Portland-based musician/engineer/producer Steve Drizos, a professional touring musician for more than 27 years, will play an album release show for his sophomore full-length album i love you now leave me alone Friday, March 1 at The Showdown with Anita Lee and the Handsome 3.
i love you now leave me alone follows his debut solo album, Axiom, which was written, recorded and released during the pandemic, where Drizos played most of the instruments himself. On his new album, he decided to demo everything and build a band around the songs, resulting in a powerful follow-up that finds the songwriter side of him growing and evolving, delivering another strong collection of eight powerful songs that find influence in 90’s guitar-rock, pop and folk.
“My first record, Axiom, got a lot more attention and positive feedback than I ever could have imagined, so I felt really motivated to release a follow up as soon as possible,” Drizos says in discussing the birth of i love you now leave me alone. “And where Axiom was very much done on my own, I wanted this project to be a band, tracking the songs live and having much more collaboration. Once I had a batch of songs that I felt good about, I assembled the players and got to work.” The band includes drummer Joe Mengis (Eels), Tim Murphy (RoughCuts) on bass and backing vocals, Todd Wright on electric guitars and backing vocals, and Drizos’ wife, Jenny Conlee, on piano and electric piano.
Doors for the March 1 show open at 7:30 pm, with the show at 8:30 pm. The Showdown is located at 1195 SE Powell Blvd. and tickets ($12 in advance) can be purchased at showdownpdx.com.