Jason Meyer in Talking Mountain.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

I first met Jason Meyer back in 2010 for this article that was also published in The Reader. It was an interview with his band Talking Mountain that focused in part on my love of their song “The Abominable Abdominal Snowman,” arguably one of the best songs ever produced by any Nebraska band. Arguably. Look, any song about a snowman obsessed with weight lifting is going to be on that list.

My only regret having seen Talking Mountain at least a dozen times over the course of their short existence was never buying one of their muppet-like fur masks worn during performances (though I can only imagine how it would have smelled).

After Talking Mountain came the first iteration of Feel Tight, a self-proclaimed (in this article from August 2014) “black-prog-stoner-doom” rock band. Around the same time, Meyer was in psych-rock band Calm Fur (seen here from December 2014).

Now comes a new iteration of Feel Tight, or The Feel Tight, as Meyer referred to it in a recent email, which stated that “...a new/first album is well underway with a whole new line-up…” Included in the email was a link to the following rather bizarre video.

Who’s going to be playing alongside Meyer in this new interation of The Feel Tight is still a mystery, though we have an idea how it’ll sound: “(The band is) taking on a pretty cool Krautrock, proggy feel. My old roommate Dan turned me on to Neu!, and that influence is very much there, but heavier.”

Sounds like the new album will include some interesting guests that Meyer has crossed paths with on his trips to Oklahoma, which makes sense since to me, Meyer has always been Omaha’s version of Wayne Coyne.

Check out where he’s evolved to now…

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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 © 2016 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

The main reason for this update is to hype the Whole Foods / Hear Nebraska promotion. It’s this: Whole Foods in both Lincoln and Omaha is donating 5 percent of every purchase made at their stores to Hear Nebraska all day and all night. That’s not all: Lucky Bucket Brewery and Zipline Brewery are providing tastings from 5 to 7 p.m., and, yes, there will be music. Here in Omaha Jessica Errett and Kait Berreckman are playing from 6 to 7 p.m., while in Lincoln, Hear Nebraska managing editor Chance Solem-Pfeifer and Evan Bartels are playing from 5 to 7 p.m.

I can’t remember the last time I stepped foot in Whole Foods, but I’m planning on making a trip just for this special occasion. You should, too.

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What else… I haven’t listened to it yet but I’m told the Conor Oberst interview with Marc Maron is pretty right on. Kevin Coffey at the Omaha World-Herald has some excepts and a link to the interview/podcast right here.

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Tonight at fabulous O’Leaver’s it’s Talking Mountain Is Dead — presumably the last time you’ll hear Jason Meyer play Talking Mountain songs. I don’t believe it (and it doesn’t matter if I did). Helping “bury the mountain” will be Michael Parallax and METH DAD. This “very special episode of Talking Mountain” starts at 9:30 and costs $5.

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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 © 2015 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Calm Fur at the Barley Street Tavern, Dec. 5, 2014.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

I found the buzz and howl of Calm Fur to be rather sublime — a psychedelic cascade of noise and color and sound that blended every ’60s arena rock acid trip with the post-modern noise of, say, Sonic Youth to create a wholly new and cumbersome thing.

It didn’t come easy; it took awhile for the band to get into a groove.  Wearing a white-fur jacket (epitomizing the band’s name) frontman Jason Meyer has emerged as Omaha’s version of Wayne Coyne, a colorful, arty dude who isn’t happy with just playing shows. Instead, his gigs are audio-visual-powered “happenings.” Think back to one of those notable Talking Mountain shows (one of Meyre’s other bands) where smoke broiled out the club’s doors and audience members wore sun glasses to protect their eyes from blazing LED light rigs.

Meyer shows always involve special effects panache, even if it’s just a couple guys wearing furry Muppet-style masks. For Calm Fur, the enhanced experience involved two overhead projectors set up on either side of the Barley Street stage, along with an assortment of markers, glitter and confetti. Audience members were invited to come up during the set and let their creative spirit run wild, but no one did, at least not until about halfway through their set when a young women began scribbling with a marker which washed out over the band. Psychedelic, man.

Give credit to Meyer. Nothing is more boring than watching a bunch of guys slumped over their instrument, hardly moving. Meyer doesn’t want to fall into that sanguine trap, though no special effects were necessary to make Friday night’s set interesting… or at least different.

Like I said, it took awhile for the band to get things going. When they started out, I wondered why Meyer wanted that keyboard to fuss up the sound. By the third song I was thinking ‘That keyboard really makes this work.” I don’t know who keyboardist “Jesy” is, but her simple tones and style (and voice) were the perfect complements to Garrett Schmelzel from Snake Island’s acidic 12-string electric guitar and Meyer’s ever-droning bass. By the fourth or fifth song, the band hit its stride and even had me buzzing. They followed it with a couple shaky covers that featured the next performer, Slushy.

Slushy is former Omahan (and Talking Mountains guy) Chris Kramer doing his rendition of Nuggets-era pop songs sung alone over pre-recorded tracks, karaoke style. Kramer’s choice of music and his aerobic-styles performance made for a fun set, at least for the first 15 minutes. I’m told that Kramer has a working band he plays with in Chicago. Someone needs to get those folks out here.

Lupines at The Barley Street Tavern Dec. 5, 2014.

Finally sometime after midnight The Lupines took the stage, basking in the full intensity of Barley Street’s fancy new digital lighting system, which cast them in eerie electric blue. What more to say about Lupines that I haven’t already said, other than you need to check them out if your thing is blistering garage rock. It was a great way to cap off what turned out to be a looong night.

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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 © 2014 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.