Western Front was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 band formed in 1985 in Portland, Oregon

Portland, Oregon

Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...

 that consisted of Fred Cole

Fred Cole

Fred Cole is the singer, guitarist, and songwriter of the band Pierced Arrows and formerly Dead Moon.-The Lords:In 1964, Cole began his recording career in Las Vegas with his band, The Lords, at the Teenbeat Club, releasing a single called "Ain't Got No Self-Respect." His next single, from 1965,...

 on vocals and guitar

Guitar

The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

, Kevin Conner on bass

Bass guitar

The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

, and Jeff Evans on drum

Drum

The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments, which is technically classified as the membranophones. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a...

s. Cole had been in the garage rock

Garage rock

Garage rock is a raw form of rock and roll that was first popular in the United States and Canada from about 1963 to 1967. During the 1960s, it was not recognized as a separate music genre and had no specific name...

 band The Lollipop Shoppe

The Lollipop Shoppe

The Lollipop Shoppe were a 1960s psychedelic garage rock band from Portland, Oregon .They were originally known as The Weeds and featured Fred Cole, best known for playing in Dead Moon. He now plays in Pierced Arrows...

 and the punk rock

Punk rock

Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...

 band The Rats

The Rats

The Rats were an American garage punk band from Portland, Oregon, formed by Fred Cole from the garage rock band The Lollipop Shoppe. Cole played guitar and sang, his wife Toody played bass and sang, and initially Rod Rat played drums. Their sound was a raw mix of punk rock and garage rock with...

, among others. Western Front still had some punk influence but was more inspired by country music

Country music

Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

. They released two singles on Cole's Whizeagle label, "Orygun" b/w "Clementine" and "Stampede" b/w "Looking Back At Me." On a third single, "Coming on Strong" b/w "Rather Be Your Lover," they backed up Cole's wife Toody, who had been in The Rats

The Rats

The Rats were an American garage punk band from Portland, Oregon, formed by Fred Cole from the garage rock band The Lollipop Shoppe. Cole played guitar and sang, his wife Toody played bass and sang, and initially Rod Rat played drums. Their sound was a raw mix of punk rock and garage rock with...

. By 1986, the band had broken up. Fred and Toody went on to form The Range Rats

The Range Rats

In 1986, following the breakup of the Portland, Oregon band Western Front, guitarist/vocalist Fred Cole and his wife Toody formed The Range Rats, which continued Western Front's mix of punk rock and country music. Drummer Andrew Loomis auditioned for The Range Rats but it didn't work out, so Fred...

, and later Dead Moon

Dead Moon

Dead Moon was a United States punk rock band from 1987 to 2006, formed in Portland, Oregon. Fronted by singer/guitarist Fred Cole, the band also included bassist Toody Cole, Fred's wife, and drummer Andrew Loomis. Veterans of Portland's independent rock scene, Dead Moon combined dark and lovelorn...

.