Lodgings at O’Leaver’s, Dec. 2, 2017. The band returns tonight to O’Leaver’s.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

It feels like the holiday weekend, but Christmas isn’t until Tuesday. That said, this might be the best local weekend show line-up in recent memory.

It starts tonight at fabulous O’Leaver’s where the legendary Lupines are headlining. It’s been awhile since I’ve heard these dudes. Will they play “Maria” tonight? Even better, will they finally play “Hasn’t Failed Me Yet?”? As President Dumb-ass says, “Let’s see what happens…” Another of my faves, Lodgings, is in the second slot. The band has been in the studio. Will we hear some of their new stuff? Opening is Sean Pratt. All this for $5. Starts at 10.

Meanwhile, over at The Sydney in Benson it’s an outlaw country battle between headliners The Filter Kings and Sioux Falls act Mat D and the Profane Saints. $5, 10 p.m.

If you’re looking for the heavy shit, head on over to The Brothers tonight where they have Montee Men, Living Conditions and Leafblower (MaxTrax Records). $5, 9 p.m.

Tomorrow night (Saturday) it’s back to The Brothers Lounge for the 4th annual performance of SERIAL. SERIAL is Tim Moss, John Wolf, Lee Meyerpeter and Jerry Hug — four royalty from Omaha’s golden age of punk rock, having performed in such stellar ’90s acts as Ritual Device, Cellophane Ceiling, Bad Luck Charm, Cactus Nerve Thang and Men or Porn. Rusty Lord opens at 9. $5.

Also Saturday night Matt Whipkey headlines at O’Leaver’s with Brad Hoshaw and Joshua Mason. $7, 9 p.m.

Then comes Sunday and the Coat Drive for Heart Ministry Center at The Waiting Room. I wrote about this a couple days ago. The line-up is stacked: David Nance Group, Clarence Tilton, Stephen Sheehan and Garst. Tickets are $10 or a gently used coat. Bands start at 7 p.m.

And that’s all I got. If I missed your show put it in the comments section.

No doubt there’s nothing happening on Monday and Tuesday of next week, so let me take this opportunity to wish you a happy holiday from everyone at Lazy-i.com!

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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 © 2018 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

A screen cap from The Faint’s latest video, “Child Asleep,” directed by Nik Fackler.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Some news nuggets that have been sitting in the in-box…

Today the fine folks at the Maha Music Festival announced that the 11th annual festival will be held Aug. 16-17, again at Aksarben’s Stinson Park (Why mess with a good thing?).

No word on who will be performing, but it’s pretty early for that sort of an announcement. Last year the headliner was Weezer, which marked a shift to a more, shall we say, Stir Cove-style concert. Here’s hoping they return to their indie roots. There are plenty of big-name indie bands that could fill the park, not the least of which are Tame Impala, Courtney Barnett, Arcade Fire, Wilco and The National, to name a few off the top of my head.

In addition, Maha announced the continued support/production of Big Omaha as part of Maha week. The Big Omaha portion kicks off Aug. 14.

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Last Friday The Faint not only dropped a tasty new track, “Child Asleep,” but also announced their new 11-track LP, Egowerk, will be released March 15 by Saddle Creek Records (pre-order here).

The album takes on the dark side of social media, a theme frontman Todd Fink is quite familiar with. Says Todd in the press release: “Egowerk’s focus is on the current social state of the Internet: an amazing world of free knowledge, communication, and opportunity is proving to be a toxic battleground. One where the people most sure of their opinion are quick to take a stand and destroy anyone who doesn’t agree with them.”

Egowerk marks the first studio album by The Faint in four years and only one completely self-produced by the band. Omaha filmmaker Nik Fackler created the head-spinning video for “Child Asleep,” below. If the rest of the album is this good, look out world, The Faint are back…

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What’s become a diabolical holiday tradition, Omaha heritage-punk supergroup Serial announced it’s fourth annual holiday appearance at Brothers Lounge Dec. 22 with Rusty Lord opening.

Serial is Tim Moss, John Wolf, Lee Meyerpeter and Jerry Hug — four royalty from Omaha’s golden age of punk rock, having performed in such stellar ’90s acts as Ritual Device, Cellophane Ceiling, Bad Luck Charm, Cactus Nerve Thang and Men or Porn.

Expect a night of heavy rock favorites performed by four guys who helped define the Omaha indie rock/punk scene. More info here. Plan accordingly.

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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 © 2018 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

SERIAL at The Brothers Lounge, Dec. 23, 2016. They return for another go tonight at The Brothers.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Despite the fact that New Year’s Eve has been usurped into a night of firework-bombs that exceeds the 4th of July (driving my dogs under the couch shaking in fear) I was considering going out this year… until I saw the weather forecast that calls for ambient temperatures ranging between -15 and -20. No. NYE is always a bomb anyway; even was back when I was single. It’s definitely not a night to see original indie music. I mean, who wants to hear that at midnight?

Anyway, there’s plenty of other good stuff going on this weekend, starting tonight at The Brothers Lounge where SERIAL returns for their third annual holiday show.

SERIAL is Tim Moss (Ritual Device), John Wolf (Cellophane Ceiling, Bad Luck Charm), Lee Meyerpeter (Cactus Nerve Thang, Bad Luck Charm, Filter Kings, Ocean Black) and Jerry Hug (Ritual Device). Moss, Wolf and Hug also were the Men of Porn, but that’s another story…

To give you an idea what you’re in for, here’s part of the review from last year’s show:

The first set included covers of songs by Nugent, the Stones, Tom Petty, Cheap Trick, one of my favorites by Pavement (“Two States) and Bowie’s “Rebel, Rebel.” As Wolf said, they were SERIAL, killing one classic at a time.

Moss’s wife, Clementine, took over the drum kit, allowing the bearded wonder to growl a couple numbers himself, including a punked-up version of Amy Winehouse’s “Rehab,” and a gruff cover of AC/DC’s “Dirty Deeds” that featured a young lady with dreads who crushed the guitar solo.

I only stuck around for the first set. Lord knows what happened after that. Opening the show is KC band Drop a Grand. $5, 9 p.m. (but I bet it doesn’t start til 10)…

Meanwhile tonight over at The Waiting Room it’s the triumphant return of See Through Dresses. The band has been touring all over the U.S. this year. No doubt you’ll be hearing a well-honed machine on stage. Joining them is Saddle Creek Records band Twinsmith and Oquoa. $8, 9 p.m.

But that’s not all…

The fine folks at Almost Music are hosting an in-store tonight with Staffers, Apoptosis (featuring Anna McClellan) and Sean Pratt & The Sweats. This one starts at 8 p.m. and is $5. You could probably hit up this show early than walk down the street to Brothers to catch SERIAL. Just sayin’…

Tomorrow night (Saturday) is The Waiting Room’s big holiday show featuring our old friends Criteria. Will Stephen Pedersen and the boys roll out some new Criteria material for family and friends? Find out. I do know we’ll be hearing a couple new one from opening band Little Brazil (along with the classics). Those brutes in Noah’s Ark Was a Spaceship opens the night at 9 p.m. $8. In the words of everyone’s favorite holiday movie icon: Now I have a machine gun. Ho-ho-ho.

There is actually one notable show going on New Year’s Eve, and it’s at fabulous O’Leaver’s. The sinister electro-dance sounds of Cult Play headlines with post-punk rockers No Thanks and Houma. Come for the rock, stay for the NYE madness. O’Leaver’s is a crazy drunken madhouse on any given Sunday; no doubt it’ll go next-level crazy-fuck when the clock strikes 12. You’ll have to tell me about it since there’s no way I’m going out in 21-below weather.

For those of you who do, have a great New Year’s Eve and I’ll see you in 2018.

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Lazy-i Best of 2017

I almost forget to remind you about the Lazy-i Best of 2017 Comp CD?

The collection includes my favorite indie tunes I’ve come across throughout last year as part of my tireless work as a music critic for Lazy-i. Among those represented: SLuna, Closeness, Slowdive, !!!, Digital Leather, Perfume Genius, Big Thief, Wilder Maker and lots more. The full track listing is here, or take a listen if you have Spotify.

So the big news is you, too, could win a copy of the CD. To enter, either: 1. Send an email with your mailing address to tim.mcmahan@gmail.com, or 2) Write a comment on one of my Lazy-i related posts in Facebook, or 3) Retweet a Lazy-i tweet. You also can enter by sending me a direct message in Facebook or Twitter. Hurry, contest deadline is midnight Jan. 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 © 2017 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

SERIAL at The Brothers Lounge, Dec. 23, 2016.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Late Friday night at The Brothers. Someone pointed out that those overhead PA speakers were mounted on their ceiling a long time ago, evidence of how the bar has kind of transformed into an occasional music venue this year (though it’s still a punk bar at heart). The pseudo drum riser in the back corner I’d noticed before. On Friday night it held Tim Moss, who I’d forgotten was  pretty good drummer in addition to being the frontman of Omaha golden age punk band Ritual Device.

SERIAL is a sort of super group of golden age punk rockers, heroes of the ’90s who get together while in town for the holidays to play some covers. John Wolf, of Cellophane Ceiling fame, played guitars and did vocals. So did Lee Meyerpeter of Cactus Nerve Thang and modern-day act Filter Kings. And there was Jerry Hug on bass, a lawyer by profession, a rocker by reputation, at least the rep he has among folks at The Brothers.

I only watched the first set, which included covers of songs by Nugent, the Stones, Tom Petty, Cheap Trick, one of my favorites by Pavement (“Two States) and Bowie’s “Rebel, Rebel.” As Wolf said, they were SERIAL, killing one classic at a time.

Moss’s wife, Clementine, took over the drum kit, allowing the bearded wonder to growl a couple numbers himself, including a punked-up version of Amy Winehouse’s “Rehab,” and a gruff cover of AC/DC’s “Dirty Deeds” that featured a young lady with dreads who crushed the guitar solo. I split when the band took its first break. Great stuff on a late Friday night before Christmas…

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The holidays continue with tonight’s show at The Waiting Room. Icky Blossoms headlines a strong four-band bill that includes Closeness, Nathan Ma & the Rosettes and Cult Play. This is sort of a reunion show for Icky Blossoms, though Derek, Nik and Sarah haven’t gone anywhere. Rumor has it they’re working on new material for 2017. $10, 9 p.m.

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Read Tim McMahan’s blog daily at Lazy-i.com — an online music magazine that includes feature interviews, reviews and news. The focus is on the national indie music scene with a special emphasis on the best original bands in the Omaha area. Copyright © 2016 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

SERIAL (ex-Ritual Device, Cellophane Ceiling and ohters) plays tonight at The Brothers Lounge.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

The last Friday before a Christmas weekend is the last time you’re going to get to catch live music until next week. The good news is that there’s plenty to choose from tonight. Let’s go down the list:

The show with the biggest draw is going to be at The Waiting Room tonight where Criteria performs. I’d say this is a reunion show except these guys have never stopped playing. They just did a benefit concert for Hear Nebraska in Lincoln a month or so ago. Word has it they’ve been working on new material. Is a new release imminent? Maybe you’ll find out tonight. Opening is Little Brazil, who also has been working on new material; and Eric in Outerspace. $8, 9 p.m.

Meanwhile, across town at The Brothers Lounge SERIAL returns tonight for another holiday engagement. SERIAL is Tim Moss (Porn music, Ritual Device), John Wolf (Cellophane Ceiling, Bad Luck Charm, Porn music), Lee Meyerpeter (Cactus Never Thang, Bad Luck Charm, Filter Kings) and Jerry Hug (Ritual Device, Porn music). Things could get a bit dark, but don’t worry, those merry elves from Bloodcow open the show. $5, 10 p.m. This could all be one drunken blur.

Also tonight, Lookout Lounge is hosting its “19th Annual Holiday Party.” Not sure what “19th annual” means in this case since Lookout’s only been around for a few years. Regardless, expect mayhem from Wolf Dealer (Jason Steady’s latest project), The Superbytes, The Shidiots and The Mid Ways. Two warnings accompanied the show listing: “As per tradition, one band will not survive the night.” and “Wear clothes that you don’t mind getting death on.” Merry Christmas indeed. $5, 8 p.m.

On top of all that, there’s a DJ show at fabulous O’Leaver’s tonight featuring W.E.R.D., Cult Play, Sam Adam Martin and Kethro. $5, 9:30 p.m.

And that’s just about it for the weekend. In fact, you might have a hard time finding a place to drink over the next couple days. Omaha takes its Christmas seriously. Call ahead to make sure your booze-handler of choice is open Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Otherwise, I’ll see you on Monday.

Have a great holiday!

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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

There’s an interesting Q&A with Omaha ex-pat Maria Taylor in something called Alabama Newscenter wherein Taylor talks about getting her music played on soapy NBC drama This Is Us. From the interview:

I have a licensing company that pitches my music to TV shows, and I have been fortunate to have many of my songs featured on TV and in movies. It’s always exciting, especially when you really love the show. I’ve also had songs on Grey’s Anatomy, including an episode named after Song Beneath the Song, and another in the movie The Devil Wears Prada. Dawson’s Creek or Felicity might have been the first license I ever got!

When I first listened to her new record, In the Next Life (which comes out Friday on her label), licensing immediately came to mind. Taylor solo or in Azure Ray creates music that naturally complements these kinds of shows. No doubt licensing can be very lucrative and an exceptional way to augment a musician’s meager income in the streaming era. Too bad it’s so hard to land a licensing deal, but fact is most bands’ music simply doesn’t fit on TV.

One example: Tim Kasher’s music — with Cursive, The Good Life or solo. It’s just too mesmerizing, too distracting. If one of Tim’s songs came on during This Is Us it would be impossible to not refocus your attention toward the music, instead of letting it blend into the background.

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Legendary Omaha musician and promoter John Wolf dropped an email yesterday announcing that SERIAL is playing a Christmas show Dec.23 at Brothers Lounge with those merry elves in Bloodcow.

SERIAL is Tim Moss (Porn music, Ritual Device), Wolf (Cellophane Ceiling, Bad Luck Charm, Porn music, Lee Meyerpeter (Cactus Never Thang, Bad Luck Charm, Filter Kings) and Jerry Hug (Ritual Device, Porn music).

Says Wolf: “Wolf, Moss and Meyerpeter performed as SERIAL a handful of times in the mid 1990s. Various bass players played with the band including Eric Melvin from from NOFX for a couple of shows. For this performance the men of SERIAL coaxed and possibly blackmailed Jerry Hug into playing bass for them. SERIAL was known for their volatile, chaotic, and unpredictable rockin’ performances, and nothing less than this can be expected this time around.”

That’s primo stuff, but it isn’t the only X-mas show going on that night. Criteria is playing at The Waiting Room with Little Brazil on Dec. 23. Plan accordingly…

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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.

Back When at The Waiting Room, April 20, 2013. The band reunites again tonight at The Waiting Room.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Here’s hoping you had a great Christmas. How about that snow, Christmas Eve? What a pain in the ass. The street outside my house still hasn’t been properly cleared. Oh well, it’s inconsequential since I have four wheel drive. It certainly isn’t going to keep me away from the special holiday-tinged shows this weekend.

Top of list is Serial at The Brothers Lounge. Serial is a band that consists of John Wolf (Cellophane Ceiling, Bad Luck Charm, Porn), Tim Moss (Ritual Device, Porn), Lee Meyerpeter (Cactus Nerve Thang, Bad Luck Charm, Filter Kings) and Jerry Hug (Ritual Device, Porn). The show came out of the blue, and is sort of a sequel to last Christmas’s Ritual Device show (though I don’t expect to hear any RD songs tonight). Ron Wax a.k.a. Ron Albertson (ex-Mercy Rule) opens the show at 9:30 (though Brothers’ shows start notoriously late). $5.

Also tonight, Back When reunites at The Waiting Room. The noise-metal-doom band is back with their “We Sang As Ghosts” 5-man lineup. To celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the release of that album, Back When will be playing the record exclusively and in its entirety. Co-headlining is the reunion of black-out metal band Paria. Timecat opens. $10, 9 p.m.

Meanwhile, down the street at The Barley Street Tavern, a clutch of local singer/songwriters/bands are getting together for a tribute to the late Brad Hoshaw. Actually, the only thing late about Brad is that he’s late getting his next album out (which I’ve been told is a departure from his usual singer/songwriter stuff to new electronic vistas. Really, Brad? Don’t be such a hold-out). Among the musicians/bands scheduled to cover Hoshaw tunes are Scott Severin, Daniel Burns, Elisa Doo, John Klemmensen, Low Long Signal, Mark Sebring, Jeremy Mercy Orion Walsh, Zachariah, Shineys and Vinyl Recliner. This one is free and starts at 8 p.m.

Sunday night it’s back to fabulous O’Leaver’s for a four-band bill: Oquoa, Jake Bellows, Carl Miller and the Thrillers and Field Division. $5, 9 p.m. What’s Christmas without at least one night back at the Club?

And what’s a holiday without a little giving? Sunday night you can do something with that unused coat hanging in your closet when The Waiting Room hosts the Coat Drive for Heart Ministry Center. The line-up is Clarence Tilton (who makes an appearance on this year’s Lazy-i “Best of” compilation), Matt Cox and The Willards. Admission is $8 or a coat. Show starts at 7 p.m.

That’s what I got for the weekend. If I missed your show, put it in the comments section. Stay warm, Omaha…

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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.

Gramps at O’Leaver’s, Dec. 11, 2015.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Great crowd at O’Leaver’s Friday night for the Gramps EP release show. Django Greenblatt-Seay and Co. belted out songs off the online-only release (along with a few others) to a festive pre-holiday crowd packed into a very hot room — so hot, in fact, I had to step outside for air halfway through the set. The atmosphere was downright mossy.

Full disclosure: I work with Django downtown at Union Pacific, but rest assured I’m showing no bias when I say Gramps’ style of jangle (not jango)-indie rock has distinctively Nebraskan flavor, sounding like a cross between Little Brazil and Criteria (one song, about four into the set, had a riff and rhythm that directly channeled En Garde).

With all the irons Django has in the fire, Gramps shows are a rarity. If you get a chance, definitely check them out.

Millions of Boys at O’Leaver’s, Dec. 11, 2015.

As much of a draw as Gramps Friday night was the return of Millions of Boys. It’s been a long time since this trio played in Omaha, and they’ve been sorely missed. Whereas Sara Bertuldo’s other band, See Through Dresses, is more of a shoe-gaze act, Millions of Boys is in-yer-face, crunchy pop-punk reminiscent of Weezer. Fun stuff we need to hear more of.

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By now you may already have seen the Facebook invitation for a special reunion show Dec. 26 at Brothers Lounge. It’s the return of Serial, a band consisting of John Wolf (Cellophane Ceiling), Lee Meyerpeter (Cactus Nerve Thang) and Tim Moss (Ritual Device).

John Wolf dropped me an email last Friday announcing the show. “Moss, Lee and I did a few gigs as Serial in ’94-’96 time frame with various bass players, including Eric Melvin from NOFX,” Wolf said. “We coaxed Jerry Hug into playing this show with us!”

Whoa! Add to that a “special guest” and you’ve got a post-Christmas show for the ages.

Speaking of reunion shows, I would be remiss in not mentioning another big reunion show taking place the same night, Dec. 26 at The Waiting Room. Reuniting for one night only, after years defunct, is powerhouse noise-metal band Back When. Joining them is the equally fierce rock of Paria.

Where will you be the day after Christmas?

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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.