by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

The Answer Team has come a long way since the first time I saw them play at The Barley Street way back in November 2008 (yeah, it really has been that long). But on their self-released debut long player, O Sad and Future Human, which is being celebrated with a CD release show tonight at The Slowdown, they’ve managed to stay the same indie-prog-instrumental course, but with grander results. They site Mogwai, Explosions In The Sky, Pelican, This Will Destroy You and Godspeed You! Black Emperor as influences; I still hear Album Leaf/Tristeza in their compositions. You be the judge. Opening is stunning prog/noise rock outfit Back When, and those dirty punkers New Lungs (fronted by D-Max from Little Brazil). $7, 9 p.m., more info here.

Meanwhile, down at The Barley Street Tavern, noise-rock masters Techlepathy (Speed! Nebraska Records) will be unveiling new songs that they’re currently recording with Steve Micek (The Stay Awake). Opening is Lincoln band The Surprise Left, whose lineup includes Rich Higgins on guitar/vocals (ex-Sideshow, The Holy Ghost, Imperialia, Pat the Bunny, Eric the Red, Peer Puppet), Paul Engelhard on drums (ex-For Against, A-1 House of Fun, Busmans Holiday, Tel Quel, Holiday, Young Nebraskans (LA), Wabofi) and Chris Palmquist on bass (ex-Eric the Red, The Sound of Rails, Eamon). $5, 9 p.m.

Saturday night Dim Light (the stylish, sinister trio of Cooper Moon, Tom Barrett, Boz Hicks) is celebrating the release of its first 7-inch, “For You,” at The Brothers with Private Dancer (probably their last show for a long time) and the always amazing Solid Goldberg (Dave Goldbert, that is). $5, 10  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 © 2011 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

 

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

From the Lazy-i Vault, Aug. 15, 2001:

There is nothing in Omaha or elsewhere quite like The Faint, and they know it.

Their ultra-stylized live shows have enough panache to transform even the bleak, wood-paneled, linoleum-floored confines of Sokol Underground into a be-seen-style glossy, New York City dance club. It’s not done with smoke and mirrors. More like smoke and light and heat, and a digital-pulsed rhythm that throbs in syncopation with the black-clad lads’ every twitch, their bodies bent in strobe-lit silhouette behind racks of keyboards, wires and gear.

Their stage show is a flawless marriage of tune and technology, driven by a style of music that is at once familiar to anyone who listened during the bad-hair days of New Wave electronic pop to bands like Human League, Berlin, Thomas Dolby, Front 242; a style that carried on into the ’90s with dance-house acts like Depeche Mode, New Order and The Cure. But though comparisons can be made — and always are — nothing from the Reagan-era on or since has really sounded like The Faint’s brand of dark, sleek, digitally driven rock.

It is high-style anywhere, but especially in a state that takes pride in comparing itself to choice cuts of meat cooked “rare, well done.” The Faint is an oddball outfit, too sleek to recognize how sleek it is, denying fashion while at the same time setting it.

So began a story that tried to describe what would become one of the hottest bands to emerge from the Omaha music scene. It was written to support the release of Danse Macabre

, the follow-up to The Faint’s break-out 1999 album, Blank-Wave Arcade. Released by Saddle Creek Records Aug. 21, 2001, Danse Macabre is my favorite Faint album, and judging by the reaction that almost every one of its songs received during live shows, it was their fans’ favorite, too. More from the vault:

The Faint, Danse Macabre (Saddle Creek, August 2001)

The difference (from Blank-Wave Arcade) both in sound and musical style is a slap in the face right from the opening track, “Agenda Suicide,” which sports the darkest, bleakest sing-along chorus laid over the band’s patented minor-key voice-of-doom-in-a-jumpsuit synth counter-melodies. And, of course, an irresistible house-dance rhythm track. The hyper-kinetic whirl of “Glass Dance” comes on like a video-game-colored rave soundtrack, but with irresistible, undeniable hooks. “Let the Poison Spill from Your Throat” and “Your Retro Career Melted” carry a distinct Some Great Reward-era Depeche Mode punch.

The fireworks, however, don’t reach maximum height until midway through the CD. The streamlined “Poised to Death,” is a sassy head-shaker, while “The Conductor,” a song the band has opened its set with since they began touring this summer, is a regal, minor-key dance anthem, complete with vocoder-distorted vocals (just like Neil Young’s Trans, for you old-timers) and orchestral-quality piano tones. Next, Todd’s portrait of life on the edge, “Violent,” marries stark, grim images of violence and murder with Sputnik-tinged synth pings and an ever-throbbing thump-thump-thump house beat that’ll keep anyone shaking it. CD closer “Ballad of a Paralyzed Citizen” takes advantage of a gorgeous cello line played by Cursive’s Gretta Cohn to set the stage for one last dark fable, with the opening lines: “I’m paralyzed and things could change for you as well / You’re not so bad off now, you can move anything you need.”

Said Todd during the interview: ”Rather than analyzing different things about sex, this one sort of does that with death. Neither album is all about sex or death, but there is sort of a death theme this time.”

The record would go on to sell 147,000 copies, making it the band’s all-time best seller and among the best selling Saddle Creek releases. It came at the dawn of Saddle Creek’s (and some would say, Omaha music’s) Golden Age, with The Faint, Bright Eyes and Cursive jockeying back and forth as the most popular bands on the roster (a battle that Bright Eyes would eventually win).

“We’re not trying to get popular,” Todd said. “I think radio sucks and I’m not going to jump through hoops to get on it.” He yawned and put a CD in the stereo. “We don’t want to be millionaires. I don’t know what we’d do with the money.”

Back to the Present: Today, as far as anyone knows, The Faint are no more, though there hasn’t been an “official announcement” saying the band has permanently split. Last I heard, Joel Petersen was living somewhere in Los Angeles and was releasing music as Broken Spindles. Mike Dapose, whereabouts unknown to me, created death metal/electronic/experimental project Vvwerevvolf Grehv. Todd, Clark and Jacob — all now living in Omaha — started a new electronic dance project called Depressed Buttons, which will begin a monthly residency at the all-new House of Loom, 1012 South 10 Street, on Sept. 9. DP already has released music on Mad Decent, an LA-based label owned by Thomas Wesley Pentz, a.k.a. Diplo, the Grammy-nominated producer of  M.I.A’s “Paper Planes.” You can check out some Depressed Buttons music at their Sound Cloud page: http://soundcloud.com/depressedbuttons.

* * *

Tonight at The Waiting Room, it’s the illustrious return of punk-metal madmen Bloodcow with Lo-Pan and Anestatic. Bloodcow never fails to put on a fantastic show. Do not miss. $5, 9 p.m.

* * *

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 © 2011 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

The weather was perfect. The bands were awesome. And the crowd was… well, it could have been bigger.

The final “official” head count, according to MAHA Music Festival organizer Tre Brashear, was 4,000, “slightly down from last year.”

A disappointment, and yet, by all other accounts, this year’s MAHA, held last Saturday at Stinson Park in Aksarben Village, was a success, certainly from a fan perspective. I realized this about 15 minutes into Guided By Voices’ set, standing in a crowd of T-shirts and sunscreen and Coors Lites snuggled in red Kum & Go koozies, the sun just peeking over the western horizon after a long day of warm light, slight breezes, temperatures in the upper 70s — a perfect day weather-wise. By all accounts, by everyone I spoke with, MAHA was flawless. The bands and the stages and the sound were fantastic. You could not have asked for anything more… except, of course, for more people.

The review: In addition to Guided By Voices, which flawlessly tore through a set of their finest (“14 Cheerleader Coldfront,”  “I Am a Scientist” “Hot Freaks,” “The Official Ironmen Rally Song,” you know, the classics), the other main stage standout was — strangely, unexpectedly — J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr. Seated with an acoustic guitar on his lap, looking like a worried Mr. Natural in nerd glasses, long gray hair blowing in the afternoon breeze, Mascis leaned forward and played a blistering set that drew from his solo work and D. Jr. catalog, highlighting his intricate, ornate, gorgeous guitar work. His voice, a craggy, weary, heart-broken moan, sang of personal yearning while his guitar didn’t gently weep, but soared. Undeniably beautiful, but at the same time, desperate and utterly depressing. By mid-set, it was actually bringing me down.

Mascis was quite a contrast to what came right before it — So-So Sailors on the “second stage,” located to the left (south) of the main stage and sounding somewhat better, thanks to an easing of volume and the natural earth barrier behind it. You could argue that the main stage sounded slightly overblown, overdriven, just plain too loud. By the end of the evening my voice was ragged from having to scream to talk to the person standing right next to me (no matter where I stood in the Stinson compound).

So-So Sailors was the second stage’s highlight, along with Noah’s Ark Was a Spaceship, which has people asking if they’re the best unsigned band in Nebraska. The other local stage highlight was Lincoln instrumental prog act Machete Archive, a band perfectly suited to cover Rush’s 2112 if only one of them knew how to sing. OEA talent show winner The Big Deep and Lincoln electronic dance/groove act Somasphere rounded out the “little acts.”

Des Moines’ The Envy Corps launched the “big acts” on the main stage shortly after 1 p.m. to a smallish crowd that was still 10-fold larger than the typical early afternoon crowd at last month’s multi-million dollar Red Sky Festival. The Reverend Horton Heat followed with an omnibus career-spanning set of indie rockabilly. Local superstars Cursive, featuring original drummer Clint Schnase, was the most bombastic (and loudest) of the day. To me, it was worth thirty bucks just to hear them do “The Martyr.” So-called “headliner” Matisyahu’s electronic reggae rap closed out the evening to a dwindling crowd (despite the half-priced beers).

Overall, a great day in the park for any indie music fan. Still, “from an ‘economic’ perspective, the day was just OK,” Brashear said. “We had good ticket numbers, but we found that people didn’t stay for the whole day, which hurt our food/beverage/merch sales. People came just for RHH, or just for Cursive and GBV, or just for Matisyahu.” The “coming and going” is likely a symptom of MAHA not being a true “festival” — a multi-day event where people have to commit (due to traveling and camping) to stay for the duration. For MAHA to expand to something like that next year (and yes, there will be a “next year”) the festival will need to find a “presenting sponsor,” which it lacked this year.

Maybe the day’s biggest winner was Stinson Park. “The fans LOVED it,” Brashear said, “but (we’re) not sure what Aksarben Village thinks about us.” He said more volunteers were needed for after-show clean-up. “We had too much mess left over when the Farmer’s Market started the next morning.”

Then there’s Aksarben Cinema, who I’d been told was livid after discovering during last month’s Playing With Fire concert, also held at Stinson, that they had some sound “leakage” problems that caused Harry Potter fans to experience Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings from their theater seats. The buzz Saturday was that the theater, which is the central village draw, was going to put its foot down for future festivals.

During Matisyahu’s set, I walked over to the theater and chatted with the kind gentleman stationed at the ticket-tearing gate and asked if they’d had any noise complaints. He said a couple patrons mentioned something, but that was about it. He suggested I find out for myself. “The auditoriums closest to the park are probably 5 and 6,” he said. “Pop in and see.”

So I did. The Smurfs movie was playing in No. 5. I stretched my eardrums as much as I could, and thought I heard something, maybe a low rumble, but I couldn’t be certain. No. 6 was seating for Harry Potter. Pre-movie commercials and music were playing. Again, I heard nothing. Matisyahu wasn’t “Cursive loud,” but they were certainly earplug loud.

Instead of fighting it, the theater needs to figure out a way to tie into MAHA, that is if it’s held in the park next year. If it were up to the fans I spoke with, it would be. They all said they preferred Stinson’s cool grass lawn to the sun-baked concrete slab of Lewis & Clark Landing. But for MAHA to grow into a real multi-day festival, it’ll need to find some place even bigger and better than both those locations.

* * *

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 © 2011 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Look for a comprehensive review of Saturday’s MAHA Music Festival tomorrow. It’ll also be featured in this week’s column. For now, here are some images from the show, held at Stinson Park, Aksarben Village.

More to come.

* * *

Tonight at Slowdown Jr., it’s Grandfather with Lightning Bug and Family Picnic. Though unsigned, Brooklyn’s Grandfather has been getting a lot of press lately, including listed in SPIN’s “10 Must Hear Artists at Brooklyn’s Northside Festival, 2011,” as well as being name checked by the legendary Steve Albini in a GQ article. Says Albini: “There was a band that came into the studio a while back called Grandfather. They were an art-rock band that organized the funding of their record through Kickstarter. They were really well rehearsed and came into the studio and knocked the record out in a couple of days… That’s the kind of nimble, efficient behavior that was previously impossible when there was a corporate structure involved. It gives me confidence other bands will figure it out.” $6, 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 © 2011 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

In a way, it all comes down to the weather.

Well, that and the bands, of course. And the ticket price. Look, we know the venue’s going to work out, right?

I’m talking about the third annual MAHA Music Festival, which runs this Saturday afternoon and into the evening at Stinson Park in Aksarben Village. In addition to a solid lineup, it looks like MAHA will have something else that no other festival has had this year — fantastic weather. They’re talking sunny and 80 degrees. It should be so nice, in fact, that the MAHA folks won’t have the convenient excuse that Red Sky / MECA had for the embarrassing crowds at their afternoon endurance-test day sessions. I’ve avoided talking about Red Sky because, well, what’s the point? No one has access to their day-pass ticket sales numbers, which must have totaled fewer than 100. Can you imagine anyone buying a three-day second-stage pass to Red Sky? Whether they’re willing to admit it or not, MECA knows it has a problem. At the core of any festival is selling multi-day tickets/passes; without that, you’re merely hosting a series of unrelated evening concerts, not a festival.

But when it comes defining a festival, MAHA isn’t without criticism –a one-afternoon/evening concert event does not a festival make. Until they spread MAHA out to two or three days, I’m hesitant to call it a true festival, either. The organizers know this. There are plans/hopes to expand MAHA to multiple days…some day. Right now, they just want to get through Saturday with a decent-sized crowd to cover costs and so their vendors can make some money — something that Red Sky’s day vendors weren’t able to do.

Today is the last day to buy MAHA tickets at the $30 price point. You can buy them online, right here. Tomorrow, the price goes up to $35 per ticket, but even at that price this concert is a bargain (especially considering parking is free (yet another perk over Red Sky)).

Here’s the schedule:

Noon: Gates Open
12:30 — The Big Deep
1:10 — The Envy Corp
2:00 — The Machete Archive
2:40 — The Reverend Horton Heat
3:50 — The So-So Sailors
4:30 — J Mascis
5:25 — Noah’s Ark Was a Spaceship
6:00 — Cursive
7:15 — Somasphere
8:00 — Guided By Voices
9:30 — Matisyahu
11 — Show’s Over

The organizers have asked to pass on this warning to anyone attending: There will be no re-entry allowed after 4:30. If you leave the park after that time, you can’t come back in. “(We) want people to stay and hear the locals, not just go in and out for the nationals,” said MAHA organizer Tre Brashear. Other than those who live in nearby condos, I’m not sure where people would go anyway, especially with all the beer and food available right there in the park. Regardless, heed the warning.

And buy a ticket. Buy it right now, while you’re thinking of it. Go.

* * *

What about the rest of the weekend?

Tonight New Lungs (Little Brazil bass player Danny Maxwell’s other band) is headlining a gig at O’Leaver’s with Birthday Suits and Solid Goldberg (Dave Goldberg of Box Elders/Carsinogents fame). Fantastic show. $5, 9:30 p.m.

Also tonight, Landing on the Moon (Little Brazil drummer Oliver Morgan’s other band) is on the lineup of what’s being billed as a “pre-MAHA show” at Mojo Smokehouse with Midwest Dilemma and Snake Island. $8, 10 p.m.

Finally, the Barley Street Tavern is hosting the Nebraska Pop Festival tonight and tomorrow; with the festival wrapping up Sunday afternoon at The Side Door Lounge. More info and band lineup at the NPF website.

* * *

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 © 2011 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Column 336: All Systems Go for MAHA

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

When the first band takes the stage at this year’s MAHA Music Festival (at exactly 12:30 p.m. this Saturday), event organizers can take pride in knowing they’ve pulled together a program that not only tops last year’s event, but also establishes itself as the area’s premiere indie music festival.

Lord knows, it wasn’t easy. Along the way, their difficult path was filled with unexpected turns, frustrating indecisiveness, and last-minute demands. And though everything is in place just days before show time, as is the case with any outdoor festival its success is far from guaranteed — even the best-made plans mean nothing in the face of monsoon rains.

But why even consider such a bleak possibility?

Regardless of the weather, they’ve got a lot to be proud of. Saturday’s MAHA concert will mark the third-to-last appearance ever of Guided By Voices , as well as a reunion of the original Cursive lineup (with powerhouse Clint Schnase on drums) and a rare Midwestern festival appearance by J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr. It’s going to be a veritable smorgasbord of classic indie rock.

On the downside: You won’t see a single female musician on stage the entire afternoon. Not one. It’s a fact that MAHA organizer Tre Brashear said couldn’t be avoided, despite all of their efforts.

“Realistically, I think it shows how in demand female performers are,” he said of the scheduling challenge. “We made several offers (to female-fronted bands) because we think it’s important, but just couldn’t get it done. Looking back, the time we ‘lost’ waiting for commitments that didn’t happen impacted our ability to secure female artists, because those female artists were committing to other shows during that time.”

In fact, Brashear said dealing with indecisive bands was the hardest part of piecing together this year’s program. “We received several tentative commitments that ended up backing out,” he said.

In the end, he was more than satisfied with the final lineup, so much so that this year MAHA marketed beyond the city limits. “We have advertised more nationally,” Brashear said. “Also, our street team work has been much more regional, with people at the 80/35 Festival, Pitchfork, Lollapalooza and Kanrocksas.”

But despite the extra marketing, ticket sales are “pretty comparable” to last year at this time, he said. “Although this is also when we see a surge, after people have seen the weather forecast and know that they have no other conflicts that weekend.”

Brashear said ticket sales comprise roughly half of MAHA’s revenue, with sponsors filling in the other half. “We don’t have a set number of tickets that we have to (sell) to keep doing MAHA, but sales do matter in terms of showing that this whole effort is ‘worth it,'” he said.

Keep in mind that MAHA is the product of a nonprofit organization — it isn’t designed to make money. The goal always has been to fill a void in the local music calendar for an indie rock festival. However, organizers don’t want to lose money, either.

“Since we started doing this, much has changed,” Brashear said. “There’s Kansrocksas, Red Sky, indie shows at Stir, increased success by 1% (Productions). Heck, even Hullabaloo (held last week at River West Park) is meeting a need for ‘camping and music,’ Given all that, ticket sales matter because they show that people like our event and think it is different than what is out there. Positive comments in social media are nice, but people ‘vote’ with their money.”

They also vote with sponsorships. MAHA continues to attract support from some of the area’s largest companies, including TD Ameritrade (main stage sponsor), Kum & Go (local stage sponsor) and Weitz Funds. This year Whole Foods joined the project as a sponsor, vendor, even filling the bands’ riders.

That extra help will come in handy, as the seemingly unending Missouri River floods forced the event from its former home at Lewis & Clark Landing to Stinson Park at Aksarben Village. Despite the benefit of Stinson’s fixed stage, the move from the Landing will mean higher costs for things like fencing, generators and overnight labor (everything has to be cleared out by Sunday morning, in time for the weekly Farmer’s Market).

Helping them figure out how to pull it off was last month’s Playing With Fire concert that featured Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings — an event that also had been moved from Lewis & Clark Landing to Stinson Park. By watching PWF, Brashear and his team not only saw how their event could look and sound, they saw ways to improve on PWF’s event design.

“We learned that you need to work to integrate the east side of the area so it doesn’t get ‘forgotten’ with all the activity on the north and west ends,” Brashear said. “We also learned that the park is so big that you need to have a satellite beer/drink stand.”

As a result, MAHA is moving the entrance and the drink ticket windows to the northeast corner of the park, on Mercy Street, forcing patrons to walk past the vendors, which this year includes Mangia Italiana, Parthenon and eCreamery. Featured nonprofit organizations, such as Omaha Girls Rock, Joslyn Art Museum and Omaha Public Library, will see their tents located on the park’s east end to improve foot traffic in that area.

“As for the satellite drink stand, we’ll have one located along the south side, in addition to the primary tent on Mercy Street,” Brashear said. Refreshments will include Lucky Bucket Lager and IPA, PBR, Coors Light, Mike’s Hard Lemonade, three kinds of premade mixed drinks, and for you teetotalers, Pepsi products, Red Bull, iced tea and bottled water.

Sounds like they got it all covered. Even Accuweather is predicting 82 and sunny. Will it be a record year for MAHA? Buy a ticket and find out.

* * *

That ol boy Tim Kasher is awful busy these days. He and his cohorts in Cursive are working on a new record and will be playing the MAHA Music Festival Saturday night. At the same time, he’s promoting a new EP, Bigamy: More Songs From The Monogamy Sessions, with a free in-store performance at the brand-spanking new Saddle Creek Shop (located in the Slowdown compound) this evening at 7 p.m. (where you’ll be able to pick up your copy of the EP five days before anyone else).

Omaha World-Herald‘s Kevin Coffey has a super-keen Q&A with TK about his ongoing projects as well as a new Good Life album, right here.

And if that weren’t enough, Kasher also is going to be a guest on Michael Feldman’s Whad’Ya Know, which tapes live this Saturday, 10 a.m. to noon, at the Holland Performing Arts Center. You can listen to the program live on KIOS 91.5 FM, Omaha’s NPR affiliate. If you’ve never listened to the show, it’s mostly Feldman chatting with the audience, a couple call-in current events quizzes, witty banter with his traveling band and, for the road version of the show, interviews with local celebs — in this case Kasher. I don’t know if TK will be performing as part of this gig, but based on how Feldman has presented past guests, it’s unlikely. Tickets are available to the taping for $25 to $25 at ticketomaha.com.

* * *

The next annual (what is this, seventh annual?) Lincoln Calling Festival initial lineup was announced last night. The event, which is held in bars throughout downtown Lincoln, will be held Oct. 11-15.

Festival organizer (and unofficial mayor of Lincoln) Jeremy Buckley said he had to throttle back this year’s lineup after losing Scion as a sponsor (due to the tsunami in Japan). The full lineup is available on the event’s Facebook page, right here, but highlights include Icky Blossoms, Conduits, Little Brazil, Talking Mountain and Ideal Cleaners. More info to come.

* * *

Much to do tonight.

At O’Leaver’s, The Lepers headline a show with Snake Island and a band called Digger (one assumes, named after a certain foot fungus mascot). $5, 9:30 p.m.

Down at Slowdown in the big room it’s industrial pioneers KMFDM along with Army of the Universe, 16 Volt and Human Factors Lab. $25 and an early 8 p.m. start. Bring your earplugs.

And finally, Bluebird is playing on the newly christened Mojo Smokehouse stage (actually, I don’t even know if they have a stage or not, they do have pretty good sliders) located in Aksarben Village (right next to the movie theater). With Chicago’s Machinegun Mojo; 10 p.m., $5.

* * *

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 © 2011 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

When the Guided By Voices reunion tour was announced in June 2010, Matador Records deemed the band’s configuration “the Classic Lineup.” Even the GBV logo was reworked in the same colors and font as Coca-Cola, another American classic.

It was the perfect moniker for a lineup that drove GBV’s mid-’90s golden era — frontman/singer/songwriter Robert Pollard, guitarist Mitch Mitchell, drummer Kevin Fennell, bassist Greg Demos, and Pollard’s partner in crime, guitarist Tobin Sprout, who penned such GBV classics as “Awful Bliss,” “Atom Eyes” and “It’s Like Soul Man.”

For the uninitiated, a quick GBV career summary: It started when grade school teacher Pollard got together with friends from a number of local Dayton bands and jammed in his garage. From 1986 through 1993 the band put out seven recordings, none of which caught the ear of anyone outside southern Ohio.

After ’93’s Vampire on Titus was released on Scat Records, music insiders began figuring it out. Following a series of New York shows, the band began to attract an interesting group of fans, including The Breeders, Thurston Moore, Peter Buck, Peter Wolf, Ray Davies and the Beastie Boys.

Then in ’94, the year of Kurt Cobain’s death and the beginning of the end for grunge, along came Bee Thousand, GBV’s homemade opus that positioned the band as indie rock legends. Pollard and Sprout had an uncanny ability to write short, sweet pop songs with hooks that you couldn’t get out of your head. Sprout’s 4-track recordings ushered in what would come to be known as the “low-fi” craze. Suddenly, for better or worse, hiss-filled CDs that sounded like they were recorded for about $10 in someone’s basement “studio” were all the rage among indie bands. Sounding good meant sounding bad.

During this era, the classic lineup would make some of GBV’s most famous recordings, including Propeller, Bee Thousand, Alien Lanes and Under the Bushes Under the Stars.

But all good things come to an end, right? GBV split up in ’06. Pollard went on to a solo career. So did Sprout, who was also nurturing a fine art career and a family. And that, it seemed, was the end of the GBV story.

Until this reunion, but even that has to end sometime. The band’s appearance at the MAHA Music Festival this Saturday at Stinson Park will mark the third-to-last show of this reunion tour.

We caught up with Tobin Sprout to find out what happens next:

Guided by Voices' Tobin Sprout, circa 2010.

How did the “Classic Lineup” happen? What convinced the band to get together for these shows?

Tobin Sprout: Matador asked us to reunite for their 21st Anniversary show in Vegas (2010).  After that was announced we were getting offers from all over the country to play, so we ended up doing a 21-city tour.  Then added New Year’s and other weekend shows.  We have four more shows to do ending in September, about a year from the time we started the reunion. It was sort of the plan to put it to rest after a year.

What’s it been like playing with Bob and the rest of the band again?

It’s been good; everyone is having a great time, picking up where we left off.

What have been the best and worst parts about this tour?

The best part is playing in GBV again, I never thought for any reason it would happen.  But Matador gave us an opening and we just have gone with the flow.  It has been great to be with the band and see the fans again.

Flying is the worst part. It never really used to bother me, but now it does, not really for the danger because it’s safer than driving, or even the high up in the air part, just the checking in, waiting, waiting, checking, sitting in a very small area. Maybe I’m becoming claustrophobic.

Guided by Voices, Bee Thousand (Matador, 1994)

Have you ever talked about writing and recording new GBV material?

Yes, we have talked about it, and you never know it could happen. The reunion happened.

Within the past three or four years, there has been a revival of garage bands, and certainly a lot of these up-and-comers have been influenced by GBV. The GBV set was singled out as one of the best at the Pitchfork Music Festival. What’s it like knowing that your music is having an impact on a different generation?

Glad to hear Pitchfork

said it was one of the best. It was considered by NP (defund them) R, as one of the worst shows in Seattle.  If we help carry and pass the torch, that’s great. It’s all about the songs. There are people in every generation that seem to get that.

How has being in a band changed since the early ’90s?

Cell phones, laptops, e-mail have made touring seem a lot easier — being able to stay in touch with home and not have to deal with finding a phone (that works), phone cards, etc. I can always be reached now.

What advice would you give those just starting out?

I would say if this is what you want to do, write songs, and write songs.  Then go on tour and play them, and don’t sign anything until you have your lawyer look at it.

Guided by Voices at Sokol Underground, April 8, 2000.

What are you going to do after the tour ends? Are you working on any solo material or with another band?

I’ll be working on my art, music and painting.  Bob and I might do an art show together; right now it’s being called “The Big Hat And Toy Show.” No date has been set, and I will also need time to get more work together.  (I’m) also writing more on my book, Elliott — April and Elliott, the story continues.

Your paintings are amazing. Will you now refocus your efforts on your fine art?

Thanks, I never really lose focus.  I still manage to paint and write between shows, and I’m always making notes, and sketching ideas in my head on tour.

Will GBV ever reform again for another tour?

I don’t know.  Maybe

Finally, what should we expect from GBV when we see you at the MAHA Festival?

The Big Hat And (Amazing) Rock Show, for all the great Omaha and visiting GBV fans, and fans to come.

Guided by Voices plays with Cursive, J Mascis, Matisyahu, The Rev. Horton Heat and The Envy Corps at the MAHA Music Festival, Saturday, Aug. 13, at Stinson Park in Aksarben Village, 67th & West Center Rd. Gates open at noon. Tickets are $30; $35 DOS. For more information, go to mahamusicfestival.com.

Story originally published in The Reader Aug. 10, 2011. Copyright © 2011 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

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So here’s the deal: While plugging away at a history project of my own, I got lost in the catacombs of old articles and blog entries that make up 13+ years of Lazy-i.com. Narcissistic? I suppose. It dawned on me that no matter what history is written, there will always be things that fall between the tracks that should be remembered. And that’s where “The Lazy-i Vault” comes in, a new blog feature online once a week, usually Tuesday or Wednesday, that takes readers back to something that happened in Omaha/Nebraska indie rock history, as reported in Lazy-i. It could be a news item, it could be a show review, it could be an interview. It’ll be followed by a brief “so what happened”-style update. It’ll usually be just a brief snapshot taken from the past, like this one:

From Lazy-i Vault, Aug. 10, 2000: The Carsinogents will be trotting out a new bass player when they open for the all-girl band, The Pindowns, this Saturday, Aug. 12, 2000, at The 49’r. Vocalist Dave Goldberg said Marc Phillips will be taking over for Mike Ivers, who recently left the band. The Carsinogents also will be playing a show at The Ranch Bowl Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2000, with the Young Hasselhoffs and The Cuterthans.

Goldberg said the band has completed recording a 5-song EP at Rainbow, produced by Dan Brennan of Red Menace fame. “We’re currently sending it to various labels and people with connections,” Goldberg said. “Ideally, someone will pick it up and put it out. We’re very eager to tour.” FYI, for those who are on the fence as to whether to hit that 49’r show, Goldberg said The Pindowns perform in Catholic school girl outfits and have played a party for cinematic hero Ron Jeremy.

Back to the present: I don’t know if I made it to either of those shows, but I’m sure they were ones for the ages. Carsinogents never did much touring before the band split up a few years later. Goldberg got more than his share of roadwork as a member of Box Elders. You can catch his new joint, Solid Goldberg, Friday night at O’Leaver’s.

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Tonight at Slowdown Jr. it’s Dntel (James Scott “Jimmy” Tamborello of Figurine and Postal Service fame) along with One AM Radio and Geotic (Will Wiesenfeld of Baths). According to One AM’s publicist, “all three acts remixed each other, Will has played on The One AM Radio’s latest LP, and Jimmy and Hrishikesh (of The One AM Radio) go way back after meeting through the dublab community up in LA.” Expect to see more than just three guys sweating behind a bank of electronic equipment. Probably. $10, 9 p.m.

* * *

Tomorrow: The final word from MAHA before MAHA…

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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 © 2011 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

 

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Another festival going on under our noses is the Nebraska Pop Festival, which returns to Benson with a week’s worth of shows from bands you very likely never heard of.

“The Nebraska Pop Festival, is a multinational music festival showcasing true independent pop bands from around the world.  Those attending can expect to hear an eclectic variety of music and a little something for everyone.” said founder/festival organizer Christopher Beiermann.

Tonight’s lineup, which hits the PS Collective stage at 7 p.m., includes Family Picnic (Omaha), Murakami (Lincoln), Mint Wad Willy (Omaha), Met City (Indiana), Gabe Cahill (Omaha) and Platte River Rain (Omaha). Cover is $7 and proceeds go to Arts for All, Inc.

The festival bounces between PSC and The Barley Street all week, and closes at The Side Door Lounge Sunday afternoon. Go to the Nebraska Pop Fest website for a full schedule.

Also tonight, Omaha ex-pat Cass Brostad returns to The Barley Street Tavern with Austin co-horts Mandy Rowden and Charlie Mason in what’s being billed as the Guided By Vices Tour. Also on the bill are Bad Country, The Fergusons and Cass’s other band, The Family Gram. Should be quite a homecoming. Show starts at 9 p.m., $5.

Finally, traveling troubadour Paleo returns to Omaha tonight, this time at The Side Door Lounge, 3530 Leavenworth. According to Wiki, Paleo “is notable for writing a song every day for 365 days using a ‘half-size children’s guitar’ while living out of his car and being essentially homeless

.” Hasn’t he played O’Leaver’s a few times? 8 p.m., no cover.

* * *

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 © 2011 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

I have now gone two complete weeks without attending a show — that’s a first in a long time (not counting vacations). I planned on hitting up the Saturn Moth release show Saturday until that massive thunderstorm blew in from out of nowhere.

Well, there will be no avoiding the clubs this week. You’ve got Dntel on Wednesday, the Tim Kasher in-store early Thursday evening followed by Lepers/Snake Island at O’Leaver’s later that night, New Lungs and Solid Goldberg Friday night at O’Leaver’s, and then the MAHA Music Festival on Saturday.

And then there’s what’s happening tonight… Over at The Waiting Room it’s The L.A. Guns (the Tracii Guns version featuring Jizzy Pearl on vocals). Opening is Black On High, tickets are $13. Show starts at 9. Get your (hair) metal on, people.

Meanwhile, down at The Slowdown Jr., Venice CA band Honeyhoney plays with Hookshot. $5, 8 p.m.

Finally, if you happen to be in Des Moines tonight, Bright Eyes plays at the Val Air Ballroom with none other than Conduits and The Envy Corps. $25. 8 p.m.

* * *

Lots of stuff online this week, including interviews with Guided by Voices and a final look at the upcoming MAHA Music Festival. And quite possibly the launch of a new weekly feature. Keep watching…

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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 © 2011 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

It’s a quieter weekend than normal, with a few notable small shows…

Tomorrow night Saturn Moth is having an EP release show at The Waiting Room. They’re a four-piece — all UNO students — that plays an abrasive-pop style of indie rock fronted by a real crooner in Collin Matz. The band is literally giving away 100 copies of their new self-titled 5-song EP at Saturday’s show. Or if you prefer, you can get a free download of the recording right now at this Bandcamp address:  http://saturnmoth.bandcamp.com/album/saturn-moth-ep?permalink Downloads are limited to the first 200, and since I downloaded one that means there’s only 199 left. Better hurry.

Saturn Moth follows a long line of bands that released debut albums and then, almost at the same time, disbanded. Matz said Saturday night’s show will be the band’s last before it goes on hiatus.

“I wish I could say that it’s a ploy for publicity or buzz. Our drummer’s going for his masters in geological sciences in North Dakota this fall,” Matz said. “We’ve decided to make the EP free and just get it into as many iTunes libraries as we can in hopes that people enjoy it.”

Opening the show is Snake Island and Lightning Bug. $5, 9 p.m.

Other shows of interest or note:

No Blood Orphan (Mike Saklar and host of local superstars) is playing tonight at The Barley Street, coming out of months of seclusion. Joining the Orphans is The Garden, Custom Catacombs, Colin Hotz, Melissa Dundis, and Dylan Davis and Cricket. $5, 9 p.m.

The Answer Team is hosting a listening party/video release at The Sydney tonight starting at 8 p.m. The sneak peek precludes a full-blown CD release show Aug. 19 at Slowdown with Back When and New Lungs.

Also tonight, The Side Door Lounge is hosting a handful of out-of-town bands that I’ve never heard of, capped off by a performance from the Big Al Band. Show starts at 7 p.m. Event details and band line-up is at this Facebook event page.

Finally, tomorrow night at The Barley Street, Travelling Mercies headlines a show with The
Betties, Platte River Rain and John Klemmensen & the Party. $5, 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 © 2011 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.