by Steven Ashford
If you pan through the sludge-filled murky waters of Omaha's brute and aggressive midtown punk scene, allow yourself the obedience to sift diligently amongst the muck. There is plenty of punk rock gold for the taking.
Evidently a man named “Donny” was able to strike the motherlode just in time for his 40th birthday by racking up Baby Tears, Digital Leather and Peace of Shit to play his bash at The Brothers Lounge this Saturday.
But who is Donny and why are we invited to his party?
According to Baby Tears bassist Ethan Jones, “Donny is a local skater/punk/friend. He has been a big supporter and friend to all three bands, and as you can tell by the lineup, he has impeccable taste in music.”
Donny Diederich is also a local pro skater who opened Convicted Skateshop, which in turn birthed The Hole, a punk rock dwelling for after-hours shows. You can read more about Donny here.
The show calls for other celebrations as well. For one, Peace of Shit are releasing a cassette that will be available at the show.
Also, Baby Tears are taking pre-orders for the LP Rusty Years, which will be out on Kevin Cline's Rainy Road Records. Pre-order your copy of the LP here.
Given the fact that the LP was available for streaming this past winter, and the official release isn't until early, summer, what's up with the gaps in between?
“Truth be told, we put Rusty Years up for free online because we were sick of sitting on it,” Jones says. “It was recorded and finished almost a year ago.”
Baby Tears sent the finished product to various smaller labels with promising bites, but the outcome would seem to fall short. By giving the album the accessibility to fans for free, it generated a liking that worked out for Baby Tears in the long run.
“Since then, Kevin Cline who runs Rainy Road Records was one of the people that downloaded Rusty Years for free,” Jones says. “I guess he liked it so much that he wanted to put Rusty Years out on vinyl.”
Baby Tears will also make sure that those who pre-order the album will get their money's worth.
“If you pre-order you might also be getting the record for a discount,” Jones says. “It’s only $10 right now… that’s a real steal for an album of this caliber.”
Steven is a Hear Nebraska contributor. Life's been a thriller living in a rut. Reach him at stevena@hearnebraska.org.