by Tim McMahan,  Lazy-i.com

In year’s past I compared Petfest – the annual bacchanal held in the parking lot behind the Petshop Gallery in Benson – to South By Southwest day parties, where Austin locals get together outside the “festival establishment” to drink Lone Stars and eat breakfast tacos while listening to great indie bands perform in parks and strip-bar back lots. Those Austin day parties typically eclipse the staid, programmed, corporate-sponsored, formal showcases SXSW is/was known for. 

That comparison remains apt.

In the calendar of Omaha summer music festivals, Petfest is the one I look forward to most, not necessarily because of the music line-up — which is always first-rate — but because it’s easy. Petfest is a laid-back, end-of-summer gathering of local music aficionados, art freaks, neighbors and friends enjoying a perfect late-summer afternoon with the best local music the state has to offer.

This year’s Petfest was no exception. Maybe (or likely) the fine weather was the reason this year’s festival felt more lively than last-year’s 100-plus-degree endurance test.  The festival footprint actually felt smaller, though if anything there was more space to spread out on the white-rock parking lot. Like last year, bands performed on two “stages” – an outdoor stage and a small stage set up in the Petshop garage – with bands alternating between the locations for their (scheduled) 20-minute sets. The sets’ brevity meant never getting tired of any one band, and in most cases, leaving the crowd wanting more. 

That was the case with Vempire. It was the debut performance by the synth duo of Lindsey Yoneda and Thirst Things First frontman Mike Elfers, whose debut album, Your Steps, dropped last Friday on Bandcamp. The music’s stripped down dance vibe at times has the same manic energy I remembered from Thirst Things First, especially after the first three underpowered songs. The soundguy eventually made necessary adjustments, and by the end of the set, Vempire was pumping. 

Sound was a challenge throughout the day, as the sound dude made the best of what he had to work work with, which was limited, but, hey, this is a neighborhood festival, not Outlandia. 

Vempire was followed by another Lincoln band – the five-piece Saving Fiona. Their debut album What a Shame caught a lot of people’s attention when it was released this past June. And while the songcraft was still there, the band was woefully underpowered throughout its set, especially the three vocalists. But again, as the set went on, adjustments were made and the band was shining by the end. 

That theme continued with The Dirts, an act that really needs (and deserves) a big sound system to float their dense, trippy, shoe-gaze rock. They definitely made the best of the situation, pulling a pro move when the lead guitarist broke a string and came back on stage with one of Size Queen’s guitars. This is the most promising new band I’ve seen in years.

Then came Heet Deth, a Chicago-based drum-and-guitar duo that blew up the garage stage with their edgy psych rock reminiscent of the heavy early days of Yeah Yeah Yeahs — a Petfest highlight. 

I stepped out of the festival compound for a couple hours to get some grub and returned for PROBLEMS, the one-man electronic/dance/synth project by Darren Keen. Keen always knows how to bring the party, but Saturday night’s set really showcased how he’s grown in creating deep, thick beats and almost orchestral synth arrangements that get a crowd moving. 

Darren was followed by the Flamboyant Gods, a punk act fronted by Icky Blossoms’ Dereck Pressnall that includes a number of local superstars who I don’t know (though I recognized CJ Olson from Saddle Creek Records on one of the guitars!). The frenetic, kick-ass set of hard, fast punk songs was like Pressnall’s Flowers Forever on speed. They’ve been around for years (check out their Youtube videos) but they rarely play out these days. I’d love to see a full set of this chaos.

Speaking of chaos, Flamboyant Gods were followed by the return of Dance Me Pregnant, a punk band whose origins date back to the heyday of O’Leaver’s rock shows, featuring many of the faces that made The Club famous more than a decade ago — Johnny Vredenburg on bass, Chris Machmuller on guitar, Corey Broman on drums and frontman Jeff Ankenbauer, who I barely recognized when he walked up and said hello prior to the gig. 

DMP is more metal than punk but has a much groovier sound, thanks to rock riffs that go beyond typical metal structures. They swing but keep their punk edge thanks to Ankenbauer’s full-throated yell vocals and up-close-and-personal approach that brought him out of the garage and in the faces of the thrashing crowd. A great set.

And that was the end of my Petfest experience for 2024. It could very well have been the best Petfest ever, but I say that every year. Suggestions for next year? Maybe get a little better sound system, add some non-alcohol drinking options (other than water), add one more food truck, but don’t change much more. Petfest’s charm comes from its quaint size and neighborhood, good-time feel. 

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Tonight at Slowdown, get ready for the sludge-metal of King Buzzo a.k.a. Roger “Buzz” Osborne of the Melvins.  Opening is JD Pinkus of Butthole Surfers. Things could get loud. $35, 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 © 2024 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Petfest, Omaha’s best live music festival for showcasing local indie talent, happens this Saturday in Benson. There’s a shit-ton of talent playing on two stages. You can arrive just about anytime between 2 p.m. and midnight and you won’t go wrong, but one band you may want to consider “appointment listening” is The Dirts at 5:15 on the outside stage.

The band opened last night for Toronto band PACKS at Slowdown’s front room and, like the past few times I’ve seen them, they played a heavy set of shoe-gaze-style indie rock influenced by the likes of Galaxy 500, Jesus and Mary Chain, The Cure, etc. 

In fact, if the folks who run the Astro were daring sorts, they’d have The Dirts open for the upcoming Psychedelic Furs/Jesus and Mary Chain show Oct. 22. I mean, what would they have to lose, and certainly fans coming to see those two bands would dig what the Dirts are doing. 

A brief synopsis from what little I know about them – The Dirts are a local five-piece consisting of four women (synth, drums, guitar, bass, vocals) along with a dude lead guitarist/vocalist who (I think) used to be in Garst. They divide the vocal duties between three members, and if there’s a flaw in the composite it’s that you can barely hear the two women when they sing (Someone once told me that was a common trait in early shoe-gaze, but I just find it frustrating because both have good voices). 

They’re a young band and somewhat raw – I’m not aware they’ve recorded anything, at least I can’t find any of their music online — but they’ve got whatever it is that makes good shoe-gaze fun to listen to – great hooks, good guitar riffs, very dense arrangements. Definitely worth checking out if you’re going to Petfest tomorrow. 

The band’s rawness was in stark contrast to last night’s headliner – PACKS – who were a well-honed four-piece indie rock machine. I had no problem hearing frontwoman Madeline Link sing throughout the set, though I had a difficult time understanding what she was singing. Her slurred, unenunciated vocal style made the lyrics indecipherable, which is a shame because she has something to say in her songs. 

The only time you could understand what she was singing was briefly during one tune where Link reverted to spoken word over the riffage (very cool) and during the set’s finale, “HFCS,” which she introduced with “This is for everyone who loves corn and everyone who feels so-so about corn and those who don’t like corn.” HFCS sands for high fructose corn syrup, the song’s main chorus, which got sing-along treatment by the 20 or so folks in the crowd. 

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So what other highlights can I recommend for Petfest? Like I said, it’s hard to go wrong at any point, so you’re best bet is to BE THERE FOR THE WHOLE DANG THING!

Here’s the deal, though – each band only plays 20-minute sets, so if you don’t like what you’re hearing, grab a beer and check your phone and before you know it, the next act will be on stage. 

The performers alternate between an indoor (garage) and outdoor stage, starting with Western Haikus in the garage. Here’s the full schedule:

2 p.m. – Western Haikus
2:20 p.m. – McCarthy Trenching
2:40 p.m. – Ebba Rose
3 p.m. – Rike
3:20 p.m – Mike Sclesinger
3:40 p.m. Ol’ Mo and the Varmints
4 p.m. – Vempire
4:25 p.m. – Saving Fiona
4:50 p.m. – Queer Nite
5:15 p.m. – The Dirts
5:40 p.m. – Heet Deth
6:05 p.m. – Size Queen
6:25 p.m. – Ex-Lover
6:50 p.m. – Mesonjixx Trio
7:20 p.m. – Queer Nite
7:45 p.m. – PROBLEMS
8:10 p.m. – Flamboyant Gods
8:40 p.m. – Dance Me Pregnant
9:10 p.m. – Universe Contest
10 p.m. – Jeff in Leather
9:45 p.m. – Queer Nite
10:45 p.m. DJ  Bumproump

Tickets are $40 day of show (or save $10 and buy a ticket for $30 today!). Food available from Terrible Gerald’s Pizza, and there will be plenty of booze. More info here. See you there.

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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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 © 2024 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Putting on a music festival is a giant gamble. Every decision is an educated guess that will either pay off in spades or aid in your demise. 

It starts with the location, and in the Outlandia Music Festival’s case, that choice was the right one. Falconwood Park is a bucolic, pastoral paradise uniquely suited to host a multi-day music fest. You can read about Falconwood and its history right here.

But after that, it’s all a roll of the dice.

Will the lineup attract a large audience? Are the bands too obscure or have they played in the area too often?

Are the tickets correctly priced? How’s the economy? Do fans have available cash to make the buy? Is there a competing event that could lure away their dollars?

How about marketing? Where was the festival marketed and was enough spent to get the word out? 

Every dollar is a gamble, from facility and production costs to personnel and security arrangements. Nothing is cheap. 

And then, after all that, there’s Mother Nature, because scorching heat or soaking rain does not entice participation in an outdoor event. 

If you make all the right decisions and the stars align, the only thing left is to execute the plan, and the Outlandia folks definitely know how to execute. 

One of the biggest wild cards was weather, and Outlandia drew aces.  The sky was partly cloudy and temps were in the 70s Saturday afternoon when I visited Falconwood Park. The main festival site felt like a small village. Concert-goes walked to the stage area with folding chairs while festival personnel zipped around the small paved paths in golf carts escorting guests from the parking area to the VIP section or the sponsor cabins. 

In the back of the compound were the usual food trucks and beer stands as well as merch tents and other vendors scattered around the perimeter. Beyond the long row of port-a-johns, a triangle of dudes played frisbee in the open field. Everywhere tangled in the brown and green grass were scraps of colored paper – the remnants of the previous night’s Flaming Lips’ confetti cannons. 

The festival suffered a bit of a set-back the previous day when J. Mascis announced he couldn’t play Saturday because of the death of close friend Dave Swetapple, bassist for Witch, Eerie and Sweet Apple, a band that includes Mascis. The schedule change pushed Buffalo Tom back to 5:30. 

The trio of guitarist Bill Janovitz, bassist Chris Colbourn and drummer Tom Maginnis may have looked grayer than they did in the mid-‘90s when their best albums were released, but they didn’t sound any different. They ripped into a greatest hits set that included just about every song any Buffalo Tom fan would want to hear, played to tight perfection. The only thing missing were a couple songs the band had hoped to play with Mascis, who helped produce their first two albums.

I can’t comment on the lighting but the sound was pristine. Outlandia’s huge stage gave the band plenty of room to roam, though they rarely strayed from their fixed positions. About 75 or so stood by the stage while a couple hundred sat behind the “No Chair Zone” area 50 yards or so from the stage. Dozens more sat off of stage-right in the Outlandia VIP section.

Execution-wise, Outlandia appeared to be a home run. But what about the numbers?

Tyler Owen, one of festival’s organizers, said he heard they had around 5,000 in the park for the weekend, but doesn’t have the data yet or the plan for 2025. Owen said during our recent interview for Flatwater Free Press that this year’s Outlandia was “make or break.” I talked to another organizer who said that’s the case every year. 

As Owen said, Outlandia has everything it needs to be as successful as Iowa’s Hinterland Music Festival. I searched in vain to find attendance numbers for 2024’s Hinterland, held last weekend, but instead only found article after article that reported complaints about how the enormous crowds put a strain on the festival’s resources, this despite humid temps in the mid-90s throughout the weekend. I’ve heard past festivals drew well over 15,000.

What I do know is that Hinterland quickly sold out their allotment of 3-day General Admission passes on the strength of their line-up, which included major indie artists Chappell Roan, Ethel Cain, The Last Dinner Party, Orville Peck, Blondshell, Vampire Weekend, Hozier, Mt. Joy and more – a line-up that must have cost a gazillion dollars to book. 

If Outlandia had booked just the top three of the above list of artists, they might have doubled their attendance this year. But at what cost?

And at the end of the day, even with that star power, it’s all a gamble.

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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 © 2024 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

The above headline is like tossing a lit grenade in the room full of indie kids. I have no idea what Maha Music Festival’s current status is. The rumors are that Maha is over, done, won’t be back next year. I’m not so sure, though, and see no reason why it would end except that the Maha folks have yet to provide any updates on the festival’s status for 2025. 

But if Maha is over, Grrrl Camp could easily slide in and take its place. In many ways, it reminded me of Maha – its lineup, the vendors/festival atmosphere, the laidback feel of the crowd, even the location, which brings me to Falconwood Park in Bellevue.

This was my first time inside the confines of the Falconwood compound, having skipped the last couple years of Outlandia, partially out of concerns about the facilities and access. Though it’s only a quick 25-minute drive via the Interstate, there’s always been a “do-I-really-want-to-drive-all-the-way-out-there?” sort of feel about it. All the photos I’d seen made it look like Falconwood is an empty field near the banks of the Platte River – muddy, mosquitos, parking in a grass field, etc. 

Well, I’m here to tell you, Falconwood was worth the trip. They have a pretty amazing set-up. Getting there is easy via a two-lane county road off the interstate that takes you to a very narrow access road (easy, but I wonder how easy if, say, 8,000 people headed to the concert). Signage makes it hard to miss, though we did go in through the camping entrance by mistake. Parking was, indeed, in a grassy field near the campgrounds but was only a few yards from the concert area. 

One of the first buildings you encounter is the facilities’ west lodge, a very cool structure with a stage, a full bar and probably a kitchen (though they weren’t serving food), with bathrooms and booths along one wall. I asked one of the organizers what would happen if there was a heavy rain during the concert, and she told me they’d take it into the lodge, but the structure’s capacity could be more than a few hundred. 

Beyond that was the festival area, with more vendors than I’ve seen at any other local music festival. There must have been 100 vendor tents, most selling clothing, jewelry, art and tchotchkes (I saw one selling shoes!). Food trucks were set up along the back – maybe a half-dozen of the usual suspects (the El Churro Spot had the longest lines).  

More vendor tents and picnic tables ran along the edges leading up to the stage area, and, just eye-balling it, I’d guess that the footprint for this section of Falconwood is smaller than Stinson Park at Aksarben Village (but this is just a fraction of Falconwood – more on that later). 

Maybe it was the fantastic weather, maybe it was the bands, maybe it was the size of the crowd, but the whole thing felt very chill and fun. We got there on Saturday afternoon right before Girl Ray took the stage, found a spot about 30 yards from the stage, and dropped our folding chairs complete with a Modelo tallboy in hand (alas, I didn’t see any Rolling Rock in their coolers).  

I’d guestimate the crowd was around 200 not including the army of vendors. Organizers say Grrrl Camp attracted 1,000 people over the course of the weekend (again, not including vendors), which is much less than your typical Maha festival. That said, for its second year (and first with national touring bands), it’s a good start. 

Leeds, England, band Girl Ray played tunes off their latest LP, Prestige (2023, Moshi Moshi), which were fun, un-cheesy disco rock songs. I don’t think they play many U.S. festivals, and said they were surprised to get the call for Grrrl Camp. With the weird CrowdStrike outage impacting airports earlier, they had to take a series of overnight flights from LA to make it to the festival, but seemed happy they did.

This stage at Falconwood is a permanent structure and is really all they need for this portion of the park. The sound was fantastic, especially with this band. The young, fashionably hipster crowd happily bounced to the beat. Yeah, it was mostly women in the audience, but there were plenty of dudes, too.  There also was a small army of people slinging SLR cameras taking photos everywhere – there must be a shit-ton of aspiring rock photographers in Omaha. 

After a quick switch-out and some bumping DJ action, Nashville’s Annie DiRusso and her band were next. Their sound is more akin to modern indie rock, reminiscent of Blondshell and other artists who were clearly influenced by Liz Phair. She played most of the songs off her 2023 EP, God, I Hate This Place, as well as new songs from her upcoming debut full-length (which I think she said drops next month). 

Their mix was much heavier and louder (in went my earplugs), which made things sound chunkier and less refined than her recordings. These folks apparently drove from Seattle to make this festival, which in itself was impressive. 

In case you didn’t know, Charlie XCX’s new album, brat, has been deemed the album of summer 2024. DiRusso invented the term “NeBratska” in its honor, which she rolled out when introducing her band’s unique, rocked-out cover of “Apple” from that album – a highlight. 

After DiRusso’s set, the fine folks at Falconwood gave me a quick tour of the entire facility (via golf cart), including where the upcoming Outlandia Festival will be held on the opposite side of the park. That concert space is immense, surrounded by old cabins that have been renovated for camping (or glamping). There is little doubt that Outlandia will be a completely different concert experience than Grrrl Camp (both are booked by 1% Productions) and more akin to the mammoth machine that was the Maha Music Festival. 

The Outlandia Festival, by the way, is in just a few weeks – Aug. 9 and 10 – and will feature headliners The Flaming Lips, The Head and the Heart and The Revivalists, along with a fetching (and, in my opinion, more interesting) undercard that includes The Faint, Dinosaur Jr., Buffalo Tom (yes, that Buffalo Tom), Devotchka, Flipturn and more. 

The story behind Falconwood is kind of inspiring and something I hope to pursue at a later date.

Hurray for the Riff Raff were on stage when we got back to the Grrrl Camp area. Their folk-tinged rock was the perfect compliment for a beautiful evening outdoors. No doubt the medical tent was kept busy doling out mosquito repellant (I certainly got my share). 

We left before Indigo de Souza, whose music I love but who I’ve seen before. Because of our timing, getting out of Falconwood was simple, but like I said, I’m not so sure how it all works when you have a few thousand people leaving at once. 

The moral of this rather long-winded review is to not be afraid of Falconwood Park. The facilities are awesome. The location – while nowhere near as convenient as Stinson Park – is easily accessible from Omaha (though the jury is still out regarding traffic during a big event), and holds far more potential than what Aksarben Village could provide. 

Hopefully Grrrl Camp will return next year, building on the buzz generated this year. I was trepidatious about the name, but I get it now. As long as that name doesn’t hold back organizers from booking bands that don’t have at least one female member, I could see this festival growing to Maha proportions. 

Ah, Maha, what has become of thee?

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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 © 2024 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

The Baseball Project got me wondering: What are most rock songs about? Relationships, having fun, personal struggle, love and regret. Some are political anthems. Others are meaningless word salad combinations. Almost all are written from a singer/songwriter’s vantage point. 

The Baseball Project’s songs are solely about baseball, the players, the history, the game itself. It’s the ultimate concept band that doesn’t sway from its subject matter, written by people who love and know the game and its history. With that in mind, The Baseball Project could be the first rock band to win a Pulitzer for its songwriting. Each song is a snapshot of America’s past time, reported – and sung – by the songwriter. 

All of this was going through my head as I watched and listened – along with a couple hundred folks – to The Baseball Project at The Waiting Room last night. I mentioned yesterday that Steve Wynn sang most of the songs – that’s wrong. Each member of the band except Peter Buck sang leads on a song, with Wynn and Scott McCaughey handing the lion’s share. Mills sang leads on at least three songs, including standouts like “To the Veterans Committee” (consider Dale Murphy for the Baseball Hall of Fame) and “Stuff” (about illegal substances pitchers use to get more action on the ball). 

Wynn and McCaughey have terrific complimentary voices and are commensurate storytellers. They introduced each song, explaining the history about what they were about to sing. Almost every song included a year or date for context and a lot of baseball players’ names that if you’re only a passing fan of the game, will likely be lost on you, except for heroes like Willie Mays and Hank Aaron, etc. 

Take out the baseball subject matter and you’ve got some of the best jangle-power-pop rock that you’ll likely hear, and you would expect nothing less from this legendary line-up (with Buck, McCaughey and Wynn all playing guitars, Mills on bass and the remarkable Linda Pitmon on drums). You have to wonder if these songs could have been big hits if they weren’t solely about baseball – an idea I’m sure has been written about in past reviews. Because many of the melodies and compositions are as good as stuff by R.E.M. or Dream Syndicate. 

But I guess for these folks, if it wasn’t about baseball, it wouldn’t be fun. There is almost nothing controversial or polarizing about the game. I guess you could argue about ‘the Steroids Era,’ or Pete Rose or your personal take on the Designated Hitter Rule, but it’s mostly just harmless fun, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

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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 © 2024 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

On one hand, I was surprised at the light turn-out for the Roger Daltrey/Inhaler free concert at Memorial Park Friday night. On the other hand, I had to wonder how many people under the age of 30 know who Roger Daltrey is and was. 

To underscore the latter perception, Omaha Magazine posted a video on social media wherein one of their “reporters” asked random kids if they knew Daltrey’s music. You can imagine the results.  Add to that week-long weather forecasts that warned of thunderstorms (the weather was beautiful, btw), and I guess I can see why the attendance was lower than I expected. 

It’s a shame, because Friday’s concert was somewhat awesome and maybe the best Memorial Park show I’ve attended. Opening act Inhaler featured Bono-from-U2’s son, Elijah Hewson, on lead vocals and guitar and was a solid band. It’s unfair to compare Inhaler to U2 I know, but it’s impossible not to. Hewson’s voice is a doppelgänger of his old man’s, but their pop-alt-rock music was a far cry from the power and energy heard on albums Bono was making when he was Elijah’s age. Ah, but those were different times. 

Inhaler’s slick, formulaic approach to songwriting will either mean their music will remain unforgettable or, considering the pedigree and the power of Universal (their label), that they’ll be superstars. I wish the Omaha Magazine folks would have asked the same kids if they knew who Inhaler was. 

Right at 8:30, on came Roger Daltrey and his band. The last time I heard him sing live was years ago when The Who played at CHI Center (or whatever it was called at the time). Back then, Daltrey was clearly under the weather – or so we were told – and his voice was a rasping, ragged ghost of its former self. 

That wasn’t the case Friday night. At age 80, Daltrey can still hit (most) of the high notes and is smart enough not to try when he knows he can’t. I was astonished at how well he sang.  

The setlist was a great collection of classic Who songs and appropriate covers, opening with a cover of Pete Townshend’s “Let My Love Open the Door,” which Daltrey said The Who should have recorded. Lots of old Who songs followed, including “Substitute,” “Squeeze Box” and “Won’t Get Fooled Again” alongside a rarity like “Tattoo.” Daltrey did an a cappella rendition of the first few lines of “Love, Reign O’Er Me” just to sort of prove to the crowd that he could, and after the first chorus said, “That’s enough of that.” 

The band, which included guitarist Simon Townshend (Pete’s son, who sang leads on “Going Mobile”), was solid, replacing pulsing organ and synths lines on songs like “Won’t Get Fooled Again” and set closer “Baba O’Riley” with violin and accordion, to great effect. 

As the set ran toward 10 p.m., Daltrey said they had time for one short one, and so they ripped into “The Kids Are Alright.” A few seconds into the song, Daltrey said from stage, “They’re telling us we have to stop. They’re giving us the hook,” but despite this, the band played to the end. I don’t know if they were being directed by a curfew or the start time for the disasterous fireworks display, which came on immediately after Roger said goodnight.  

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Tonight at The Slowdown, Philly band The Goalie’s Anxiety at the Penalty Kick headlines. The six-member band has a real throwback sound to ’00s indie, almost like early K Records chamber-pop bands (or our very own Slumber Party Records’ acts). Also on the bill are local indie bands Bokr Tov and B.B. Sledge. 8 p.m. $15. 

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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 © 2024 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan,  Lazy-i.com

Nice crowd of around 50 (guestimate) at The Sydney for Whippets Friday night. I saw a lot of old school / O’Leaver’s folks in the crowd, no doubt on hand to support their old pay Bobby Hussy’s new-ish band.

Whippets are a post-punk power trio, with Hussy up front on guitar and vocals. He was backed by a solid rhythm section that included Tyler Spatz on bass (I’m not sure who was on drums). 

The band already had kicked things off when I got there at around 10:30 and played a set of blistering, guitar-fueled garage punk maybe reminiscent of Jay Reatard but more so The Hussy or another, more refined Hussy/Spatz project called Wristwatch. 

The band calls their sound “post-punk Grungegaze” and I guess I can hear some of that grunge in the fuzzed-up guitar tones. My favorite moments were when Hussy would switch from a twangy guitar-punk tone to over-blown grunge/Nirana-esque tone midway through a song, like lighting rocketfuel.

Speaking of lighting fuel, during the final number, Hussy jumped from the Sydney’s tiny stage, dropped his guitar on the floor and proceeded to douse it with lighter fluid and set it ablaze. He quickly put out the fire, plugged back in, then struggled with his pedals for a couple beats before his slightly melted guitar roared back into action. Rock ’n’ roll!

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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 © 2024 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan,  Lazy-i.com

Before we get to the review of last night’s show at Slowdown, a head’s up that tonight, The Reader’s patriarch, John Heaston, is being honored by the Omaha Press Club with the 178th “Face on the Barroom Floor.” I can think of no one more deserving. I’ll be there and will try to snap some pictures or at least get a photo of the drawing. Speaking of The Reader, there’s news about the future of that publication, which I’ll pass along next week…

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The band Wednesday ended its North America tour last night at The Slowdown, and as you might expect, there was a mad-cap looseness to the performance.

Frontwoman Karly Hartzman was particularly chatty throughout the set (and said so), proudly declaring it was their first time headlining in Omaha (They opened for Beach Bunny at The Waiting Room back in May 2022). With guitarist MJ “Jake” Lenderman by her side providing beautiful harmony vocals along with his snarly lead guitar licks, Hartzman and Co. played all the hits off last year’s Rat Saw God album, including a wonky, intentionally sloppy version of indie hit “Quarry.”

That song’s zany performance was driven by an introduction where-in Hartzman said folks in Denver (where they played a couple nights earlier) had told her people in Omaha don’t know how to mosh. She egged-on the crowd to form a mosh pit and the resulting “hop-and-jump” pit bounced around for the rest of the set. That’s one way to get people in Omaha to “dance.” 

I wasn’t aware Wednesday loved punk and/or metal, but it became obvious when Hartzman provided some genuinely throaty metal screams, especially during the night’s encore, which sounded like something by Destruction Unit. 

The night felt like an all-star performance with Hartzman’s versatile vocals that ranged from a soft coo to that growly scream, but the other heavy hitters were Lenderman, who carried the lead vocals on a cover of Drive By Truckers’ “Women Without Whiskey” — a highlight — and lap-steel guitarist Xandy Chelmis, who can turn any song into a twangy country ballad. In fact, the set also swung between quiet alt-country-esque ballads and gritty shoegaze noise rockers. In the end, the softer stuff won the day (for me, anyway). 

Opener Draag showed extremes – between metal/industrial and seamless, ambient shoegaze. Frontman/guitarist Adrian Acosta is a vocal chameleon shifting between Dean Wareham/Galaxie 500 crooning and all-out metal screaming. Fellow vocalist Jessica Huang was the contrast with her cool, purring voice. 

Draag opened with the hard stuff and settled into the rich shoegaze halfway through their set, hitting their obvious sweet spot. I could see these folks opening for any of the major shoegaze bands as they continue to develop their own flavor of the genre. 

Wednesday has been selling out shows on this tour, but only managed to draw around 250 last night at the Slowdown, which made for a comfortable-sized audience for the big room (with the balcony closed). That said, it underscored indie’s weak appeal in the Omaha market and continues to explain why a lot of the heavy-hitting indie acts are bypassing our little town.

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Speaking of which, onto another rather sparse weekend for indie shows….

Tonight at Pageturners, Breakers headlines. The trio of Chris Yambor, Robert Little and Matt Focht play a jazzy form of indie, sounding like a lounge version of Pavement or GBV. Very cool. Our old friend singer/songwriter Stephen Bartolomei opens at 8 p.m. No cover, but $10 suggested donation for the artist, please.

Then Saturday night Milwaukee noise-punk band Spoy headlines at Reverb Lounge. In the old days we’d call this math-rock – fuzzy guitar speed that sounds influenced by acts like Chavez and At the Drive In whereas they site US Maple and Black Midi as influences. Opening is Ivory Daze and Pagan Athletes. $12, 8 p.m.

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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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 © 2024 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan,Lazy-i.com

The folks at Undertow (the living-room concert promotion company booked the show) said Eric Bachmann would arrive at our gallery at around 6:30 to begin his “load in,” but here we were at a quarter past 7 and still no Bachmann. About a half-dozen patrons had already arrived, three of them Undertow concert veterans who had brought small, fold-out chairs and a small foam-sided cooler, the stuff you see at the Memorial Park concerts. One of them asked where in the room Bachmann would be performing so he could set up his chair. 

I began to worry. Should I text my contact at Undertow? Ah, but my concern was unfounded, as there was Bachmann, his hulking, 6-foot-7 frame standing by the open back door looking like a fit over-the-road truck driver. He quickly specked out the narrow room and decided the best place to “set up” was in the middle along the wall. I helped hump in equipment and he chatted-up early arrivers while arranging his stuff.

A few guests looked mildly confused when they realized there were no chairs and had to either stand or sit on the oak floor, having not read the website’s instructions suggesting they bring a cushion to sit on. I felt sort of bad for the few who clearly looked uncomfortable — the audience’s mean age was probably around 35 — but what could I do? By 8 p.m. – the show’s official start time – everyone had arrived and everything was ready. 

A charming, funny southern gentleman (but without a twang), Bachmann proceeded to give a 90-minute performance that included songs from Crooked Fingers and Archers of Loaf catalogs as well as solo work and new material. If you had a favorite Bachmann song, he played it last night, taking requests from the crowd throughout the set. 

Without a PA, Bachmann’s rich, reedy voice was amazing, filling our small gallery while he switched from steel-stringed and nylon-stringed acoustic guitars and an electric keyboard. 

He filled in the blanks between tunes with stories about past performances, road life and what inspired certain songs, like the woman who pulled up alongside his white van in an SUV after a Vegas show who inspired new song “Spray Tan Speed Queen (in a German Car)” – a track no doubt destined to be on his next album. 

Afterward, many patrons thanked us for hosting, and Bachmann said he had a good time, loved the room, and thought it would be a great spot for other touring Undertow artists. So, this first attempt at hosting an Undertow show at Ming Toy Gallery was, for the most part, a success.

A few take-aways:

• – The room is too small to host anything but acoustic shows.
• – Comfortable crowd capacity for the gallery is 40.
• – Some how, Undertow has to get the message to ticket buyers that we don’t provide seating and to bring a cushion or folding chair. But frankly, I don’t know how they could make the point more clear on their website. 

After this successful test run, we’ll continue to offer the gallery for future Undertow shows. While we don’t make a penny hosting them, they’re fun and they get new people into the gallery to see local art. And maybe most importantly, they provide an option for these touring musicians who no doubt are looking for ways to eek out a living doing what they love – a difficult task in this digital age…

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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 © 2024 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, lazy-i.com

After last night’s Horse Jumper of Love show at The Sydney, it made perfect sense why the band selected Old Ramon by Red House Painters as their favorite album. 

Horse Jumper of Love has a similar overcast, mid-tempo, slowcore style as RHP and frontman/guitarist Dimitri Giannopoulos even has a Kozelek-esque voice. And while both bands’ music is wonderfully moody, unlike RHP songs that can go on for eight minutes or more, HJoL’s songs quickly get to the point – three times through and out. 

Their first time in Omaha, Giannopoulos squinted through most of the set. “We’ve been in the van for a long time and these lights are very bright,” he said. The crowd of around 40 didn’t mind, clearly mesmerized by the low-key splendor. 

I’ve only recently been introduced to this band because of this tour date, so I’m not familiar with many song titles. Not that it would have mattered as Giannopoulos said they were playing a number of new songs last night. I did recognize slower, gorgeous versions of the title song from 2023’s Heartbreak Rules album and “Spaceman” from their self-titled 2017 debut.

The band held a quiet intensity throughout the 30-minute set, and I was reminded of the great, dreamy, post-rock bands I grew up listening to, like Bedhead, Low, Sun Kil Moon and Mark Eitzel/American Music Club. Last night’s Horse Jumper set fit right in, though their recordings are typically more upbeat (and faster). Who can blame them for sounding so lonely – after all, it had been raining all day, and they were in that van for a long time.

I caught most of The Dirts’ opening set sitting back in one of the broken booths by the front door, and thought to myself, ‘these folks may be onto something if they can get their vocals figured out.’ Once again, whether it was the frontman or one of the women singing, the vocals were lost/buried in amidst the chiming guitars. But maybe that’s how they want it…

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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 © 2024 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.