by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

T’was a busy weekend. If you’re looking for the review of the Whipkey/America concert, it was published yesterday, here.

The weekend kicked off with David Nance Band at Reverb Lounge… actually, Nance said he doesn’t want to use that name anymore. I’m not sure if he’s kidding or not, but (maybe) look out for a new band name sometime in the near future.

The gig celebrated the release of his new album, Pulverized & Slightly Peaced, which came out last Friday on Philly label Petty Bunco Records. That said, the performance went well beyond that album’s material, with Nance and Co. playing songs from a number of past records.

The set’s highlight was an amazing version of “Credit Line,” which appears in a more deconstructed, low-fi version on the new record. The version performed Friday night was absolutely killer, and is begging (or I’m begging) to be properly recorded and released. The heart of the sound was the band’s rhythm section, consisting of drummer Kevin Donahue and bassist Dereck Higgins, but the soul came from Nance trading punches with fellow guitarist Jim Schroeder.

Among the night’s openers was Nathan Ma and the Guitars. I’m a fan of Ma’s music, especially his recent singles (here’s hoping he’s pulling them together for a proper album).

Backed by a stellar ensemble that included Tom May on guitar, Jon Cobb on bass, Billy Lieberman on percussion and Colin Duckworth on pedal steel, Ma writes and sings music that lies somewhere between country barroom and ’60s baroque, Flying Burrito Brothers meets The Byrds, with multiple guitar lines weaving in and out of dreamy, mid-tempo melodies sung in Ma’s soft, sweet mew (which, at times, got lost in the mix).

Lieberman’s minimal percussion (mostly bongos) and Duckworth’s warm, layered pedal steel really set the tone, but when all the guitars got into a meticulous groove, it was mesmerizing.

This was one of the largest crowds I’ve seen at Reverb since the pandemic, btw…

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It’s a busy week of touring shows, so get your Red Bull ready:

• — it’s David Dondero and Craig Dee at Pageturners.
• — Wednesday, Man Man at The Waiting Room.
• — Thursday, Neko Case at The Waiting Room.
• — Friday, Helmet at The Waiting Room. This one has been postponed.

But then the weekend falls off a cliff….

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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 © 2022 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

What are you going to be doing at age 70? Would you be satisfied flying around he country to venues like The Holland Performing Arts Center (or Memorial Park, for that matter) playing songs you wrote 50 years ago to people who just want to hear the songs you wrote 50 years ago?

Sounds pretty good to me, though at what point do become more of a performer than an artist? The last studio album by America, who played at Holland Center Saturday night, was Lost & Found, released in 2015, and included tracks recorded as far back as 2000. And their Holland set included the album’s opening track, “Driving.”

But looking around at the audience made up mostly of fans who could have bought their ‘70s albums when they were first released, I wondered how many wanted to hear anything other than the hits.

And man, America has a lot of them. They kicked off the night with “Tin Man” from their ’74 album Holiday, which was followed by “You Can Do Magic” from their ’84 album View from the Ground (and their last big U.S. hit), and then my personal fave, “Daisy Jane,” from ’75’s Hearts.

Looking like a hip college professor, co-frontman Gerry Beckley, age 69, handled most of the vocals alongside Dewey Bunnell (the guy on the Horse with No Name, age 70), and both sounded in fine voice, backed in harmonies by three other latter-day traveling members. The third original core member of America, Dan Peek, passed away in 2011, but had left the band in ’77 never to return.

Surprisingly Beckley and Bunnell never mentioned their old compatriot, though he was seen in some of the vintage images shown on the big screen throughout the set. I guess when you play 100 shows a year for 52 years, mentioning an old band member every night would get redundant, though last night’s gig was likely the first time many in the audience have seen America perform.

The show is part of the 50 Year Anniversary Tour, no longer marking 50 years of America, but 50 years of their debut album, released in ’71. To celebrate, the band played three songs from the debut in succession, including their first hit, “I Need You.” If you’re my age, you’d recognize it immediately.

They were followed by one of their most popular hits, “Ventura Highway,” (no doubt the influence to “Theme from The Californians”). It’s FM gold, and the crowd went wild. Then came old sad sack “Lonely People,” which would be the last hit for awhile, as the band then played a number of songs I didn’t recognize. The crowd responded respectfully, waiting patiently for the next hit.

Instead, the got a cover of The Beatles’ “Eleanor Rigby” in honor of Paul McCartney’s 80th birthday, as well as a cover of “California Dreaming.” This is how you fill a 90-minute set, but let’s be honest, the crowd would have been just as happy to only hear the hits and those covers, which alone would encompass 11 songs — just the right length for a park festival, but maybe not long enough for a theater gig like this (though I would have happy).

In the end, the fans got what they wanted, as the set closed with anti-war song “Sandman” and mega-hit “Sister Golden Hair,” that got them on their feet. The band left their biggest hit of all, “Horse with No Name,” as the encore (of course).

Opening the show was singer/songwriter local hero Matt Whipkey, who made the most of his just over 30-minute set. With acoustic guitar and accompanied on keyboards by longtime sideman Scott Gaeta, Whipkey charmed an audience of strangers with songs off his recent album, Hard, as well as a few chestnuts (such us my all-time fave of his, 2008’s “Separation,” which kicked off the set at 7 p.m. sharp).

You’d expect to see some nerves showing from a guy who typically plays to crowds of 100 or so at local bars, now standing in the spotlight in front of a few thousand. But Whipkey made it look like a walk in the park, getting the crowd laughing between songs, even making fun of the giant “Matt Whipkey” sign that blared behind him throughout the set.

Paraphrasing here, Whipkey quipped, “I love playing at O’Leaver’s, it’s one of my favorite places, but this is a little bit better,” with Gaeta quickly adding, “It smells better, too.”

The highlights included “Mayday” and “Overboard” from Hard, “Underwater” from the album of the same name, super-old song “17,” and his cover of “Drive My Car,” also dedicated to McCartney (afterward, I heard some guy behind me playing the Beatles’ version on his phone). It was a great way to kick off the evening, and another in a series of career highlights for Whipkey.

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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 © 2022 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

It was probably a good thing that Belle & Sebastian didn’t play at The Admiral after all, judging by the audience size Saturday night at The Slowdown. It was a good-sized crowd, but far from a sellout, and a crowd that would have looked absolutely tiny on the massive Admiral floor.

The smaller crowd made for a more intimate setting for the band to roll out a nice selection of old chestnuts and new tunes off their just-released album, A Bit of Previous (2022, Matador). Stuart Murdoch handled almost all the vocal chores throughout the night, seated behind a keyboard when he wasn’t grooving with a microphone. Sarah Martin, who usually shares vocals (when she’s not playing violin) was absent due to an “unspeakable illness,” which was implied to be COVID-19, and while the violin parts were picked up by someone else, her vocals weren’t, and they were missed. No doubt her absence impacted the set list.

Despite all that, the 9-person band sounded great while videos similar to the mod stylish album artwork played behind them on a big screen. Set highlights included new songs “Unnecessary Drama” (their catchiest song in years) and “Young and Stupid,” and old faves “She’s Losing It” and “The Boy with the Arab Strap,” which got the mostly older crowd singing along. The three-song encore (really two-and-a-half songs) closed with a rousing version of “Judy and the Dream of Horses.”

It was a fun night, but I’m still waiting for my first show at the new Admiral (former Sokol Aud). The next show slated for Admiral is The Band Camino on Sunday night, and the next indie show is CHVRCHES June 15. Will the venue be ready?

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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 © 2022 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

I went in with the worst expectations for last night’s Spirit of the Beehive show at Slowdown Jr. based on their critically acclaimed most recent album, released by Saddle Creek Records. Instead, I was knocked on my ass by a band that’s poised to take it to the next level.

Live, SofB’s sound is more conventional, more sleek and, frankly, more rocking. The guitar-fueled five-piece shared lead vocals among three members, but was mostly held down by “frontman” guitarist Zack Schwartz whose vocal style vacillates between Frank Black and David Gilmore. Just as vital to the sound is fellow lead vocalist Rivka Ravede, who owned on bass; and power-angry-psycho vocalist synth dude Corey Wichlin.

Without the clutter and droopy/weirdo effects heard on the recordings, the band is white-knuckle tight on rock songs that have the spirit and energy of early Pixies or Sonic Youth. Fans of the wonky samples and noise effects littered throughout the last album take heart — the band grouped the cluttered noise between songs, playing the prerecorded tracks while they busily tuned instruments or changed gear.

Driving home from the gig, I listened again to Entertainment, Death thinking I might have misjudged the record, but no. It’s just as acidic and distressingly ugly as I thought it was. Give me a live recording of this band over their records any day. The only time last night that they slipped into art-prog territory was late in the set, closing with fan favorite “I Suck the Devil’s Cock” followed by a fantastic version of “Fell Asleep with a Vision” from 2018’s Hypnic Jerks album (Tiny Engines).

Opening was local super-group Healer fronted by sound engineer/musician Dan Brennan (Ladyfinger), who performed seated behind an iPad and notebook, making me wonder why more bands don’t play sitting down. Their heavy set was punctuated by a sweet tribute to recently passed-away local musician John Klemmensen.

“John covered a Ladyfinger song at The Sydney. He actually did fucking better than us,” Brennan said. “God bless you, John. You’re up there somewhere,” he added before the band ripped into the cover of Ladyfinger’s “Dark Horse,” that was a set standout along with the song that followed it, a ripper in many parts.

Solid crowd of (guesstimate) around 75.

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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 © 2022 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

One of the good things about post-pandemic rock shows is that clubs seem to have adopted a weeknight, two-band, 8 p.m.-start-time policy, which translates to getting home by 10:30, a nice contrast to the old days when weeknight shows meant dragging your tired carcass home at 1 a.m. and then having to drag it to the office the following morning with four hours’ sleep.

Whether Mudhoney was rebelling against that policy or actually had technical problems last night at The Slowdown will forever be a mystery. One of the band’s grips fiddled with the stage microphones, tested guitars, tested drums, then tested the microphones again for nearly 20 minutes, so that the 9:15 set didn’t start until around 9:50. A classic rock ’n’ roll move? I have a feeling someone was getting high backstage.

In any event, the legendary Seattle four-piece ripped into a set of grunge-flavored psych rock that highlighted musicians whose skills have been honed to a microfine edge. Standouts were legendary drummer Dan Peters in fedora, who was showcased in an extended drum solo early in the set, and lead guitarist Steve Turner, whose tone and style were pure arena gold. Frontman Mark Arm, looking like a rock ’n’ roll version of Lucius Malfoy, cracked heavy his own guitar solos and was in prefect voice, no doubt just as he’s done for the past three decades.

Listening to this band was like staring at a musical moment captured in amber, their sound the epitome of ‘90s-era big-guitar alt rock. For better or worse, music has changed dramatically over the past 30 years, though the audience only slightly so. Among the gray-haired fans was sprinkled a new generation of rock fans that looked much more clean-cut than the grunge rockers I remember from the early ‘90s.

Opening (on time) was Omaha’s own Violenteer. Last night’s performance felt heavier and more sludgy then their set a couple weeks ago at O’Leaver’s. The band’s double-bass attack was roped in by Eric Ebers’ precise drumming, and vacillated between metal, math and prog in their mostly instrumental compositions that became trance-inducing at times, especially on the set’s closing song, that went from stoner to psych rock in a deliciously Floydian fashion.

Leader Randy Cotton mentioned from stage that the band will be entering the studio to record a new album in the near future. More to come…

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Two shows again to choose from on this Cinco de Mayo.

Over at The Sydney in Benson, Brooklyn noise rock band A Deer A Horse headlines. Joining them are Omaha punk masters No Thanks and Goofy Gooey. $10, 9 p.m. (What’d I say about weeknight shows with 2-band bills and 8 p.m. start times? Not at The Sydney).

Also tonight, Omaha punkers Las Cruxes headlines a bill at Pageturners Lounge in Dundee. Joining them are Chicago’s Kelroy and NYC’s Brook Prodemore. I’m told the first band will hit the stage at 9:30. No idea on price. BTW, this same line-up is playing tomorrow night at The Down Under.

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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 © 2022 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

I found out late yesterday afternoon that members of the David Nance Group would be backing last night’s opener for Destroyer at The Waiting Room — a performer who goes by the name Rosali. And sure enough, on stage playing to a crowd of less than 50 was Rosali (a.k.a. Rosali Middleman of the band Long Hots) with local heroes David Nance on bass, Jim Schroeder on lead guitar and Kevin Donahue on drums. Colin Duckworth joined them later in the set on pedal steel and banjo.

Turns out that Rosali’s 2021 album, No Medium, was recorded by Schroeder sometime during the pandemic with these guys backing her in the studio (along with contributions by Daniel Knapp, Simon Joyner and Conor Oberst). I’m listening to the album as I write this via Spotify (I wanted to buy a vinyl copy last night, but no one was manning her table and the Destroyer merch person wouldn’t sell it to me, so what are you gonna do? I’m betting I can pick up a copy at Grapefruit).

Her singing reminded me of just about every female vocalist on my list starting with Aimee Mann, followed by Joni Mitchell, Mary Timony, Natalie Merchant and Linda Thompson. Her at-times thin but tender voice was held in the finest contrast by this band, which still managed to blaze even when holding back in the quietest moments. The set really showcased Schroeder’s guitar work — beautiful, soaring solos that hissed and moaned at every turn. Gorgeous stuff, and just as gorgeous on the album that’s bound to be on my favorites’ list (though it came out last year).

By the time Destroyer came on stage at 9:15 sharp, the room was filled but nowhere near capacity, maybe 150 like the last time the band came through in 2018. Unlike that night, when Dan Bejar looked bored and listless, last night he was in top form (though never looking as if he was having fun, but maybe he never looks that way).

Bejar fronted one of the finest collections of musicians I’ve heard perform at The Waiting Room, at every position. The standouts were (again) that trumpet player, who continuously mixed his sound with effects pedals that turned his trumpet into an echoing dream corridor. That trumpet is so central to Destroyer’s sound that I can’t imagine these songs without it.

Just as remarkable was the band’s rhythm section – rarely does a bass player grab my attention, but this guy was just fire, as was the drummer. Add to that two fantastic guitarists and a rollicking keyboard player and you’ve got an amazing collective whose dreamy sound was like listening to a midnight stroll down an empty city street.

The set opened with a couple songs off side one of the new album, Labyrinthitis, before dipping into the Destroyer’s catalog. Set highlight for me was a killer version of “Times Square” from 2015’s Poison Season, as well as set closer “Kaputt,” which is becoming something of a greatest hit for Bejar. Great night!

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I’m happy I went out on a school night for Destroyer/Rosali because there ain’t squat going on this weekend show-wise.

The only thing of interest is goofy pop act Mile High Club, a band that (to me) sounds like modern yacht rock for a new generation (and in some ways, would fit right in next to Destroyer). The band rolls into The Slowdown Sunday night supporting their latest, Going Going Gone (2021, Stones Throw). Also on the bill is quirky JW Francis (Sunday Best Recordings). Omaha rockers Garst open at 8 p.m. $25.

That’s all I got. If I missed your show, put it in the comments section. Have a great weekend.

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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 © 2022 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

I was reading the liner notes to Simon Joyner’s new yet-to-be-released album, Songs from a Stolen Guitar, and the writer, James Jackson Toth, said that Joyner recently turned 50, which was a head-spinner. I remember seeing a curly-haired Simon play at the Howard Street Tavern way back in the early ‘90s. It literally seems like yesterday. He was a young gunslinger back then with a rep for being a rising star of national proportions, at least amongst those of us who shopped at The Antiquarium.

There were two things that stood out on his first cassette, Umbilical Chords, which came out in ’92. First, he was one heck of a songwriter in the Bob Dylan vein, a real coffee-shop crooner who could bang out a song on an acoustic guitar with a punk-rock intensity. The second was that he could not give two shits if his voice was off pitch or out of tune, as long as he could convey whatever was on his mind. That Peter Brady-at-puberty singing style followed him through a lot of albums and a lot of live shows and I never knew if he was doing it on purpose or if that’s just the way he sang. And I still don’t know.

But what I do know is that seven years ago, around when he recorded Grass, Branch & Bone, his 13th studio album, that off-pitch warble faded away, and Simon began singing mostly on pitch, on key, rarely stepping in the vocal pot-holes I remembered from his early days. And maybe I’m just imagining things, but his songwriting structures became more concise. Songs that may have had five verses in the past now only had three, and were better for them (to me, anyway), almost as if he was writing pop songs instead of folk songs — tunes like “You Got Under My Skin” and “Yellow Jacket Blues” and the just-released “Tekamah” off the new album are short and sweet, with clever hooks.

And maybe I’m dreaming this, but Simon’s arrangements on his recordings also seemed more straightforward or certainly less complicated than the densely packed, layered sounds heard on 2006’s Skeleton Blues, for instance.

That’s a long-winded way of saying it’s been fun listening to Simon’s style evolve over the past 30 years. Through it all, the songwriting and the lyrics never lacked in depth, incisiveness, heart and soul. That was underscored Monday night at Grapefruit Records as Simon, accompanied only with his guitar, played a selection of songs that spanned from ’94 up to tunes from that new album.

Here’s the set list (that I was there for; I don’t know if he played an encore):

“Three Well-Amed Arrows” from Heaven’s Gate (1995)

“Carolyn’s Got a Secret” from Songs from a Stolen Guitar (2022)

“You Never Know” from Pocket Moon (2019)

“Nocturne” from Hotel Lives (2001)

“Old Days” from Grass, Branch & Bone (2015)

“Javelin” from The Cowardly Traveller Pays His Toll (1994)

“Don’t Tell Bobby I’m Through Singing These Blues” from Low Fidelities & Infidelities (2019), but also likely a new version that’ll be on the new album

“Evening Song to Sally” from Lost with the Lights On (2004)

“Parachute” from Songs for the New Year (1997)

“Yellow Jacket Blues” from Pocket Moon

“The Actor” from the new album

“My Life is Sweet” from Hotel Lives

The solo acoustic versions of these songs were so good I forgot what the recorded versions sounded like. Based on the audience reaction, a lot of folks in addition to me count “Javelin” as among their favorites. I was lucky to hear him sing it live. I think the last time I watched it performed was at the Cowardly Traveller album release show at Howard Street Tavern.

There were a lot of fellow Omaha musicians scattered among the 50 or so patrons who either sat in chairs or stood among the album racks. I said yesterday this was his first show in four years when in fact it was his first Omaha show in four years — a warm-up for a tour that begins in Europe next week. The new record comes out May 20. I’m hoping he’ll have a formal album release show at some point to give everyone there last night a chance to compare and contrast how those new songs sound played with a full band.

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Speaking of solo acoustic shows, Will Johnson of Centro-matic fame is playing a solo acoustic house show Thursday night in Omaha as part of an Undertow tour (Undertow is a website/company that helps artists book house show tours). Tim Kiefer is the host. For more information (including location) go here, where you can also purchase tickets.

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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 © 2022 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by TIm McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Has it really been more than two years since I went to a show at O’Leaver’s?

The Club first closed due to COVID-19 in March 2020. I think the last show I saw there prior to that was Lincoln band Perfect Form, who played O’Leaver’s in February 2020.

Stepping back through the doors Friday night, it felt like nothing changed. They added booths up near the “stage” and moved the piano over to along the wall where I like to lean on stage left. Maybe that was the reason the room felt a little smaller, tighter than I remembered. Everything else was the same, though, even the smell. And there were plenty of familiar faces in the crowd who I haven’t seen at a rock show since before the plague came to town. It was good to be back.

Violenteer is a band that consists of former members of classic Omaha Golden Age band Ritual Device. Randy Cotton and his brother, Barry, are up front providing a double-bass attack while drummer Eric Ebers keeps the flow going with gusto. I expected the trio to sound like the next iteration of Rondy’s follow-up to Ritual Device, a pseudo metal-punk band called Ravine. But Violenteer surprised me by its variety of styles that ranged from punk, math and best of all, a psychedelic throb reminiscent of early Pink Floyd.

The highlight of the evening was the second song of their set, an instrumental (as most songs were) that built in intensity and gravity, recalling the heavier moments of Floyd’s Meddle. Barry and Randy created balanced counter melodies that gave the music a surprising dimension. Almost as interesting were a couple prog/mathy instrumentals, and less so the punk stuff where one or both Cottons provided some yell vocals, but hey, you have to mix it up, right?

Opening was Mike Saklar’s The Sun-Less Trio. Mike also is a former member of Ritual Device and Ravine, though this trio’s bread and butter is psych rock with classic rock leanings, powered by Saklar’s guitar prowess, which is somewhat legendary.

Like I said, it was good to be back to O’Leaver’s. And if you missed it, there’s another show next month with Wagon Blasters. That said, I’m skeptical O’Leaver’s will ever be what it once was — the go-to place for small touring punk bands and indie acts to land between tour stops, where any night of the week you could be surprised at who you might be seeing and hearing. That these shows are free makes me think they’re merely a nod to their past, a sort of musical philanthropy that the owners realize we all need after two years of pandemic.

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Speaking of pandemics, tonight’s Jon Spencer and the HITmakers show slated for The Waiting Room has been cancelled. Last night’s show at 7th Avenue in Minneapolis also was cancelled due to someone in Spencer’s band coming down with COVID. When is this pandemic going to end?

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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 © 2022 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

The Sasami of 2022 barely resembles the Sasami of 2019. The pre-pandemic Sasami Ashworth’s music fell into the ol’ singer/songwriter/indie category, youthful and having fun. She still was having plenty of fun last night at Reverb Lounge.

Since last time here, she got rid of her adorable band and replaced it with three hair-metal dudes who absolutely shred on their instruments, including a guitarist she introduced as “Ram” who was straight out of Wayne’s World.

Sasami 2022 sounds like a modern reinvention of grunge. Live, it’s more riff-oriented and straight-forward heavy-metal than what’s heard on Squeeze, her recent album on Domino that is more acidic, with layered sounds and an industrial hue. Sasami opened with one of the more approachable tracks off the album, “The Greatest,” which straddles the line between the two worlds reflected on that new album — metal and songwriter — but with amps all turned to 10. The best songs of the night were those open-chord rockers fueled by an overflow of fuzz guitar, kind of a Live Rust thing.

The minor-key metal, on the other hand, was post-grunge, powered by a rapid-fire double-kick rhythm section and those buzz-saw leads. I don’t know if it was because she was losing her voice (as she said, introducing the last song of the 40-minute set) or if she just doesn’t have the oomph to be heard above the rattle and hum, but her vocals often dipped just below the waves. Understandable, as it was one of the loudest shows I’ve seen at Reverb. Even the between-set music was loud. (BTW, the interim music was the 1970 Stark Reality album, Discovers Hoagy Carmicheal’s Music Shop, an improvised jazz fusion collection that irritates as much as entertains).

Opening band, New York trio Jigsaw Youth, brought back memories of Fat Jacks, where I used to go in my late teens to catch traveling hair-metal bands in the mid-1980s. Their style was pure riff rock with grunge overtones (Is grunge coming back or something?), carried by vocalist Maria Alvarez’s full-throated growls. The best song of their set was an “unreleased track” with guitarist Nastacha Beck’s killer riff (but an uninspired vocal melody). The band also tried their hand at straight-four hardcore punk on another new song (driven by drummer Alex Dmytrow) that morphed to heavy metal halfway through — they should have kept with the hardcore. They closed out with a Nirvana cover that Alvarez killed in pure Cobain fashion.

Decent crowd for a Sunday night, maybe 70, with at least two dozen up front – mostly young girls — bouncing to every Sasami song, and loving it.

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A sneaky-good show tonight at Slowdown Jr. Pillow Queens are a Dublin-based indie band whose new album, Leave a Light On, just came out last week on Royal Mountain, a label whose roster includes Alvvays, METZ and Nap Eyes, among others. Their sound is reminiscent of Oh Pep!, with delicious melodies and harmonies.

Opening is Toronto’s Deanna Petcoff, and SafeSpace, a sort of indie project by Ione who opened for Squirrel Flower a couple weeks ago as well as for Bon Jovi last weekend (but as a different persona). $18, 8 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 © 2022 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Turns out the “SafeSpace” that I thought was playing at Reverb last night (see here) was not the SafeSpace that played at Reverb last night. Again, a suggestion: You want people to hear your music or find out about you? Create an online presence about your band (Facebook, Bandcamp, Twitter). Apparently “Ione,” who performed last night as SafeSpace, doesn’t care about such things, though she does have an Instagram presence, which is probably the last place I’d look for show information. Like I said, maybe she wants to remain anonymous?

OK, so I was initially disappointed that it wasn’t the Chicago SafeSpace I was hoping for. That said, this one was pretty good. Performing as a two-piece — Ione backed by a guitarist — (she said she used to have a full band but is apparently between bands), she played through about 20 minutes of singer/songwriter fare that had a similar feel as Seward’s Andrea von Kampen, though Ione’s songs were more mature (and she has a better voice). Of note was the second tune on the set list, where said guitarist played a counter-melody before and after the main verses, that really sent me. Good stuff. I’m told she’s either from Omaha (She’s played Pageturners before, as evidenced by her Instagram) or Sioux City.

Squirrel Flower came on at 9 with a full band and sounded great, playing songs off her last full length. Frontwoman Ella Williams’ creatively used one of those recorder/repeater pedals throughout the set to either augment her guitar or provide layered harmonies. It’s always a cool effect, always interesting to watch the artist build the “backing track” live.

Last night was a reasonable draw for a Reverb show. Maybe 60? I love these 8 p.m. 2-band bills. You can get your music in and still enjoy more of the evening afterward. And Reverb is quickly becoming thee go-to venue for small touring indie acts.

The Sydney could be the next best thing (both clubs are connected to 1% Productions). I’d love to hit tonight’s show at The Sydney, but it doesn’t start until 9 and is a three-band bill. Headliner Child of Night is from Brooklyn by way of Columbus. Profit Prison is from Italy and Cult Play is from right here. $10, 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 © 2022 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.