Two Nights in Omaha | Show Photos

by Jordan Minnick

This past Wednesday and Thursday, I decided to take my amateur photography skills to Omaha to document some local acts. And these weren't exactly your regulated bar-type shows. They were communal, impromtu and scattered with empy beer cans. 

I went into it with the simple goal of not getting beer sloshed on the borrowed Cannon Rebel I was using and came out with more pictures than I anticipated–mostly because the aftermath of Wednesday night's house show with Public Access and Video Ranger equated to an interesting open mic night.

Thursday night brought the Hear Nebraska benefit show with The Vingins headlining at the Sandbox with The Prairies, Snake Island and Big Elephant. The studio-space venue has manifested itself as thee place in Omaha to throw shows for the early-20s crowd demographic. It's all ages and usually all a merry hoopla by the end of the night.

Wednesday's house show

The night commenced with Public Access, a trio including members from The Prairies, Dads and Yuppies. Evidently these musicians get around. With their different bands, that is. With only 15 Facebook likes and no recorded music online (to my knowledge) I guess you could say this is a newer inception of a band. And in my opinion, an impressive one at that. Hopefully we can all look out for more from them.    

Video Ranger, the last band scheduled to play that night, played next. This band may also come as a bit of an unknown, but it's only because they changed their name from the Reggaejunkiejew it was before. Apparently their fondness of Ween and being sharing names with one of the band's songs doesn't register too much with show bookers who see only the 'reggae' part of it, overshadowing their actual driving, twang-punk sound. You can catch Video Ranger at the Slowdown this Saturday, May 21 at 8 p.m.  

Give their new demo, recorded by new non-profit label Label-Free (free download at the site), a listen here:

With no one else to play and a room semi-full of musicians, the open-mic started with Kelly King of the late band Grandmother's Milk. The rest of the night consisted of band musicians strapping on a free guitar to play all their own solo material while improvising with whatever drummer that didn't mind picking up sticks for one or two songs. 

Sean Pratt, the newest installment of Capgun Coup, was next to hop on stage. You can catch him at his first live Capgun show this Saturday, May 21 at Brothers in Omaha.

Open mic night continued with Bryan Byrd (outfitted in a Speed! Nebraska hat), Ben Van Hoolandt, Jake Dunwoody (Video Ranger) and Vince Franco (Dads, Public Access).

Thursday night's HN benefit show

I'm happy to say the next night's show pulled in a good crowd at the Sandbox. Thanks to all the bands who played and everyone that came out!

Big Elephant from Seward got the night started. The lead singer Connor Hinninger freaked everyone out as he flopped and wormed around on the stage floor–a standard occurance at any Big Elephant show.  

After the openers, Omaha blues rockers Snake Island took to the floor (instead of the stage), giving a more intimate feel. Drummer Dorian Henderson opted to play onstage for optimal head-banging and arm-swinging room. He's definitely one of the funnest drummers to watch, I've found. 

Pop/rock scuzz band The Prairies, also out of Omaha, played on the floor as well for their first official non-house-show show. Their set still felt like a house show though, with inebriated crowd members standing less than an arm's lenght away from the band. Singer David Nance was stationary at the mic while the rest of the band switched instruments throughout the set.   

Listen to some tracks from their 11-track cassette tape. Order it here or pick it up at Antiquarium Records in Omaha.

Last on the show roster was the "acid chic" (as lead singer Derek Ouston has coined) trio The Vingins from Lincoln. They had it rough, since most of the show-goers had filtered out by midnight. It sucked, but the show went on. If you were one of the bastards that didn't stick around, I guess you can see them with Deerpeople (Stillwater, Okla.) and Carot Carot at Duffy's in Lincoln Wednesday, June 15.   

Ouston also recently put up an EP of solo material under the moniker Dericho. You can download it for free over at his Bandcamp page. Give it a listen here!

Make sure to catch the next Hear Nebraska benefit show 7:30 p.m. Friday, May 27 at the Hole in Omaha. Bullet Proof Hearts, Baby Tears, Dads and Scratch Howl will be playing for a night of punk rock 'n roll. RSVP on Facebook