My inevitable return to Steelhouse Omaha takes place tonight at the Modest Mouse concert. How has Omaha Performing Arts’ massive “rock club” improved since my last go-round, seeing Fleet Foxes in July 2023? I’ll let you know.
Modest Mouse’s tour celebrates the 20th anniversary of their “breakthrough” album Good News for People Who Love Bad News, and based on last night’s show in Denver (via setlist), they’ll be playing that album in its entiret and in track order. That’ll be followed by a second, 9-song set that includes two songs off their best album – The Lonesome Crowded West. While “Doin’ the Cockroach” and “Trailer Trash” are better than nothing, the band’s epic remains “Styrofoam Boots/It’s All On Ice, Alright” and by decree should close out every MM show. Who knows, maybe they’ll change it up tonight after they read this (haha…).
It’s hard to describe how wonderfully odd Modest Mouse was when Lonesome Crowded came out almost 27 years ago to the day. The band had a low-fi recklessness and a trailer-park lyrical sensitivity, and were, to some extent, mysterious ‘round these parts. They rarely did interviews, but Isaac Brock agreed to one with me after I kept pestering his publicist. And The Reader published it (thanks, then music editor Curt Grubb), despite the fact that the band wasn’t coming to town and few people knew who they were (including Grubb). You can still read that story online at Lazy-i, here.
Opening for Modest Mouse at 7 p.m. is San Diego’s The Black Heart Procession. Not sure why they’re on this tour as they haven’t released an album in 15 years. They played a short 7-song set last night in Denver. Modest Mouse goes on at 8, and tickets are still available for $51.
Also tonight, psychobilly star The Rev. Horton Heat returns to The Waiting Room. Jason D. Williams opens at 8 p.m. $30.
There’s a funky little ’60s-inspired almost alt-country show tonight at Reverb Lounge featuring Appleton, Wisconsin, band Dusk. Their latest, Glass Pastures, was released in 2023 by respectable indie label Don Giovanni, and has a sort of Flying Burrito Brothers vibe to it built on classic harmonies, twangy pedal steel and some rocking solos.
Opening for Dusk is Velvet Velvet, the solo project of Omaha singer/songwriter Roman Constantino. (Garst). His latest is the self-released Why Try.
UPDATE: As of an hour ago, One Percent posted that Minneapolis indie rock band Visual Learner has been added to this bill.
Omaha singer/songwriter Carver Jones has already worked with two big-name producers, recorded a song with a known Hollywood actress, and dropped an EP’s worth of catchy new pop music that threads the line between indie and mainstream.
But until a couple weeks ago I hadn’t heard of him. Jones had played some opening slots at Slowdown and at random bars, including his stage debut at, of all places, The Dubliner. And just last week he was scheduled to open for indie musician “quickly, quickly” at Reverb Lounge – a show that ended up getting cancelled.
It was while researching that show that I discovered Jones’ groovy YouTube videos, including the cool, breezy “Crazy 24’; the guitar-and-vocal jam “Jeans,” and his pretty duet with a film actress I couldn’t quite put my finger on. Each song had deceptively simple arrangements that compliment Jones’ breathy, funky vocals.
So who is he?
Other than his YouTube videos, there’s not much about Jones online. After clicking around, I found his manager, Drew Kaklamanos, a New York-based A&R guy at Photo Finish Records, who confirmed Jones was, indeed, from Omaha.
At age 21, Jones has only been making music for a couple years following a successful high school basketball career at Millard North that earned him a scholarship offer from York University, which he turned down. “I decided that wasn’t really what I wanted to do,” Jones said. “So I just kind of dove head-first into music.”
Other than one failed attempt at learning how to play drums, Jones is an untrained musician whose vocal skills were first discovered by his parents, who persuaded him to give singing a try. The story goes that Jones and his guitar-playing buddy Hayden began jamming and writing songs togther, then decided to get in a van and see America via an impromptu busking tour.
While singing on the streets in Oregon they were discovered by Kaklamanos’ younger brother, who put them in contact with Drew. That led to an invitation to play their songs for some industry folks in New York.
Jones jumped at the offer but his ol’ buddy Hayden instead decided to re-enroll at UNO. So Jones quickly learned how to play the guitar parts so he could do the New York audition solo. Since then, Kaklamanos has become Jones’ trusted advisor and a big part of his early success along with one of Jones’ basketball friends, Alec Allhijjawi, who not only shot and edited many of Jones’ music videos (as Road Runner Productions) but also plays bass in Carver Jones and the American Dreamers.
“Alec and I have been friends since we were 15,” Jones said. “After we graduated, we began creating stuff together. He’s one of the most artistic people I know and was always introducing me to great new music.”
Jones counts Jeff Buckley, Lenny Kravitz, The Strokes and Bob Dylan among his influences along with more modern artists such as Beadabadoobee and Dominic Fike, who Allhijjawi introduced him to.
To round out their trio, they added 19-year-old drummer Max Soderbergh, a recent Blair High School graduate. Over the past year or so, Kaklamanos introduced the band to a couple A-list producers, including Cody Tarpley, who in the past has collaborated with Megan Thee Stallion and Chris Brown, among others.
“(Tarpley) and Drew came to Omaha and rented an Air B&B for about a week where they brought in all his gear and set it up a studio,” Jones said. “We got a bunch of ideas down, and then a few months later I went out to LA and recorded a whole bunch more.” The product was three of the five songs on Jones’ first EP, American Dreamers Vol. 1, released this past August.
The EP’s other two tracks — “Crazy 24” and “R U Still Up?” — were recorded in New York with producer Doug Schadt, who produced Maggie Rogers’ breakthrough EP, Now that the Light Is Fading, and her hit “Alaska,” which currently has a quarter-billion plays on Spotify.
By itself, that’s an impressive career start, but then there’s the McKenna Grace story. Grace is probably best known for playing Callie Spengler, the daughter of Egon Spengler, in Ghostbusters: Afterlife and sequel Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire. Grace also is a recording artist, signed to Kaklamanos’ Photo Finish Records.
While on a road trip to drive Allhijjawi’s cousin to Arizona, Kaklamanos suggested the two head to Los Angeles to meet Grace, who had heard some of Jones’ demoes. “We had a writing session and wrote ‘Middle Name’ at her house that day,” Jones said. Grace and Jones later recorded the song with Tarplay, and it’s become Jones’ most popular track, with around 800,000 spins in Spotify.
If you knew Jones only by his videos, you’d think he lives in New York, but the Omahan (who lives still lives with his parents) says he just spends a lot of time there, thanks to Kaklamanos, who offers him keys to his New York home when they’re in town. Allhijjawi has taken advantage of their trips to make their music videos.
That said, the video for their new single, “Hit the Road! (Jack),” was shot in the American Legion Bar in Fort Calhoun. “I invited some Omaha people who are really cool to be part of it,” Jones said. “I want to show that there’s cool stuff going on in Nebraska.”
The track, which premiered today, is part the second volume of Jones’ American Dreamers EP trilogy, with the rest of the EP expected to be out by early spring 2025. All tracks are self-released as Jones remains unsigned (Kaklamanos manages Jones separately from his work at Photo Finish Records).
“We’ve had a handful of labels reach out who are – or were – very excited about what we’re doing,” Jones said. “Drew and I have a plan to do the American Dreamers EPs, put them all together and then see where we are. I don’t think there’s any rush to sign a record deal, but I also don’t want to be a small indie artist.”
Jones thinks a record label would probably help him achieve his dream of touring. “At this point, (the band) definitely isn’t big enough to efficiently hit the road and play shows,” Jones said. “I guess that’s where a label could come in, because it’s really hard to just tour and play rooms without knowing if you could sell tickets.”
Jones would love to land an opening spot for a larger touring act that consistently sells out good rooms, “but if not, we’ll probably book what we can in Omaha and try to make some trips to New York and LA and just keep putting our noses down and grinding, making records and playing little things where we can.”
In the meantime, you’ll get a chance to see Carver Jones and the American Dreamers when they play their first show as headliners Dec. 22 at Reverb Lounge.
Bit of a rough day for everyone yesterday, eh? Just when you get busy doing something and forget – *bam!* – you suddently remember what happened election night and start all over again.
How about some music tonight to take your mind off things?
Tonight at The Admiral, Pedro the Lion a.k.a. David Bazan, is doing a solo set before City and Colour’s headlining gig. I reversed the order here because I prefer Bazan’s music over Dallas Green’s (he’s the Canadian dude behind City and Colour, who are out supporting their latest album, The Love Still Held Me Near (2023, Still Records). Green’s also known for his work in post-hardcore and Alexisonfire.
I’d be surprised if anyone who goes to see City and Colour has even heard of Pedro the Lion or Bazan, though anyone who’s been involved in the indie music scene in Omaha throughout the 2000s-2010s knows exactly who he is. He’s played Omaha countless times, from Sokol Underground to people’s living rooms.
Pedro the Lion’s latest, Santa Cruz, was released by Polyvinyl this past summer. I would not be surprised if he sings the first track, “It’ll All Work Out,” which lyrically sounds like it was written for all of us after the results of Tuesday’s election. Bazan opens this show at 8 p.m. $46.
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Also tonight, Omaha hardcore band Nowhere celebrates the release of their new LP, New Pain, at Reverb Lounge. Joining in the celebration are Nebraska indie punkers Size Queen and Western Haikus. $12, 8 p.m.
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And Iowa City via Chicago singer/songwriter Elizabeth Moen headlines at The Sydney in Benson. Moen is a past Lincoln Calling performer and has had luck placing songs on TV shows like Shameless and Roswell New Mexico, which is impressive considering most of her music appears to be self-released. Opening is Wedding, a new project by Anna Schulte that includes Bokr Tov’s Colby Jenkins on bass, and Zachary Roland on percussion. $15, 8 p.m. (Sydney time).
I guess today is Election Day? How did that sneak up on us?
My intention is to vote this afternoon and then turn off all the media, because after I vote (and you, and you, and you, and you, and you vote), it doesn’t matter. We’ll have done all we could to keep the dot blue surrounded by all this red. There’s no reason to suffer the endless analysis. We (probably) won’t know anything until a day or two anyway…
If you’re looking for somewhere to hide tonight away from the election hoopla, Reverb has a show that might fit the bill. Rootbeer Richie & The Reveille (could the name be any cheesier?) is an 8-piece “soul-swamp” pop band from Denver. It will be entertaining just to see how they all fit on Reverb’s tiny stage. Joining them are local folks Cowgirl Eastern and OJAI. This distraction only costs $10 and starts at 8 p.m., right when the polls close.
So why did Portland musician quickly, quickly cancel last night’s scheduled show at Reverb Lounge?
The whole episode was sort of a mystery. I noticed something was up when I went to double-check the show’s start time on the One Percent Productions website. The listing was gone. Did I get the date wrong (again)?
I checked the Facebook invitation, which confirmed the Sunday 8 p.m. start time. It didn’t mention a cancellation. I found the answer at Twitter in the form of a message from quickly quickly’s Graham Jonson):
“Hey U guys. Unfortunately we’ve decided to cancel the remaining 4 shows on this tour (Milwaukee, Chicago, Omaha, Denver). The reason you may ask? I have completely run out of money!
“This tour was entirely self funded which was a financial risk from the beginning but due to lower than expected ticket sales and overall cost of touring, it turned out to be way more expensive than I had bargained for lol. I am so sorry to the openers for these 4 shows and anybody who was planning on coming to see us play. We will be back and better! Thank you to my incredibly talented and supportive band members and our lovely tour manager leah for sticking with me through all this crazy shit.”
Big U.S. tours cancelling due to ticket sales is nothing new, but this might be the first time I’ve heard a small indie tour cancelling midway through due to lack of funds. Since almost all of them are “self-funded,” I’m surprised it doesn’t happen all the time, especially with the rising costs of gas, food, lodging and other tour expenses (as well as rising ticket prices – this was an $18 show). Is this the beginning of an unfortunate trend?
One of the biggest draws for last night’s show was the opening act — Carver Jones — another performer I’d never heard of prior to this gig, but whose YouTube videos caught my attention.
Turns out Jones actually lives in Omaha (or so I’m told), and today announced a new show at Reverb Lounge with his band, Carver Jones and the American Dreamers, for Dec. 22.
Expect some Halloween hangover tonight and this weekend at the clubs – Omaha loves its costumes… Certainly there will be costumes galore tonight in Benson during Benson First Friday (#BFF), that monthly event where local artists show what they’ve been working on in galleries and venues up and down Maple Street.
If you’re out doing the #BFF thing, stop by the Ming Toy Gallery, 6066 Maple Street, for The Jenowe Show, featuring the work of David, Jack and Julie Jenowe. The opening runs from 6 to 9 p.m. See you there.
Afterward, head on over to The Sydney for the stage debut of Dream Ghoul, the new project from Max Holmquist (Oquoa, The Great American Desert). Opening the show are Face and GoodView. $10, 9 p.m. (Sydney Time).
Speaking of costumes, there’s a costume party going on at fabulous O’Leaver’s tonight, along with performances by Frankie Chiaro, BB Sledge,Edward Spencer and Oh God Damn. $10, 9 p.m.
Saturday night Minnesota emo/pop-punk band Tiny Moving Parts headlines at The Slowdown. Joining them are Action/Adventure, Greywind and After Arizona. It’s a mini pop-punk fest and should make for a crowded front room show. $25, 8 p.m.
Also Saturday night, folk artist Mariee Siou headlines at Reverb Lounge. Donnie Coco opens at 8 p.m. $22.
The weekend’s biggest show is Sunday night at The Waiting Room: Oklahoma City indie-metal band Chat Pile is basking in the limelight these days. Their new album, Cool World, continues to get critical huzzahs from the likes of Paste (“The OKC noise rockers expand their sonic and subjective scope to prove just how desperate of a situation we’re all in” to The Needle Drop (“Cool World hits hard as fuck.”). Even Pitchfork said the album “paints a panoramic view of human suffering.” It is, indeed, heavy stuff, so bring your earplugs! Opening are LA black metal act Agriculture and Austin noise-rock band Porcelain. $27, 8 p.m.
Also Sunday night, Portland bedroom psychedelic soul act quickly, quickly (a.k.a. Graham Jonson) headlines at Reverb Lounge. His last LP, The Long and Short of It, was released on Ghostly International to somewhat critical acclaim. Get there early for singer/songwriter Carver Jones, who opens at 8 p.m. $18.
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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