The Faint LIVE at O'cayz Corral, Madison, WI 1998 (PHOTO)

 Anyone else remember when The Faint was a guitar band??

Outlandia 2023 Day Two (PHOTOS)

 

Criteria

Horsegirl

The Faint

Jimmy Eat World

Modest Mouse

My favorite photos from Day 2 of Outlandia 2023. All photos © thedarkstuff.com

Recap: Superchunk at MAHA

I had a fantastic time at yesterday's MAHA Music Festival on the Missouri River in downtown Omaha. I got there a little late, and missed It's True and Old 97s, but was able to catch a decent set by Ben Kweller before the band I came to see came on...Superchunk.

This was the first time Superchunk has played Omaha in its 21 year career (an accidental oversight, I'm sure), and they made up for the lack of shows with a powerful set that spanned their entire career. I saw the band a number of times in the 90s, but it has been 14-15 years since I last saw them (if memory serves it was at Marquette University in Milwaukee). I wondered how they would hold up all these years later. Fortunately, they held up amazingly well.

When Superchunk hit the stage, the sun was glaring right behind them, so if you didn't have some shades, you were fucked. Fortunately, my camera was able to compensate.

Guitarist/singer Mac McCaughan had his shades.

Jim Wilbur, on the other hand, rocked out shade-less. A bold move.

The set included Superchunk classics like "The First Part," "Skip Steps 1 & 3," "Like a Fool," and "Slack Motherfucker," but also included rare singles like "Cool" and "Baxter." The 'Chunk also performed its newest single, "Digging For Something."

After a while, the sun might have started getting to Mac, as he lost his place in the setlist a couple of times.

The sun was going down, but the energy level remained.

Bassist Laura Ballance spent the entire set on the opposite side of the stage from where I staked out my spot. Unfortunate. Yet, with the power of a cheap camera lens, I was still able to snap this pic.

Look very closely at who is rocking out on the side of the stage...Britt Daniels of Spoon!

As the sun finally went down, Superchunk ended its set. Amazing show.

I was pretty spent after the set, so I decided to check out the view of the show from next door at Rick's Boatyard (a seafood restaurant). I spent the rest of the night there and caught The Faint and Spoon from the restaurant's balcony. It was hard to beat good food, a waitress, and an actual restroom (only the portable type on show grounds) when compared to the craziness of a Faint crowd. Music festivals are for the young, and I'm not as young as I used to be. At least, I'm honest about it. No shame in my game.

Colossal Stupidity: It's True is Breaking Up

Tim at Lazy-I reported it, and I confirmed it with 1% Productions. It's True is breaking up. The outstanding Omaha band is calling it quits after its performance on July 24 at the MAHA Music Festival. The band is performing on the main stage along with Spoon, The Faint, Superchunk, Old 97s, and Ben Kweller. It is an amazing opportunity for exposure, but sadly, all anyone will be exposed to is a band playing its last gig.

This is colossally stupid. It's True is the best Omaha band to come along since the mighty three of the late 90s/early 2000s: Bright Eyes, Cursive, and The Faint.

This, officially, sucks.

Last Chance to see The Faint TONIGHT at Waiting Room

The final night of The Faint's three-night stand at The Waiting Room is tonight. These shows sold pretty quickly, but miraculously, the venue managed to scrape up a few extra tickets last night and put them on sale. I would assume they have already sold out.

Opening tonight are UUVVWWZ and Plack Blague. I am going to be hitting this show after the Nebraska football game against Arizona. See ya there.

Just Announced: The Faint To Play Three Nights at Waiting Room!

Wow! Big news. The Faint have just announced a three night stand at The Waiting Room. Omaha's dance punk legends have not played a room of this size (apprx. 250 people) in a long time, and they are giving you three shots at experiencing an "intimate" Faint experience. The band will be performing December 28,29, and 30 at Waiting Room. Tickets are $15 for each show and will be made available Saturday, November 14. These will sell out fast!

Also announced is a show from The Good Life at Slowdown, Sunday, December 27. TGL, for those not familiar, is the "other" band featuring Cursive frontman Tim Kasher. Tickets are $10, and go on sale this Saturday, as well.

A Feel Good Post

My weekend was a bit of a mixed bag in all honesty. After working in the office all day Friday by myself (my co-workers all seemed to be out of town at the same time), I decided to kick it at home on Friday night and watch movies. I tried to watch I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, but gave up after about 15 minutes. In addition to my full-blown hatred for all things Sandler, this movie was so rife with 30 year old cliches and homophobia, that I don't know how this thing even got made. Sandler's box office strength is minuscule these days, so whoever greenlit this piece of shit is likely unemployed these days.

I had that Enron movie from my Netflix queue, but really didn't feel like watching it. So instead I just watched all of the media speculation about Barack Obama's running mate. If I remember correctly, around 10 pm or so, ABC reported that the Secret Service had been dispatched to Joe Biden's home in Delaware. That was obviously the clincher. I didn't need to stay up until 3 am to get some text message telling me what most people had already deduced. Biden was it. Great. No need to stay up all night.

Saturday night was the big Faint show at Sokol, and I was only about 50/50 on going. I got some friends of mine free tickets, but I wasn't sure I felt like dealing with a packed Sokol Auditorium. Prior to that, a family member of mine came over and helped me connect the ice maker to my new fridge. It's not exactly rocket science, but I had never done it before and the guys who delivered it wouldn't set it up because I have a plastic water line. Huh? Anyway, the line had a leak in it which made a mess in my kitchen. I had to replace the whole freakin' thing. It was one big clusterfuck, but is now all fixed. Yeah. No more plastic ice trays for me, baby. I'm moving up in the world.

After a pretty long nap, I felt like I could handle the Faint show so I called my friends and tagged along with them. As you may recall, I was also excited about seeing opener, Jaguar Love. After seeing them, however, I hope I am never subjected to them again. The set started off okay and the band played the two opening tracks from their album. I was digging it. But that singer's voice is so grating that after about 10 minutes I wanted to shoot him. Or strangle him with my bare hands. He also kept referring to his band in the third person, which for some reason, really annoyed me.

So, after that disappointment came The Faint. As usual, the band put on a high energy, visually stimulating concert. Their playing was tight, the visuals were cool, the sound was great, yet I still did not really enjoy the show. It just seemed, to me, to be the same basic show the band has been doing for the last seven years. They just inserted a few new tunes to make it different. And when you contrast those new tunes with some of the band's classics like "Paranoiattack" " I Disappear" "Worked Up So Sexual" or "Agenda Suicide," they didn't pack the same punch. Most of the crowd seemed to love it, but I found a few fellow old schoolers who felt the same as I did. If it weren't for all of the young hotties running around, I would have considered it a bad night.

I spent Sunday being a bum and doing very little other than watching television. I felt like I was a little off during my show last night, and I'm not sure why. I was having problems hearing myself in my headphones, and felt kind of confused during the show. However, there were some serious goodies waiting for me when I got to the station. First off, there was the new single from TV On the Radio. That will be getting premiered next week. Then, I opened up a mystery package to see a brand new CD from The Mommyheads. WTF!? They broke up 10 years ago! I guess the drummer passed away last year, and the other former members got together at the funeral. They decided to give it another go in honor of their late friend. I would like to think that my podcast had something to do with it also, but they are not mentioning it at this time.

Speaking of my podcast, I have NOT abandoned it. I still have my Spain podcast coming soon, and then I may try a few without interviews that just focus on new music. It's just a question of time, my friends. I need more of it.

New Conor Oberst and Faint Albums Out Now

Both the new solo album from Bright Eyes front man, Conor Oberst, and the newest album from The Faint were released yesterday. They are notable for a number of reasons, but primarily, because neither was released by those artists' long time label, Saddle Creek Records.

Oberst (recording under his own name for the first time since he was a teenager) chose indie stalwart Merge Records (home of Arcade Fire and Spoon), while The Faint decided to start their own label, Blank.wav.

Based on the amount of pre-release publicity, it would seem that Oberst made the smarter decision. There are reviews of his new album all over the place, while there is barely a mention of the new Faint release. In addition, Conor will be performing tonight on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

It remains to be seen if leaving Saddle Creek (even temporarily) was a good move for both artists.

Checking Back In

Man, it has been a while since I last posted. Yeah...sorry about that. I've been keeping busy, but just didn't feel like posting on it. So, while I have a few spare minutes, I figured I'd get caught up. It was a little light for shows the last couple of weeks, but I did manage to catch the Black Francis (Frank Black) show at Slowdown last Thursday night. He was great, but in typical BF fashion he ignored most of his prior work and focused exclusively on his two newest releases. Those are great, but would it have killed him to do a few Frank Black classics? I knew he wouldn't play Pixies songs, but come on...

Beyond that, I am looking forward to seeing Film School on Monday the 14th at Slowdown. Mondays are really tough for me due to being out so late on Sunday night for my show, but I'll just have to down a Red Bull or two to keep going. I can rest up the remainder of the week as there are no shows I want to see until the WEEN show on the 20th (tickets). One of my good friends is coming in town for the show, so it should be an especially good time.

With all of the downtime from seeing bands (I did stop by the Maria Taylor show for a spell, but just to say hi to some people), I've been seeing lots of movies. Unfortunately, not too many good ones. I finally saw Napoleon Dynamite - hated it. Total waste of film. Oceans 13 - better than 12, but not as good as 11. Super High Me - I thought this would have been funnier than it was. If I were Roger Ebert, I'd give it a thumbs down. What I have been enjoying is Trailer Park Boys. It's a Canadian mock-u-mentary that follows the lives of two lowlifes living in a rundown trailer park. At first, I didn't "get it," but after a while, I started to see the genius in it. I'm still early in the series. I did spot a 10 year old Ellen Page as one of the little trailer park rugrats running around, and that was pretty funny. Didn't know she did anything else besides Juno.

I really wish I had more to report, but I really don't. Lots of great new music is coming out. I heard the new singles from The Verve (typical Brit-pop, nothing special), Dandy Warhols (decent tune), Conor Oberst (good song, still sounds like Bright Eyes to me) and The Faint (awesome!). You can listen to that Faint song here (see the nifty little player below), and the Conor song can be streamed at his website: ConorOberst.com. Interesting that neither of the Omaha rockstars are releasing their new records on Saddle Creek. Hmmm....

So, that's about it for now. I'll post more when I have more. See ya.

The Faint's Two-Night Stand Begins TONIGHT

The Faint usually begins or ends all of their tours with a hometown show here in Omaha. They are playing tonight (Thurs) and tomorrow night at Sokol Auditorium. Tonight's show is already sold out, and tomorrow's will likely sell out, too. Personally, I am more interested in the Friday show due to one of the openers. Eagle*Seagull is opening on Friday, and they are always great. I've never seen them in such a large room, so that will be exciting.

Get whatever tickets are left for Friday's show by clicking here. They are $15.

The Faint's "Private" Omaha Show Last Night

I caught The Faint's private show last night The Waiting Room here in Omaha. Fantastic show. Definitely the best I've seen them, and I've seen The Faint probably a dozen times. The concert was a free warm-up gig before the band left on tour. It also served as something of a private, grand opening for the new venue.

The venue, The Waiting Room, is stellar. Without a doubt, the best sounding club in the city. And, at full capacity, it was still quite comfortable inside the place. I think this place will become my regular haunt.

Yes, my cell phone pictures suck. However, a photographer friend of mine was contracted by Pitchforkmedia to take pictures for their site. Check there sometime today for some professional pictures.

This Week In Concerts

We have a pretty big week for concerts in Omaha coming up, so I wanted to make sure to at least mention all of the good ones. It's rare that I devote an entire weekend to seeing bands. I mean, I see a ton of bands, but I usually space them out a bit. I am hoping to avoid burnout by hitting Sokol three times in three days. Man, what a tough life. I know.

This Thursday, December 14, Ambulette will be returning to Omaha once again. They will be playing Sokol Underground with Little Brazil (who have a new song on their MySpace page, btw), and tickets are $8.

I have been praising Ambulette on this blog for almost two years. They started off with the name Bella Lea, but were forced to change their name a little over a year ago. When I first saw them, it was their seventh ever show. I could not believe that a band that tight had played fewer than 10 shows ever.

The band has come a long way in a very short amount of time. After touring for nearly a year straight, the band signed a contract with Astralwerks Records. Their debut CD, The Lottery, was released in the Spring of 2006.

I would be disingenious if I didn't point out that initially I had a crush on lead singer Maura Davis. I still say that she is the most attractive woman in rock today. But my interest in the band goes much farther. Davis has a truly amazing voice in a genre (alternative or indie rock) that does not exactly require it. Furthermore, her songs are very personal and introspective. In the band's bio, she stated, "Pop songs today seem to be about things that have never happened to the person actually singing them. I miss being able to relate to the person singing the song." She alternates between guitar and piano depending on the mood she is attempting to create, and the rest of band perfectly compliments her no matter where the music goes.

The Lottery CD is only five songs, and three of them were on the "Bella Lea" demo CD that the band sold at shows in 2005. I need more songs! Ambulette's next CD is scheduled for a Spring 2007 release. But they will, no doubt, be playing a ton of new material at the show on the 14th. Do not miss this one. Get there early and get a good spot right in front of Maura, too!

The very next night, Friday, December 15, the king of the Omaha music community returns home for a benefit concert. The show features Bright Eyes along with Simon Joyner & the Fallen Men, and The Bruces, and it is a benefit for the Bemis Center For Contemporary Arts. The show is at Sokol Auditorium, and it has just sold out.

It has been years since Bright Eyes played a venue as small as Sokol Auditorium (capacity 1500), so those who have only seen them at Memorial Park or The Orpheum will have a rare opportunity. The show is raising money for the Center's Artist in Residency program. Local legend Simon Joyner was in residence at The Bemis a few months ago, and he convinced Bright Eyes to take part in the benefit. The other participant is the one man band, The Bruces. The "one man" is Alex McManus, who also plays with Bright Eyes and Lambchop.

It should be a great show. I'm sure Bright Eyes will be playing a bunch of new material, as I hear recording has wrapped on their next album. Simon Joyner has a brand new CD out called Skeleton Blues. It's his tenth album. I interviewed Simon on my show last week, but due to technical problems, I wasn't able to air it. He did tell me that this new album is his first with The Fallen Men, and that he will have another record out soon that features the stuff he recorded while in residency. He recorded a series of duets with other artists that he was able to fly in thanks to the residency money from The Bemis.

The big weekend closes out with a two-night stand from The Faint at Sokol Auditorium. The Omaha band has been working on a new album in their new studio, and is supposedly looking for a new record deal. There was a rumor last year that the band had signed to American Recordings and was working with Rick Rubin as producer. That deal never fully materialzed -- at least The Faint and Saddle Creek deny it -- but the word is out there that The Faint is looking to leave the Saddle Creek label.

Regardless of what label The Faint records for, their local fans do not care. Both Faint shows for this weekend -- Saturday and Sunday night -- are Sold Out. That's better than last time they did two nights at Sokol where one night sold out, and the other didn't. I'll be at the Saturday show with openers Celebration and The Terminals. Sunday night I'll be doing my show, so I will have to miss the concert with openers Tilly & the Wall and 4th of July. But since I am not a Tilly fan, I think I get the better deal by seeing the Saturday show.

Giant Drag Is Anything But...

Despite lead singer Annie Hardy being one of the strangest frontwomen in all of rock, I thoroughly enjoyed seeing Giant Drag last night at Sokol Underground. First off, if Ms. Hardy weighs more than 80 lbs soaking wet, I would be shocked. Her guitar looked like it weighed as much as she did! Nevertheless, she was more than able to handle that guitar and sing her quirky, indie pop songs without incident. Yesterday, I described the band as a "more rockin' Blake Babies." That is a pretty good description, but a local music columnist compared them to Madder Rose -- that might be even better.

The band is a two-piece -- Hardy on guitar and vocals, and Micah Calabrese on drums and synth -- and sounded surprisingly full without a bass player. Hardy told a lot of jokes between songs. Her high-pitched, little girl voice, and drugged out delivery made her seem like a female Emo Phillips. Giant Drag's songs feature a darker sense of humor than typical Emo Phillips fare, as evidenced by song titles like "My Dick Sux" and "You Fuck Like My Dad."

I thought they were great, and I was totally impressed by the the drummers ability to play his drums and keyboards at the same time. That has to be difficult.

The band's new album, Hearts and Unicorns, is available now and worth checking out.

The first opener, The Joggers, were pretty interesting. I missed the beginning of the set, but I did catch them doing a Yes cover. Can't remember the name of the song, but I was never a big Yes fan to begin with. Still, it was different to hear an indie band doing a progressive rock cover song. They were totally able to pull it off, too. The band's original material was pretty disjointed and hard to follow. I liked it, but didn't love it.

I ditched out before headliner Pretty Girls Make Graves began. I was beat, and coming off being sick for a few days. Most of the crowd stayed, however. In that crowd were most of the guys from The Faint, Orenda Fink (of Azure Ray) and a couple of guys from Cursive.

Here is a track from Giant Drag so you'll know what they really sound like.

Giant Drag - "Kevin Is Gay" (mp3)

Tag: Giant Drag