Point Line Plane are a synth punk band from Portland, Oregon that consist of Nate Carson (drums, Witch Mountain, Nanotear Booking) and Joshua Blanchard (synths, vocals, Major Hex). The band originally existed from 2002-2005. After over 20 years of inactivity, they have reformed and will be playing Caterwaul, along with other select dates.

In their original run, they released two albums (Point Line Plane, Smoke Signals), along with a soundtrack for a documentary on haunted houses, and a bunch of singles and comp tracks. They garnered heaps of praise from all corners of the music media for their fresh take on synth punk. In addition, they were a can’t miss live act.

We figured it would be the perfect time to sit down with Carson and Blanchard and talk all things Point Line Plane in 2026.

They play Sunday, June 7 at Caterwaul. Tickets and full line-up info is here.

When you first formed the band, what were you trying to achieve?

Nate Carson (NC): Josh had historically been in more accessible, melodic bands, and I had been playing metal and no wave. I had an urge to do something more pop-oriented and he was keen to do something unhinged. PLP was the middle ground where our minds and aesthetics met up in late 2001. We went to see a number of shows at that time that really blew our minds wide open. Around early 2002 we saw Lightning Bolt, Peter Brötzmann Tentet +2, pre-robes SUNN 0))), and Flux Information Sciences. Artists like those showed us that literally anything was possible with sound and music in the new millennium.

Josh Blanchard (JB): I came into the band wanting to make very minimalist post punk with influences along the lines of Suicide, Neu, and The Monks. A lot of the early songs were a bit more cerebral, Writing out ideas like “make the sound of falling down a bottomless pit” and seeing how we could do that with a simple gear set up. After a point we started to be a bit less brainy and a bit more primal.

Why did the band originally break-up?

NC: We had been aggressively touring. And while we were garnering critical acclaim and had found a label and a booking agent, money was still tight. We were sleeping on floors and living pretty lean on the road. Our final tour was long and hard. Our van broke down, stranding us in New Mexico, causing us to miss a show in San Diego with High On Fire.

I remember we were so depressed that we went to see Revenge Of The Sith. It was that bad. After the last show of that tour, we just never played again. It’s also worth noting that both of us had met the women we would marry (and subsequently divorce) at that time, so our priorities were shifting. The fact that we had changed our sound so significantly between albums also alienated our fanbase and the reviews were lukewarm compared to the warmth our first album had received. I know we could have weathered this if we continued and made another album, but we didn’t.

JB: We were overworked and had spent a lot of time in a van together. Then we added a chaos goblin as a third member which changed some of the diplomatic balance Nate and I had together. I know I had gone from single, couch sleeping guy to having a steady job and a relationship, so I was relishing having some stability in my life.

What made you decide to reform?

NC: My main band Witch Mountain has been somewhat on life support since the pandemic hit. We toured significantly from 2011-2019. Then, like everyone else, had to cancel our 2020 plans. Post-pandemic, several members are living hours away from Portland. Our guitarist had a baby and that baby turned out to be diabetic, requiring a lot of care and attention. Doing much of anything outside of Portland became nearly impossible, and I was getting listless. I joined a band called The Keening and toured Europe, but afterward, the band leader decided to make it into a solo project.

Josh and I have remained great friends but simply hadn’t made music together since 2005. On September 9, 2025, he texted me out of the blue saying he’d had a dream about a PLP reunion. I told him I was into it and we just started making plans. It’s been as natural as can be, though of course now we are working as grounded adults with supportive partners.

JB: We have been friends for 30 years so it was probably inevitable that we circled back to making music together again. Both of us had creative projects that were slowing down, at least for the moment. it feels like I just casually mentioned to Nate that it would be fun to do it again and next thing I knew months of my life were booked up.

What is the appeal of playing this type of music?

NC: I had forgotten how fast I used to play, haha. I guess in general it’s very cathartic to play such wild music that throws a lot of rules out the window. By the same token, I love how many of these tunes are earworms. They echo through my skull at night after practice or listening sessions.

We wanted to make noisy punk music with hooks and I believe we succeeded. But no one would ever mistake PLP for pop punk because it was just never like that.

What have you had to adjust in order to play this kind of music again?

NC: I think the biggest hoops have been Josh getting the right keyboard gear together and me relearning how to play fast. For most of the last two decades I’ve been doing slow, heavy doom. The benefit of course is that my tempos are so much steadier now. Overall, we are better musicians than we were. Josh’s voice has held up perfectly. We’re just healthier nowadays so it’s not a chore. I have plenty of endurance, despite having gone through a serious cancer treatment and surgery last year.

Even though we were rusty from the passage of so much time, it’s a helluva lot easier to get into an old headspace and cover your own music than to learn someone else’s songs. I often feel like a ghost inhabiting my younger drummer self and it’s a trip. Like, why did I hate my ride cymbal in those days? It’s hardly used on any PLP songs at all and I can’t really remember why!

How important are festivals like Caterwaul in fostering a sense of community for certain kinds of underground music?

NC: We’re going to find out firsthand in June, but in general I like festivals because people travel from all over, see something they like, then go home and tell their friends about it. So, it’s a great way to get the word out in a very organic way without having to tour as extensively as we used to. It’s also great to see, share the stage with, and hang out with a bunch of other great bands and musicians. Caterwaul in particular draws a base of people who have really trained (or is it abused?) their ears to hear music in sound in a way that the average person cannot.

What can we expect from the band after this Caterwaul appearance? More shows? New music?

NC: Josh is already writing new material that we plan to work into new songs. My day job is booking agent, so I’m positive I’ll find more opportunities for us to play out. It will just be more strategic now because neither of us wants to be on the road for three to five weeks at a time. Though I’m sure exceptions will be made if we get the right invitation.

JB: No set plans yet, but we have a fair amount of unreleased recordings and some unfinished songs from back in the day that we have been figuring out what to do with.

Preorder the reissue of Point Line Plane here.