I recently quit doing site updates during the weekend, but based on the extreme length of this entry, I might have to start up again. Below is a recap of last weekend’s live shows I attended. Busy, busy, busy…

Friday night

Pulling into the Sokol lot, it was just like old times. I hadn’t been down there in probably six months, maybe a year. Not with all the other venues going full-bore these days. The Waiting Room has been eating up all the good One Percent shows. And now Slowdown is taking whatever’s left on the plate. (O’Leaver’s has been delegated to being a drunk shack used to house half-crazy alcohol-fueled local shows that go all-but-unheard by an audience numb and deaf after multiple shots of whatever the bartender feels like pouring that evening — further building on its already legendary status).

Sokol Underground has become the prime site for all the crank-fueled metal shows and half-ass Jesus-loves-you Christian rock spectacles — a shadow of what it was just a year ago, but that’s not One Percent’s fault or anyone’s fault for that matter. One Percent has to protect its own, which in this case, is The Waiting Room, a club that, even after the opening of Slowdown, continues to shoulder itself ahead as the main event of Omaha rock clubs.

But I digress…

It’d been a long while since I stepped foot in Sokol — I missed that dark, musty tomb. I pulled right into the parking lot at around 10:30 — a bad sign in the old days that still is. If there’s space in the lot, that means there’s probably no one inside. There was, however, plenty of the usual riff-raff outside enjoying a smoke along with the evening’s weather. While walking toward the entrance, up zoomed Denver Dalley in a chopped dune buggy, the chrome exhaust pipe sticking out the back like a giant shiny erection. Smokers gawked from the doorway. I haven’t seen a dune buggy in years, and figured the DMV had long made them illegal, but Denver said otherwise, and if it wasn’t street legal he’d have been busted long before making it to the Sokol lot.

Anyway… inside Sokol it was business as usual, as if I had just been down there the night before. The crowd of (what looked like) around 70 was mulling around after a set by The Shanks. Next up was Dance Me Pregnant, a gutter punk band that also includes members of The Shanks. Within a few minutes, the band cranked into their first song. Jeff, the hulking frontman (I don’t know his last name, though I’ve talked to him a number of times at O’Leaver’s) was onstage screaming, wrapping himself in microphone chord. Behind the drum kit was super-drummer Corey Broman, who later that evening would be performing at The Waiting Room as part of Art in Manila. But first, he’d have to get through this set, and that wouldn’t be easy.

On stage, Jeff carries himself with the same demented panache as a late-’70s So. Cal punker — guys like The Dickies, The Germs, The Weirdos, maybe even Fear, half-bent dudes who looked like they were about to explode from eating handfuls of amphetamines, snarling at an audience hungry for abuse. Early in the set, Jeff had apparently smashed one of Sokol’s microphones, telling the crowd, “You know who’s paying for that? I am.” He made it through the rest of the set without destroying a second mic, but not without doing himself and someone in the crowd bodily harm.

I don’t know exactly what happened. One moment Jeff was on stage bellowing out another trash-punk song, the next he was on the floor in front of the stage, lost in the crowd, before boomeranging back up on stage again, complaining about being kicked in the nuts.

He focused his attention on one guy — just a shadow with a pony tail from where I stood leaning against one of Sokol’s famous always-in-the-way poles. Then (and I can’t remember if the band was playing or not), Jeff dived from the stage and (apparently) kicked the guy in the chest or face, breaking a bottle and then falling onto the floor. By the time he got back on stage, blood was rolling down his right forearm from elbow-to-wrist. The scuffle continued on the floor before the guy was either ejected or left (though I thought I saw him walking around in the back moments later). The show continued with Jeff reveling in his own blood, a perfect stage prop.

I’ve always thought The Shanks and Dance Me Pregnant could both become this town’s feature spectacle punk bands if they wanted to. With each passing show, they get closer and closer to that level of unrestrained violence, that unpredictable chaos that characterized punk bands in the ’70s, bands that I never got to see in action other than on grainy, poorly lit, porn-quality video tape. For some reason, I have a sense of nostalgia for that time and those bands, and look to Jeff and his band of drunken, angry cronies to bring it all back to life. Someone asked me if the Shanks/DMP spectacle is all premeditated or rehearsed. I think the intent is there, but what happens when these guys take the stage is always unknown to them, and us.

Jeff was back to his lively, happy self afterward, back behind the merch table, where I bought a copy of the new Shanks 7-inch. His face was bruised, and his clothes and skin were still covered in blood, blood that he’d wiped from his gashed forearm and rubbed all over his face while on stage (the gashes and bruises to his forehead, I was told, were self-inflicted and involved crushing a beer can with his face).

Headliner Cloven Path wasn’t going to be outdone in the blood department. Moments after the trio’s second song — after the guitarist had taken off his shirt — the guy standing next to me yelled, “Jesus, look at his chest!” Blood, again, was everywhere, but these cuts were self-inflicted. Cloven Path doesn’t need the theatrics, not with their hot new lead singer dressed in short-shorts and biker boots. It’d been six months since I last saw this band, before they got “SinKat” (according to their Myspace page) to handle the vocals — a much-needed addition if only to have something to look at other than the two bleach-white guys’ naked bellies. Take aways from the performance: 1) SinKat sings like a young Debra Harry, a spooky-sweet, almost atonal voice that’s a good fit for the band’s metal-meets-club-beat sound. 2) It’s time to throttle down on the programming. Their drummer handles himself just fine without electronic embellishments. 3) As much as I like trios, these guys still need a bass player — the programmed bass just doesn’t cut it. Too bad SinKat can’t handle a bass — how sexy would that be? Set highlights included a cover of a Cure song (“The Hanging Garden,” I think) and the over-the-top closer that got the crowd into a frenzy.

Saturday night

Having had my fill of assault-punk at Sokol the night before, I skipped The Shanks at O’Leaver’s and headed over to The Waiting Room for Spring Gun and Eagle*Seagull.

I realize that most bands are in a constant state of evolution, but Spring Gun takes it to the extreme. When I saw them at The Saddle Creek Bar in May, they were a wall-of-sound four-piece heavy on power and light on melody. Saturday night they grew into a 6-piece, sporting three guitars (one guy doubles on keyboards), a bass and two drummers — enormous sound. But even more impressive was how the lead singer has grown into his frontman role, really capturing the essence of the songs’ melodies, belting them out over the din. It left me wondering where I put that copy of their new album, which I didn’t remember sounding this good. The guy next to me — a local music power broker — said if he had a record label, he’d put out these guys’ CD — he called them Nebraska’s version of The Sea and Cake. Not bad, though these guys have an even bigger sound. Somehow, Spring Gun has emerged as one of the more important indie rock bands on the Omaha/Lincoln music landscape. There is an enormous buzz about these guys right now. Check them out when they open for Bishop Allen Wednesday night at Slowdown Jr.

Eagle*Seagull played last and gave their usual superb performance. Their set consisted almost entirely of new material, which I’ve seen them play three or four times now, and which they announced would be coming out early next year as The Year of the How-to Book (though they didn’t say what label was releasing the CD). Two songs always stand out and I don’t know the name of either, though one might be called, “We Came to Dance” and the other, “You’re the Reason Why.” If I had a label I’d put out this record just for its sheer commercial potential, but these days even that doesn’t matter if no one discovers the music in the first place (just ask Little Brazil). Yes, Eagle*Seagull could be the next big thing out of Nebraska, but in this era when there are a thousand indie bands releasing new CDs every week, they’re going to have to find some way to get their music noticed. Touring, it seems, just ain’t enough any more.

Sunday Night

Briefly, I rolled down to Slowdown at about 9:45, a few songs into Two Gallants’ set. Nice crowd, though not a sell-out. The band obviously didn’t need to worry how they’d be received opening for Against Me! in Omaha. A large portion of the crowd was clearly there to see them, and the duo didn’t disappoint. I like their electric stuff, though I would have liked to have heard the acoustic stuff from their new EP.

I took off right after they finished, at around 10:15. I would have stayed longer, but I had a deadline the following morning (for a Rentals article, that will be online Wednesday) (Actually, if I didn’t have a deadline, I probably would have high-tailed it over to O’Leaver’s for The 4th of July).

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Tonight at The Waiting Room it’s Malpais (formerly known as An Iris Pattern) featuring Omaha’s own urban legend, Greg Loftis. Malpais opens for The Cliks. $7, 9 p.m.

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Back in May (here, to be exact) I wrote about how Kite Pilot was bidding Omaha a fond farewell as Todd and Erica Hanton headed for better climes in Portland. Final shows were scheduled; people said goodbye. Only a few weeks later, while enjoying some ice cream at the Dundee Ted & Wally’s, Protoculture’s Koly Walter informed me that the couple had already returned to Omaha. What? Within a few weeks, Kite Pilot was gigging around town again, this time with a visiting original guitarist Austin Britton, home for the summer from the West Coast.

“We went out there in June to find a place to live,” Todd said. “We did a lot of research first — the rental market, areas of town that we would or would not like to live in. After five days of driving around the city, looking at houses and apartments, waiting for call-backs, this is what we found. Compared to Omaha, you will pay about 30% more in rent for about 30% less in the quality of living. Anything worth renting was snatched up immediately.”

The frustrating search to find affordable housing resulted in the couple reevaluating the reason why they were moving to Portland in the first place.

“We had another sit down, each of us writing a list of pro’s and con’s of living in both cities, what we wish we could do in Omaha that we weren’t already, what we wanted to get out of Oregon,” Todd said. They discovered that they weren’t willing to compromise their standard of living without a good reason. “If we were to move for an awesome job or for the benefit of Kite Pilot, that would be another story. Neither of those were reasons why we wanted to move,” he said.

They’d also miss their music. “We missed playing even before we left Omaha. We have the contacts, the players and the music right here, so why start all over again? True, we might have more success in the long-term by playing in a larger market and not having the Saddle Creek (Records) hanging over our heads like every other local band, but success is what you make of it, where you make it.”

Saddle Creek hanging over their heads? Did he mean that he feels there’s a stigma being from Omaha and not being on Creek? “That is a real good way of saying it,” Todd said. “Everyone that is not from here thinks, ‘Hey, you guys are great! Why aren’t you on Saddle Creek?’ They don’t have any idea of the social dynamics that goes into something like that.”

Todd said he and his wife realized that the real changes they wanted to make were within themselves and not dependent on location. “Living in Omaha can often feel like you are in the movie ‘Groundhog Day,'” he said. “We all want new and exciting. We all look for it in different place. We were looking in Portland. But you know what? After a certain amount of time, the allure of a new city wears off, no matter what city. We feel that we have to change our attitude about Omaha, instead of changing where we live.”

Now for some points of clarification:

–Kite Pilot will continue as a trio after Austin moves back to the West Coast later this year, with Jeremy Stanosheck on drums. Todd said the band will probably start writing new songs.

–Erica will no longer perform in The Protoculture. “The whole reunion was to put out all of their songs in one compilation,” Todd said. “Now that that is complete, she is done. The guys want to continue, though. Erica wants to focus on KP only.”

— The couple got their house back, and Todd even got his job back with Elan. Erica, on the other hand, didn’t return to her government job. “She actually started a company called Saque,” Todd said. “Right now the only product she has are handmade purses and shoulder bags. She just got them into her first store — Crane Coffee on Cass St. Having her business started, she is currently looking for a new job.”

You can check out Kite Pilot with special guest Austin Britton tonight when they open for Art in Manila at The Waiting Room with The Ladybug Transistor. Show is $7, starts at 9 p.m.

Unfortunately, I’ll likely miss that show as one of the most gonzo shows in recent history is happening down at Sokol Underground tonight: The Cloven Path CD release “party” with Dance Me Pregnant, The Shanks and The Little Nastys. I expect mayhem the likes of which haven’t been seen on any stage since the days of GG Allin, or at least plenty of drunken debauchery. $7, 9 p.m.

This is a busy weekend: Tomorrow at the Waiting Room it’s Eagle*Seagull, Spring Gun and Michael Morris (9 p.m., $7). Also Saturday night, The Shanks play again, with Mosquito Bandito ($5, 9:30 p.m.). Sunday night it’s Against Me! with Two Gallants, Gaslight Anthem and Cobra Skills (8 p.m., $14). Also Sunday night, The 4th of July play at O’Leaver’s with Thunder Power!!! and Midwest Dilemma ($5, 9:30 p.m.).

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Last Saturday afternoon I chatted with Two Gallants’ Tyson Vogel from his apartment in San Francisco. His cohort, Adam Stephens, was somewhere in Paris visiting his girlfriend while the band enjoyed some much needed time off the road. “When we have some down time, we’re on opposite ends of the world,” Vogel said. “This has been the longest break in the past three months. We finally got two weeks off, and we’re both reveling in it.”

We spent most of our interview talking about the Walter’s on Washington incident and the aftermath. That part of the interview will go online tomorrow as this week’s column.

The rest of the time was spent talking about Saddle Creek, the band’s new EP and opening for what would seem to be oddly matched bands, like Against Me! and Les Claypool. Vogel and Stephens bring an interesting perspective to working with Saddle Creek Records. They’re really the first band signed to the label that didn’t have direct personal ties to anyone in any of the other Creek bands (read about how they got signed here). How happy are they with the label?

“The reason that we stay with Saddle Creek is we enjoy working with them,” Vogel said. “We do get frustrated with how hands-off they are. They always have good ideas and opinions, but they really want to keep the artist in control of the art, and we both admire that. That’s why we enjoy working with them. They’re respectful of our ideas and have a good sense on how to get things done. They also have good distribution and work with the industry without pandering to it — that’s a great thing. They stay true to their nature; they enjoy music and want to keep it that way. It’s been really good working with them.”

When I pressed him on the frustrations, Vogel clarified his comments. “It’s not frustration,” he said. “We don’t know about this music business stuff. We just know how to play music. One of the reasons we like working (with Saddle Creek) is that they put a lot of consideration and thought into things.”

The band’s new EP, the 5-song The Scenery of Farewell, was released in June and though it’s a departure instrumentally for the band, their signature sound is still there.

“I would hope that (the EP) would have the same feeling,” Vogel said. “In the end, it’s not that we’re purposely trying to do anything different. What makes it different is the songs come from a slightly different place. These songs demand more than the electric bass songs. We’re putting this out because it’s just as important as electric or loud songs. It’s more stripped down in the sense that the songs aren’t that complicated and demand a different kind of playing. At the same time, they’re just as full or even more so, since we have these other players playing with us and adding other layers.”

The band just finished a 3-week acoustic tour of Europe with additional support players — and it may be the last time they play songs off the EP live. They’re going back to their two-piece configuration for the Against Me! tour. “The acoustic shows can be heavy and dark at times. It’s not for every night.,” Vogel said. “The songs on the EP have opened up both of us internally to let go a bit more, so we can keep on writing songs.”

Songs for the new self-titled LP, slated for release Sept. 25, were recorded at a completely different session than the EP. “Originally, the EP was supposed to be a full length, but we took three songs off — we didn’t like how they came out, and it would have been a long, heavy record. One of those songs will be on the new full length. I would say this record is really significant because we never recorded songs without playing them live.”

Vogel said the band traditionally spends a year playing songs before putting them down on tape. “For this next album, we haven’t played the songs for anyone yet. Not to be too lofty, (Adam and I have) come separately and together into the music more. This next album represents a change for the better, it’ll be different than What the Toll Tells and more similar to The Throes.”

Combining Two Gallants with Against Me! for a tour seems odd. Against Me! plays relatively straight-up FM alt rock — quite a contrast to Two Gallants’ more traditional sound. Vogel said he and Stephens invited the contrast.

“The Les Claypool tour was a weirder mix,” he said, adding that he grew up with the early Primus records. “One night we ran into each other, and Les and I talked and had a good conversation. I admire him for his creative judgement and ideal in life. He invited us to come on tour. We knew it would be a very different audience. With Against Me!, people have told us for a long time that we should tour with them, and we have mutual friends. We thought it would be fun because they always seem to pop up in the periphery. I hope that we’re not too much of a downer. The first band (Gaslight Anthem) is more of a punk band. Actually, it’s more involved than punk, very melodic and kind of anthemic alternative, I guess.

“The last tour broke us in. The Les Claypool fans are pretty intense. There’s a story about Rasputina going on tour with him and getting pennies thrown at them. If the music is so different but comes from a similar place, it can still come off. People there to see Against Me! might find something they can relate to in our music. I’m a proponent for an eclectic show if the mood or energy is right. There are too many shows where the bands are too similar. It’s good to be pushed to look at different things.”

I told Vogel that, on a certain level, Two Gallants’ style seems more mature, more sophisticated and certainly more literate than typical rock music. It seems to have a new classic American style that stands on its own beyond that genre. Did they ever look around at their environment and ask if they’re reaching the right audience with their music?

“I don’t think he or I really try to think about it that way,” Vogel said. “I think if you become too concerned about it that you will always be unsatisfied. And that’s not the point. If the honesty and integrity comes off, if certain people are drawn to that, then great. Music is a necessity for us. We’d be doing it anyway. We’re honored to be in front of this many people. All we have to focus on is doing it right.”

Tomorrow’s column: Two Gallants and Walter’s on Washington.

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The first time I heard “Lazy Eye” by Silversun Pickups I naturally thought it was a new Smashing Pumpkins song. I mean, it sounds almost identical to “1979” right down to the bouncing bassline and Brian Aubert’s Billy Corgan impersonation. The rest of Carnavas is just as Pumpkinesque, which is great, I suppose, if you’re a big Pumpkins fan. I never liked the band (other than “1979”). I find it odd how something so derivitive of another band could become so popular unless the kids picking this up never heard Mellon Collie (released in ’95) or Siamese Dream (’93) before, which is very, very possible. Anyway, Silversun is playing at Slowdown tonight with Dangerbird Recording artist Sea Wolf, and it’s SOLD OUT. Also tonight, at Saddle Creek Bar, it’s Lucia Lie, Paper Owls and Civic Minded. $5, 9 p.m.

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