The Seattle-Style Karma of Portland’s Dharma Bums

Jeremy Wilson, lead singer of the Dharma Bums, likes to say that such Bums songs as “Light in You” and “Time Together” are “about the inner spirit.” But when the Portland-based band performs, it’s more a case of outward spirit: It’s not uncommon for Wilson to topple a drum kit, talk loudly to himself, tackle his bandmates and stand on his head.

The Bums’ goofy, emotionally charged live show is the opposite of the cool immobility projected by many of today’s rock bands. But it certainly served the group well on a recent trip to Europe. Despite being all but unknown, the Bums drew large crowds in Berlin, Copenhagen and Madrid.

Of course it might have helped that, due to some European’s sketchy knowledge of American geography, many of the shows accidentally billed the Bums as being “from Seattle.”

The Bums didn’t mind the misconception. Though Portland is actually four hours south of that celebrated rock hotbed, Wilson says his hometown’s grunge-rock ethos is not all that different.

“Portland is getting more and more connected to the Seattle scene every day,” he says. “But Portland is a little less glamorous, a little more real than Seattle. Portland does get bypassed a bit, but that’s good because it’s given us time to develop.”

That development time shows in the Dharma Bums’ latest record, “Welcome,” which is now steadily moving up the college radio charts. The group’s third album combines sharp pop tunefulness with the transparent innocence and energy of youth: not surprising traits given that the band members--who got together five years ago--are all in their early 20s.

In fact, the musicians’ tender ages used to pose a problem. They can recall playing at clubs in Seattle where, when they weren’t actually performing, they’d have to watch the other acts from outside the building. They’d stand in the rain and peer through the steamy windows that obliging patrons inside would periodically wipe for them.

The Dharma Bums--Wilson and high school friends John Moen, Jim Talstra and Eric Lovre--formed in their hometown of Silverton, about an hour outside Portland, in 1987. In 1988, the Seattle-based label PopLlama offered to put out the group’s first record--on the condition that the band members help finish constructing the PopLlama studio where they would record.

That LP, “Haywire” (later licensed to Frontier Records), was followed up in 1990 by “Bliss,” which was recorded in an eastern Oregon Grange hall in less than three days, during which time the entire band came down with the flu. “I sang the entire thing with a head cold,” Wilson says. “That’s why it sounds so suggestive.”

Wilson’s good spirits about a trying situation typify the band’s approach to its entire career--an approach heavier on wit and acceptance than the typically serious rock ‘n’ roll attitude. “We really don’t like rock ‘n’ roll attitude very much,” he says with a shrug. “We’ve just always liked doing things in a really passionate and intimate way, from the ground up.”

Bruce Live: Bruce Springsteen and his new band will give a preview of their new world tour in a national live radio broadcast at 7 p.m. June 5 originating from Los Angeles. The list of stations that will carry the hour-plus concert, titled “The Dress Rehearsal” and produced by Columbia/Album Network, includes KLOS-FM in Los Angeles, KCQR-FM in Santa Barbara and KGB-FM in San Diego.