THE WAITING ROOM AND THE REAL ZEBOS’ HOST AN LP RELEASE PARTY

dice1-no — The Real Zebos performed at The Waiting Room in Omaha, Nebraska on Friday, June 28, 2019. Photo by Dean Birkheimer.

BY DEAN BIRKHEIMER | Go Venue Magazine

State Disco and Garst were at The Waiting Room in Omaha, Nebraska along with a multitude of friends who were all there to party and congratulate The Real Zebo’s on the release of their debut album “Strictly Platonic.” It’s amazing how quickly this band has gotten to this stage of their career. Especially when you consider their start. Who starts a band on Criagislist? I can’t even find a decent sofa on Craigslist much less a bunch of fellas that I plan on being with nearly every day of the major part of my life. Connor Brandt and Jordan Gaul found each other on Craigslist and after a 9 track demo album, Missed Connections, they went back to Criagslist to complete the rest of the band. Les Rahn on drums, Jake Strange on guitar and George Cooper on bass. In January of 2018 they played their first song. A year and half later and here we are at The Waiting Room being introduced to their full-length LP, Strictly Platonic. Named so with Criagslist in mind. Clever boys.

Getting things started was State Disco. I’m going to basically quote their Facebook page to describe who this band is, because there is no way I could do it on my own. They were conceived in a dream about an imagined European realm where people rave at government sponsored dance parties. What they play is Indietronic dance, but most importantly, and I can’t stress this enough. They are still a Rock Band. Cody Rathman (vocals, guitar, keys) – Jay Nesmith (keys, vocals) – Nate Fowler (drums) and Jared Bakewell (bass, vocals) are the individuals that make up the band, but there is nothing individual about them at all. This is a tight all for one and one for all band. They come on stage with a goal to entertain and once they started playing it was obvious, they would have no problem achieving that goal. “Going to Sleep is Giving Up” from 2018 is their debut record and is a must listen. I can’t say enough about Beautiful Monsters. Being an 80’s freak I can tell you it screams from that age and It’s a body mover with a perfect vocal track. I would not be surprised to discover that these guys were Joy Division fans. Hey, I have an idea, let’s do what bands hate we do. Let’s compare State Disco to another band. I’m gonna go with The Midnight. Great beats, floating keys, lengthy sustains and incredible lyrical ability. GO SEE THIS EXTREMELY WELL POLISHED BAND!!

STATE DISCO’s SET LIST:
HISTORY IS MY TEACHER – VERSIONS – EAGER EYES – MAN OF ACTION – MILLION MILES AWAY – BALCONY – CHAMELEON – BEAUTIFUL MONSTERS – FIRE WE BREATH

Up next was Roman Constantino – Casey Plucinski – Joe Murphy-Chavez and Cannon Dunwoody. Collectively they are Garst. So why the name Garst, where did it originate, what does it mean and most importantly what is its relationship to the band? I DON’T KNOW AND I DON’T CARE!! What I care about is can they play. And well, they can’t. They cannot play because they DESTROY!! These guys play like nobody is watching. If I could play and was good enough to be in a band, this is the kind of music I’d be playing. Distortion and pedal work. I’d be starring a hole through my shoes. Garst released Temet Nosce in 2018 which is Latin for ‘know thyself”. Garst certainly does know themselves. They know who they are and what their style of music is and make no apologies for either. And guess what? They don’t have to. By doing what they are doing, they are doing us all a service. Fletchers Mystical Mind is just amazing. You would be hard pressed to find any song from any genre from any decade that rocks the way this one does. You wanna just punch something when you listen to it. It’s simply put. Spot on distortion. You can find these guys on Spotify and I suggest you do.

GARST’s SET LIST:
FINE – SAID SO – GLASS DOOR – ASPHYXIATION – SAMMY FUCKED UP – PHYSCHOLOPTOPUS – FLETCHER MYSTICAL MIND

About five minutes before The Real Zebos’ came out a chant began. Zebos’, Zebos’, Zebos’. The room and the stage darkened and out walked The Real Zebos’ not to be confused with Real Zebos. Starting off with Nothin’ At All, the crowd immediately began to sing a long with the band and didn’t stop til they were walking out the door and even then, some were still signing. This band is skillful and clean overflowing with talent and flair. For the first 2 acts I was able to walk up to the stage to grab some photos, for this band, I had a much harder time. The audience wanted to be as close to the band as they could. Somewhere around the 3^rd or 4^th song a pair of humongous air-filled dice were tossed into the crowd. About 30 seconds later, management had put an end to that by confiscating them. As the music continued, I could hear shout outs from the crowd to the band. “I love you guys” You guys are awesome” “Jump down here” and even “let me dance with you” This was a party and the boys on stage were in charge and doing an exceptional job. Let’s not forget we are all here to celebrate the album release of Strictly Platonic. On that album you will find Luck. There is a video for this song that is a play of the hit show Shark Tank. It’s a crafty video and fun to watch. Catch it here:

Each song on this LP is really well done. We can compare them to other Indie pop bands like Vampire Weekend and that’s ok as I honestly don’t think they mind because at the same time they know they offer a little something different as well. They are playful and comedic without loosing any of the seriousness of the music. You can of course listen to their new LP on Spotify and purchase it on their website. These guys are about to explode, and you will want to be one of first to say. I knew them before they were famous.

THE REAL ZEBOS’ SET LIST:
NOTHING AT ALL – LUCK – IT’S NOT YOU (ME) IT’S ME (YOU) G/C/D SONG MEDLEY – ZOETROPE – NECTARINE – BLACK KETTLE – YOUR EX SAID YOU CAN’T DANCE – CAN’T GET IT OUT – MY EVERY BREATH – GIVES YOU HELL – GET AROUND – ROCK STAR SKINNY – GET DOWN – SUPERSPOOKY