Lan£ Hickenbottom/DN
ERIK THE RED (from left, Chris PabiM|Hist, Rich Higgins and Shane Aspegren) makes its inaugural public appearance 9:30 tonight at Duffy’s Tavern. The freshly banded musicians, all veterans
of Lincoln’s music scene, open for For Against and The Sheridans.
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Ranch Bowl funks it up tonight
By Patrice Miner
Music Critic
The music is right, so get your
dancin’ shoes on, as the Ranch
Bowl will be booty shakin’ tonight.
Phunk Junkeez will bring their
style of “Liquid Aggression” to the
Omaha venue with Shootyz Groove
and Incubus for a 9 p.m. show.
The band is making its second
appearance in Omaha since July
and should give fans a gaze at mate
rial from an album due out in
November.
“Adrenaline,” “Bones” and
“Dead Beat” were some of the
tracks played at the July^shbw that
could show up on the new record.
Phunk Junkeez have gone
through some changes since their
last album, having lost one Junkee,
K-Tel, because of professional dif
ferences, member Soulman said.
DJ Roachclip takes on the addition
al duty of rapping the lines former
ly held by K-Tel.
“The difference can be heard in
the new songs,” Soulman said.
“The new record will be much
more positive.”
Soulman said K-Tel was
responsible for many of the nega
tive lyrics in tracks such as
“Snapped.” The departure has
given the band a more positive atti
tude about what it is doing, he said.
Tonight, the Junkeez will play
the usual hits and also might throw
in a more lyricalfy “phunked” up
“Song 2,” which Soulman said Blur
“ripped off” from the Junkeez.
Shootyz Groove will play
before the Phunk Junkeez, and will
give the latter something to live up
to. The band’s blend of funk and
hip-hop will get the crowd bounc
ing and will be worth the $12.50
admission on its own.
Incubus will open the show
with a style similar to Korn and
Limp Bizkit. The quintet has the
standard vocalist, guitarist, bassist
and drummer line-up, but Incubus
also adds a spinster, DJ Lyfe.
The lyrics on its latest record,
“S.C.I.E.N.C.E.,” carry a positive
theme in the end, but are too
abstract. Vocalist Brandon Boyd
uses ai pointless simile of being like
a vitamin and the extended
metaphor kicking off the album is
about a human magic marker.
When listeners aren’t dropping
“S.C.I.E.N.C.E.” into used CD
recycle bins, the band will tour die
East Coast with the Phunk Junkeez.
However, Shootyz Groove and
the Phunk Junkeez should be the
highlight tonight, as they send funk
and hip-hop into a crowd that sure
ly will be sore the next day.
as seen
on \JQ
\
along with the
smash hit, “Hell”
9 -r
HOT"
available
_ at fine
® record stores
_ everywhere
v
Local rockers join
forces in Erik the Red
By Bret Schulte
Senior Reporter
Lincoln’s frequently incestuous
rock scene has spawned once again -
and this offspring already has a history.
Local rock veterans Rich Higgins,
Chris Palmquist and Shane Aspegren
have combined their varied and eclectic
musical backgrounds to forge Lincoln’s
newest rock team, Erik die Red.
Most Lincoln residents will get
their first taste of the band at its show
tonight at Duffy’s, 1412 O St., where
Erik the Red will open for fellow local
rockers For Against and The Sheridans,
from Austin, Texas.
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and combination of their past experi
ences has helped create a sound unique
to Lincoln’s local rock scene.
“We don’t really sound like any
body else in Lincoln,” Aspegren, the
drummer, said. “Our band is more
atmosphere. We utilize a lot of rhythmi
cal things, a lot of melody and trance
rock.”
All agreed that atmosphere was a
crucial ambition of the band.
“It’s like a poetry reading,”
Palmquist, the bassist, said. “We’re try
ing to create a mood.”
Although the name may suggest
Viking house music and Swedish pom,
Erik the Red sprung from more poetic
origins. The name occurred to Higgins,
Erik the Red’s guitarist, while he was
employed at a local greenhouse and
nursery.
“It’s inspired by a particular flower,”
Higgins said. “I was planting these
Siberian irises, and I looked at the name
tag. It said ‘Eriklhe Red.’”
The other band members embraced
the idea.
“After three months (of being
together without a name), anything
sounded good,” Aspegren said.
The band was conceived when
Palmquist, a former member ofEamon,
hooked up with Aspegren, a former
member of Lullaby for the Working
Class. Aspegren, whose past also
includes a stint with the complex but
extinct We’d Rather Be Flying, used his
connections and contacted Sideshow
guitarist Higgins about the project
Bringing together their distinct x^
visions and separate influences, the
local rockers created a communal
cacophony that is heavy on mood and
repetition. Together, members of the
band decided to create a sound reflec
tive of their backgrounds, but with an
overall sound embracing more abstract
ideas.
“We’re a little more instrumentally
based,” Aspegren said. “Lyrically, we
go off ideas that are pretty ambiguous.
(Higgins) seems to be coming more
from thematic fragments and a rhyth
mic base.”
While all members or the band nave
taken a departure from their previous
styles?, Higgins probably has taken the
largest leap. As a member of Ioca^ rock
legend and emotional noise wall
Sideshow, he has been allowed to
explore different facets of his musical
meanders.
“This is my first time singing, and
I’m trying to convince people I have
something to say,” he said, laughing. “I
think now I am putting more of my pop
sensibility into it.”
Aside from a few house parties,
tonight’s show will be only the second
public appearance for Erik the Red.
But, members said, their brief summer
tour of tlie Midwest allowed them the
opportunity to tighten the band’s sound
and create a greater cohesiveness.
“We’re trying to find a happy medi
um between pretentious alt-rock and
stupid pop rock,” Aspegren said.
Tonight’s show begins at 9:30 and
costs $4.
227 North 9th • HaymaAet District |
p .*y|I
99 if Weff Drinks and
Buy One Pitcher,
Get A Second One For A Penny!
No cover charge before 9 p.m.
Open Mon-Tfutrs: 5 p.m.-1 a.nu; Fri: 3 p.m.-1 a.m.; Sat: 12 p.m.-1 a.m.
Home Football Gomes 8 a m. »l
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