[Editor's note: This story previews Icky Blossoms' concert with The Faint tonight at Omaha's Sokol Auditorium. The show is sold-out.]
story by Tatiana Ryckman | photos by Chevy Anderson
Nik Fackler’s wild hair is perfect for this band. His calculated flailing doesn’t interrupt his guitar playing and matches the mesmerizing light show and steady beat of the song “Babes.”
It’s not just the song that everyone in the audience knows and can dance to. It’s the song that lets everyone know it was worth showing up two hours before The Faint’s set. Part of the magic of “Babes” is its incredible inclusiveness, startling in its lyrical simplicity.
While the evening’s lineup features pounding electronic music, Icky Blossoms hesitate to put such a flat label on their sound. “There are so many electronic bands now. Being an electronic band doesn’t mean you’ll stand out,” Fackler says. So why is it that Icky Blossoms’ specific flavor of danceable music stands out?
“It hasn’t changed the way we write songs,” Derek Pressnall says of the switch from the upbeat, almost childlike, feel-good songs of Tilly and the Wall, one of his many other bands. “I still love the traditional verse-chorus-bridge format.” The band’s strong pop sensibility is part of what makes Icky Blossoms so accessible.
And it's visual, too. Icky Blossoms has a music video for nearly every song on their self-titled album. Pressnall says, "We’ve found that you can post a song with a still picture, and people will listen to it, but they don’t really share it unless there’s a video or visual."
This shift in attention is suited to Icky Blossoms' commitment to constant creation and background in the arts. Pressnall is a visual artist, and Fackler is a filmmaker.
In their live show, the band is making an experience. The coordination of lights, music and movement feel at once to be organic and deliberately designed. “I wanna feel it again / Too much to feel it again / It’s like beginning again,” Bohling intones.
“We’re constantly creating,” Fackler says. “It’s something we said we always want to be doing.” When the band’s not writing new songs or touring with one of Omaha’s best bands, they’re revamping their light show, experimenting with new synths and Ableton, and making new videos.
Speaking to the group’s myriad talents and interests, Fackler says, “I like that I can be in the band and still be making videos.”
Bohling sings, “If all goes well, I’m gonna do it again.”
“Nothing to do but get high in the afternoon” reverberates off the the venue’s concrete walls, and “Perfect Vision’s" angsty anthem vibrates through the crowd. The song illuminates, but it's not without a bit of destruction.
Smashing windows, tearing down cabinetry and breaking the solid wood molding of an old banister, the pair of characters in the "Perfect Vision" music video violently demolish a two-story house. When asked whose home bore the brunt of their creative dispositions, Pressnall reassured, "Habitat for Humanity helped us with that. They were going to tear it down anyway. We couldn’t believe it. It was in such good condition."
The group took a hammer to the walls with little more than a crack in the plaster, but a few hours and baseball bats helped. In addition to helping Habitat for Humanity destroy the house, the group will be performing a benefit show to raise money for the charity organization on Jan. 27 in their hometown of Omaha.
Opening for The Faint is likely an honor for Nebraska bands, but the added pressure of following in the Omaha electronic music lineage doesn't seem to faze Icky Blossoms. They concede only that they are a new band from Omaha. "It’s a new time, it’s a different time in the scene," Sarah says. "It’s still thriving, and we’re a part of that in a way that bands like The Faint don’t have to be because they’re already known."
“Going on tour with them is amazing," Pressnall says. "They were a big supporter of our band as we were coming up. But I would say our music is very different. It’s electronic dance music, but it’s very different.”
One difference is the band's composition of bandmates. Pressnall, Bohling and Fackler comprise the three core members while a number of bassists and drummers — including Saber Blazek, in the photo above — have played those roles.
“Making music and playing music are two very different things; it’s the same spirit but different animals,” Pressnall says, speaking to why the band doesn't feature a permanent bassist or drummer, despite being so drum-and-bass-heavy in their music. "A band is like a family, and we want to keep a tight group."
When “Heat Lightning” thumps through concertgoers' sternums, the effect can be contagious and disarming. Maybe the romantic admission, “I don’t want to be afraid, I want to take you home,” is what helps the heads bob, hips and shoulders sway.
“I’ll keep on dancing if the lights keep flashing” is the kind of promise Icky Blossoms can keep.
Tatiana Ryckman is a Hear Nebraska contributor. She lives in Austin, Texas, but loves Nebraska like you wouldn't believe. Reach her at tatiana.ryckman@gmail.com.