaborative self-directed communities of creativity.
Help’s new EP “Courage” is centered around heartbreak and pain. Progress as a series of fresh new hells. Hoping that it is better to be in love than to be right, while enduring the apparent absence of both love and coherence in American culture. The short version of the story of this record is that both Ryan and Bim’s lives were exploding and falling apart. Okay, okay, it's a breakup album. Their vulnerability in these songs became necessary for their survival. Though deeply personal, these songs are meant as an invitation for others to feel and hurt freely. After all, this may be one of the last freedoms we get to enjoy in this crumbled world. Courage. In the face of hopelessness, in the face of everyone pretending anything is fine, in the face of the end of things meant to last and last. Courage. For the band, Courage is a step towards a broader sound and an experiment in honesty over security. The upcoming vinyl release from Three One G Records also includes the band’s debut self-titled EP. Their focus in all they do: Remove fear from decision making. Act in defiant joy. Refuse to dominate others. Do not hoard the gifts of the universe. Remember: the future is uncertain. Ends don’t justify means. Solidarity now. If the goal is growth, success is an ending. War and love are forms of death. This record is an example of the destructive nature of growth: on the planet, on the human spirit, on our ability to hold on.
![Netherlands D.T.A. [Official music video]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/fOmT0xaiXN8/mqdefault.jpg "Netherlands D.T.A. [Official music video]
Netherlands D.T.A. from the album Kali Corvette available here:
https://threeoneg.com/archive/vinyl/kali-corvette-lp
As a young person I only had a latent/ vague sense of possibly how rotten our country’s history had been… But it was 9/11 that more or less dramatically accelerated my desire to try to develop a rigorous historical understanding of US foreign policy and the grotesque legacy of colonialism and US imperialism.
But for whatever reason…over the years I haven’t ended up regularly writing songs directly about this stuff… I guess I didn’t wanna sound too bitter/ strident, etc.- however, during the Trump presidency my rage and despair about the complete catastrophe of US politics started unavoidably bubbling its way to the surface…and in late 2020 I wrote this song, as a means of downloading my disgust at our out of control imperial hubris and exceptionalism.
The current Israel/ Palestine mega-catastrophe compelled me to spontaneously put together a sort of “found footage /conceptual lyric video” for the song, which, sadly, the message of the song, (IMO) couldn’t be more applicable/ timely than in this horrific moment of US sponsored genocide- even though the message of this song is pretty “on the nose” (lol) I feel like there is a fair amount (important!) nuance, compassion, humor and humanity, if, um, you listen closely. haha! HO-KAY.
- Timo Ellis
Video edited by Chris Carlone and Timo Ellis.
Lead singer, multi-instrumentalist, compulsive creator, and unrepentant volume addict Timo Ellis (Yoko Ono, Cibo Matto, Sean Lennon, Joan As Police Woman, Spacehog) formed NETHERLANDS in 2010 in NYC. The band has since shared stages with Napalm Death, Melt Banana, Mutoid Man, Yob, Retox, Black Flag, Eyehategod, Flipper, Martin Rev, The Death Set, Moon Tooth, and Witch Mountain, among many others. Now with drummer David Keith (Rainbow), the band continues to reject restraint in favor of maximum impact: shredding chops, soaring vocals, and maddening hooks. Netherlands crushes decades worth of bombast into psychotropic nuggets of evil sludge-rock bliss, with nods to the dirtbag rituals of 70’s acid rock and punk, the grandeur of 80’s arena rock, and the guttural intensity of 00’s posthardcore.
KALI CORVETTE is Netherlands’ 6th full LP, and features all the hallmarks of Ellis’ work; blistering guitar heroics, primal drumming, and searing caterwauls. However KALI CORVETTE veers bracingly into the realm of electro-noise-punk, ratcheting up the intensity into a uniquely weaponized form of rock that reaches towards high art. The record features guest performances by Gibby Haynes (Butthole Surfers), Michael Kubacki (Car Bomb), Tim Dahl (Lydia Lunch Retrovirus, Child Abuse), Daisy Press (Steve Reich) and Suzanne Von Aichinger (The Suzannes.) KALI CORVETTE is another chapter in the book of a band that’s consistently released heavy music on its own terms and with its own undeniable personality. There’s a reason contemporary heavy luminaries like Joe Duplantier of Gojira and Bill Kelliher of Mastodon count themselves amongst Netherlands’ biggest fans, and KALI COREVETTE’s 7 tracks effortlessly demonstrate NETHrock’s potency once again.")
