The aptly named “World’s Finest” is a five-piece Portland-based band delivering a range of the world’s finest types of music in one energy-packed band; funk, punk, dub, ska, honkytonk, reggae, jam, and bluegrass. While the combination of all these styles of music might make one think that this is a band to make your ears bleed, in reality, Chris Couch, Dan Hurley, Sean McLean, Mike Apodaca, and Evan Malfer use their vocals, guitars, banjos, saxes, and basses to blend all of these genres into an exceptional and unique feel-good sound. This is music sure to get you smiling and dancing. After only forming four years ago, the band has already gained notoriety in the Northwest music scene. They are well on their way with two full-length albums, “33” and “Pattern,” and a recent successful Kickstarter campaign to start recording their third studio album, “Headwaters.” The band will also be playing at local Whiskey Jacques on February 19. SVPN’s music guru Hayden Seder caught up with lead singer and guitar player Chris Couch, who tells us where they got their name, the influence behind their new album, and much more!
SVPN: How did World’s Finest come about? How did the band start?
Chris Couch: Most of the band members used to play in other bands and we’d all played shows together or gone out to see each other’s bands all the time. One night at an after-party in early 2011, Evan and I figured out that we had songs our bands weren’t playing, so we decided to get together and play those songs for fun as a side project. Eventually, Dan joined the project and the rest just kind of fell together organically. Mike was playing with Evan at the time in another project so he was ready to jump aboard immediately. Sean came out of nowhere one night at a show, and afterwards we realized that he was the missing piece we needed to tie it all together. After a while Sean started singing and playing lead guitar and that’s been our lineup for a few years now.
SVPN: How did you pick your name?
CC: Ha! The name came from our original name, which was World’s Finest Juggling Balls. I had a great set of juggling balls and the box was sitting out as we were discussing what we would call ourselves for this first gig we had. After that first show (in a booth at a school playground for a kids’ fair) we just shortened it to World’s Finest. These days we like to say that it’s because we take our favorite parts of world music and put it into our sound. We never meant it to be cocky, that’s why we never qualified it with a “the”. We could be the World’s Finest anything.
SVPN: How do you think your sound has changed since you started your band in 2011?
CC: When we first started, Evan exclusively played the upright bass, Dan played an acoustic banjo, we didn’t really have sax until our second recording, and none of us were using effects on anything. We played short and sweet songs and it was fairly mellow with a reggae feel. Over time, we tweaked our setups, added Sean’s backup vocals and guitar, and started writing more adventurous music. We all come from different backgrounds musically, so we haven’t been afraid to add diverse sounds and influences into our set. In terms of our live shows, we have all gotten so much better at listening to what each other is doing, so we have been able to add an element of improvisation that we just couldn’t do a few years ago.
SVPN: You’ve been described as a band with a genre of its own. Does this stem from the different backgrounds of each band member or was this a sound you purposely wanted to achieve?
CC: I would say that both of those things have been factors in really settling in to our style. Most of the band grew up listening to punk and ska, with half listening to jam bands. Mike came from a drum corps background, Sean played a ton of funk back in the day, and we all love reggae. We noticed fairly quickly that what people really enjoyed about our shows is our proclivity to jump genres and keep people on their toes about what we play next. We try to keep everything dance-y, but we want to do it in new ways. We also want to play songs that resonate emotionally with people.
SVPN: You just finished raising enough money on Kickstarter to put out your third album, “Headwaters.” What’s the story behind the album (process, backstory)? How will it differ from your previous two albums?
CC: The new album is much different than our last recordings. We decided to take our project to Cloud City Sound in Portland with Justin Phelps (Cake, Galactic, Garaj Mahal) as our engineer. We are actually a good 80% done with the album and it has been going really well. Listening to the mixes, we can see how we have matured, not only in our musical ability, but in our songwriting and our intention. This material on the album goes deep into what the past two and a half years have been for us. Life happens pretty fast these days, and the songs do a decent job of chronicling our lives as a band. It just feels so much more personal than any recording I have been a part of ever has. We still have some good-time songs and love them, but I am hoping the personal touch is what people are really able to connect with on this one.
SVPN: What are some of your earliest musical influences? What current groups or artists influence you today?
CC: NOFX, Phish, James Brown, Operation Ivy, Garth Brooks, Fishbone, Rush, Pink Floyd. The list could go on and on because we are from all over the country and there is an age spread of about 10 years. Nowadays, it’s just awesome to be part of a thriving scene on the West Coast. All our friends are doing really great things with their music and it’s been fun to hear what they come up with. We like to listen to all sorts of music when we travel, so the van playlist reads like someone is picking CDs randomly out of a hat. Some of our favorites that make regular rotation are Levon Helm, Natural Vibrations, and Umphreys McGee.
SVPN: What’s your advice to up-and-coming musicians?
CC: I would say to just keep working. Those big breaks that people talk about come around because you put the work in. Be smart about the choices you make for your music and don’t let anyone else dictate what you should or shouldn’t be doing. Also, stay organized with the business end of it. If you are trying to make music the thing that supports your life, then you need to make sure you are aware of all the little things that make a business work.
SVPN: What are your top three necessities when touring?
CC: I think we all have different ones personally (I bring my leather slippers), but as a band it is something like this: music for the drive, earplugs, and the fun box (whiffle ball set, disc golf bags, etc.).
SVPN: Is this your first time playing in Idaho?
CC: First time in Ketchum. We just did two nights in Boise and have done a few nights at John’s Alley in Moscow. We are excited to come to a new town and make some new friends!
World’s Finest will play at Whiskey Jacques February 19. $5 entry. Doors at 9pm. For more information on World’s Finest, visit
www.worldsfinestmusic.com.
