I think it’s becoming evident that Eagle*Seagull may be the next indie band from Nebraska to “strike it big” on an (inter)national level. I say this based solely on their new sound and the fact that they’ve managed to build a sizable following in Omaha and elsewhere. I’ve been told that their debut album has sold multiple-thousand copies (some say 5,000, some say 20,000). And now they’re headed to Europe on a tour that is selling well. To top it off, there are various rumors as to who the band will be working with on their next CD. But the real key to me was the vibe at Friday night’s show — it had the essence of a Creek show, every table was filled and people were crowding the aisles. No, it wasn’t “sold out,” but it was impressive.

I missed opener Kite Pilot, but was told that their set was “daring” from a person who doesn’t make those statements lightly. Like E*S, KP has changed their sound, cutting away the proggie tendencies heard on their last record for a more stripped-down punk approach. From the feedback I’ve been hearing, the change is for the better. I did get there in time for Landing on the Moon — one of their last shows for a long time, as drummer/vocalist Oliver Morgan is poised to hit the road with Little Brazil in support of that band’s new album. LotM took the opportunity to roll out a handful of new songs (including, I’m told, a cover of an old Reset number) that were darker and denser than anything on their debut EP. Perhaps it reflects the shift that I’m hearing from so many other bands away from lighter, jangly indie music to stuff that borders on heavy rock or punk (more evidence of a wilting indie sound? Maybe…). To appease those looking for the old stuff, LotM closed with the crowd-favorite ballad, “She’s Moving Out,” from the EP.

Last up was E*S, and now is a good time as any to pass on a quick note about the house sound. The venue continues to tweak their set up, and every night is a different experience. Friday night the levels were high bordering on brash with tons of low-end. I blame the bands as much as the PA. Interestingly, on either side of the stage stood a stack of EV speakers that had yet to be hooked up. Owner Mike Coldewey said he didn’t want to mess with what they’d set up soundwise for the weekend. When hooked up, the new speakers will add “inside coverage,” he said, rounding out the bottom end and making the place even louder.

Eagle*Seagull was plenty loud as it was. I’ve said it before, but I’ll pile on here: They’re evolving into an indie dance-rock band. I read their interview in The City Weekly where they say their new sound is influenced by Eno, and I have to admit, I heard it in the new stuff, which had a similar rhythmic trance quality as Eno’s early work with Talking Heads (Fear of Music). That cyclical rhythmic style has been incorporated into everything, including songs from their first album. On the other end of the spectrum is that strut-rock rhythm that I’ve compared to Franz Ferdinand — a comparison that still kinda/sorta fits. Fact is, the most out-front aspect of the band is Eli Mardock’s quivering vocals — it’s something you either enjoy/tolerate or drives you away. I find it interesting… initially. Then it can get tiresome (especially on the record). The good news is the quiver is less pronounced on stage these days, certainly less than heard on the debut CD. Eli could smooth it out even more (like Conor seems to have done over the years), but would be losing something if he filtered the quiver out altogether (one assumes the vocal affectation is purposeful, and hence, could be eliminated if desired). The other standout is the violin, which is front-and-center in the new arrangements. One patron told me the combination of Eli’s vocals and the violin reminded him of Dexy’s Midnight Runners (1982’s “Come on Eileen”). I kind of see what he was saying, but I don’t buy it. Anyway… next stop Europe. God only knows what effect that’ll have on the band.

Big show tonight at Sokol Underground: Appleseed Cast is headlining, but it’s the openers that really pique my interest. Little Brazil likely will be running through tracks off their soon-to-be-released CD, Tighten the Noose. That alone is worth $8. But after LB is Asobi Seksu, which I wrote about last week (read the story here). You like your music shimmering and trancelike with a chanteuse cutting through the sonic haze? You’re in for a real treat. This is one of the hottest bands in the country right now. See them while they’re still opening shows instead of headlining them. Too bad I’m going to miss it as I’m under the weather today…

–Got comments? Post ’em here.—

Briefly, looks like Bright Eyes cut a deal with Polydor for distribution of his records to the world outside North America, according to this item in Punknews.org credited to Pitchfork (I include the Punknews link because it also includes some amusing reader feedback). Saddle Creek keeps North American rights. I have no idea what significance this has to the Creek operations. In the old days, Creek records were distributed in Europe by a variety of labels, including Wichita and Southern. Then Creek opened an office in the UK and a Saddle Creek Europe website, presumably to distribute Creek materials over there. Does this mean that Creek Europe won’t be handling the two new BE discs that are slated for release this spring? Conor’s publicist summed it up this way: “Bright Eyes have been on numerous labels outside of North America over their recording history and the move to Polydor is the newest endeavor to reach as many fans as possible.” You can only conclude from that statement that he wasn’t reaching the fans that he wanted to reach outside of our continent via Saddle Creek. Polydor is a major presence in Europe, handling acts like Scissor Sisters (huge over there, ignored over here), Eminem, Beck, 50 Cent, Snoop Dogg and the Nirvana catalogue. It might have something to do with their connections to Interscope, Geffen and A&M, among others. Polydor goes way back. According to their (crappy) website, their acts have included The Who, Jimi Hendrix, the Bee Gees, Cream, Eric Clapton, James Brown, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and now Bright Eyes. How big a deal is this, and what’s it really mean for Saddle Creek? Keep watching…

It should be a big week for the folks at The Saddle Creek Bar. Tonight, SCB hosts Eagle*Seagull w/Landing on the Moon and Kite Pilot. $5, 9 p.m. Also tonight, Now! Archimedes, Dance Me Pregnant and The Stay Awake at O’Leaver’s. $5, 9:30 p.m.

Tomorrow night it’s The Weary Boys and The Filter Kings at SCB for a whopping $10 — the highest priced ticket I’ve ever seen at SCB, which usually charges $5. Meanwhile, at O’Leaver’s, it’s Midwest Dilemma and Lost Americans, $5, 9:30 p.m.

–Got comments? Post ’em here.—

Column 110: Goodbye Someday Never
Promoter Joe Vavak calls it quits.

Rock band Ideal Cleaners summed it up from the stage: “This goes out to Joe. He’s helped us a lot over the years.”

There was one aspect of last Saturday night’s show at O’Leaver’s that didn’t quite fit the evening’s theme: The place was packed. That’s something that can’t be said about a typical Someday Never show. Leaning against the railing, I turned to Joe’s old comrade, Mike Perry, and said maybe tonight Joe will actually make some money. He just looked at me and we both smiled. No. Joe will give the door money to the bands. Two of them — Rent Money Big and Ideal Cleaners — made the trip from Lincoln on sloppy roads. It’s the least he can do.

Joe Vavak — a.k.a. Joe Someday of Someday Never Productions — never did it for the money, and that’s one of the reasons he was saying goodbye to the whole dirty business Saturday night at the last show he says he’ll ever book.

What’s he leaving behind? Long drives to the venue from his West Omaha home. Late nights dealing with belligerent sound guys, clueless door guys and the anxious bands with the endless problems. Worrying if the bands will show up at all. The choking cigarettes (Joe doesn’t smoke), the drunks (Joe doesn’t drink), the loud music (which wasn’t always good). The nights when no one showed up, leaving Joe to explain to the out-of-town band that there’s only 20 bucks from the door (and nothing at all for the locals). Twenty lousy bucks, a pauper’s sum for a bunch of musicians who will be packing up their gear and either looking for a floor to sleep on, or hitting the road to get a jump on Chicago or Kansas City or, god forbid, Denver.

No, when the plusses and minuses are totaled, Joe says he never made a dime from promoting shows. If there’s one thing you can say about him — good or bad, depending on your viewpoint — it’s that Joe is idealistic, maybe to a fault. He believes in his heart in supporting the local music scene for the scene’s sake. Or at least he used to.

Joe explained that Someday Never wasn’t always just him. It was also partners Mike Perry, Jimmy Winter and a handful of others who helped get the ball rolling almost a decade ago. It began in the summer of ’98 as a punk website (originally gotpunk.com). Over the years it evolved into a booking agency, beginning with a gig featuring punk bands Strike Anywhere, Boycaught and Putrescene at the old Farnam St. venue in 2002 — 110 shows ago. In its heyday, Someday Never even became a record label, releasing Rent Money Big’s debut, Proper Flesh Suit. There were always more records on the horizon, but they never materialized due to lack of funds.

“We had momentum at one point,” Joe said. “That momentum’s been lost. Someday Never used to be me and other people, then it became just me. And now it’s coming to an end. I need a break. I’m pretty burned out on the whole thing.”

Beyond fatigue, Joe’s disillusionment stems from a music scene that’s become “too much about the money.” When Someday Never began, Omaha music was just beginning to garner national attention. It quickly ballooned. Joe couldn’t compete with other local promoters (one in particular) who, quite frankly, had a better business sense than he did — and really were in it for the money. And what’s wrong with that?

Then there’s Joe’s burgeoning career as a fine art photographer. His work — quietly powerful static images of commercial buildings, homes and objects — has been exhibited at Hot Shops, the Public Library, and Corning, Iowa (You have to start somewhere). His plan is to build a name for his photographic style and develop commercial work to augment his paycheck from Sears.

“I have to make money somehow.”

After the last guitar chord of the evening, I left Joe talking to a beautiful young girl that had her arm around him, but who was “just a friend.” Same ol’ Joe. Why doesn’t the nice guy ever get the girl? He wants better. He deserves better. Maybe he’ll find it, in his photography, in something else. But 28 isn’t 18. I recall Saddle Creek Record’s Robb Nansel once telling me that if you stay involved in music until you’re 30, you’ll be involved in it the rest of your life. Joe missed it by a couple years.

I asked Joe if he just outgrew the whole thing, and he nodded. Yeah, maybe he has. The new stuff isn’t doing it for him anymore, and nothing looks promising on the horizon. Funny thing about getting old, sometimes you outgrow music.

Just placed online, an feature/interview with Yuki of Asobi Seksu (read it here). Yuki talks about the inevitable comparisons to shoegaze bands, as well as her Japanese heritage. Lots of the interview didn’t make it into the story (which was limited by The Reader to 600 words). Among the outtakes:

What do you do on stage during the performance of “Red Sea” while guitarist James Hanna is making droning noise for five minutes? “Hopefully I’m not just standing there,” Yuki said. “I don’t go back stage. I’ve got a keyboard that makes some cool noises, so I try to add to the guitar and bass squalls. What I’m doing isn’t as interesting as what James is doing. It’s his moment to shine. I give him cartes blanche.

About her Japanese lyrics: “My mom will call me and say there’s a grammatical mistake in your song. I said, ‘I know, I know.’ My Japanese is not perfect. I pretend to know what I’m doing. Still, other family members call me up, too, and correct me.”

I read that your music hasn’t been discovered in Japan. Is that surprising to you? “I don’t know if people in Japan know about us or not. Japanese bands that I like, like Guitar Wolf and Melt Banana, aren’t big in Japan but are huge in the U.S. We’re under the radar, but the CD will be released in Japan later this year (distributed by Disc Union), so we’ll see. It’s a dream of mine to go there and play. I haven’t been there in years.”

Asobi Seksu will be opening for Appleseed Cast. Little Brazil also is on the bill. It should be a helluva show even if it’s a Monday night.

It’s hour-zero — the last day to enter the Lazy-I Best of 2006 Comp CD giveaway. The disc includes tracks by Yo La Tengo, Simon Joyner and the Fallen Men, Scissor Sisters, Junior Boys, Cursive, Cat Power, Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins, Royskopp, Ladyfinger, The Terminals and more (see the track listing here). All you have to do is e-mail me (tim@lazy-i.com) with your name and mailing address and you’ll be entered into the drawing. I will announce the winner online right here. Good luck!

–Got comments? Post ’em here.—

1090 Club, Shipwrecked on Shores (Side-Cho) — SOS is the debut from the four-piece rock ensemble 1090 Club from Billings, Montana. I use the term “ensemble” instead of “band” quite intentionally. At first listen, this album doesn’t sound like it was made by a rock band. It is meticulously orchestrated between violin, guitar and piano. The parts flow fluidly between one another and are locked into time and place by extremely technical and spot-on drumming. When you add 3-and 4-part vocal harmonies, it only gains strength and momentum. The culmination is a wonderful rock album with catchy pop riffs that will stay in your head for days. Rating: Yes — Brendan Greene-Walsh.

I’m writing a column based on Joe Vavak’s last show under the moniker of Someday Never — it was Saturday night at O’Leaver’s — which is why I didn’t post a live review of it yesterday. I realized after I started writing the column, though, that I wasn’t going to get too much into the performances because I was too busy lauding Joe as this great, flawed humanitarian who’s lost his vision only to find another…

So, how were the bands? I missed Rent Money Big because I was busy watching the Philadelphia Eagles blow it. I got there just in time for Ideal Cleaners. It was jam-packed. Yes, a lot of people there were Joe’s friends on hand to wish him well, but the bands were the major draw (sorry Joe). Ideal Cleaners is quickly gathering a substantial fan base in Omaha for their rugged brand of post-punk. For whatever reason, they remind me of Bad Religion, Jesu and Fugazi these days, though their music only barely resembles those bands. I think it’s time for a new record (or a rediscovery of their old ones). Along with Ladyfinger and The Stay Awake, they’re my favorite local hard-rock heroes.

Race for Titles was the perfect band to headline a show that honors one of the scene’s originators. They’ve been around about as long as Vavak has been putting on shows. And just like Joe, style and soundwise they haven’t changed much, though drummer Matt Baum (wearing a pair of red headphones) sure beats that old drum machine they used to have. If there’s an evolution in their sound, it’s in the layering. When I saw these guys last April at Sokol, they seemed more stripped down and raw. Last night they sounded like a well-lacquered machine, glistening under layers of guitars. Their weakness (to me) has always been their lack of sonic diversity, especially in the vocal lines, which act more as an additional layer of sound than as a communication tool — who knows what their songs are about. I doubt they care if anyone knows. They lock into a trance-like groove and hope the crowd hangs on for the ride. What is the future of this band? Are they recording again? Do they plan on touring? No idea. I do know that they have a serious fan base — clearly they were the central draw of the evening (sorry Joe).

Look for the Someday Never column online Thursday. Wednesday I’ll be posting an interview with Asobi Seksu, who are opening for Appleseed Cast Jan. 22.

Finally — I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again — you’ll never have a better chance of winning a copy of the Lazy-i Best of… Compilation CD than you have this year. Despite the fact that readership has never been higher, the fewest number of people have entered the annual drawing. That means the odds are in your favor. This year’s disc includes tracks by Yo La Tengo, Simon Joyner and the Fallen Men, Scissor Sisters, Junior Boys, Cursive, Cat Power, Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins, Royskopp, Ladyfinger, The Terminals and more (see the track listing here). All you have to do is e-mail me (tim@lazy-i.com) with your name and mailing address and you’ll be entered into the drawing. You can’t win if you don’t enter! Deadline is Wednesday, Jan. 17.

–Got comments? Post ’em here.—

It’s 7 degrees out right now. Why do we subject ourselves to this, this Ice Station Zebra weather? Meanwhile, my friends in sunny LA and south Florida are chuckling to themselves while they walk along the ocean in their shorts...

Anyway, it’s cold outside but it’s a hot weekend for shows (How’s that for a catchy segue?). Tonight at Sokol Underground it’s the Capgun Coup CD release show with Bear Country, Outlaw Con Bandana and Flamboyant Gods. Capgun Coup count Archers of Loaf and Pavement as influences. Yeah, that sounds about right. The track I’m listening to now, “Adorable Doorsteps,” is a cute go-go rocker with lots of people yelping in the background, as if it were recorded during a party in the band’s basement. Bear Country is a 6-piece with a lot of local buzz for their style of acoustic indie featuring male and female lead vocals. You already know about Outlaw Con Bandana. $7, 8 p.m. (Note earlier start time).

Also tonight, over at O’Leaver’s, Midwest Dilemma plays with Paleo and Run On Sentence. $5, 9 p.m. More info here.

Tomorrow night is the grand and glorious goodbye to Someday Never Productions at O’Leaver’s with Race for Titles, Ideal Cleaners and Rent Money Big. The event will likely be the subject of next week’s Lazy-i column. Show up and maybe you’ll end up in print. Considering everything that Joe Vavak has done for the music scene over the past decade, the least you can do is show up and say goodbye. $5, 9:30 p.m.

But if you never liked Joe (and who doesn’t? Just kidding…), there are other options tomorrow night, specifically at The 49’r where Prostitute, Life After Laserdisque and Thunder Power will be playing, starting at around 10 p.m. $5 gets you in.

That’s all I got, but that’s enough for this weekend. I’ll leave you with this new photo of the Slowdown construction project (click here). I figured I’d take a pic before the big snowstorm slides into town this weekend and wreaks havoc on the construction crews who are feverishly trying to button up the site before the real deep freeze moves in. They’ve been lucky with the weather so far, lucky enough to stay on schedule for a summer launch.

Column 109: Odd Bedfellows
The OEAs bring them together.

And so, a week after the occasion of the first-ever Omaha Entertainment Awards, we reflect on its necessity and ask ourselves, “Was it all worth it?”

The night after the OEAs at O’Leaver’s where unlikely-to-be-nominated-though-worthy bands Cloven Path, Kite Pilot and Latitude, Longitude were playing, the topic of conversation was whether there should be music awards at all. The consensus from members of the local punk and indie scenes was that the OEAs were nothing but hype, that the best award any band could possibly receive was to sell their CDs and get people to come to their gigs. In the end, the crystal phallic symbol doesn’t mean jack if your band is playing to crickets in O’Leaver’s or Sokol or Mick’s or any other venue in — or out of — town.

They’re right, of course. It’s impossible to argue against that logic. Award shows are, for the most part, a marketing ploy designed to sell advertising and promote bands that generally already have more than enough press. And you could quickly discard the whole thing as a giant ego-stroke except for one thing: Never in Omaha have I seen such a diverse group of creative people together in one place at one time.

In the lobby of the Holland Center prior to the show, while a Mariachi band played on the steps leading to the auditorium, Mayor Mike Fahey nattered with an elegantly dressed member of the local theater guild, while a few feet away two guys wearing Mexican-style wrestling masks sipped drinks through straws just a few feet from a stately older gentleman in a tux and his wife who faced a guy in jeans wearing a satin bar jacket who was a few feet from two young ladies in gorgeous ball gowns who whispered in the direction of a gaggle of slam poets looking too cool to be there who were a stone’s throw from a 40-ish guy and his pre-teen son who leaned against a wall a few feet from one of the city’s best punk bands who moments earlier stood next to a blues guy from Lincoln who stood in line at the bar next to folks from Tilly and the Wall who were standing next to Mayor Mike Fahey.

Where else would — or could — such a diverse crowd ever be brought together?

One of the flaws of the Omaha music scene is how it segregates itself from itself. Go to a blues show at Shag and you’ll see a completely different crowd than you’d see at an indie show at O’Leaver’s or a play at The Blue Barn or a metal show at Shea Riley’s or a hip-hop show at Sokol or a Dixie Chicks concert at The Qwest Center. We don’t hate each other, we just don’t understand each other very well, nor do we want to. People in this city know what they like — and what they don’t like — and are more than happy to leave it at that. Any effort to at least try to expose people to something alien to their every-day existence is an achievement in my book, even if, afterward, everyone goes back to their private little corners. At least for one night they shared the same auditorium and maybe even heard something that they wouldn’t have heard otherwise.

So, was it worth it? Yeah, even with all the flaws that comes with any first-annual event. It was too long (What awards show isn’t?), the sound wasn’t quite right, some of the theater people left after their awards had been handed out. There was the problem with the music categorization, specifically jazz and R&B/funk, where the winner was one of the evening’s few performers to take home more than one crystal trophy, The Jazzwholes.

The problem, of course, was that The Jazzwholes aren’t exactly known for their jazz, R&B or funk chops. They’re an alt-pop rock band with a horn section that also happens to have one of the largest followings in the city, thanks to regular Sunday night gigs at Shag (and before Shag, The Goofy Foot Lodge). No one’s arguing that The Jazzwholes aren’t a talented bunch of guys, but the best jazz band in Omaha?

The error undermined the entire reason for the evening — to honor the best and brightest of Omaha’s music scene in their respective categories. For the OEAs to grow into a respected platform for recognition, the organizers must find a way to guarantee that it doesn’t happen again. Someone with some music knowledge has to draw a line and throw out bands that don’t belong, or else the whole thing becomes embarrassing both for the misnominated bands and for the Academy who votes for them (of which, I am a member).

Next year, I’m told, this will be fixed, along with the other glitches. In their place will be new ones. But hey, it’s all in good fun, right? Now if we can only get those guys at O’Leaver’s to lighten up, put on a dinner jacket and join the rest of us, at least for one night.

Everything Absent or Distorted (A Love Story), The Soft Civil War (Needlepoint Records)– Plodding grunge may be the most inaccurate, yet to-the-point way to describe this album. This 7-piece comes from Denver with a certain approach to simple songs that makes them sound much more alive and full than one is accustomed to hearing. The song structures are loose and dirty, and somehow melodic. Imagine Snuffalufagus slowly moving down the street, but with a backing band in tow providing theme music for such a ridiculous spectacle. The lyrics are what really caught my attention. “Its too hot for murder/Lets go to the creek instead” was a gem on “Its’ This Way.” An all-too-real picture is created on “Closer Than You Think, Pt.1” with “Monday morning / Give us our razors / Feel like dying / But we’ll just shave and go on.” Rating: Yes — Brendan Greene-Walsh.

Tim Sez: I don’t know about “plodding.” I’ll say this: They know how to play melodic ’90s indie rock, sounding at times like they spent too much time with their Echo and the Bunnymen discs (when they weren’t playing their Pixies records). They’ve been compared to Elephant Six bands, and I can hear it, especially Neutral Milk Hotel on the songs that sport the most intricate arrangements (“Burial of Yards and Docks,” “Buried in Guitar”) which feature the occasional horn part. Other than that, they don’t have that sense of nostalgia that characterizes most other Elephant Six bands (and which I generally don’t like) They’re at their best when they leave their earnestness locked up and let the groove take over. Rating: Yes.

American Watercolor Movement, It Takes Fifteen to Tango in My Book, What Book Do You Read? (self-released) — A strong beat keeps a song moving, pulsating and gyrating. But a strong beat can only carry you so far. A song (an album, more so) needs substance. It needs layers. It needs to be interesting. There must be something that can captivate the attention of the listener. This album fell flat. The “layers” turned to mud in the mix. The focus of the songs became lost. The addition of vocals that switched between singing and spoken word were a mystery. I had no idea what the goal of this album was. If it was techno beats with weirdness surrounding it, then success is theirs. Unfortunately, I cannot allow myself to believe that that was their aim. Rating: No. — Brendan Greene-Walsh

Tim Sez: Clearly an homage to Eno, these guys also throw in a little Prodigy and PiL to their brand of electronic proto-punk dance music. The CD’s experience is summed up on the opening tracks. The title, when frontman Jason Cieradowski does an earnest speak-talk shtick, is pure PiL Johnny Rotten. When he actually sings, like on “Flowers for Catalan,” he sounds like Peter Gabriel backed by guitars and rhythms lifted off early Gabriel records. Sound good? Then you might really dig this disc, and in fact, I liked it enough to recommend it even with its considerable drawbacks — a little of Cieradowski’s whimpering goes a long way and becomes tedious as early as the fourth track. And then there’s the muddy mix. Still, interesting programming and smart dance rhythms derived from Eno make it worth a spin. Rating: Yes.