“The Oregon Music Hall of Fame honors Oregonians who have made outstanding contributions to, or significant impact on the evolution, development, and perpetuation of the music industry,” the organization states on its website. “These contributions can be on a national, regional, or local level. Nominees must have been born in Oregon, or have lived or operated in Oregon sometime during their lifetime.”
What better way to honor the new inductees than to have The Kingsmen, inductees themselves in 2007, play “Louie Louie,” one of the most recorded songs in rock music history?
The Kingsmen have been around for 50 years. We all know the story of one of the most famous bands from Oregon, but OMN got the opportunity to talk briefly with Mike Mitchell, one of the band’s original members, about the good old days that still continue.
How did the band come together?
It was just a bunch of high school friends. Lynn [Easton] and I were friends. He was the drummer and I had played guitar. Lynn had another friend who played guitar and he talked a friend into playing bass, who was another one of our high school mates, and eventually we had a piano player join us.
Was there a teacher or class that inspired you to become a musician?
There wasn’t much going on when I was in school. I started with country music and the like but the teachers back in school only taught orchestra music.
What’s it like to be involved with the Hall of Fame?
The Hall of Fame is great for Portland. It’s a nice piece of history for being in the city. There have only been a few bands from Portland that have made it and we just happen to be one of them. There’s a tremendous amount of pleasure that goes along with being in the Hall of Fame.
It’s a real honor to be recognized at our age and be able to go and work and be a part of it all.
We’ve been in the Hall of Fame for some time but this Saturday we are helping out the kids who are the inductees. We’re playing with Quaterflash. It’s an oldies night plus it’s the young kids’ time.
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How has it been to play for 50 years?
It’s been really fun for us. We’ve always had a great time playing. If there wasn’t all of the other stuff along with it, well, it would be even a lot of more fun! The packing and loading and traveling is a different lifestyle. We go to Virginia Beach, Virginia, next week, then after that we head to Las Vegas the next week. So it’s a lot of getting on an airplane to fly across the country and do sound check and radio interviews and then play for an hour, then pack up, go to the hotel and sleep for a few hours then get on a plane and start over.
Even so, were still just as loud as ever! We’re working on a European tour. You know, all of us, everyone from that era, they’re still all just about the same, doing what they love to do. I look at the guys of our generation, the guys we’ve played with like the Stones and they’re still alive, still going strong, and still look forward to touring and playing music, just like we do.
Don’t miss The Kingsmen and Quarterflash at the 7th Annual Oregon Music Hall of Fame Induction ceremony playing to honor OMHOF inductees like Chris Botti, Hazel, Poison Idea, Kelly Joe Phelps, Richmond Fontaine, Janice Scroggins, Greg Williams and more on Saturday, October 5th at the Aladdin Theater at 7pm. Advance tickets here.
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