Getting Warped

by Chris Aponick

Against Me! has played in just about every sort of venue Omaha offers.

And the Florida indie-punk band is set to add a parking lot to the mix, as they hit the Westfair Amphitheater in Council Bluffs as part of the 2011 Vans Warped Tour.

Bassist Andrew Seward can remember all of his metro tour stops, from a big arena date opening for the Foo Fighters to some of the band's first Omaha shows...

Chicago’s New Vibe

by Chris Aponick

With nearly enough members to fill a baseball lineup card, Kids These Days should have taken a bit of work to assemble.

Instead, singer/guitarist Liam Cunningham came up with a band in barely a heartbeat.

“The whole band fell together within a weekend,” he says.

The band started with Cunningham and bass player Lane Beckstrom. Beckstrom approached Cunningham about organizing a psychedelic...

Loosening Up

by Chris Aponick

Eric Johnson is still adjusting the balances in his musical life.

With a lofty reputation for guitar technique, Johnson continually strives to pull out his songwriting skills for fans.

Known as a notorious studio tinkerer, Johnson has tried to find new ways to streamline his studio labor without losing his trademark sound.

And he's focused on finding the right balance of his various...

The Kid Is Alright

by Kyle Eustice

According to George Clinton, the chief architect of funk, the definition of funk is "to do the best you can in life and after that, funk it." Considering his reputation, it's ironic that Clinton's first band was a doo-wop-style group modeled after Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers.

“The whole doo-wop thing was to make it to Motown Records," Clinton says. "By the time we got a hit record...

Stop That Train

by Kyle Eustice

“Grunge f#@ked it up for everybody. It wasn't fair at all. We were never a grunge band. You have a whole bunch of guys that used to wear plaid shirts because they were warm and now we can't wear them anymore. It screwed everything up,” Dave Pirner says jokingly. “I'm glad you understand that because you're the only person that does. So why don't you print that [laughs]? “

As lead singer...

Godmother of Soul

by Sarah Wengert

Sharon Jones was born exactly one month before my mother.
 
That's pretty remarkable these days, in a business increasingly obsessed with youth, where only legendary, once-svelte young women, are still allowed to make music at her age. But, with no offense to my darling ma, the energy and zeal seeping from Jones' every pore and emanating from her every note, belies her age of 55.  
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