by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Here’s your weekend.

Tonight at Slowdown Jr. Killer Blow kicks off a tour that will be taking them to Minneapolis, Green Bay, Milwaukee, Chicago, St Louis, Memphis, and Springfield MO. The duo of Genie Molkentine on drums and vocals and Todd VonStup on electric guitar has a 3 song CD-EP and a 9-song tape recorded on 4-track they’ll be hocking on the road. Check out a track below. Opening are Coaxed, a band that includes members of Sun Settings and Capgun Coup, who will be joining KB on tour. Also playing tonight is Appleton WI band Arms Aloft, and Sister Kisser, a female-fronted punk band with members from Gag Reflex and Places We Slept. $5, 9 p.m. Go!

Also tonight, Matt Cox Band headlines at O’Leaver’s with The River Monks, Field Club and Brad Hoshaw. $5, 9:30 p.m.

Tomorrow night’s big event is the Gary Flanagan Memorial Tribute Show at The Waiting Room. I never met Flanagan but have been told that he was a long-time supporter of local music, which is obvious considering who’s playing this show: The Whipkey Three, Brad Hoshaw, Midwest Dilemma, Scott Severin, Matt Cox, Liz Webb and a special reunion of Sarah Benck and The Robbers. $5, 8 p.m.

Also Saturday night down at The Barley Street Tavern it’s The Ground Tyrants with Custom Catacombs and Mike Saklar and his band. $5, 9:30 p.m.

St. Patrick’s Day is Sunday, which is a bummer for everyone because it’s Sunday and we all have to go to work the next morning. That said, there’s a plethora of shows Sunday night including G. Love and Special Sauce at The Slowdown with John Fullbright. $22/$25 DOS, 8:30 p.m. The English Beat plays the Waiting Room with The Bishops. $22, 8 p.m. But the place to be might be The Barley Street Tavern, which is hosting a special St. Patrick’s Day bash featuring music from Edge of Arbor, Tara Vaughan Band, Valleytown (Dover, OH), The Decatures, No Triangles, Guilty is the Bear, and more. Their website says it runs 2 to 9 p.m. and costs $5.

As for me, I’ll be drinking my St. Paddy’s pint of Guinness at The Dubliner. See you there.

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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 © 2012 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Did a little bit of bar-hopping last night in Benson. I started out early at The Barley Street for the debut of Killer Blow. The duo of Genie Molkentine on drums and vocals and Todd VonStup on electric guitar came on around 10 and played about 15-20 minutes of sweet guitar garage jams that recalled bands like Oblivians and Urinals. I’m not sure which songs were originals and which were covers because, well, I’m not the most well-schooled in classic garage/punk. Molkentine has a gritty riot grrrl snarl that’s dead-on for this style of music, as much yelp as growl. Plus she’s cute as a button and can play drums standing up while singing (though her drum set only consisted of a snare, tom and crash cymbal). Her drumming at times was kind of shaky, but give her a break — this was their first show. VonStup played guitar with his usual raunchy panache, and together they made a cute team. In fact, they’re married, which made it all that much cuter. Keep an eye on them…

After their set I high-tailed it over to The Sydney to catch Digital Leather. The Sydney crew cleared out the tables and chairs prior to opening to give the room more space, and in fact it felt like a punk show. I got there just in time to catch the last couple songs by (who I assume was) Video Ranger — fun punk that prominently featured trombone, which got me thinking about ska, which they weren’t playing (when I was there). Then on came Digital Leather playing a better-than-usual breakneck set of garage rock that got a few guys doing a circle mosh-step (Were the mosh-dance guys from Agent Orange? I don’t have a clue as I didn’t stick around for their set). It was one of the more high-energy DL gigs in recent memory. The only disappointment was that the set list didn’t vary much from the last time I saw them play (except for the inclusion of “Sponge,” which created a lull in the middle of the set). They’re sticking with the new stuff, which is fine, though I’d love to hear something off one of the earlier albums thrown in for fun. Come on, guys, it’s ’bout time you reintroduce “Please Be Quiet.”

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Danse Macabre Deluxe Edition, The Faint (Saddle Creek, 2012)

Yesterday The Faint and Saddle Creek announced that they’re reissuing the 2001 classic Danse Macabre as a remastered and limited edition offering. According to the press release: “The remastered release, which features six bonus tracks from the era as well as an extensive booklet, will be available on CD in a triple-disc format with a DVD, and on double vinyl that also includes the CDs and DVD. Additionally, the DVD will include archival video footage from the band, live projection videos from that era’s tour dates, the ‘Agenda Suicide’ music video, some live footage, and more. Copies of the physical album will be limited to 5,000 for the 2xCD/DVD package and 3,000 for the 2xLP/2xCD/DVD package.”

Street date is Oct. 30. The band also announced a tour to support the release starting November 8 in Denver that will find the group performing Danse Macabre in its entirety for the first time ever, along with the usual set of old favorites. The tour ends with a show at Sokol Auditorium Dec. 14 with upstarts Icky Blossoms opening. In fact, IB will be tagging along for 14 dates on this tour. I can’t think of a better way to introduce the band to the world.

Some thoughts on Danse Macabre on its 10th anniversary. And check out the remastered “Take Me to the Hospital” right here. You can pre-order the album right here at the Saddle Creek online store.

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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 © 2012 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.