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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 23, 1994)
Page 12 Arts®Entertainment Nebraskan Wadnasday, February 23,1994 Band relays powerful message of peace By Paula Lavigne Senior Reporter Fed up with a society filled with government waste and social corruption, Eliot Partridge, lead singer and guitarist for Daily Blues, said he was a simple man with a plan for change. With a passion to make people more caring and considerate of their fellow man, Partridge, bassist Matt Dissmeyer and drummer Joe Vodicka try to relay a message of peace through the blues-edged music. Although Partridge is a quiet man, his shy ness overshadows an inner power. His frustra tion with society led him to use music as his main vehicle for expression. By combining his heartfelt lyrics with funky alternative bass, rap-style drums and Hendrix ish guitar, Partridge said his music was a com bination of Soundgarden and Stevie Ray Vaughn. Daily Blues’ hard-edged music and tearing lyrics provide a simple, yet powerful mix. “We want to do what we want to do and truly feel,” he said. “We don’t have a big stage show and get all weird or anything. We let the music relay the meaning.” Daily Blues puts its music to work with intense lyrics. Partridge said about 75 percent of the songs were about a specific person — not surprisingly, a girl he once dated. The other 25 percent were about life, personal relations, and corruption, lying, cheating and deception. Partridge said it was important his audience could relate to the lyrics. “I want people who are caring, bighearted— people with a lot of emotion, because they can best relate to what I’m saying,” Partridge said. “Some superficial people might like it, but they won’t understand the meaning.” He said his messages could be interpreted to touch a lot of people. “Just so that people can hear my lyrics and say, ‘Hey, 1 know what that guy’s saying,”’ he said. “They can put it together in an abstract way so it makes sense to them.” Relating to bands, Partridge said, gives him something inside that drives him to help other people. He said this should be a common philos ophy in society. “A lot of people don’t care, even the presi dent. He couldn’t care as much as I do. Par tridge said, frustrated and searching for an answer. “I don’t know, it just seems like people don’t care enough about their friends." Friendship, Partridge said, has made Daily Blues the strong band it is. Partridge said he and Dissmeyer had a solid brotherly relationship. Damon Lee/DN Daily Blues band members (from left) Joe Vodicka, Eliot Partridge and Matt Dissmeyer combine a heavy blues musical style with social messages. The two watch over their shy drummer like any good siblings would. Partridge said he wanted to be a leader, but not a controlling leader. He said he wasn’t a complex person with a front; rather, he had simple ideas for improvement. “I get upset about inconsideration. I think people should be more considerate about their brother and their neighbor and everything,” he said. Partridge’s other frustration comes from political issues. “Everybody is so enthused with laws and all that. I know we need a government, but it’s all such a joke. All they do is break it and fix it and break it and fix it day after day,” he said. Partridge said his differences in attitude showed his strength. “I’m not afraid to stand up for what I think. I’m not doing any harm. I’m not some preacher up there,” he said. “Yeah, I admit Irve been violent before. I’ve been a thief and I’ve done drugs and all that stuff, but that doesn’t make me a bad person. “What I’m saying is that 1 never gave up. I had to grow up,” he said. “I’m to the point now where I really want to go out and reach some more people. I want to make people feel good.” He said he wanted to bring out the little things in life to make people feel better. Differ ences in opinions have to be accepted and understood to achieve this goal, he said. “Nobody’s really wrong in this world,” he said. “Everybody’s opinion is valid. We just have to understand that.” Daily Blues, back from a successful stint in Texas, will be performing around the Lincoln area in the upcoming months. Partridge said the band had not decided whether it would sign with a record company yet, but it was planning a future release. ■MUSIC REVIEWS “Ivans Hose” Ivans Hose Blue Carrot Records A lot of alternative bands with weird names have no weird music to live up to them. Ivans Hose is definitely not one of these bands. Its self-titled debut album is 13 exercises in eccentricity. The band’s style is one of randomness and con fusion. Yet the songs on the album are pulled together by a cohesion of good vocals and great instrumenta tion. The first song is “Eyes,” a dark, heavy piece using voice-muflling techniques that are often irritating. The next song, “Cream Clover,” thankfully jumps away from this approach and lands in a Nirvana esque world with a good beat and some weird background vocals. “I Wanna” demonstrates some really eerie sounds in a catchy tune with a great ending. “Held Like Air" is a real thrash metal song that goes from grunge to surreal. The album keeps its intensity and eccentricity through the entire entourage of songs, but there is one song near the end that stands out. The song is “Silence,” and it is anything but. It is a short tune that explodes with some great sound. It is difficult to label a band like Ivans Hose. It travels from slow instrumental sounds to screaming lyrics and all the way to seemingly random, synthesized background music. One thing that can be said about the band is it plays some great, albeit different, alternative music. Ivans Hose will be playing with Mercy Rule at Duffy’s Tavern to night. Joe/ Strauch “Museum of Heart” Dave Alvin Hightone Records This is the way rock ‘n’ roll used to be made. No synthesizers, no adenoidal whining, no overpower ing crashes of guitars, no explicit lyrics. Dave Alvin’s “Museum of Heart” is like stepping into a time warp and coming out in 1960. The 13 tracks (11 vocals, two instrumentals) are done in the rockabilly style of an early Elvis or Johnny Cash, such as “Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame.” Or there’s the cool, slinky feel to “Thir ty Dollar Room.” The lyrics explore heartbreak in all its forms. “Don’t Talk About Her” is the aftermath of a breakup. (“Don’t talk about her/1 don’t want to know how she’s been/if I keep thinking of her/I might try going back again”). Then there’s “The Devil’s Wind,” about a love trian gle gone awry. It’s not all about love, though. “Six Nights a Week” is the lament of a barroom singer tired of the monotonous routines and faces of his job. And “Stranger in Town” is about the familiar anger of the av See REVIEWS on 14 , Buffalo Tom captures Omaha crowd’s senses Band allows fans to share loves, losses and lives Concert review By Paula Lavigne They are climbing the charts with their latest release, **Big Red Letter Day,” and the members of Buffalo Tom trampled new ground at Oma ha’s Ranch Bowl Monday night. The trio — drummer Tom Maginnis, bassist Chris Colboum and singer-guitarist Bill Janovitz — per formed with honesty and sincerity, but never overshadowed one another vocally or musically. The band modestly admitted its loves, losses and lives with a selection of songs from its early and present days. Favorites such as “Soda Jerk," “Taillights Fade” and “AnythingThat Way” brought the most emotional re sponse from an Omaha crowd that I’ve seen in a long time. The band closed its set with three powerful songs full of love and devotion, including “Frozen Lake.” The powerofJanovitz’s bittersweet voice and the force of Colboum and Maginnis’ backing rhythm and har mony left the audience with a wide range of emotions. Buffalo Tom captured the senses of both new and die-hard fans. The band brought the fans into its world by traveling through life’s heartaches and happiness. The band broke the barrier be tween band members and ordinary people. The only differences were that the members traveled in a tour bus and slept during the day. After the show, Janovitz and Maginnis said they were pleased with the Omaha crowd. The two showed their hometown attitudes when Janovitzioked about Maginnis’ “kill er cat,” Otis. Maginnis defended his pet, who was “obviously” trained as an attack cat. The band members did complain about some small technical problems that affected them and the opening band, St. Johnny.
