Talking Mountain at The Waiting Room, 7/22/11.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Who remembers Talking Mountain, the fun-loving combo from the mid- to late-2000s? My fondest memories of the band are:

1) They loved loved loved using smoke machines and lasers, so much so that one time they played at The Waiting Room and there was so much smoke billowing out the front door I thought the place was on fire.

Jason Steady (I think) in Talking Mountain.

2) They used to perform wearing super-cool muppet-like masks that had to be hot as hell. I always wanted one of those masks.

And, of course, 3) I loved their friggin’ music. I mean, who doesn’t want to hear a song about a snowman that loves to work out?

I bring this up because the mastermind behind Talking Mountain — Jason Steady — just released the 2007 album Old Gold / Ancient Jamz for its 10 year anniversary. The record is being released under the Jason Steady moniker (rather than Talking Mountain), and is available on CD and cassette.

It’s a collection of the best demos and bedroom recordings Steady did between 2004 and 2007, both alone and with friends. It originally came in 2008 on defunct label Slumber Party Records. Why is Steady re-releasing it now? Is this some sort of get-rich-quick scheme?

“Haha! There shall be no getting rich,” Steady said. “You know, it’s 10 years old and I kind of feel like the follow-up album (Nature of Magic) was a misstep, sonically speaking. I’ve got a new band now, which we’re just calling ‘Jason Steady’ to keep things simple, so I figure we’d re-release this one while we work on the follow-up, which will be a proper spiritual successor. It’s honestly the album I’m probably most proud of, and it’s literally bedroom demos. Go figure.”

Steady spent two weeks last May and almost all of November on the road with Chris Twist (former Omahan, currently in the Lemons and Nobunny), “remembering how fun it is to just play songs without the added hassle of lasers, lights, fog, projections, backing tracks, etc.”

His new band includes Ryan “Knife” De La Garza (who is more known for his comedy these days) on drums and Darren Keen (The Show Is the Rainbow) on bass. The official release show is this Saturday at the Replay Lounge in Lawrence, Kansas, with The Dull Drums (Tulsa, OK) and Arc Flash. (Hey, Jason, when’s the Omaha release show?).

Jason Steady, Old Gold / Ancient Jamz (2017, self-release)

The products are real hand-made efforts. The CD has a full-color print, minimally packaged with a hand-folded xeroxed insert slipped into a 3.5 mil poly sleeve. “The lettering on the cassette is custom-cut vinyl lettering that was hand applied,” Steady said. “The inserts were hand drawn, then printed, hand cut/folded, and assembled. Each one of these was touched by a human (me) a lot. I’m sorry if there’s a hair in yours.”

Order your copy and peruse the Jason Steady collection at https://www.etsy.com/shop/ifeelrealistic

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The Pageturners Lounge Winter Concert Series continues tonight with Dirt House (Annie, Amy, Miwi & Roger) and Ryan Menchaca & The Invisible Horses. It’s free and starts at 9 p.m. Can’t think of a better place to be on a snowy Monday 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 © 2018 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.

Deleted Scenes at Slowdown Jr., May 1, 2014.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

The smoke billowing out vents on the outside of The Slowdown last night was a good indication that Talking Mountain had already taken the stage. Sure enough, upon walking into the club you’d think the place was on fire, except the smoke didn’t smell like smoke, it smelled like something strangely chemical-y.

Talking Mountain indeed likes its smoke machine. The nozzle belched out the manicured soot like a volcano throughout their set. They also like their lights and lasers. Their latest production involves a 3D laser projected on a scrim that hangs from the front of the stage like a mosquito net. In addition to a cascade of colorful laser-pointer style effects similar to what I remember seeing at a Kansas concert circa 1977 a second projector beamed very cool moving images onto the scrim — skulls, hands, other stuff. Top it off with high-density smoke and you’ve got a multi-media spectacle concocted by equipment that would fit in your trunk.

Here’s the thing — while the images were neat and all, Talking Mountain never sounded better. Performing as a duo, the electronic-fueled music is as gorgeous and dense as the visual effects and could easily stand on its own (and I could do without the stinky smoke (I don’t care if it’s FDA approved, it can’t be healthy breathing that stuff in such mass quantities)).

The only special effects Deleted Scenes brought with them was frontman Dan Scheuerman, who practically made out with former Hear Nebraska Managing Editor Michael Todd during the last song of their set.

While their new album is solid by itself, the music takes on new life performed live. Scheuerman’s vocals are rougher and more organic than on the rather smoothed-over, lush recordings. The band made those edges even sharper, dancing along the edge of every syncopated peak and valley. Favorite moment was the performance of my favorite track off the new record, “House of Dust,” a song that staggers atop a brutal guitar riff that chops like the finest lumberjack.

The other highlight, of course, was that closing number, “You Get to Say Whatever You Want,” when Scheuerman walked into the crowd and touched foreheads with a couple innocent bystanders, performing a mortifying rock ‘n’ roll mind meld. Ah, Michael, you’re a good sport. I don’t know what I would have done…

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Looking at the calendar, only one show stands out for the entire weekend — the Mitch Gettman CD release show tonight at The Waiting Room.

Gettman’s new album, Stop Living Like It’s the End of the World, is a real surprise. I’ll be brutally honest and tell you I haven’t liked anything Gettman’s done in the past — it all sounded too by-the-numbers and homogenized. Not this time.

After a pretty acoustic intro, the album launches with “Stay a Little Longer,” where Gettman channels bands like Toad the Wet Sprocket, Soul Asylum and Gin Blossoms, creating a style of indie/alt singer-songwriter acoustic rock that we all remember from the ’90s. “Best Years of My Life” follows suit. Janglepop? Yeah.

On the other hand, “Pressure from the Public” feels like modernized ’70s rock a la Matthew Sweet. At times Gettman has a vocal affectation that recalls British psych-rock balladeer Donovan. That lilt is especially pronounced on the slower chamber-pop numbers like “She Wants to Break Your Heart” and “In the Shower.” The strings on “Ant Farm” are pure FM Gold. In fact the whole record lies beneath a layer of stereophonic nostalgia that, while dated, is never less than listenable (and well done).

As a whole, on this new record Gettman does little more than turn already well-toiled soil, but he does it with an exquisite plow. Worth checking out.

Opening Gettman’s CD release show is Müshmouth & Anne Frankenstein. $8, 9 p.m.

And… that’s it for shows. Remember, tonight is Benson First Friday, so you might be hard-pressed to find parking in Omaha’s hottest booze district.

Did I miss anything? Put it in the comments section. Have a good 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 © 2014 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Not much happenin’ today. We got Talking Mountain headlining down at Slowdown Jr. tonight with Lincoln band Green Trees — a synth pop project that should fit right in with TM’s electronic party vibe. Also on the bill, Chris Couse. The show is absolutely free and starts at 9.

What else…

I just noticed Warpaint has been booked to play The Waiting Room April 2. Their new self-titled album is pretty good.

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Jessica Errett joins Matt Whipkey tonight at Tracks Lounge. 8 p.m. and free.

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Tomorrow: The return of Kyle Harvey, Poet.

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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.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Here’s the weekend picks… better late than never…

Tonight at fabulous O’Leaver’s Talking Mountain returns for another retina-burning performance. I think I said earlier that the new TM album, Mysterious Knowledge / Unknown Colors, was a Slumber Party Records release. It’s not, it’s self-released and, I’m told, it’s kicking ass on its own. Opening are Lincoln band Life Is Cool and the always entertaining Pleasure Adapter, who are making a run at becoming Omaha’s “next big thing.” $5, 9:30 p.m.

Meanwhile, over at The Waiting Room, Yep Rock band Jukebox the Ghost plays with Pretty & Nice. $12, 9 p.m.

P&N are also playing tomorrow morning for line-standers at Homer’s for Record Store Day. Get in line at 9, have some coffee and donuts, and get serenaded by this kooky Boston trio.

Finally, tonight down at Slowdown Jr., He’s My Brother, She’s My Sister (Park the Van Records) headlines a show with All Young Girls Are Machine Guns. $10, 9 p.m.

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/56408631″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

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Noah’s Ark Was a Spaceship, You Need You (self-release, 2013(

Tomorrow night, Noah’s Ark Was a Spaceship celebrates the self-release of their full length You Need You. “Some parts were recorded at ARC by Ben Brodin and other parts were recorded by JJ Idt and Matt Carroll in Matt Carroll’s basement studio called Little Machine,” says the band. The album will be released as a vinyl/cd/digital download all-in-one package for the low, low price of $15. The record maintains Noah’s Sonic Youth devotion, but adds touches of other ’90s influences, such as Dinosaur Jr. Check it out below, then order your copy or just pick one up at the show. The mighty opening lineup includes Back When, UUVVWWZ and Baby Tears. $7, 9 p.m.

And check out Noah’s just-release Love Drunk Video for “Caucasian Meditation,” below:

Also tomorrow night (Saturday) Marnie Stern (Kill Rock Stars) plays at The Barley Street Tavern with Baltimore band Roomrunner and our very own Snake Island. Here’s what Time Out Chicago said about Stern’s show Wednesday night at The Empty Bottle:

Stern’s live show is always a high-energy affair, and the single-woman-from-the-Upper-East-Side stand-up comedy (she did her classic Rodney Dangerfield impression) is just one element of her magnetism. Her dizzying, diaristic compositions and guitar work—frenetic, finger-tapped, boisterous and dense—are what enrapture those who like a dash of gleeful pop in their math rock. 

Could be interesting indeed. $10. 9 p.m.

Finally, Sunday Austin psych-rock band The Black Angels headlines at The Waiting Room with Allah-Las and Elephant Stone. $15, 9 p.m.

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/79446633″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

And again, don’t forget about Record Store Day tomorrow. Go put some vinyl on.

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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 © 2013 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Mousetrap at The Waiting Room, Dec. 29, 2010.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

The last time we heard from Mousetrap was back in December 2010, when the seminal Omaha punk band played a reunion show at The Waiting Room. It was quite a night — frontman Pat Buchanan and bassist Craig Crawford, along with new drummer Mike Mazolla, were in fine form. I remember thinking at the time that the band never sounded better, and I mean ever. “That sense of uncertainty is gone. They’re more focused; they know exactly what they want to do, and they do it. Their sound is as vicious and acidic as ever; but Buchanan’s voice (as well as Crawford’s) is more controlled and certain,” I said in a review the following day.

The surprise of that review: “Buchanan ended the set saying, ‘See you next year,’ but made the surprise announcement that the band is considering recording a new album in 2011 — that is, if they can find a label to give them some cash.”

Well, as you might have guessed, that new album never happened in 2011. Instead, Buchanan moved to sunny Florida from his home base in Detroit, making it impossible for him to continue practicing with the rest of the band in Chicago. End of story, right?

Yesterday out of the blue I received the following message from Craig Crawford via Facebook:

“Hey Tim! Craig Crawford here. Well, I don’t have all the details worked out yet, but Patrick Buchanan is back living in Detroit, and it seems that Mousetrap might be a functioning working band again. Not a reunion; we’re gonna just try and pick up where we left off all those years ago and start making new stuff. So, we should start rehearsing sometime in the next few weeks and I will tell you all about how it seems to be progressing.”

I glanced at my calendar to make sure it wasn’t April 1. And then I typed, “Fantastic! Can I spread the word via Lazy-i?”

“I don’t see why not. We have yet to get together, but Patrick seems so super-psyched about it that I think it’s gonna be fun,” Crawford replied. “We had been meaning to do this since the last reunion, but he started working in FL, so it just never worked out. Now that he’s in MI, and just 5 hours away, we can actually start working on a new album.”

Crawford said he had no idea what Mousetrap circa 2013 will sound like. “We are very different people now, but I doubt that it will be too removed from what we ever were,” he said. “That just seems to come out.”

Indeed it does. While we wait for what happens next, catch up on your Mousetrap history with this 2009 reunion story.

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Talking Mountain, Mysterious Knowledge/Unknown Colors (Slumber Party, 2013)

All right, back to rock shows, finally. There’s a big one tonight at Slowdown Jr. and the price is right.

Talking Mountain is celebrating the release of its latest on Slumber Party Records, Mysterious Knowledge/Unknown Colors. It’s a step in TM’s becoming Omaha’s version of the Flaming Lips. Trippy stuff with a synthy bounce that embraces a comfortable pop aesthetic. WTF does that mean? I dig. It’s the most realized TM album in their long history. Check it out tonight.

Opening the show is the one and only Coyote Bones featuring Omaha ex-pat David Matysiak. Expect guest stars during his set. Also on the bill is Hers, who I’m told destroyed O’Leaver’s a couple weeks ago. Headlining all this is Ever Ending Kicks, a band I’ve never ever heard of, but judging from their website looks like they’ve been touring the country since mid-January.

So how much does it cost to get into this extravaganza? Why, it’s absolutely free, courtesy of our friends at Urban Outfitters. Maybe stop in UO and buy something before you head to Slowdown tonight. Show starts at 9.

Also tonight, so-called “Cinematic Pop” band Milo Greene (Atlantic Records) plays at The Waiting Room with Kopecky Family Band (ATO Records). $12, 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 © 2013 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Icky Blossoms at The Waiting Room, July 22, 2011.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

I strongly suggested that the MAHA guys book Icky Blossoms for this year’s festival. Strongly suggested. But for whatever reason, they passed. Maybe they didn’t know who they were. Maybe they were afraid the band wouldn’t “draw.” Probably they never heard their music. Pity. Because Icky Blossoms is now poised to take The Faint’s place as the premiere show-stopping dance, prance, throb-rock psychedelic must-see band in Omaha (and beyond).

They galvanized their position Friday night at The Waiting Room with a crush-mob set that had the dance floor bouncing with its hands in the air. Sweaty, orgiastic. They are no longer “emerging.” They have arrived. And maybe there is a reason that three members of The Faint were in the audience along with a large contingent of Saddle Creek Records “management” (though I have no doubt that The Creek will pass on this one, too).

That Icky Blossoms has something going on is undeniable. They are sitting on a launch pad with the countdown clock ticking down down down. The thing that could light that candle is a full-length record consisting of each of the 8 or 9 songs they performed Friday night. In this sad time in the music industry where there no longer is a “sure thing;” they are a sure thing (probably).

In a lot of ways they remind me of The Faint, circa 1999. Right after that band changed its sound and began investing in lighting gear. Imagine if the Baechle boys (one now a Fink) were to take Icky Blossoms under their wing and produce their record. The problem with that fantasy is that at the rate the Faint gets things done, the record wouldn’t be released until 2015. And the band needs a record other than its singles collection. Then there’s the question of frontman Derek Pressnall who is about to have another baby with his wife and co-hort in Tilly in the Wall, Jamie Pressnall.  Babies have a way of taking precedence things like rock music and touring. And then there’s Tilly, the Pressnalls’ other band, which rumor has it is working on a new recording.

But you labels out there, put all that aside and consider what you’re getting with this band. Pressnall, a natural frontman who knows how to get asses shaking. A frontwoman in Sarah Bohling who is his perfect match (or foil). A madman/genius in the form of writhing Nik Fackler on guitar. A rhythm section that had every internal organ in my body shaken to guava jelly, and a keyboard guy who looks like he could be the second coming of Greg Hawkes.

But at their core are their songs — modern dance numbers that combine house beats and sonic stylings influenced by bands like Jesus and Mary Chain, The Happy Mondays, Depeche Mode, The B-52s, The Cure, Brian Jonestown Massacre, and, yes, The Faint. Pressnall and Co. know what buttons to push, and gleefully jam them down as hard as they can. Live, they’re stellar, but they’re as good on their recordings, where they pull back enough to keep everything in perfect focus.

So yeah, this is just the kind of act that MAHA needed, and MAHA was just the type of coming out party that Icky Blossoms needs, though I don’t know how well their set would go over if they had been scheduled to play at 3 p.m. on a 100-degree day in Stinson Park in the middle of an all-male revue headlined by a legendary ’90s-era power pop band in GBV. Even though they don’t have the light show, like The Faint, Icky Blossoms seems like a night band, an androgynous hedonistic dream with a style and lilt that women can’t seem to resist. They were just what MAHA needed, but that ship has, sadly, sailed, even though the boat doesn’t leave the dock until Aug. 13.

Talking Mountain at The Waiting Room, 7/22/11.

Walking to the club at around 10:30, I noticed smoke billowing out of the front doors of The Waiting Room. Smokers? No, way too much for that. A fire? No, this smoke didn’t have that burnt smell. I peered through the front window and figured it out. It was Talking Mountain’s new(ish) stage show that involves blaring multi-color LED panels, lasers and way too much stage smoke.

No longer wearing their lovable fake-fur handmade masks, the Mountains play their fun-pop dance songs in rainbow hatchet light, figures cut from the fog. It is an impressive thing to see, each light perfectly choreographed, but that smoke, gag. Fifteen minutes after their set a member if Icky Blossoms had propped open the exit door in a vain attempt at clearing out the air in The Waiting Room.  It was hopeless.

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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.