Talking Mountain at The Waiting Room, 7/22/11.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Who remembers Talking Mountain, the fun-loving combo from the mid- to late-2000s? My fondest memories of the band are:

1) They loved loved loved using smoke machines and lasers, so much so that one time they played at The Waiting Room and there was so much smoke billowing out the front door I thought the place was on fire.

Jason Steady (I think) in Talking Mountain.

2) They used to perform wearing super-cool muppet-like masks that had to be hot as hell. I always wanted one of those masks.

And, of course, 3) I loved their friggin’ music. I mean, who doesn’t want to hear a song about a snowman that loves to work out?

I bring this up because the mastermind behind Talking Mountain — Jason Steady — just released the 2007 album Old Gold / Ancient Jamz for its 10 year anniversary. The record is being released under the Jason Steady moniker (rather than Talking Mountain), and is available on CD and cassette.

It’s a collection of the best demos and bedroom recordings Steady did between 2004 and 2007, both alone and with friends. It originally came in 2008 on defunct label Slumber Party Records. Why is Steady re-releasing it now? Is this some sort of get-rich-quick scheme?

“Haha! There shall be no getting rich,” Steady said. “You know, it’s 10 years old and I kind of feel like the follow-up album (Nature of Magic) was a misstep, sonically speaking. I’ve got a new band now, which we’re just calling ‘Jason Steady’ to keep things simple, so I figure we’d re-release this one while we work on the follow-up, which will be a proper spiritual successor. It’s honestly the album I’m probably most proud of, and it’s literally bedroom demos. Go figure.”

Steady spent two weeks last May and almost all of November on the road with Chris Twist (former Omahan, currently in the Lemons and Nobunny), “remembering how fun it is to just play songs without the added hassle of lasers, lights, fog, projections, backing tracks, etc.”

His new band includes Ryan “Knife” De La Garza (who is more known for his comedy these days) on drums and Darren Keen (The Show Is the Rainbow) on bass. The official release show is this Saturday at the Replay Lounge in Lawrence, Kansas, with The Dull Drums (Tulsa, OK) and Arc Flash. (Hey, Jason, when’s the Omaha release show?).

Jason Steady, Old Gold / Ancient Jamz (2017, self-release)

The products are real hand-made efforts. The CD has a full-color print, minimally packaged with a hand-folded xeroxed insert slipped into a 3.5 mil poly sleeve. “The lettering on the cassette is custom-cut vinyl lettering that was hand applied,” Steady said. “The inserts were hand drawn, then printed, hand cut/folded, and assembled. Each one of these was touched by a human (me) a lot. I’m sorry if there’s a hair in yours.”

Order your copy and peruse the Jason Steady collection at https://www.etsy.com/shop/ifeelrealistic

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The Pageturners Lounge Winter Concert Series continues tonight with Dirt House (Annie, Amy, Miwi & Roger) and Ryan Menchaca & The Invisible Horses. It’s free and starts at 9 p.m. Can’t think of a better place to be on a snowy Monday night…

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Read Tim McMahan’s blog daily at Lazy-i.com — an online music magazine that includes feature interviews, reviews and news. The focus is on the national indie music scene with a special emphasis on the best original bands in the Omaha area. Copyright © 2018 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.