Academy of Rock

note of thanks by Chloe Pinkman of Rabbits With Gas Masks

Rabbits with Gas Masks were proud to represent the Lincoln Academy of Rock at the 2012 Lincoln Calling Event. We were also honored to have representatives from Hear Nebraska listen to our setlist. Our Academy of Rock band played at the Zoo Bar on Saturday Oct. 14 along with many other great acts. Our band played a collection of cover songs ranging from the '70s to the current decade. Our band feels it is very important to show kids of all ages how music can be a positive influence in their life.

photo by Dawn Thorfinnson

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photo by Michael Todd

Entendre Entendre

photo by Angie Norman

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The Static Octopus

review by Michael Todd

This trio based in Lincoln is a reunion of sorts. After playing various shows around Nebraska from 2002 to 2006, then-rhythm guitar player Dan Hutt (now on bass) moved to Kansas to complete a graduate degree. Despite the distance, the band added on to their 2005 debut release, Here Comes Nothing, with three more albums between then and now.

Since Hutt has moved back, and displays his keen sense for melody on bouncy, multifaceted bass lines, The Static Octopus is back to playing live shows. With Star City Scene’s Tery Daly on guitar, and Jeremy Powers on drums, all three players of power pop sing frequent call-and-response vocals that bring to mind a less operatic Queen. And while a few songs fell flat  at their Duffy’s Tavern set, the strong Beatles influence perks up a few ears while being complex enough to keep you following along.

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Everyday/Everynight

photo by Angie Norman

photo by Dawn Thorfinnson

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Saint Christopher

review and photo by Michael Todd

As I walked through The Spigot’s open door past an absent doorman on Saturday, a big character with black eyeliner greeted me by saying, “Welcome, brother.” The same man would soon after stand at the foot of the stage, raising his fist even closer to the two players in Ghost Hollow Road and singing along. Of course this would be Saint Christopher.

When I met him at the bar after that first set, he introduced himself as Chris (Webster), and extended an arm-wrestling-stance handshake that ended with a strong half-hug. Webster had left the voicemail below on our Holla HN service in advance of his Lincoln Calling concert, and he pulled me in closer to whisper in my ear that, “We’re doing all this ourselves,” qualifying his statement with a few reasons why he and his fellow Spigot acts were given a short shrift.

Yes, this battle against the bigger powers that be is part of what defines Saint Christopher’s loud, proud and spit-worthy music. Webster will work a stage like few others, sweating his glands dry and kneeling at the altar of his amp to dig out as much dirt as he can from the competing frequencies. It’s a show you need to catch, and one that shouldn’t scare off any fans of less fierce music. Although you’ll hear an untold number of expletives, the community at bars like The Spigot is arguably warmer than many of Nebraska’s other music scenes.

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All My Friends Are Dinosaurs

photo by Dawn Thorfinnson

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Gerardo Meza

review by Andrew Norman | photo by Chris Dinan

As the frontman for long-running rockabilly band The Mezcal Brothers, or alone with his Fender acoustic cutaway, Gerardo Meza is Lincoln's "Man in Black." Both in sound and style, he's a mix between Elvis and Johnny Cash. And if you live in the area and you haven't seen him on his second home — the Zoo Bar stage — you're missing out on a true Nebraska cultural gem. 

With his cowboy boots and salt-and-pepper goatee, Meza sang us a handful of 2-3-minute country songs, Saturday — original tunes with traditional themes at home on a lonely walk to the county line. Meza has a richness in his voice that makes even his most somber songs oddly comforting. 

The Lincoln Calling crowd seemed smaller than on the previous night, no doubt due in part to a collective hangover from Friday. But Meza's audience grew throughout his 9:30 p.m. set, eventually demanding a one-song encore from the suave Lincoln troubadour, which he delivered in the form of a murder ballad that included the line, "She gave me a look so I shot out her eyes." 

Despite the potentially fatal result, I encourage you to give Meza a look.

photo by Angie Norman

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Snake Island!

review by Neal Obermeyer | photo by Chris Dinan

When the Lincoln Calling lineup was announced, one of the shows I was most looking forward to was Saturday’s team-up of Snake Island and Ideal Cleaners. I have a soft spot for catchy melodies buried beneath rowdy noise, and here were two of my favorites from that category sharing a stage.

This is only the second time I’ve seen Snake Island live — the first time was Labor Day weekend at the 90.3 KRNU showcase, also at Duffy’s — but they won me over immediately. The only complaint I had that first time was that the vocals were so buried in reverb that they were just a noise. And I like the melodies! So this time around, I was happy they weren’t so hidden.

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Dude Won’t Die

photo by Dawn Thorfinnson

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Ideal Cleaners

review by Neal Obermeyer | photo by Andrew Norman

Ideal Cleaners have been one of my favorite bands for nearly a decade now. Saturday night’s set was a mix of newer material and old classics — I’m very happy that “Muchacho” has made its way back into the setlist — that closed out with the Jeremy Buckley request, “Go Go Big Business.”

Buckley said the band hates playing the song, but he loves it, so he requests it every year at Lincoln Calling. Being the sweet gentlemen they are, the band complies. I’m with Jeremy on this one. The song — especially the closing refrain — is a fun, bouncy singalong that sends people on their way on a high note (I’m sure when he’s writing songs, Dan Jenkins is crossing his fingers that someone will someday describe them as “fun, bouncy sing-alongs”). But I’ve always loved Ideal Cleaners for being a barefoot kick in the gut that can tickle you with toes while knocking the wind out of you.

photo by Andrew Norman

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Goran Ivanovic and Andreas Kapsalis Guitar Duo

photos by Chris Dinan

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Wolfgang Gartner

review by Jordan Minnick | photo by Chris Dinan

Let’s clear something up. For those Lincoln Calling showgoers who purposefully avoided Wolfgang Gartner: It's not dubstep. My inert sense of EDM genre-fication would say it’s house electronic. It’s dance music, and it won’t bite you.

Opening DJs Pierce Fulton and Popeska, on tour with the LA DJ/producer, primed the audience with samples from Phoenix to Lil’ Jon’s “Get Low” to Gorillaz. Ready arms in the air pulsed up and down as soon as the heavy dance components hit (you know, when it drops). But with some 15-foot contraption being covered behind them, everyone knew Wolfgang Gartner’s set was going to be momentous.

Unveiled was one of the largest DJ tables (booth?) I’d seen. Much to the likes of Deadmau5, Gartner towered over the floor on a light-up support. With the height of the Bourbon stage, it stood at about one-and-a-half stories tall. Squares of ever-changing colors complimented the non-stop dance, which reached from stage back to bar.

photo by Chris Dinan

It was the craziest dance party I’ve seen at the Bourbon. You can bet that all the furry, scantily clad, glowing things came out for this show. Gartner alone had four dancing ladies on stage, whose accessories included gas masks and an anti-war sign. The music’s high point came with the sampled intro of “We don’t need no education.” Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall” proved a smart addition, yell-able lyrics and all. 

The DJ put on a nearly two-and-a-half hour dance party. Energy was high enough for crowd surfers, but the moving crowd was too busy for that, as a couple people found out. With all due respect for the Bourbon, I have to say the only thing that was missing from this huge showing was people dancing on the bar. After expressing praise, Gartner saluted his crowd at the stroke of 2 a.m.

photo by Nick Teets

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Voodoo Method

photo by Dawn Thorfinnson

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JARANA

review by Neal Obermeyer | photo by Angie Norman

After Ideal Cleaners, I heard my ride back to Omaha had split to The Zoo Bar, where some guys were playing Spanish guitar. I don’t go to the Zoo often, but I do always appreciate when there is music I’d never otherwise listen to and people are dancing to it. There’s usually a lot of sexual energy to the dancing, too. But then the band started playing "Hotel California." I had neither sexually charged dancing energy nor a tolerance for Eagles covers, so I headed to Yia Yia’s to catch Dark Satellites. That was a fun set crammed into the back corner of the restaurant.

photo by Angie Norman

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Lucy Michelle and the Velvet Lapelles

photo by Michael Todd

photo by Bethany Schmidt, Daily Nebraskan

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Dark Satellites

review by Darren Keen | photo by Angie Norman

I remember when Dru's (yes, Drew Rudebusch goes by Dru now) old band first bust on to the Lincoln music scene. They were great for a million reasons, but one thing that always blew my mind was the fact that even as a young player, Dru really inspired the entire Lincoln music scene to step their shit up, and play their fucking guitars better — and louder. Maybe it was sort of a second coming of Jon Taylor? I don't know, I was still scribbling Marilyn Manson quotes on my book covers when Jon and Heidi first started blowing minds.

This was arguably the best first/second show I have ever seen a band play. DS, despite falling into the traditional, "Hey guys, are you ready yet," shit that every young band bums out their audience with, kept 30 or so people very happy for their 40-minute set. At times, they reminded me (and I'm sure everyone else) of Queens Of The Stone Age, with their driving, post-blues riffs and dramatic chord changes. Guitarist Tim Scahill was confident and had a solid, simple tone. His straight picking style allows for riffier interplay between Dru's guitar, and bassist Howie Howard's occasionally riffy playing. Dru kept his vocals very laidback, but the melodies were catchy and with a louder, cleaner sound, they could sit amazingly on top of the fuzzy, catchy music.

DS has a bright future, as long as the distance between the band members (two in LNK, two in KCMO) doesn't prevent them from keeping new material flowing. They could actually have a bright future, possibly getting good support slots with bigger bands in both cities? 

Oh yeah, last thing. Lose the iPad, dork.

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AZP

photo by Dawn Thorfinnson

photo by Nickolai Hammar, Daily Nebraskan

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The Killigans

photo by Dawn Thorfinnson

photo by Bethany Schmidt, Daily Nebraskan

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