2015 Hoyer, Oketo, Twinsmith tours scheduled; Spock Nixon on HNFM tonight

Early indications point toward plenty of Nebraska bands hitting the road in 2015. At least three — Twinsmith, Oketo and Josh Hoyer and the Shadowboxers — have some significant tours early in the new year.

Twinsmith recently wrapped recording its second release with Luke Pettipoole of the Envy Corps at The Sonic Factory in Des Moines. Alligator Years will be released on Saddle Creek in the spring. Read our story here.

Guitarist Matt Regner tells us the band is at Focus Mastering with Doug Van Sloun to master the record today. Tomorrow, Twinsmith plays at The Slowdown with Neva Dinova, Outlaw Con Bandana and Both. RSVP here. And in March, they’ll hit the road for a sprawling national tour. It’s 14 dates right now, but a Facebook post promises more to come.

3/2 – Empty Bottle, Chicago
3/3 – Tree Bar, Columbus
3/4 – Howler’s, Pittsburgh
3/5 – Kung Fu Necktie, Philadelphia
3/6 – Mid East Up, Boston
3/7 – Union Hall, Brooklyn
3/8 – DC9, Washington D.C.
3/9 – Local 506, Chapel Hill
3/10 – Caledonia Lounge, Athens
3/16 – Soundpony, Tulsa
3/18 – South by Southwest
3/19 – South by Southwest
3/20 – South by Southwest
3/21 – South by Southwest

Josh Hoyer and the Shadowboxers head south to follow-up fall’s lengthy west coast tour. The band released two full-lengths in 2014, including Living By The Minute in November.

The Shadowboxers has a couple local shows to see out the end of the year. On Sunday, the band plays The Slowdown with All Young Girls Are Machine Guns (RSVP) and they’ll ring in the New Year at The Zoo Bar (RSVP).

1/28 – Club Dada, Dallas
1/29 – Stubb’s BBQ, Austin
1/30 – Dan Electro’s, Houston
1/31 – Checkpointe Charlie’s, New Orleans
2/5 – The High Dive, Gainesville
2/6 – Local 662, St. Petersburg
2/7 – Meg O’Malley’s, Melbourne
2/8 – Jack Rabbit’s, Jacksonville
2/11- Woodlands, Columbus
2/12 – Beachland, Cleveland
2/13 – Martyr’s, Chicago
2/14 – BB’s Jazz and Soups, St. Louis

Oketo is still working out the specifics, but the Lincoln band is planning a Midwest tour for February and March to be followed by a western tour in April and May. Here are the dates the group is working on and if everything goes as planned, they’ll catch Twinsmith on the way out of Chicago. They also put out a call on Facebook for venue and local support suggestions in each city. Reach the band here.

2/25 – Iowa City, IA
2/26 – Minneapolis, MN
2/27 – Madison, WI
2/28 – Milwaukee, WI
3/1 – Chicago, IL
3/2 – Bloomington, IL
3/3 – Cincinnati, OH
3/4 – Louisville, KY
3/5, 3/6 – Nashville, TN
3/7 – St. Louis, MO
3/8 – Lawrence, KS

4/24- Lawrence, KS
4/25- Oklahoma City, OK
4/26- Austin, TX
4/27- Tucson, AZ
4/28- Phoenix, AZ
4/29- San Diego, CA
4/30- Costa Mesa, CA
5/1- Long Beach, CA
5/2- Los Angeles, CA
5/3- San Francisco, CA
5/5- Portland, OR
5/6- Seattle, WA
5/8- Salt Lake City, UT
5/9- Provo, UT
5/10- Denver, CO

We love it when Nebraska musicians strike out. It’s how bands build extra-local fanbases and connections. It makes our state and our culture look good, too, when a band incubated in Nebraska has enough experience and confidence to play in new places.

If you know of any other tour dates, let us know and we’ll do what we can to get the word out.

* * *

Ploughshare Brewing in Lincoln launches a singer/songwriter open mic night tonight. The weekly series runs from 8-10 p.m. Interested artists should arrive between 7-8 p.m. to check in. Find more info about the recently opened brewpub here.

* * *

It’s Monday which usually means a fresh HN Radio playlist streaming at the top of our website. But to celebrate the close of 2014 we’ll be releasing a massive year-end playlist tomorrow. Be sure to check back for it.

* * *

Lincoln folk rock band Spock Nixon comes on Hear Nebraska FM for an in-studio performance tonight. Hear Nebraska FM airs on KZUM from 8-10 p.m. Tune in to 89.3 FM in Lincoln and kzum.org worldwide. They follow Kait Berreckman’s appearance last week.