Cactus Neve Thang’s infamous Sloth album artwork

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Not much to report today, so I thought I’d post the latest from our friends over at Trout Tunes. If you were going to shows in the early- and mid-90s at such places as The Howard Street Tavern, The Capitol Bar and Grill, The Ranch Bowl, Sokol Underground or any of the other long-gone music venues that helped define Omaha’s golden age of indie music (before Saddle Creek reared its lovely head) you probably saw “Kronch” and his film crew capturing live performances for their Cox Cable access TV show, Trout Tunes. Well, good ol’ Kronch has been pulling together clips from his show and putting them on YouTube on a weekly basis.

This week’s Trout Tunes Video of the Week features Cactus Nerve Thang live at the Capitol April 27, 1994. CNT was one of the Omaha bands that got signed by Grass Records (along with Mousetrap). Their debut, Sloth, not only was notorious for its rabid, acidic take on punk (bordering on grunge) but for its album cover artwork, that rumor has it was loathed by the suits at the label who described it as one of the ugliest album sleeves they’d ever seen. Hey, it ain’t that bad.

You may recognize the band’s lead guitarist as none other than Lee Meyerpeter (or Gerald Lee) of The Filter Kings. In fact, all three members of Cactus Nerve Thang are still banging around Omaha. What would it take to get them together for a reunion? The world may never know…

Enjoy, and thanks, Kronch, for the memories:

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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 © 2013 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.