Once upon a time, President George Bush Sr. visited a small, liberal city on the West Coast and was met by violent protests. In response, Bush Sr. nicknamed the city “Little Beirut” in reference to the capital of Lebanon.

Now, four musicians from Little Beirut—better known as Portland, Oregon, have formed a band that champions their hometown style, including some politically-charged themes. It should come as no surprise that the band decided to call itself Little Beirut.

Recently, the band released its second album, High Dive. Little Beirut considers the album to be a real accomplishment in comparison to their first release.

“This record is a big step up from our last one, which was essentially put together in my home studio from various song sketches we had amassed over the years,” said guitarist/vocalist Ed Paroissien. “High Dive has the energy and life of a band (with the final lineup in place) that has written, edited and played the songs live prior to recording. This is a lush record; one that will be perfect for listening to in the summertime.”

Unfortunately, in order for the record to gel together seamlessly, the band had to cut out some songs they had originally written for the album.

“We wrote more than we recorded for the record, but did a pre-production demo of about 16 or so," Paroissien said. "Our co-producer Chris Robley chimed in on song selection, but I think we were unanimous in which ones were the strongest,” he said.

For vocalist/guitarist Ham Sims, some of the best elements of the album are those that are rarely discussed outside the studio. “I'd like to discuss how lyrics are written, I guess because that's my department and because I like to hear how my favorite bands go about it. It's a long answer I'm sure and a long process, but people in music magazines don't seem to talk much about songwriting,” he said. “Pretty important though, right? I mean, I can't think of a classic song with bad lyrics.”

There is also a bit of mystery behind the album’s cover, which features a—um, person wrapped in towels with a cigarette in one hand and a martini in the other.

“I still don't know if it's a girl or a tranny,” said Sims. However, he does know where the picture came from. “The album photo was taken by the only guy I ever got in a bar fight with in my life. I'm a singer, not a fighter.”

“He was a friend of a friend. A cocky little trust-fund kid who got in everybody's face, but you couldn't hate him - he took great pictures,” Sims recalled. “One night he hit on my girl, now my wife, one thing led to another and I won. I got kicked out of the bar and years later he apologized. So, I asked if I could use his picture.”

High Dive is Little Beirut’s first commercial release. While this may be considered a step toward “making it” in the music industry, Paroissien is not too worried about the standards surrounding their music.

“I don’t really know what 'making it' in the music industry is, and whether we have or will achieve that goal, but playing in a band has been the only thing I’ve really wanted to do since about 13. When I played ‘Rebel Rebel’ at the ninth grade talent show to find out that girls all of a sudden wanted to talk to me the next day, the deal was cemented. It didn’t matter anymore that I always struck out in baseball,” he said. “Now older and wiser, I think it's been liberating in the past few years to really internalize that we’d be doing this even if it were just to make tapes to listen to ourselves in the car. I just have to do it. So anything that happens to us from here that forwards our position in the music business is extra.”

Making it or not, Little Beirut knows where they want to go with their music. Literally.

“Europe. They really seem more thoughtful and insightful about things over there,” said bassist Jon Trause. “I have a friend who tours there and sells out fairly sizable venues, plays festivals, gets interviewed for radio and magazines and put up for the night by super fans everywhere he goes. Then he comes back to the States and plays to less than capacity crowds in dive bars.”

While on his European dream tour, Trause would love to tour with the Flaming Lips. “Just to be a part of the experience that is their live show would be truly amazing,” he said.

However, drummer Alex Inman has his own idea of what the perfect show is. In fact, the band has already played it.

“The back porch at my Mom's house, for my brother's wedding reception,” he said. “August in Portland, outdoors, with over 100 people screaming at you for more ... What more could you ask for?”

It is funny that Inman should ask that question, because Paroissien knows exactly what more he could ask for.

“There’s this beach in Peru (where my wife is from) that’s perfect and I’d spend it there with my family, sisters and the whole bit. But not these f***ers in the band that I see all the time,” Paroissien said. “But then in the evening, they’d magically appear (the f***ers in the band)  – as would a recording studio – and we take a bunch of drugs, drink Pisco sours and record something genius. And in the morning, of course we’d discover that it wasn’t, but the beach and my family would still be there.”

If things keep going well for the band, Paroissien may just get his perfect day after all.

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3.25 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."