Downtown Boys are among the bands playing 2017 Maha Music Festival.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

This year’s Maha Music Festival, to be held Aug. 19 once again at Stinson Park in Aksarben Village, has arguably the best line-up in the festival’s 9-year history.

That’s high praise considering past Maha Festivals have included stellar acts such as Death Cab for Cutie, Garbage, Guided by Voices, Spoon, Dum-Dum Girls, Desaparecidos, Car Seat Headrest, Bob Mould and Superchunk, among others.

After last year’s strong, dance-driven line-up, Maha refocused on upcoming and semi-classic indie rock acts, striking a balance between veterans, up-and-comers and some of Omaha’s hottest bands.

Over the next couple weeks,  I’ll be publishing profiles of the 10 performing at this year’s Maha which also appear in this month’s issue of The Reader. Each band was sent my Ten Questions survey, an email questionnaire based on the Pivot Questionnaire made popular in this country by the TV show Inside the Actors Studio (but originally created by French talk show host Bernard Pivot). My version of the questionnaire adds a unique musical slant. We start with Downtown Boys…

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Downtown Boys

It’s hard to top the description published on Downtown Boys’ Spotify page, which calls them “a six-piece multiracial, gender-integrated, bilingual rock band from Providence, Rhode Island, that plays fierce but joyous punk rock with blazing energy, howling saxophones and breakneck rhythms guaranteed to start a pogo frenzy on the dance floor.”

After releasing their full-length debut, Full Communism on Don Giovanni Records in 2015, the band is hopping over to Sub Pop for Cost of Living, due out Aug. 11.

What is your favorite album?

Joey La Neve DeFrancesco: That’s hard and changes regularly. Right now I really love the new record by Algiers, The Underside of Power.

2. What is your least favorite song?

If I could never hear “Closer” by The Chainsmokers + Halsey again I’d be pretty pumped.

3. What do you enjoy most about being in a band?

Performing live is the best part. Getting the immediate satisfaction of reaching people with something, sending a message, being a part of that community in the moment.

4. What do you hate about being in a band?

That musicians and cultural workers of all stripes are hugely undervalued, under-respected, and underpaid

5. What is your favorite substance (legal or illegal)?

Pass

6. In what city or town do you love to perform?

We like playing all over the place! Our favorite city is probably McAllen, TX, a city at the very bottom of the state right by the border. There is a really inspiring community there working in both culture and activism. It’s one of those places where after we play we’re like, “OK yeah this is why we do this.”

7. What city or town did you have your worst gig (and why)?

Hmm I’m not sure! And if the gig was bad I’m sure it’s more the circumstance and arranging of the show and not the city’s fault, so I don’t want to throw any particular municipality under the bus. Victoria and I have another band called Malportado Kids and once we played at Skidmore College and a drunk bro was being super violent in the crowd and we got in an argument that ended with him choking me against a wall, so that was probably the worst for me personally.

8. Are you able to support yourself through your music? If so, how long did it take to get there; if not, how do you pay your bills?

After doing this for years and years, we are only now at the point where we can even look at this as something that’s somewhat sustainable. We all still have other jobs to supplement what we make with music. There are five of us and we split everything evenly, so it’s pretty hard to make a real income on what we do just with the band. We continue pushing to make this something that we can do more and more full time, but the cultural economy treats workers like trash.

9. What one profession other than music would you like to attempt; what one profession would you absolutely hate to do?

Everyone in the band would have a different answer to this. I worked at a history museum for a while and I like that sort of public education work. As for what I would hate to do, I’m not sure – I’ve had so many awful minimum wage jobs over the years and I’m glad I’m not doing one right now, but I think all of those jobs could be sustainable and dignified and meaningful if we organized our economy better.

10. What are the stories you’ve heard about Omaha, Nebraska?

This is the first time we’ve played Omaha or anywhere in Nebraska so we’re very excited! I was really into the Saddle Creek bands like Desaparecidos and The Faint in high school, so that’s most of what I know of the city, and I’m thrilled to be playing with The Faint at the festival.

The Maha Music Festival is Aug. 19 at Aksarben Village. The day-long concert runs from noon to midnight. Tickets are $55. For set times and more information, go to mahamusicfestival.com.

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It’s a garage rock smorgasbord tonight at Slowdown Jr. So-Cal surf rock band The Buttertones headlines, a band whose sound was inspired by The Sonics, The Beatles, The Monks and The Cramps. Opening is Philly garage rocker Ron Gallo (New West Records), and our very own Those Far Out Arrows. Wear black. 8 p.m., $12.

Also tonight, Carolina electro-pop duo Sylvan Esso plays at good ol’ Sokol Auditorium. Their latest, 2017’s What Now was released on Loma Vista and is indie-pop candy. Flock of Dimes (Partisan Records) opens. 8 p.m., $25.

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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 © 2017 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.