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Home - Music
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World Beat - |
Mickey Hart Band truckin’ through summer club shows
by Jesse D. Stanek
Mickey Hart is best known for the 30-some years he served as one of The Grateful Dead’s dual drummers, but his passion for exotic percussion instruments and transcendent rhythms has also placed Hart firmly among the greatest percussionists/drummers in the world. While Hart is no stranger to arenas, coliseums and stadiums, his current national tour finds his band playing a few festivals and smaller clubs.
“These festivals are really a fun thing,” Hart offered via cell phone. “The fans really get a bang for their buck. People are camping out and that really brings the community together. It’s also good for the bands because you’ll always be playing to a lot of people.
It takes the burden of drawing power away from a young band. Plus, it’s good for the musicians because we get to kind of cross-pollinate and hear our friends.”
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Electric Orange - |
Mighty bluegrassical group offers Midlands a dose of vitamin C
by Neil Sandhoefner
The Orange Mighty Trio may not literally be orange, but it’s certainly mighty, and a quick look at its list of members (violin: Zack Kline, bass: Nick Gaudette and piano: Mike Vasich) confirms the group’s trio status. So what makes this trio so mighty?
OMT is a crossover group, dabbling in classical, bluegrass, jazz and rock to create a genre the trio has labeled “bluegrassical” — just one indication of how clever this group is.
Improvisation plays a big part in the OMT, setting it apart from other bands. Kline, Gaudette and Vasich recently spoke with The Reader via telephone about the band’s sound, its influences and its Omaha show at Mick’s July 23.
The group’s unique blend of music can be traced back to its members’ musical educations. All three are classically trained musicians who began at an early age and who have always had an interest in other musical genres. Kline learned classical violin from a teacher with a penchant for fiddle tunes, and he was was exposed to both worlds.
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Blue Martain Groove - |
Omaha six-piece gels, encounters many lakes
by Jesse D. Stanek
The Blue Martian Tribe has been gigging locally for the past two years, bringing their spaced out, often-inspired jams to the teetering and twirling masses. The six-piece features some inventive improvisation with a heavy nod to The Allman Brothers (at least with the guitars) and has used the past year to build their following, record some cuts and take their show on the road. After playing Dogstock in Kansas earlier in the year, the band is set to play this weekend at Gaea Retreat in McClouth, KS and then is gearing up for a Noon performance at the vaunted 10,000 Lakes Festival in Detroit Lakes, MN.
"We’ll be the first band of the day on Friday [July 25] at High Noon," bassist and co-founder Ryan Redding offered. "Its kind of cool because there are no other stages going on that early so we’re the only music option at that time. It came about because Ourstage.com had this Cosmic Break contest where local bands put their stuff up on the website and then people listen and vote for what they like." |
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Backbeat - |
Ever wish the planet had more mixes and less war? So does experimental indie/electronica group Peachcake, who bring this message to Lincoln’s Knickerbocker’s July 22, as part of their “Make Mixes, Not War” tour. The group delivers its inspirational ideology through a dynamic and interactive multi-media performance. If you want to end the war and/or create the perfect playlist, this show is not to be missed.
The group wants you to bring a mix to the show to share with them or other audience members. Visit myspace.com/peachcake for more information on the band as well as how you can promote world peace and craft stellar mixes while you’re at it.
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Déjà Vu All Over Again - |
Son Ambulance returns with new album
by Tim McMahan
So what happened to Son Ambulance after 2005?
The band released its second full-length album, Key, on Saddle Creek Records in the fall of 2004 and supported the record with a tour that included Europe. But then, slowly, the band just sort of disappeared.
“Europe was great,” said Son Ambulance mastermind Joe Knapp from the couch of his midtown rental. “We had some good shows, but … it was tough.”
One by one, he began to lose his band mates, each taking on other projects or full-time jobs, doing what was necessary to pay the rent.
“Everyone just kind of really got busy, and so I was the only one left,” Knapp said. “I also started working at Liberty Elementary. It takes a lot of time to make a band work. Not everyone will take that risk.”
As a result, momentum never built behind Key, despite the fact that it was lauded as one of the best Omaha-produced albums of 2004. With its booming, ‘70s-influenced set pieces, like the roaring rocker “Paper Snowflakes” and sprawling epic “Sex in C Minor,” fans thought the record could push Son Ambulance into that next level of indie stardom enjoyed by Saddle Creek stars like Bright Eyes and Cursive. But it never happened. The album sold a mere 5,400 copies. Some blame Creek for taking the band for granted. Knapp disagrees.
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Healthy Development - |
Los Angeles band finds its own sound without set plan
by Chris Aponick
John Famiglietti doesn’t want HEALTH to be that band of guys parked behind mixing boards, piping in backing tracks at a live show.
He’s seen it before, and he doesn’t think it can be much fun.
“It’s got to be f***ing boring as hell up there,” Famiglietti said.
So, despite the fact that Famiglietti’s Los Angeles-based noise rock band thrives on a swirl of electronica-inspired synths clashing up against tribal drums and drone, they are committed to making it work as a live band. |
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Backbeat - |
If you find yourself in the car at night scrambling for a Candlebox-less radio station, it’s time to throw KGOR (99.9FM) on your preset list. As overreaching as this might sound, listening to John Tesh’s nightly radio show is an experience like no other on the dial. Granted, there’s certain smugness about a classic-rock host who claims his show will make you “the smartest person in the room,” but there’s such a do-gooder attitude to the whole thing that you can hardly object.
Where else, for instance, will you find tracks by Creedence and Jackie Wilson bridged by an obscure scientific finding about how brand-name peanut butter makes you drowsy? Or a tip on how to sleep better that dovetails into 1970s Elton John. Tesh’s show is solid music (assuming “Tiny Dancer” doesn’t make you cringe) combined with bite-size factoid knowledge delivered by a guy whose mood is “awesomely pleasant.”
Of course, Tesh’s own music — imagine a Jerry Bruckheimer movie scored by Manheim Steamroller — is far from the sort of classic rock you’ll hear on his show. But the library-like cranium of Tesh-the-radio-host and Tesh-the-synth-jockey is one in the same. On July 16, you can experience him in concert at Westside Church, 15050 W. Dodge Rd. For tickets call 877.801.4995 or visit tesh.com.
— Casey Logan |
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Back to Black Francis - |
by Chris Aponick
Frank Black is neither running from his past nor fully giving in to the clamoring for a permanent Pixies reformation.
There’s a slight embrace of the Pixies in that Frank Black has re-adopted the Black Francis stage name. He used it in his days fronting the Boston-bred forerunner of the late ‘80s alternative rock movement.
But that doesn’t mean fans will be getting a truckload of Pixies songs when they attend a Black Francis show, Black said.
“I can’t do it. It feels too fake,” Black said. “I think it’s too soon or something.”
Black said it would be lame to do versions of Pixies songs with his current trio after having played several reunion gigs during the past few years.
As far as the status of that band, Black said they are pretty much a “business entity,” without new or forthcoming activity. |
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Herd-y Gurdy Man - |
by Neil Sandhoefner
Kenny Wayne Shepherd is a blues singer who doesn’t always sing and doesn’t always play the blues. Fans attending his July 3 Stir Concert Cove show can plan on hearing music ranging from traditional blues to straight-up rock ‘n’ roll.
Shepherd began his career playing guitar on 1995’s bluesy Ledbetter Heights, recorded while Shepherd was in high school. Three more albums followed. The fourth, 2004’s The Place You’re In, was decidedly rock rather than blues. The Place… also featured Shepherd on lead vocals throughout — something he previously had not done.
But Shepherd remains a blues artist at heart, and his most recent album, 10 Days Out, shows him returning to those roots. He spoke with The Reader over the phone about his career, his music and his love of the blues. |
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Holed Up - |
by Wayne Brekke
Marking their tenth year together, Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers decided to try an experiment that would either result in a brilliant addition to their musical catalog, or a complete waste of time with a tropical view.
The band wanted to see what would happen if they gathered in the same room and wrote a complete album, from scratch, in eight days. No pre-written lyrics, no pre-recorded music tracks, just four guys in a house with instruments and a deadline. To some, this may sound like a simple task. Those who know the pointless musings of an extended jam session that heads down a long road to nowhere, understand it can quickly become a painful journey. |
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Back Beat - |
* Spin magazine featured Omaha in its July “Rock City” feature. The two-page spread covering Omaha’s musical roots, haunts and musts was written by former Reader Arts and Assistant Managing Editor, Tessa Jeffers. Read more about the article in this issue’s Lazy-I (page 45).
* The Boston Phoenix announced its “50 Bands/50 States” list which declares an All-Time Best Band, an All-Time Best Solo Artist and a Best New Band for each of the 50 states (sorry, Puerto Rico). |
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What's the 311? - |
Hometown boys make good, return with Snoop
by Brett Wertz
There’s something to be said for a band with staying power. Tastes change and interests fade, but some music never loses its luster.
Though 311 may no longer be the hippest band from the Metro, the group has outlasted their Midwestern competition. Regional success gave way to a national breakthrough in the 1990s. Almost two decades since starting out, the five-piece from Omaha are playing some of their biggest shows to date and cultivating a new fan base.
“We’re approaching a milestone,” S.A. Martinez said by phone from Los Angeles. “It’s getting close to a generation that we’ve been a band.”
The group has seen incredible commercial success, but lately it has been on the road — rather than in the studio — where 311 is capturing audiences. Their concerts have taken on the feel of festivals. Fans have followed them from city to city with renewed fervor.
“We’ve picked up momentum as a band over the past three years of touring,” Martinez said. “There’s a lot of the jam band aesthetic going on. It’s becoming part of the 311 experience.”
Kids are pitching tents and setting up early for shows. The band is playing some of its longest sets ever, some with more than 50 songs. But this is neither Phish nor the Grateful Dead; as Martinez said, it’s almost as if there’s a new subculture developing.
“You can’t plan these types of things,” he said. “They just take on their own nature and become their own thing.”
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Setting Aside Spindles - |
Broken Spindles gives the Faint’s Joe Petersen a personal outlet
by Chris Aponick
Broken Spindles is ready for the sort of change that would make Charles Darwin dance.
Joel Petersen, mastermind of the indie-electronic act, is done with the one-man-and-a-laptop setup. He is breathing a livelier sound into his work, both in recording and on stage.
“I had a musical idea I wanted Broken Spindles to start evolving into,” Petersen said.
On Petersen’s forthcoming Broken Spindles record, live drumming, provided by Bright Calm Blue’s Javid Dabestani, replaces programmed beats.
Broken Spindles serves as Petersen’s personal retreat from his other role, as the Faint’s bassist. Petersen, who describes himself as a workaholic, sculpted new Broken Spindles’ material during downtime from Faint recording sessions. Petersen said his personal work is a reaction to how the Faint operates. He controls the entire Spindles universe, but lets the songs flow out easily.
“I reserve Broken Spindles to be sort of my spontaneous creative outlet,” he said. |
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The Hot 8 Blow - |
Iconic New Orleans band takes over festival
by Wayne Brekke
Embodying the sound and spirit of the Big Easy, the Hot 8 Brass Band found that their music provided more than just entertainment to post-Katrina New Orleans. It lent itself to a sense of community, unity and deep personal healing.
It started with a few horn-playing friends who played together in a high school band. They became a tight knit group who found a calling in the traditional sounds of New Orleans brass band music. In 1995 the band came together professionally with founding member, band leader and tuba player Bennie “Big Peter” Pete. Pete, with founding members Jerome Jones and Harry Cook, provided the solid foundation that would become the Hot 8.
The band became popular among locals for their horn arrangements, percussion and inspired fusion of jazz, big band, soul, R&B and hip-hop. They were known to play all day in the hot sun at jazz festivals and parades, only to head down to a local venue to rock the house until closing. |
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Making Friends - |
Johnathan Rice finds time to colaborate
by Chris Aponick
Johnathan Rice’s impromptu band featuring Nik Freitas and Omahan Maria Taylor is breaking up at the end of their current tour.
But don’t shed any tears, Rice said.
“There’s not going to be a lot of broken bottles, broken hearts,” said the Southern California-based troubadour.
This band was established so all three could tour together. At shows the three each play sets of their own material, said Rice, talking on the phone between Washington, D.C. and Philadelphia.
The set-up makes for an intimate tour for the trio of friends, according to Rice. The Reprise Records-signed Rice has been a frequent Omaha visitor, whether he’s played shows, recorded or is just seeing friends. Freitas is signed to Conor Oberst’s Team Love Records imprint, while Maria Taylor is on Saddle Creek. |
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Backbeat - |
Local blues-rock outfit Sarah Benck and the Robbers aims to bring its soulful sound to the hordes of the many at this year’s Lollapalooza. The possible shortcut: the Lollapalooza Last Band Standing contest. The first round, an online vote drive, concluded June 22 with the group ranked 58th in the Top 100 with 1678 votes — qualifying them for round two.
The second round will be decided by a panel of celebrity judges who’ll announce a Top 20 on June 30. If SB&TR make it to through to the third round, the group’s votes will be reset and another vote drive kicks off June 30-July 13 to determine a top five.
The top five will then compete at a live show in Chicago, July 30, with the judges crowning winner and an audience vote choosing a runner-up. Both bands win the chance to play the big show.
Keep up as the contest unfolds at sonicbids.com/lollapalooza08.
*Conor Oberst announced the first 50 dates of a summer/fall tour in support of his upcoming eponymous solo album, out Aug. 5 on Merge Records. The album was recorded in Tepoztlan, Morales, Mexico with supporting musicians dubbed “The Mystic Valley Band.” The tour will take him through the U.S., South America, Europe and Australia. He’ll play Omaha’s Anchor Inn Sept. 20.
— Sarah Wengert |
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Fortunate Son - |
Cuban musical nomad lands in Lincoln
by Joshua Hoyer
Home means different things to different people. For René Paula, music is home.
Paula, born in Cuba in 1944, has been playing music since he was a young boy. In Cuba, he played the same clubs as many of his mentors, such as Compay Segundo of Buena Vista Social Club fame, who inspired him to master his craft as a tres (pronounced “trace”) player. The tres, a guitar of Cuban origin, has three sets of strings, each set with two octaves of the same root note, which creates the full, rich sound indicative of the style.
Paula relocated to the U.S in 1980. Telling the story of being shorted a large amount of money by the Cuban government for a week-long gig in Guantanamo, Paula said pay for musicians was better in the U.S. He has since traveled the states as a musical nomad, living and playing in Miami, Seattle, New Orleans and Chicago.
“I wanted to come here [to the U.S.] for a better life,” he said.
For the last three and a half years Paula has lived in Lincoln, his wife’s hometown. He and his band, Son del Llano, translated as “music of the plains,” have facilitated a true community for Latin music lovers. Nebraska residents from Mexico, Chile, Argentina, Venezuela and Europe, as well as many native Nebraskans, make the drive from surrounding towns to embrace their music.
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Lost Boys Return - |
Finding Neverland with groove quintet The 9’s
by Brady Vredenburg
In the annals of rock history, the tome dedicated to the band breakup is of swelling proportions. Too often audiences see the storied cliché of a band parting ways — apparent victims of some sonic serendipity cut short by habits, spouses or the sheer inability to deal one another’s dueling egos.
Perhaps the most devastating, however, is the demise of an act that once broke onto the scene with honest pursuits and solid tunes, then just as they arrived, disappeared altogether leaving us with nothing but the feedback ringing in our ears. Enter Omaha funk meddlers The 9’s.
In a rare twist, the recently reunited 9’s actually still liked each other when they took their curtain call at a sold-out (now-defunct) Music Box in 2002. They won’t be found in the glossary pile of one hit casualties; nor in the index of bitter bandfare. Matter of fact, The 9’s won’t be there at all. Their epilogue was never written.
“It was just a timing thing,” lead vocalist/guitarist Jason Birnstihl insists, “There’s no dramatic rock breakup story here.”
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Brave Music - |
Bucking The Establishment By Way of Polka
by Jesse D. Stanek
Brave Combo has been called all of the following: a hot jazz quintet, a deadly serious novelty act, a groundbreaking world music act, a rollicking rock ‘n’ roll bar band, a Tex-Mex conjunto, a saucy cocktail combo, A Latin orchestra, a sizzling blues band and one of America’s dance bands par excellence. Obviously, this ain’t your grandpa’s polka.
The Combo from Denton, Texas, which recently played Talking Heads visionary David Byrne’s wedding, made a name over the past 30-something years by playing polka music in a rock format and adding flourishes of every little thing they find interesting.
Bandleader Carl Finch hopes the band has challenged some long-held ideas about what’s cool and what the accordion has to offer. |
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Free and Pure - |
Southern California’s RTX offer release in no-frills rock sound
by Chris Aponick
RTX isn’t looking for a rock n’ roll reinvention.
Singer Jennifer Herrema said they get their kicks by releasing their loose, lo-fi party metal. The California band finds freedom in just cutting free.
“I guess it’s a liberated sense,” she said. “That’s a really good vibe.”
She said her band pays tribute to much of the rock and punk the group loves, without trying to recreate something that’s already been done perfectly.
“It’s what I grew up with,” said Herrema, calling from her home in Sunset Beach.
Herrema said part of making sure she doesn’t revert to something else is making sure she edits some of her music after initially writing it.
“Definitely, it needs a firm hand. Shit can get out of control,” she said. |
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