MENOMENA

Menomena (pronounced /mɨˈnɒmɨnə/) is an indie rock band from Portland, Oregon, made up of Brent Knopf, Justin Harris, and Danny Seim. All members of the band share singing duties and frequently swap instruments while recording.Menomena began as a side project of Seim's late '90s solo project Lackthereof, a project which still continues.

The band formed in late 2000, when Knopf graduated from Dartmouth College[1] and returned to Portland to collaborate with Harris and Seim [2].

The name "Menomena" was chosen for "the way it rolls off the tongue, sexually, or something" [3] and has no specific meaning, although it is often assumed to refer to the Piero Umiliani song "Mah Nà Mah Nà", a staple of The Muppet Show. A recent audioclip from SpotDJ had Brent sarcastically stating that the band name was a contraction of the words "Men" and "Phenomena".

Menomena played their first show at The Meow Meow, a now-defunct all ages venue in Portland, in July 2001. The trio opened their debut performance with a cover version of "The Abandoned Hospital Ship" by The Flaming Lips [4].

Shortly after joining the roster of High Road Touring, a San Francisco-based booking agency[5], Menomena drove a 1977 Dodge Sportsman RV on their first U.S. tour in 2004[6]. The aging vehicle suffered many breakdowns along the way. Knopf detailed these issues in an interview with Spin (magazine), "Systems that failed (and had to be replaced) during the tour included the following: tires, muffler, brake master cylinder, exhaust manifold, windshield wipers, horn, side-view mirrors (both fell off). Oh, and did I mention that there were two fires? Not one. Two. This vehicle promptly earned the moniker 'RV Danger.'"[7]. RV Danger (most likely a reference to Seattle band Harvey Danger) was later immortalized in a tour poster illustrated by Tyler Stout, who has collaborated with the band on numerous occasions[8]. Other notable tours in Menomena's early career were with Gang Of Four [9], The National [10], and The Long Winters[11].

After several releases and national tours, Menomena signed with Barsuk Records in August 2006. The band still maintains a relationship with their original label, FILMguerrero. It was stated that FILMguerrero will continue be involved in their back catalog and possibly with future vinyl releases[12].

Menomena signed a contract with Germany-based record label City Slang, to release their album Friend and Foe across Europe on August 31, 2007. The band toured Europe twice that year, and their adventures were extensively chronicled by Seim in a Blog for a Portland-based website called Local Cut.(taken from wikipedia; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menomena)

They are currently not touring :( These guys are flipping amazing!!! so listen to and watch this video...then wrap them up and love them as I have!