My name is Parker Hall. Rules. is my solo project.
After four years studying jazz drums at Oberlin Conservatory with Billy Hart, I returned home (Portland, OR), where I took a day job at a bank and began slowly working my way back into the music scene. After a while, I started performing regularly with people like Jackson Boone and Dan Dan, and freelancing with Alexandra Savior, Bootes Void, and others.
I quit the bank, realizing that I needed more time to play music. I started writing about music, beer, and A/V gear for Willamette Week and Digital Trends, which allowed me to work remotely during small tours. Eventually, I got a remote job at WIRED, where I review things as an editor.
Right about the time I went full-time as a writer, the group I’d been touring with took a break. I felt like I needed one too. I hadn’t written any music of my own since college.
I consulted friends, got some recording gear, and found time to write and record my own music during breaks in life and work.
My first solo EP, Nights and Weekends was recorded in my basement studio in the fall and winter of 2018. I played drums, rhythm guitar, bass, and sang, then recruited friends Tyler James (Jackson Boone), Ben Turner (Curtis Salgado, Dirty Revival), Erik Clampitt (Hook & Anchor), and Alexandra Savior to contribute lead guitar, keyboards, pedal steel, and backing vocals. After I mixed it, I sent it to Adam Gonsalves at Telegraph Mastering.
I’ve since done more solo tunes, most of them mixed by Larry Crane (Elliott Smith, Sleater Kinney, Tape Op Magazine) at Jackpot! Studios. The vast majority of the stuff you hear is recorded in my garage.