David Nance does Disintegration; Lodgings, Violenteer, Clarence Tilton tonight…

Category: Blog — Tags: , , , — @ 9:40 am December 8, 2023

Lodgings plays tonight at The Sydney in Benson.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Last Friday (maybe for Bandcamp Friday?) David Nance released his rendition of The Cure’s seminal 1989 album Disintegration, which he called Shameless Kiss, and which I’m listening to as I type this. As one local music aficionado and singer described it, it sounds like David Nance playing Disintegration. I’m sure there’s an interesting story behind it, and I’ll try to find out what it is before Nance’s upcoming gig with Icky Blossoms Dec. 26 at The Waiting Room… Until then, here’s a highlight:

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Busy Friday, quiet rest of the weekend. 

Tonight at The Sydney in Benson, Lodgings opens for Violenteer and Sun-Less Trio at The Sydney in Benson. It’s been too long since I’ve seen Lodgings, a band that includes Bryce Hotz on guitar/vocals, Eric Ernst on drums, Michael Laughlin on bass and the illustrious Steve Micek on guitar – or at least that’s who played on their 2019 album, Water Works, which was recorded and mixed by studio legend Steve Albini. I’m not sure who’s in the band these days. Let’s find out tonight! $10, 9 p.m. 

Also tonight, Omaha’s No. 1 alt country / country band, Clarence Tilton, headlines at The Waiting Room for a bill that also includes Watson & Co. and The Electroliners. Cowboy hat, boots, you know the drill. $10, 8 p.m.  

And that’s all I got. If I missed your show, put it in the comments section. Have a great weekend!

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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 © 2023 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Lazy-i

Has The Jewell closed for good? Djunah, Violenteer, Las Cruxes, Rafiq Bhatia tonight…

Category: Blog — Tags: , , , , , — @ 7:31 am October 5, 2023
Matt Whipkey performing on stage at The Jewell in November 2021.

by Tim McMahan,Lazy-i.com

There have been rumblings for weeks that The Jewell, a jazz club located in the Capitol District, has closed its doors for good. The events calendar at the club’s website lists no scheduled shows, and shows that had been scheduled for the last week of September had been cancelled. 

A couple days ago Jewell operator Brian McKenna posted a photo of the club’s shiny logo on Facebook, which generated dozens of condolences and thank you’s in its comments, but no definitive statement. So has The Jewell closed?  

If it has, it’s a shame. Though I only went to the club a few times, I always thought it was a classy, comfortable room with great sound and sight lines. The club opened a year before Covid in early 2019 and was a living tribute to North Omaha’s jazz history, which was apparent just looking at its walls. It was among the “jewels” of a new Capital District in downtown Omaha. 

With recent and upcoming investments in downtown Omaha — the new park, the Steelhouse, the Illuminarium, the new Mutual of Omaha HQ, the proposed streetcar, Millworks Commons, etc. — the Jewell’s (alledged) closing leaves questions as to what did it in: Was it increased overhead costs? Low ticket sales? Challenges booking touring jazz artists? 

While I don’t know anything about the local jazz scene, I do know a number of people who love the genre, including a few who make regular trips to Kansas City solely to attend jazz shows. And while there’s been a number of jazz rooms in Omaha over the years, The Jewell was certainly at the top of the list…

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We’re about to enter Rocktober. Lots of shows are on the horizon. It’s going to be a busy month for music.

It starts tonight at The Slowdown with Chicago post-punk noise band Djunah (pronounced “JUNE-uh”) headlining in the front room. The duo consists of guitarist/vocalist/Moog bass organ player Donna Diane and drummer Jared Karns. Their latest, Femina Furens (2023, self-released), is a punishing collection, but on stand-out tracks like “Phaethon,” Diane almost sounds like she’s channeling early, noisy PJ Harvey (if Harvey was fronting The Melvins). 

This is a loaded show with locals Violenteer (the Cotton Brothers’ double-bass attack) and Las Cruxes also on the bill. Bring your earplugs because it’s gonna be LOUD. 8 p.m., $20. 

One other show of note: New York-based composer and guitarist Rafiq Bhatia is playing at Low End at The Bemis. Lauded as “one of the most intriguing figures in music today” by The New York Times, Bhatia joined Son Lux in 2014. He’s touring on a collection of covers, but his latest original full-length, Breaking English, was released in 2018 on Anti-. Lovely stuff. The show is free and starts at 8 p.m. 

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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 © 2023 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Lazy-i

Live Review: Violenteer, Little Brazil at Reverb…

Category: Blog,Reviews — Tags: , — @ 7:33 am June 26, 2023

Violenteer at Reverb Lounge June 24, 2023.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Violenteer’s old hook used to be their double basses and the trippy, almost Floydian quality of some of the mostly instrumental music. But now with the addition of new vocalist Steve Tulipana, the KC guy you might remember from noise rock bands Season to Risk and Roman Numerals, Violenteer has transformed into something that’s not wholly different but not the same, either. 

Those two basses are still there, along with a new drummer who I didn’t recognize, but now Tulipana is at the heart of the matter, a showman vocalist who sings as if he’s standing on the edge of an arena stage instead of in front of about 75 people at Reverb Lounge last Saturday night. Ranging from post-grunge yell vocals to simply spitting out lyrics over Barry and Randy Cotton’s riffs, Tulipana was like a ringmaster emoting to the crowd, switching between a standard microphone and hand-held CB radio microphone that distorted his vocals through the magic of pedals or a synth, 

Also controlling some electronic gadgetry, Tulipana and his voice provided another instrument that cuts through the bass sludge at times like a lead guitar, rounding out the heavy metal. On the one song that wasn’t a minor-key stomper, Tulipana sounded like a latter-day Daltrey. Alas, the mix was too rough to make out any of the words, which no doubt would have added another layer to the dark matter. All in all, they’re like a new band playing that old heavy metal punk we all remember from the ‘90s. 

Little Brazil at Reverb Lounge, June 24, 2023.

Little Brazil had a tougher night. While the band was on point as per usual, frontman Landon Hedges struggled hearing himself in the monitors, or so it seemed as he continued to signal to the soundboard, resulting in some uncertainty in his usual high-wire act vocal delivery, unlike the stellar vocals heard at that recent Maha announcement gig. Oh, Landon still has it, he just needs to be able to hear himself while he does it. 

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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 © 2023 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Lazy-i

Jeremy Mercy tonight; Little Brazil, Violenteer, Sun-Less Trio Saturday…

Category: Blog — Tags: , , , , — @ 9:33 am June 23, 2023
Little Brazil playing the Maha announcement at the park downtown, May 26, 2023. The band headlines Saturday at Reverb Lounge.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

No touring indie shows again this weekend. What else is new?

However, there’s a couple local gigs worth checking out.

Tonight at the Harney Street Tavern, 1215 Harney Street (not to be confused with the long-gone Howard Street Tavern), Jeremy Mercy and the Rapture Orphans will take the stage. More country than indie, Mercy’s last release (that I’m aware of) was a 3-song EP, Heavyweight: Vol. 1, self-released in 2021. No info on tickets or cover, which leads me to believe the show is free. You’re on your own. Starts at 9 p.m.

Saturday night, one of Omaha’s longest-running indie bands, Little Brazil, headlines a four-band show at Reverb Lounge. LB has been playing out a bit lately, most recently playing the Maha Festival “announcement” gig in the park downtown last month. Also on the bill is Violenteer featuring new vocalist Steve Tulipana (Season to Risk, Roman Numerals). Playing right before Violenteer is Mike Saklar’s The Sun-Less Trio. And kicking things off at 8:30 is Fleek and Foust, a new band that includes Scott Klemmensen and Matt Reinarz. Tickets are $10 today, not sure if that’ll go up at the door. This will be a crowded gig that could sell out (it’s the only indie show of any kind happening this weekend), so consider getting your tix in advance, here.

And that’s it for this weekend. If I missed your show, put it in the comments section. Have a great weekend.


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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 © 2023 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Lazy-i

Unsane (noise-punk originators), Violenteer, Big Water at Reverb tonight…

Category: Blog — Tags: , , — @ 8:25 am February 23, 2023
Violenteer at The Slowdown, May 4, 2022. The band opens for Unsane tonight at Reverb.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Yeah, Unsane music is intensely hard, but unlike traditional hardcore or modern death-metal, the band’s music carries an undeniable thread of melody and counter-melody that glows through the depths of the ricochet-hand grenade rhythms. Start with a hard-fast guitar riff, layer on top a feedback-fueled lead guitar, and then sing-scream electro-distorted lyrics about alienation, fear and retribution while the drums/bass lay down a strangely funky groove and you’ve got the recipe for an Unsane song. It’s a recipe I heard repeated by many, many bands since Unsane kicked things off with their 1991 self-titled debut album on Matador Records — you know, the one with the decapitated dude on the cover.

Unlike mega-popular metal acts Metallica or Slayer that reveal a cheesy/campy center to their fist-pump rock, Unsane music feels and sounds dark, groovy and sinister. Their music is technically smarter and more compact than your typical goon-rock growl metal, which I can only listen to for about 10 seconds before saying “Turn that shit off.” The fact that Unsane is still touring today is somewhat amazing. 

Randy Cotton, who’s band Violenteer opens tonight’s Unsane show at Reverb Lounge, tells me Unsane recently obtained the rights to their early material, and they’ve remastered and re-released their first S/T record, as well as an album of previously unreleased material recorded before that. “This tour mainly focuses on that early material,” Randy said.

Violenteer will be unveiling a new singer/noisescape artist at tonight’s show. “His name is Steve Tulipana (Season To Risk, Roman Numerals, Slights, or Drop A Grand), and he resides in Kansas City,” Cotton said. “We are super-stoked about it. He will be entering the studio next month to record on our album as well.”

Tulipana is bringing his KC friends Big Water to open tonight’s festivities. The band includes Matt Perrin, formerly of the band Bummer.  “Bummer had really blown up nationally in the last few years,” Cotton said. “They had a sense of humor somewhat reminiscent of Killdozer, yet it was all their own. One writer described Bummer as being sort of like Nirvana on meth.” 

Any other night I’d expect this show to sell out at Reverb Lounge, but the sub-zero windchill could keep folks at home. $15, Big Water kicks things off at 8 p.m. 

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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 © 2023 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Lazy-i

Ochoa, Steady Wells, Violenteer, Leafblower Saturday; Duma, Guster Sunday…

Category: Blog — Tags: , , , , — @ 10:20 am November 11, 2022
Violenteer at The Slowdown, May 4, 2022. The band plays at Reverb Lounge Saturday night.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Here comes the weekend. Try as I might, I couldn’t find a single thing to do tonight show-wise, though Saturday is packed. It’s usually the other way around. So, here’s the line-up.

Friday night is a wasteland. Go to a movie.

Saturday you’ve got options. 

Our old pals Oquoa are headlining at fabulous O’Leaver’s Saturday night, no doubt still playing songs from they 2019 LP Timesquares. It’s indie awash in shoe-gaze awash in frontman Max Holmquist’s brassy tenor voice. Joining them on the bill are Steady Wells featuring Jordan Smith of Twinsmith. Singer/songwriter Alexis DeBoer, whose vocal style is more than a little reminiscent of Angel Olson, opens the show at 9 p.m. $10.

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Meanwhile, across town at Reverb Lounge in Benson, Violenteer headlines a three-band bill Saturday night that includes the band Glow and Max Trax Records artist Leafblower.  $10, 9 p.m. 

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Just around the corner at The Waiting Room, gothy industrial instrumental band Lucida Dark headlines a bill that includes Minor Movements, metal monsters Living Conditions and hot new indie sensation Bug Heaven. 8 p.m. $15.

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And now for something completely different…

Sunday night, The Slowdown is hosting Kenyan-Ugandan industrial grindcore/noise act Duma. Their music is brutally heavy, downright punishing. Just listening to the below track makes me jittery and anxious. Imagine how it’ll sound live. Opening is Masma Dream World, the solo recording project of multi-disciplinary artist/healer Devi Mambouka. Kicking things off is Nebraska’s own leather-clad noise gimp Plack Blague. $20, 8 p.m. In the front room.

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If noise ain’t your thing, our old pals Guster are back in town, this time at The Admiral (a.k.a. Sokol Auditorium). I still remember seeing them play at the old Ranch Bowl back in 1999 when they were just getting going (Here’s a fun Lazy-i interview from back in the day). Not sure what brings them back to Omaha as they don’t have new material coming out (that I know of). Still, should be a great show. Chicago band Ratboys opens at  7 p.m. $30 or $75 balcony.

And that’s all I got. If I missed your show, put it in the comments section. Have a great weekend.

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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 © 2022 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Lazy-i

Neko Case moves to TWR; Violenteer, Mere Shadows tonight; Jeff Rosenstock Saturday; Solid Goldberg, Las Cruxes Sunday…

Category: Blog — Tags: , , , — @ 1:27 pm June 10, 2022
Las Cruxes plays Sunday night at The Sydney.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Where did the week go? Sorry about the lack of updates, but I was supposed to be on vacation over my birthday (thanks for the birthday wishes via Facebook), but Delta Airlines had other plans and I never made it out of Omaha. And since last weekend, things have been pretty quiet show-wise.

News-wise, the June 23 Neko Case show slated for The Admiral has been moved to The Waiting Room, again because of “construction delays.” Ticket sales must have been slow, as TWR only has about 1/3 the capacity of the Admiral. Should make for an intimate gig (incidentally, Case is requiring patrons wear masks in the club).

Still no official word on when The Admiral will have its grand opening. The June 13 Tech N9n3 show at The Admiral has been rescheduled, while the June 15 Chvrches Admiral show has been moved to The Bourbon in Lincoln. The next shows slated for Admiral — the July 2 and 3 Bright Eyes concerts.

Today, via The Admiral Facebook page: “We are getting so close! The water main break is all cleaned up, the paint is drying, shipments are arriving, barware, sound, & lighting are getting unboxed, inspections are happening…. and we have loads of dusting to do! It’s almost time!!!” Fingers crossed.

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Which brings us to the weekend, much of it to be spent at The Sydney in Benson.

Tonight at The Syd it’s a triple post-punk bill headlined by double-bass madmen Violenteer, with Mere Shadows and Hussies. For whatever reason, The Sydney doesn’t list ticket prices, so I can’t tell you what it’ll cost at the door (but it’s probably around $10). I can tell you it starts at 9 p.m.

Saturday night, indie punk Jeff Rosenstock (Arrogant Sons of Bitches, Bomb the Music Industry!) headlines at The Slowdown. His latest, Ska Dream, was released last year on Polyvinyl, though he’s most well known for his 2018 album, POST-. His set list from last Monday’s show in Seattle (thankfully) implies he may be playing mostly songs off 2020’s No Dream. NNAMDI and Catbite open at 8 p.m. $20 (main room!).

Then Sunday night it’s back to The Sydney for headliner PAGOTO (members of L.A. Witch) with the inimitable Solid Goldberg and Omaha’s top Spanish-language punk band, Las Cruxes. $10, 8 p.m.

And that’s all I got. If I missed your show, put it in the comments section. Have a great weekend.

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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 © 2022 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Lazy-i

Live Review: Mudhoney, Violenteer; A Deer A Horse, No Thanks, Las Cruxes tonight…

Category: Blog,Reviews — Tags: , , , — @ 12:46 pm May 5, 2022
Mudhoney at The Slowdown, May 4, 2022.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

One of the good things about post-pandemic rock shows is that clubs seem to have adopted a weeknight, two-band, 8 p.m.-start-time policy, which translates to getting home by 10:30, a nice contrast to the old days when weeknight shows meant dragging your tired carcass home at 1 a.m. and then having to drag it to the office the following morning with four hours’ sleep.

Whether Mudhoney was rebelling against that policy or actually had technical problems last night at The Slowdown will forever be a mystery. One of the band’s grips fiddled with the stage microphones, tested guitars, tested drums, then tested the microphones again for nearly 20 minutes, so that the 9:15 set didn’t start until around 9:50. A classic rock ’n’ roll move? I have a feeling someone was getting high backstage.

In any event, the legendary Seattle four-piece ripped into a set of grunge-flavored psych rock that highlighted musicians whose skills have been honed to a microfine edge. Standouts were legendary drummer Dan Peters in fedora, who was showcased in an extended drum solo early in the set, and lead guitarist Steve Turner, whose tone and style were pure arena gold. Frontman Mark Arm, looking like a rock ’n’ roll version of Lucius Malfoy, cracked heavy his own guitar solos and was in prefect voice, no doubt just as he’s done for the past three decades.

Listening to this band was like staring at a musical moment captured in amber, their sound the epitome of ‘90s-era big-guitar alt rock. For better or worse, music has changed dramatically over the past 30 years, though the audience only slightly so. Among the gray-haired fans was sprinkled a new generation of rock fans that looked much more clean-cut than the grunge rockers I remember from the early ‘90s.

Violenteer at The Slowdown, May 4, 2022.

Opening (on time) was Omaha’s own Violenteer. Last night’s performance felt heavier and more sludgy then their set a couple weeks ago at O’Leaver’s. The band’s double-bass attack was roped in by Eric Ebers’ precise drumming, and vacillated between metal, math and prog in their mostly instrumental compositions that became trance-inducing at times, especially on the set’s closing song, that went from stoner to psych rock in a deliciously Floydian fashion.

Leader Randy Cotton mentioned from stage that the band will be entering the studio to record a new album in the near future. More to come…

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Two shows again to choose from on this Cinco de Mayo.

Over at The Sydney in Benson, Brooklyn noise rock band A Deer A Horse headlines. Joining them are Omaha punk masters No Thanks and Goofy Gooey. $10, 9 p.m. (What’d I say about weeknight shows with 2-band bills and 8 p.m. start times? Not at The Sydney).

Also tonight, Omaha punkers Las Cruxes headlines a bill at Pageturners Lounge in Dundee. Joining them are Chicago’s Kelroy and NYC’s Brook Prodemore. I’m told the first band will hit the stage at 9:30. No idea on price. BTW, this same line-up is playing tomorrow night at The Down Under.

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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 © 2022 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Lazy-i

Simon Joyner ‘Made to Order’; Mudhoney, Violenteer, Beach Bunny tonight…

Category: Blog — Tags: , , , — @ 12:39 pm May 4, 2022
Violenteer at O’Leaver’s April 15. The band opens for Mudhoney tonight at The Slowdown.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Last week legendary Omaha singer/songwriter Joyner announced that in preparation for his upcoming East Coast tour in July, he’s offering a one-of-a-kind CD of home recordings of songs chosen by the purchaser. It’s like creating your personal Simon Joyner play list, then having Joyner perform and record new renditions of each song, at a starting price of $5 per song. The songs will be recorded next month and the CD will be shipped out before the July tour.

Says Joyner: “Each Made to Order CD will be packaged in a deluxe gatefold jacket, designed and screen printed by Sara Adkisson Joyner. I will inscribe, sign and hand-write your title selections. And each will of course be numbered 1/1 since they’ll all be unique. It promises to be a true labor of love but a sweet little suite of songs guaranteed to keep the customer satisfied and arriving in a sturdy, handsome package!

I can only guess how he’s going to pull this off, but figure a large percentage of buyers will choose the same songs — i.e., Simon’s greatest hits. The ones that come to mind: “Javelin,” “Joy Division,” “One for the Catholic Girls,” “The Only Living Boy in Omaha,” and of course, “Double Joe” from his Room Temperature album. But just as likely, folks will select one-off rarities like “Here Come the Balloons” from the 2003 limited edition 7-inch from Tongue Master Records.

Some very old songs may be difficult to remember but I will do my best to honor all requests!,” Joyner writes. “Here is your chance to hear a new recording of something I rarely play live, for instance, or something I wrote so long ago that I no longer remember the chords or words. I will have to go back and re-learn some, I’m sure.

Orders are being taken through the end of May. Check out his Bandcamp page for more info.

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It’s nice to see competing shows on a Wednesday night. It’s got to mean something about the return of normality, or maybe it doesn’t….

Tonight at The Slowdown, Seattle grunge-era punk legends Mudhoney headline. The band is said to have influenced such classic ‘90s acts as Nirvana and Alice in Chains, and is probably best known for their singles “Touch Me I’m Sick” and “Suck You Dry.” Their most recent release is 2019 self-release Pedazo De Pastel. Opening the show at 8 p.m. is our very own Violenteer, the double-bass-attack rock band fronted by Randy Cotton (Ravine, Ritual Device), reviewed here. Tickets are $25, and this is a No Vax No Entry show, so bring your evidence.

Also tonight, Chicago indie four-piece Beach Bunny headlines a sold-out show at The Waiting Room. The band has a new album slated for release in July on Mom+Pop Records, who also released their 2020 album Honeymoon. The bands Wednesday and Ky Voss open at 8 p.m. This also is a No Vax No Entry show.

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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 © 2022 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Lazy-i

Live Review: Violenteer, The Sun-Less Trio; Jon Spencer and the HITmakers CANCELLED…

Category: Reviews — Tags: , — @ 12:56 pm April 18, 2022
Violenteer at O’Leaver’s, April 15, 2022.

by TIm McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Has it really been more than two years since I went to a show at O’Leaver’s?

The Club first closed due to COVID-19 in March 2020. I think the last show I saw there prior to that was Lincoln band Perfect Form, who played O’Leaver’s in February 2020.

Stepping back through the doors Friday night, it felt like nothing changed. They added booths up near the “stage” and moved the piano over to along the wall where I like to lean on stage left. Maybe that was the reason the room felt a little smaller, tighter than I remembered. Everything else was the same, though, even the smell. And there were plenty of familiar faces in the crowd who I haven’t seen at a rock show since before the plague came to town. It was good to be back.

Violenteer is a band that consists of former members of classic Omaha Golden Age band Ritual Device. Randy Cotton and his brother, Barry, are up front providing a double-bass attack while drummer Eric Ebers keeps the flow going with gusto. I expected the trio to sound like the next iteration of Rondy’s follow-up to Ritual Device, a pseudo metal-punk band called Ravine. But Violenteer surprised me by its variety of styles that ranged from punk, math and best of all, a psychedelic throb reminiscent of early Pink Floyd.

The highlight of the evening was the second song of their set, an instrumental (as most songs were) that built in intensity and gravity, recalling the heavier moments of Floyd’s Meddle. Barry and Randy created balanced counter melodies that gave the music a surprising dimension. Almost as interesting were a couple prog/mathy instrumentals, and less so the punk stuff where one or both Cottons provided some yell vocals, but hey, you have to mix it up, right?

The Sun-Less Trio at O’Leaver’s, April 15, 2022.

Opening was Mike Saklar’s The Sun-Less Trio. Mike also is a former member of Ritual Device and Ravine, though this trio’s bread and butter is psych rock with classic rock leanings, powered by Saklar’s guitar prowess, which is somewhat legendary.

Like I said, it was good to be back to O’Leaver’s. And if you missed it, there’s another show next month with Wagon Blasters. That said, I’m skeptical O’Leaver’s will ever be what it once was — the go-to place for small touring punk bands and indie acts to land between tour stops, where any night of the week you could be surprised at who you might be seeing and hearing. That these shows are free makes me think they’re merely a nod to their past, a sort of musical philanthropy that the owners realize we all need after two years of pandemic.

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Speaking of pandemics, tonight’s Jon Spencer and the HITmakers show slated for The Waiting Room has been cancelled. Last night’s show at 7th Avenue in Minneapolis also was cancelled due to someone in Spencer’s band coming down with COVID. When is this pandemic going to end?

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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 © 2022 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Lazy-i