“I have never been interested in doing a solo album or having a solo career,” says Sam Coomes. As you might imagine, he’s sitting at a sidewalk picnic table at a North Portland coffee shop, his dog Murphy in tow. But despite his avowed lack of interest, Coomes is illuminating the circumstances behind the release of his very first solo record (unless you count Blues Goblins), Bugger Me, which comes out August 19 on Domino Records.
You may already know Coomes as one-half of Quasi, his long-running pop-spaz duo with drummer and ex-wife Janet Weiss and a staple of the Portland underground since 1993. Following the release of Mole City in 2013, Coomes says Quasi was in search of a new muse.
“We still intend on working, but we can’t just do the same thing,” he explains. “We need to have a new idea and we haven’t really had one. Mole City felt like a final chapter, not an opening or middle.”
When Coomes presented his songs as a potential new direction for Quasi, Weiss wasn’t interested. That’s what made him decide to pursue Bugger Me.