The Weather Machine to rock Belfry

In what has become a Thanksgiving holiday weekend tradition, the Portland-based band The Weather Machine will rock The Belfry on Saturday night, November 24, at 8 p.m.

Slater Smith, co-founder of the band, grew up in Sisters and got his musical start through the Sisters Folk Festival's Americana Project.

The Portland-based rock group started cutting their musical teeth in 2013, at a time when the city was coming off a folk-revival wave and craving more indie rock. The Weather Machine flourished in that environment, building their folk story songs into plugged-in rock anthems. It's brought the band a long way, and by 2016 they had already toured the U.S. and Europe and opened up for acts like The Alabama Shakes and Cold War Kids.

The band is hard to categorize - which is a big part of the appeal. After releasing a stripped-down, reflective debut record, their sophomore full-length album "Peach" took the group into the realm of power-ballads and anthem-rock. Their latest record, "The Pelican," was written as part of lead singer Slater Smith's side project with Oregon State Parks to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Oregon's Beach Bill. The songs feature The Weather Machine's current roster, as well as some of Smith's favorite musicians from around the region.

The Weather Machine's members are Slater Smith (vocals), Luke Hoffman (drums), André Zapata (bass), Noah Bernstein (saxophone), Tim Karplus (guitar).