by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

I’m always surprised at the number of people who think I write about music for a living. I don’t. My real job — the one that pays the bills — involves managing rather large and complex websites (and  no, Lazy-i.com isn’t one of them). So I know the anxiety involved in developing and launching a website. Will everything work when you go to production? Will it be able to handle the traffic?

The reason for the above caveat will become apparent in just a few paragraphs.

Last night David Codr hosted an invitation-only launch party at The Waiting Room for his new website, musicpage.com (a winner of a domain name). If you judge these sorts of events by the catering and booze, this one was a homerun. There were literally piles of food stacked on tables throughout the bar as well as a team of attractive hostesses walking around with platters of good-tasting grub.

As for the crowd, it was like stepping into a time machine set to 1995. I saw a lot of people I haven’t seen in years, folks who were involved with the Omaha music scene pre-Saddle Creek, and almost no one associated with the modern day (or even pre-Creek era) indie music scene. And I wasn’t surprised. It always seemed like Codr’s former project, the Midwest Music Directory (and whatever it evolved into) was focused on bands looking for mainstream success; the kind of acts that actively seek out “agents” and managers, like Reuben Kincade or Spinal Tap’s Ian Faith. I don’t know any indie bands that have a “manager” per se. Most handle that sort of thing on their own.

On the blackened stage a huge projection screen showed a countdown clock ticking down the seconds until the official launch of musicpage.com, and at 8 p.m. sharp, the moment arrived with a wave of applause from the 100 or so people on hand. Codr proceeded to walk people through the website, which he refered to as a “community” — a community not designed for music fans, but rather for music professionals.

The site will be a database that houses profiles that include detailed contact and production specs. “For example, a band profile will list different contact tabs where their manager, agent, publicist, label or tour manager’s info is displayed as links that can take you to their profiles,” Codr told me a couple weeks ago. “Another example would be the venue profiles — we list a bunch of production specs (capacity, format, age limits, average crowd age, how many monitor mixes, lighting specs, etc.), along with the venue’s bio, booking policy, linked contacts and even suggested local press to contact.”

He also said the site will have “organizational features,” like online notes. “Users can post notes to any profile on the community,” he said. “But only the person who adds the notes can read them. So if you’re talking to someone and there is some information you want to remember for the next time you talk to that person, you just add it to the profile notes.”

Other features include gig swaps for bands, and music industry help wanted ads (musicians wanted, bands wanted, studio looking for an engineer, etc).

You can access musicpage.com right now; a lot of the basic information is accessible without a user account. “By importing all of the Music Phone Book’s data, we will be the largest online community for the music industry the day we go live,” Codr said.

But since some of the data was pulled in from their old directory, you’ll see contact info for some old ghosts like somedaynever.com, which (sadly) hasn’t been around in many, many years. One assumes that someone will go through and purge the site of this outdated data. And of course, there’s a ton of stuff missing. But hey, the site’s only been live for less than 24 hours, right?

So how does a site like this make money? Apparently through “All Access” memberships, which you can read about here, and eventually through advertising. This morning I set up an account for Lazy-i, added my profile information, uploaded my logo and submitted, then received a confirmation email. Unfortunately, when I tried to log in, I got a “500 error” which means the server crashed — these are the kinds of bumps in the road that show up whenever you launch a new website. Codr got in touch with me over lunch and explained that the dash in “Lazy-i” was fucking up the system — seems I’m always throwing a wrench into things. I’m up and running now.

The biggest pluses — the overall design is clean and easy to navigate. The “free” information holds a lot of promise not only for pros but for fans (whether they want fans in there or not). And the domain name — musicpage.com — a million dollar URL.

The biggest minus: The site isn’t optimized for smart phone use — every serious promoter/manager/club owner lives on an iPhone or Blackberry.

The biggest question: Is a site like this necessary in the Facebook age? Every band now has a website. Every venue has a website. In fact, everyone involved in the music business professionally — studios, promo agencies, etc. — has a webpage. Our friends at Google do a pretty good job of finding these sites for us. So what do we need musicpage.com for?

The answer (I think) is that Codr views musicpage not so much as a website but as a tool that lets pros leverage national (and local) contacts and information. He calls it a “community,” which implies social media connotations that I don’t see. Is there an integration point with Facebook or Twitter? Not that I’ve discovered. And these days, everyone is living on FB and Twitter. It is a natural step from Codr’s old analog Music Phonebook. If it can attract a national following, he might be onto something…

* * *

Tonight former Husker Du drummer Grant Hart brings his solo show to The Waiting Room. Shortly after the Huskers broke up in the ’80s, Hart moved out from behind the drum set, picked up a guitar and became the frontman in Nova Mob. His last solo album, Hot Wax, was released in 2009. It’s rare that you get a chance to see a living legend; tonight’s one of those nights. Opening is Students of Crime (featuring Robert Thornton) and the long-awaited return of Fizzle Like a Flood. $10, 9 p.m.

* * *

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 © 2011 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

The Shanks at O'Leaver's June 24, 2011

Column 330: Wasted Youth: The Strange, Sad, Violent End of The Shanks

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

I’ve never seen the same band two nights in a row. Never needed to. What would be the point? But the plan always was to go to both nights of The Shanks’ farewell stand at O’Leaver’s this past weekend for the same reason people tune into the “farewell episode” of their favorite TV show: Just to see what happens.

And what happened is exactly what I expected.

I must be true in my reportage by saying that O’Leaver’s was less than packed both nights, despite the urine-drinking blood-soaked punk-rock exploits featured in the prior issue of The Reader. Maybe that was the truest testament as to why it’s time for the band to hang it up. No. What actually happened is the true testament.

Friday night’s openers, The Fucking Party and Mosquito Bandito, set the mood — heavy, sloppy, straight-out-of-the-garage guitars drenched in feedback, augmented with plenty of waling into over-amped microphones. It was noise as art as release. Mosquito Bandito, a solo guy who plays electric guitar and drums at the same time, was a rock ‘n’ roll freakshow that had guys standing around watching as if staring at a rare Pontiac GTO with the hood up.

The Shanks stumbled onto the filthy carpeted space that O’Leaver’s calls a stage a little past midnight. The smart ones who knew better stood behind the railing or along the bar, while a small crowd of 20 or so stood in front of the band within arm’s reach, close enough to throw beer cans at them as they tore into their set of fast, angry songs.

Ten minutes into the set, I headed to the can. When I came back, frontman Jeff Ankenbauer’s face had turned into a horror movie — a red trail trickled down between his eyes. He smeared it across his forehead and then lethargically stared at his hand, covered in his own blood. A bar regular explained: “You missed it, man, Jeff just busted a beer bottle with his face!” In fact, it had been a bottle of Rolling Rock that I’d just bought for Little Brazil bassist/New Lungs frontman Danny Maxwell. Ankenbauer had been calling over and over: “Someone give me a beer.” D-Max had poured the Rolling Rock into his mouth, then Ankenbauer took the bottle and smashed it on his own forehead. And the philistines roared.

As the night wore on, some guy that nobody knew shoved his way into the crowd, intent on starting a mosh pit that no one wanted. More shoving ensued, but it was harmless… for now.

The set was joyful punishment not only for Ankenbauer, who redefined himself as an amped zombie frontman, but for everyone on stage. Bass player Johnny Vrendenburg and guitarist Austin Ulmer looked like they’d been up for three days straight. Guitarist Todd VonStup had a look on his face that was a cross between devilish mischief and seething anger. It was just like old times, except for the finality of it all. The on-stage violence/groping was good-natured camaraderie, nothing less.

Then came Saturday night. Opening band Whyte Bitch (a.k.a. ex-Fag Cop from Lawrence) provided the pre-show sharpened angst. The Shanks came on to a half-empty room, with most of the crowd outside smoking. Before long, the fearless again packed the space in front of the stage, including Ankenbauer’s giant brother.

Crazy mosh-pit guy was back, doing the same shove-you-shove-me let’s-mosh shtick from the night before, pushing it too far and shoving Ankenbauer ass-over-teakettle into the drum set. Drums and cymbals fell like dominoes. It went downhill from there. Mosh-pit guy would eventually be fitted with a guitar to his face, about three feet from where I was standing. O’Leaver’s crack security personnel took it from there. Ankenbauer bellowed over the microphone, “That’s what happens when you fuck with us.” If you missed it, you can see it all on Vimeo.

by Andrew Lamberson on Vimeo.

After that, people kept a safer distance from the band. One girl who had gotten caught up in it dragged her boyfriend out, looking rather pissed. Someone should have warned her if you go to a Shanks show, there will be blood.

Unfortunately, what gets lost in all this is what always got lost at Shanks shows. Beneath the circus geek antics, there was a band on stage that never sounded better. By sticking Ankenbauer out front with a microphone and placing stickman Jeff Lambelet on drums, the band found its perfect line-up. Slop had been replaced with precision, or the closest thing this band has ever gotten to it on stage. For this one weekend, feedback howlers like four-chord anthem “Backstabber” and grisly murder ballad “Down By the River” emerged as well-crafted songs. Yes, songs. As strange as that sounds, the Shanks played music, dense with noise and energy, riffs and chords, rhythm and power. They played punk rock that seethed with the twisted life of those who wrote and performed it, who stood on the front line drunk or amped doing whatever they could to make contact with the crowd, with a smile or a fist.

If there’s tragedy in the short, sharp story of The Shanks it’s that the pain and the anger and the violence, the blood and urine, the almost constant fighting, overshadowed what the band was and could have been. So many people missed the best part of The Shanks, the music part.

Ankenbauer gets a congratulatory hug from a member of opening band Whyte Bitch moments after the violent end of the June 25 show at O'Leaver's.

* * *

As of a couple days ago, I’d never heard of Lincoln band Smith’s Cloud. Then out of the blue, the band’s lead singer, Evan Todd, sent me a download of the band’s debut recording, which is being celebrated tonight at Duffy’s (in Lincoln). Usually when I get a “cold call” from a band, the music is, uh, sub par. Not this time. Primarily folk rock, the songs have a depth that’s on par with the likes of Wilco and David Bazan and Eric Bachmann and Nick Drake. Gorgeous stuff that we need to see at a venue here in Omaha.

Not knowing who/what Smith’s Cloud is, I shot an e-mail back to Todd and got this reply:

“The album was recorded by myself, and Travis Bossard. There are a couple others who played on a few songs (Andy Butler, Mick Szydlowski) but for the most part it was Travis and I.

Here’s how it was recorded:

Travis played – Electric guitars, bass, synth, piano, background vocals, aux percussion.

I played – Acoustic guitars, drums, lead vocals, aux percussion

I used to be in a few bands as a drummer (Columbia vs Challenger, Butler and the Gentlemen), but this is my first full band record as a front man. Anyway, the drums were recorded at Coda record house in Lincoln, and the rest of it was recorded in Travis’ basement. It was mixed and mastered by Jed Vondracek. Travis and I recorded scratch tracks and experimented with the arrangements over the last 10 months or so. Then in April I went in and recorded drums. Since then we’ve been recording in Travis’ basement getting everything the way we want it.

But now it is a 5-piece band. The release show is tonight at Duffy’s. Those who will be playing are:

Travis – Electric guitar

Me – lead vox, acuostic/electric

Mike Janssen – Keys/synth

Mick Szydlowski – bass

Joe Heider – drums”

I suggest if you’re in Lincoln you check it out. Show starts at 9 and includes Manny Coon, Dear Herman, and Devil Television.

* * *

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 © 2011 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Yesterday the fine folks who organize the MAHA Music Festival added their final band to the line-up, Ames, Iowa act The Envy Corps. The band recorded their new album, It Culls You, with venerable local knob twirler A.J. Mogis, and the result is something that sounds like a Midwestern version of Radiohead. Corps frontman Luke Pettipoole couldn’t sound more like Thom Yorke if he tried. When I commented as such, Pettipoole responded with, “Yeah, we were going for kind of a latter-day Radiohead meets HUM via Talk Talk kinda sound, nice to hear it kinda came through.” It did, Luke, it did. I like Radiohead, and I like this record, though I don’t know if it’s actually been released yet.

On a certain level, The Envy Corps is a natural fit for MAHA, though they have (nearly) zero ability to attract any new bodies to the festival who haven’t already been attracted by Guided By Voices or the rest of the line-up. Most people haven’t heard of them, though they briefly were on Mercury imprint Vertigo Records a few years ago. You could argue that, considering their following and the number of times they’ve played in Omaha, they actually belong on the local stage rather than on the headliners’ stage. On another level, the announcement is sort of a white flag that MAHA gave up on landing a true emerging artist that’s had a modicum of CMJ/national attention. Maybe they ran out of money; more likely they ran out of time.

With the final addition of Envy Corps, MAHA becomes an all-male revue. There will be no women on stage Aug. 13. What this says about either MAHA or the state of the indie music industry is anyone’s guess. I know that MAHA reached out to a number of female-led performers, but had no luck landing them for this festival. However, I do find it hard to believe that they couldn’t find one single female performer for either the national or local stage. Red Sky isn’t immune to this subtle form of sexism. It’s also going to be a sausage party, without a one woman scheduled to cross the main stage during the six-day festival (though it does have women represented in two side-stage bands, the unknown Kids These Days and the Natalie Merchant-less 10,000 Maniacs).

The above problem underscores the importance of organizations like Omaha Girls Rock. If you haven’t been following OGR, here’s a quick overview of what they do and why they’re doing it. And now you can help. OGR has an immediate need for equipment and instruments for use at their July camp. That means you can finally find a use for that drum set that’s sitting down in your basement with all those clothes stacked on top of it. Or that big amp in your office that’s always in the way. ORG needs all of it, along with guitars, mics, cables, PA, keyboards, anything you’re willing to loan or donate. If you can help out, shoot a quick email to elizawebbmusic@gmail.com and they’ll work with you to get that stuff off your hands.

* * *

The fine feathered friends at Slo-Fi Records (i.e., the illustrious Kyle Harvey) is keeping busy with more summer releases. This time it’s singer/songwriter South of Lincoln a.k.a. Maxwell Beardsley Holmquist, whose new Slo-Fi release is being celebrated tonight at The Barley Street Tavern with Down With The Ship, Seattle act Archeology and the man himself, Mr. Kyle Harvey. Show starts at 9, and will run you $5. Definitely go and pick up a copy of the CD.

* * *

So where’s that review of last weekend’s Shanks shows? You’re just gonna have to sit on your hands until tomorrow (or Thursday)…

* * *

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 © 2011 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

So which version of The Shanks will show up at O’Leaver’s tonight? Will it be the crazy, violent, angry punk band dead-set on destroying rock ‘n’ roll? Or will it be the kinder, gentler, “cleaned-up” version, still tough but sensible, some might say responsible, deeply motivated to flawlessly perform their entire catalog over a two-night stand so fans can hear what the music was “supposed to sound like”?

As described yesterday, going to a Shanks show at O’Leaver’s used to be like taking a trip to The Mississippi Queen bar in Bangkok circa 1967 or 1985 or now. Unbridled chaos. Drunks yelling in gibberish. Sweat and stink. A shoving match begins near the stage. Glass breaks. All eyes focus on the big guy throwing the little guy through the drum set, quickly realizing that the two rolling around on the ground are in the band. Fuck you’s are exchanged, then the band strips to the waist and tears into one of their many feedback-pain punk songs. The room becomes unbalanced, about to get out of control. A woman tries to call the cops, but a regular grabs her Blackberry and says, “Oh no, not this time.” Laughter/shrieking cuts through the noise. Something’s wrong, something that could involve you. Some guy in sunglasses pulls the door shut and locks it. One of the bartenders ties a dirty dish rag to his head bandanna-style and climbs on the bar, pulls off his shirt and cuts a cross in his chest with a large bowie knife, nipple-to-nipple, chin to belly button. He turns to you and says grimly, quietly, “We’re all gonna die.”

Or, the band could show up with their wives in tow and dutifully, uneventfully run through their 13-song set-list without incident. It would still be a Shanks show… sort of. The latter is more likely to happen, and probably the right thing to do. Is punk about spectacle or attitude or violence, or is it about the music? Tonight and tomorrow night, it’ll be about the music. Probably.

Opening tonight’s show is Mosquito Bandito and The Fucking Party. Tomorrow night’s opener is Whyte Bitch. Both shows are $5 and start at 9:30 p.m. Come to one or both.

What else is going on this weekend? Well, All Girls Are Machine Guns is playing tonight at The Barley Street with Bearkat. $5, 9 p.m.

The Answer Team is playing the Red Sky Battle of The Bands competition at Pat & Mike’s, 9136 Bedford Ave., with Rock Paper Dynamite, Voodoo Method and Mint Wad Willy, with the winner getting a local stage slot and a big payday at Red Sky (My vote would go to The Answer Team, which means they are now destined to lose). No idea when this one starts or what it costs, but it’s probably $5.

Saturday night Blue Bird gets in on the Red Sky talent show along with Witness Tree, Bad Country and Sidecar 69, at The 21st Saloon at 4727 So. 96th St., a club I’ve never heard of. $5, 7 p.m.

Over at The Sandlot, 2406 Leavenworth (a cool space when I was there a year ago), it’s Lightning Bug, The Empty Spaces (KC), Millions of Boys, and Cat Island. 9 p.m., $7.

* * *

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 © 2011 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

The Shanks, clockwise from 12 o'clock, Jeff, Todd, Austin and Johnny.

Darker Days: The Return of The Shanks

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Here’s one way to sum up the rise and fall of The Shanks, Omaha’s original shock-rock punk band:

Throughout our interview a couple weeks ago on the screened-in porch of guitarist Todd VonStup’s midtown house, band members got up and relieved themselves into spent beer cans and liquor bottles that lined the window ledge.

Moments after relieving himself, drummer/vocalist Jeff Ankenbauer walked back to his chair with a gin bottle filled with pale-yellow liquid, pushed it to his lips and tilted it over his head, drinking drinking drinking every last drop, as the rest of the band — bassist Johnny Vrendenburg, guitarist Austin Ulmer and drummer Jeff Lambelet — shook their heads and smiled.

Ulmer would try to recreate the stunt later during the interview, with Vrendenburg pointing out, “That’s not even his piss. That’s mine.”

I was tempted to leave those little episodes out of this story because I knew if I kept them in, they would be the only thing people would talk about later. And then realized that such outrageous behavior epitomized everything that went wrong (and some might say, went right) with The Shanks.

Throughout the band’s short, sharp career that ran from sometime around 2006 until VonStup killed it in the fall of 2008, their performances became more known for their shocking stage antics and reckless violence than their abrasive, slurred take on fuck-you punk. Broken glass was a recurring theme, as was male-on-male make-out sessions, thrown instruments and the occasional dust-up either on stage or in the audience. When you went to a Shanks show — usually at midtown drunk shack O’Leaver’s — you kept your head on a swivel; you watched for flying debris, or flying urine.

It got to the point where the antics became so over-the-top that the shows could have been confused with performance art, an accusation greeted with a chorus of “fuck you’s” from the band.

“We were the only real punk band out of Omaha,” Ankenbauer said. “We were the destruction of music. Even if we didn’t play our instruments well people would come just to see what the fuck we’d do. It was a throwback to the ’70s. We loved The Germs; we envied The Reatards. We didn’t have a pop sensibility, and we didn’t care.”

It actually began back in 2001. Shortly after VonStup first moved to Omaha from Washington he was introduced to Ankenbauer through a mutual friend. “We hung out in Todd’s basement and listened to all this GLS stuff, SubPop, Nirvana, Mudhoney,” Ankenbauer said. “We had a bond and bounced music off each other, but we never left the basement.”

Ankenbauer eventually joined garage band The Zyklon Bees (who became Brimstone Howl), while VonStup joined Janitors of Tomorrow. Both were short-term tours of duty, and the two ended up together with the idea of creating “obscure minimalist rock ‘n’ roll, abrasive-as-fuck music,” Ankenbauer said. “I bought a drum set from Dave Goldberg (then of Box Elders) for $100 that I didn’t know how to play.”

Ankenbauer and VonStup immediately began writing music. “The names of our songs were the bands we were ripping off,” VonStup said.  “We’d say ‘Let’s play that one that sounds like The Oblivions or The Mummies or The Reatards.'”

Shanks, the early years...

They say their first show was a Hy-Vee party in Lincoln in 2004 or 2005, where they destroyed a borrowed drum set. But their first “real show” was probably at The Chatterbox (which became Box Awesome), in Lincoln. Early band members included bassist “Pfloyd” and Steve Sampley.

It was at a 2006 Brimstone Howl show at The Power Pad, a notorious party house, that Vrendenburg first met the duo. “I was standing right next to Todd when Jeff pissed in his own mouth and sprayed it all over everyone,” Vrendenburg said. “I said ‘I want to hang out with that guy.'” Shortly afterward he replaced Pfloyd on bass.

The Shanks, Big Feelin' (Boom Chick, August 2007)

By that time, the band already had begun recording. Their debut 7-inch, “Cut Me,” was released on Lincoln’s Boom Chick Records in November 2006, and was followed by another 7-inch, “Big Feelin’,” in August 2007. Touring began around the same time, including a brief swing with Ric Rhythm and The Revengers, a band that featured Austin Ulmer and Jeff Lambelet.

“I was Jeff Vrendenburg’s replacement on bass in Brimstone,” Ulmer said. “He threw beer cans at me during one of our shows.”

Ulmer would join The Shanks after being picked up at a bus stop the day after finishing a Brimstone Howl tour. “I went straight from Brimstone to tour with them,” Ulmer said. “It was the best six days of my life.”

While all this was going on, an innocent nation began to take notice of The Shanks. Both singles were reviewed in punk-rock print ‘zine Maximum Rocknroll, eventually making the publication’s top-10 list. “We were so shitty, we were good,” Vrendenburg said.

In addition to Boom Chick, punk/noise labels FDH, Empty and Dead Beat all expressed interest in putting out a Shanks full length.

“It wasn’t going to happen,” VonStup said. “We had it musically, but not with the mental state of our personal lives. Here was something we all wanted to do, but we were so fucked-up we couldn’t do it.”

The Shanks circa the Dark Days...

It was a time that the band calls The Dark Days, fueled by drugs, booze and short fuses. “We’d show up to practice with a 30-rack of beer and a goon bag of Franzia,” Vrendenburg said. “Alcohol is a fuel and an inspiration, but it’s a downfall.”

“There were too many vices, a lot of hatred and jealousy and shit and anger and being pissed off,” Ankenbauer said. “That’s why shows at that point were so volatile. We said ‘Fuck the audience.’ We hated our lives and our relationships. We were strung out.”

“We never started fights, but people started shit with us,” VonStup said. “People were becoming afraid of us.”

The typical Shanks show involved the band stumbling to the stage inebriated, seething with rage at each other and the world, before plugging in and exploding into a bright-white punk fireball. No, it wasn’t performance art. The anger and hate boiling from the stage was too honest, some might say, too pure. And it fueled everything — every chord and drumbeat and rock-hard fist — all on stage for everyone to see. The show usually climaxed with Ankenbauer, a drunken man mountain, climbing from behind the drum kit like an angry bear ready to maw anything in its path.

“I would drink myself to the point where I would not care if I woke up,” VonStup said. “Here we were, waiting to go to hell, but we pulled each other out. It was like a scene from The Deer Hunter.”

“It was a Shanks’ mentality,” Vrendenburg said. “It’s obnoxious, it’s pissed off, but not toward any one person.”

“It’s the way it was,” Ankenbauer said. “We were volatile. If we had had guns, it would have been war.”

A short war. The beginning of the end came when Ankenbauer and Vrendenburg formed Dance Me Pregnant. “The Shanks was my main outlet,” VonStup said. “I did one band at a time. So when they started Dance Me Pregnant (and then The Dinks), it was like cheating. That was the end of it.”

After the band folded in the fall of 2008, The Shanks did one last small tour in May 2009, including a final meltdown show on May 30 in Chicago with Digital Leather. Then it was over. In the aftermath, national label Tic Tac Totally released the “Backstabber” single in February 2010, while local label Rainy Road Records released I’d Fuck Me, a cassette collection of Shanks B sides collected from sessions dating back to 2006.

As The Shanks became a distant memory, band members began to “clean up.” Vrendenburg, Ulmer and Lambelet would go on to join Shawn Foree’s band Digital Leather. Ulmer also formed Peace of Shit with Ankenbauer, while VonStup joined ex-Ladyfinger bassist Ethan Jones in Baby Tears. Despite that, people still wanted to see The Shanks.

“It started as a joke,” Ankenbauer said of the upcoming reunion. “People wanted us to play in other cities, but everyone has a life here now. We said, ‘Why don’t we do a reunion over two nights and wreak havoc at O’Leaver’s and play every song with Jeff (Lambelet) on drums, and I’ll just sing lead?'”

“Everyone will hear the songs as they’re supposed to be heard,” VonStup said. “You will hear every fucking song we remember. The show will pay homage to what the band was.”

“People who come expecting performance art can get the fuck out,” Vrendenburg said. “We’re going to deliver like a fist to the mouth.”

VonStup and the rest of the band insist the reunion is a one-shot thing. None of them want The Shanks to return permanently, if only to retain their sanity. “I love these guys to death,” VonStup said, “but I love my wife and kid and feel like I’m growing up, in that sense. The band was a good release, but I love what I have, and I don’t want to fuck it up.”

The Shanks play with Mosquito Bandito and The Fucking Party June 24, and The Shanks play with Whyte Bitch June 25 at O’Leaver’s, 1322 So. Saddle Creek Rd. Show time is 9:30 p.m., tickets are $5. For more information, go to oleavers.com.

* * *

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 © 2011 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Des Moines 80/35 Music Festival announced its final line-up for its July 2-3 event. Overall, it’s a pretty strong collection, however some of the best main stage acts have come through Omaha within the last six months. Among them Titus Andronicus, Okkervil River, Of Montreal, and Girl Talk. Other than Handsome Furs, I didn’t recognize most of their “second stage” acts. And two Omaha regulars — Poison Control Center and The Envy Corp — are closing out their local stage. Tix are $60 for a two-day, $35 for a one-day, $40 DOS. More info at 80-35.com.

* * *

Fizzle Like a Flood is back. Doug Kabourek’s signature project made a splash a decade ago with the amazing landmark concept album Golden Sand and the Grandstand (You can still read about that project online here). After a few more albums, Fizzle disappeared. Kabourek has played some solo shows since and has a new rock band called At Land. And now The Fizzle is back, opening for Grant Hart June 30 at The Waiting Room. Will he unveil new material? Will he play songs from Golden Sands? We’ll just have to wait and see. Fizzle Like a Flood also is playing July 9 at The Sydney as part of the OEAA Summer Showcase.

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The MAHA / Hear Nebraska Showcase is tonight at The Waiting Room. This is first of three such showcases where a local band selected to play on the MAHA local stage during the festival Aug. 13 (location still unknown) has been charged with curating — i.e., selecting the opening bands. MAHA Selection Noah’s Ark Was a Spaceship picked noise-punk act Ketchup and Mustard Gas and hot new indie rockers New Lungs, led by Little Brazil’s Danny Maxwell.

BTW, you can read an interview with D-Max here, wherein the author compares me with Emperor Palpatine from Star Wars, a strange comparison as Palpatine is first and foremost the source of all evil in the universe. Actually, some bands might say that’s pretty close to the mark. I replied to the author saying that I narcissistically preferred to be compared to Khal Drogo, which fell flat because he obviously doesn’t watch (or hasn’t read) Game of Thrones. Anyway, read the Q&A with Danny here and go to the show tonight at the Waiting Room. There’s no cover, the show starts early, at 8 p.m.

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Tomorrow: The Story of The Shanks.

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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 © 2011 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

And the river continues to rise…

Playing with Fire organizer Jeff Davis contacted me yesterday to tell me that this year’s Playing With Fire featuring the impeccable Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings has moved from the backup location west of Lewis & Clark Landing all the way to Stinson Park at Aksarben Village.

“What’s happening is that ultimately we think Riverfront Drive will close completely,” Davis said. “We understand they’re going to dig a 50-foot canal to Riverfront Drive that will fill up with water and raw sewage.”

So despite being able to save a bundle on port-a-johns, Davis decided it would be a better idea to move the event. “We’d like to present our city in a better fashion,” he said. “We think there will be a lot of people coming from out of town for this show.”

Davis said he’s been working with Lisa Bachmann, who manages the park’s facility, and is trying to get Mercy Road closed for the event. The park apparently has a covered concrete stage but is limiting what Davis will be allowed to hang from it. “We’ll have to build a stage extension and put light towers on the side,” he said. “It’s a major deal.”

But the bottom line: There was no place left to go. The PWF team looked at a number of locations, none of which made sense for the event, especially if they wanted to control the vending and alcohol sales.

To me, PWF is a major boon for Stinson and Aksarben, a major attraction that will introduce a number of people to the area and what it has to offer.

Now with PWF figured out, the question remains: What about the MAHA Music Festival. Organizer Tre Brashear confirmed that the show is moving. “City hasn’t specifically told us we need to move, but there are just too many unknowns with the riverfront right now and it would be too hard to move MAHA on short notice,” Brashear said.

“That said, we don’t have a new spot selected yet, but are working daily to try and figure it out.  (We) had our production people out to two sites to work up cost estimates.  (We) hope to have some news to announce on the issue within the next two weeks.”

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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 © 2011 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Solid Goldberg at The Barley Street May 13. See him tonight at O'Leaver's.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Yes, things are slowing down for the next couple of weeks, especially for shows featuring national touring bands, but there has to be something to do for those of us avoiding the downtown clusterfuck called the College World Series.

As mentioned the other day, The Slowdown has gone “all in” with the CWS, converting itself into a virtual ESPN SportsZone over the next two weeks, and who can blame them? The CWS is a money-printing bonanza, an opportunity for them to “make their year” in two weeks, bringing in more than enough cash to justify booking your favorite money-losing underground sensation later this year that will play to fewer people than will be standing in the piss line after the Session 3 battle between Bum-fuck and Bum-fuck State. Yes, I will be frequenting The Slowdown College Beer Festival over the next two weeks, not because I have tix to a CWS match-up, but because I work downtown and will already be parked within walking distance of “The Tents” — i.e., the gold-rush-like  mini-town that’s sprung up in the concrete parking lots surrounding “New Rosenblatt, Nebraska.”

Anyway… Slowdown has no “real shows” for the next two weeks, and even if they did, no one would go because they wouldn’t have the patience to deal with the chaos. Without Slowdown, the volume of national-band shows are cut at least in a third, if not in half. A golden opportunity for The Waiting Room to fill that void? Yes, but they haven’t, I guess (wrongfully) assuming that everyone is going to be pre-occupied with CWS. A lost opportunity for them; a golden opportunity for local bands to step up and show their wares. Will they step up?

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O’Leaver’s had the most talked about “show” last weekend with the stewed-in-booze meat festival known as the Mr. O’Leaver’s competition. Have there ever been more recipients of restraining orders in one place at one time? Unlikely.

O’Leaver’s will try to top the mayhem again this week with tonight’s cherry of a line-up featuring Peace of Shit and Watching the Train Wreck, two bands who are celebrating the release of a split 10-inch. But this isn’t just any split 10-inch. The record will be a one-sided lathe-cut record limited to only 30 copies on clear vinyl. The blank side features a screen-printed image that shows through and looks like a picture disk.  The first 10 copies sold at the show will feature a bonus lathe-cut 7-inch with a cover tune from both bands. Local lathe-cut label Fear of Music Records is putting it out, according to WtTW / Rainy Road Records impresario Kevin Cline.

I have heard the tracks on this split and can tell you that they are absolutely mint, must-have relics of modern-day Omaha gutter punk. And only 30 copies? Imagine what they’ll be worth on The E-bay when the law finally catches up to these two collections of degenerates and “puts them away”?

Topping it all off is the one-man psychedelic groove dance party called Solid Goldberg, a.k.a. Dave Goldberg of Box Elders fame and his battery of audio/visual special effects. Get thee to this show, tonight at O’Leaver’s. $5, 9:30 p.m.

Also going on tonight is Benson Summerfest After Dark — five Benson clubs featuring local bands all night starting at 9 p.m. Full schedule is available at SlamOmaha, here. $10 wristband gets you into all the clubs all night.

Finally, a couple more local shows on Sunday night worth mentioning:

First, there’s a welcome home bash for Cass Brostad at The Barley Street Tavern featuring Traveling Mercies, The Family Gram (reunion), The Fergesens, Tenderness Wilderness, Kyle Harvey, Brad Hoshaw, Bret Vovk, Rebecca Lowry and Dylan Davis. Show starts at 7 p.m. No idea on the cover, but it’s probably around $5.

Also Sunday night, Satchel Grande and Midwest Dilemma play in the Red Sky Battle of the Bands competition at The Waiting Room with We Be Lions and Lonely Estates. Go and root for your favorite to win the right to play on the local stage at one of the lamest festivals in the country (But hey, a good payday is a good payday, right?). $5, 7 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 © 2011 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Tim Kasher

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

This week’s column in The Reader is a rehash of the Team Love blog entry (here) and the Clint Schnase/Cursive blog entry (here). Figured it deserved an analog life on the printed page.

Newswise, let’s see…

Our old friend Tim Kasher is going back on the road solo in late summer in support of a new EP with the pithy title Bigamy: More Songs from the Monogamy Sessions. The three-and-a-half week tour will launch on Aug. 18 at Schubas in Chicago, IL, and will wrap up Sept. 10 at The Waiting Room. You’ll only be able to pick up a copy of the 7-song EP if you see him play, or if you visit the Saddle Creek online store. Among the tracks is a cover of Azure Ray’s “Trees Keep Growing.” Check out timkasher.com for the complete tour schedule.

What else…

Lots of early buzz for the debut album by Big Harp, titled White Hat, slated for release Sept. 13 by Saddle Creek Records. Big Harp is the husband-and-wife duo of Chris Senseney and Stefanie Drootin-Senseney. The album was recorded by Rilo Kiley bassist Pierre de Reeder at LA’s Nightingale Studios. I’ve been listening to it all morning. It reminds me of the kinder/gentler/less weird (i.e. best) tunes off the Baby Walrus CD (Mr. Senseney’s old band), with Chris singing the vocals in his trademark brassy bassy voice absconded from Tom Waits and Matt Ward.

You can have a taste by checking out the video for the single “White Hat,” below. Growly.

So what’s going on tonight?

I’ve been hearing about the Studio Gallery as a performance space for a few months now. I’ve been hearing that it’s located in the basement of the building at 4965 Dodge Street. Right? I’m not quite sure. Tonight might be the right night to find out, as Saudi Arabia (ex-Dinks, ex-Shanks) play there with Baby Tears and Street Eaters. $5, 9 p.m. Gnarly.

Or… find your cowboy hat and head down to O’Leaver’s tonight for Filter Kings with Four on the Floor and The Evening Rig. $5, 9:30 p.m.

Or… head over to The Barley Street Tavern for Landing on the Moon with Rock Paper Dynamite and Madison, Wisconsin band Daniel and the Lion. $5, 9 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 © 2011 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Okkervil River at The Slowdown, June 14, 2011.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

I have to tell you, with all the news about the threat of ground-water flooding in downtown Omaha around the Qwest Center after heavy rains, I felt a bit of trepidation about going to last night’s show at Slowdown, what with a big-ass storm on the radar headed our way. Paranoid? Stupid? Yes and yes.

I got downtown at 10:30, just in time to see Titus Andronicus crowded up on the big stage  saying “Goodnight and thanks for coming” (which they did very well). Looking around the bar, it appeared as if Slowdown hadn’t done any cosmetic changes in preparation for the College World Series. That will come.

At the stroke of 11, out walked Okkervil River in front of a backdrop featuring two large wolf heads. Frontman Will Sheff, in a rather warm looking vest and suit jacket and disheveled hair, looked identical to the first time I saw him perform at The Junction in 2002 — a show that he acknowledged from stage, along with a past gig at California Taco. While they may look the same, the band’s sound has changed over the years, from a borderline alt-country-folk act in the Wilco vein to something more polished along the lines of Decemberists.

Maybe it seemed like the set got off to a rough start because I didn’t recognize the material, which probably came from their new album (which I haven’t heard). Unlike the more restrained, tuneful stuff they’re known for, the early portion of the set was dominated by epic anthems with rather unfocused melodies. Okkervil River is one of those bands where you’ll enjoy the music much more if you understand/know the words, which I couldn’t/didn’t.

It was shortly after performing “Red” from their 2002 album, and an awkward almost a capella number featuring just Sheff and his guitar, that things really began rolling, thanks to a thunderous version of “So Come Back, I Am Waiting,” from Black Sheep Boy. Things continued to pick up steam as Sheff and Co. pulled from the entire catalog. I’d forgotten how many good songs they’ve had over the years. While the songs sounded the same, the arrangements were different and better (driven by a terrific drummer) though at times Sheff seemed so off-kilter vocally, just swirling around the melodies, that it took awhile to recognize them. Some of his vocals sounded almost improvised, though still rooted to a central melody. But when it came to an audience favorite it didn’t matter because the crowd took over.

After about 75 minutes, Okkervil closed the set and then came back and finished strong with a two-song encore. It was a terrific show from a band that hasn’t forgotten Omaha as it has oh-so-slowly climbed the rock ‘n’ roll mountain. It was a fitting way for Slowdown to close out its last show before it turns into a virtual Nike Town over the next three weeks for CWS.

The club is closed for the next two nights to undergo its transformation. It reopens Friday with a Goo dance party after the CWS opening festivities, and through June 29 will feature mainly cover bands to support crowds of sports fans, none of whom have heard of Saddle Creek Records or listened to anything other than freedom rock.

Club owner Robb Nansel said Slowdown will boast a new projection screen on the main stage that is 133″ x 236″ so you’ll be able to enjoy all the baseball action from their air conditioned confines. There also will be more TVs throughout the club and outside in the beer garden (no idea if these are permanent or temporary additions, though I assume the latter), as well as food and vendor tents including food from Amsterdam Falafel, Worker’s Takeout, Blanc Burger, Chicago Dawg House and Tank Goodness cookies. Of course entry to Slowdown and its tent city will be free and open to the public. As I’ve said before, the only thing left for Slowdown to do is figure out where to stack all the money that’ll be flowing through their doors and tent flaps over the next few weeks. Perhaps they can build some sort of money-counting “safe room” like they have in casinos, maybe in The Slowdown’s secret basement. Actually, with all the ground water problems, that might not be the best place…

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It’s punk night at The Waiting Room this evening with Kingston, PA, Sideonedummy band Title Fight headlining a bill that includes Touche Amore, Dead End Path and The Menzingers, a band that was featured in a video shot during the Love Drunk 2011 Tour (a video which you can view here). The show is $12 and starts early, at 6:30 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 © 2011 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.