Tour diaries pt. 2: Noah's Ark Was A Spaceship

as seen on Hear Nebraska
entries by Noah's Ark, photos by Yuppies


It's not often that one sees more cops than showers over a week's course. After Noah's Ark Was A Spaceship's Midwest/Southern tour with Yuppies, vocalist/guitarist Andrew Gustafson can say he's done it.


Fresh off his spring break, unparalleled to any other college kid's, he tells me that with four run-ins with the cops at house shows and on the road, "I don't think anyone in both bands showered more than twice." Yikes.

Official tour group pic

The band introduced its debut LP, Hanga-Fang, to show-goers across the south and Midwest, even meeting a few song requests and synched lips in Denton, Texas, a city less than half the size of Lincoln.


"The kids we met were totally supportive and genuine," he says. "It's not something that you necessarily find everywhere."


"Opener" and "Warm Eyes" from Hanga-Fang. Free downloads here at Slumber Party Records.


  



Now back in Omaha, Noah's Ark is looking forward to a break before hitting the interstate west for a 10 (or so) day June tour. A break from playing, anyway.


"We’re looking forward to knowing that we’re coming back out again in June, but also knowing the time between now and then we can write and lay low," he says.


Along with the West coast tour, there's also talk of a weekend stint with The Answer Team, he tells me.


Be sure to also catch last week's Tour Diaries band Yuppies Friday, April 22 at Barley St. Tavern in Omaha with Baby Tears, High Diving Ponies (Kansas City) and Death of a Taxpayer. Keep on the lookout for the band's LP!


In part two, Noah's Ark goes Ninja Turtles for pizza...

Wednesday, March 23: house show in New Orleans
We left Memphis after a long night of hard partying to New Orleans. The drive was a long, Southern-filled experience. The South is much different from Omaha. In a gas station we saw dudes with gun racks inside their trucks. There were Confederate flags everywhere and single-serving beer cans to-go on every corner. Wow!


We entered Louisiana (Gator Land). Apparently, Rob cornered one and tried to feed it some leftover bananas but it was not into them. The gator turned around and whipped Rob in the genitals. I guess he learned his lesson.


New Orleans is an incredible city still ravaged by Katrina. We played in a sweet house with Yuppies. Our sets were filled with sweat and beer. The show was so packed that things became unruly. Women threw their panties at the stage and the floor became so full of underwear that it needed to be swept before Yuppies went on. Yuppies were great and singer Boogs threw the crowd into a trance with his piercing eyes. He's a huge hit with the tranny crowd.


After the show, we hit the town with our friends Steevo, Liz and Eric from Omaha. We ate poboy sandwiches with a homeless guy before consuming gallons of Louisiana gator beer. We sang near perfect renditions of our favorite pop and R&B tunes at a karaoke bar. We stumbled home and immediately disrobed and danced the night away. We awoke the next morning nude and sweating. Off to Austin, Texas! — John (guitar/ bass/ vox)

Tour diaries pt. 1: Yuppies

as seen on Hear Nebraska 


photos and entries by Yuppies

Catching up on the phone with Yuppies’ singer/guitarist Jack Begley (they call him Boogs) yesterday evening, he tells me the guys are basking in some pre-show downtime, outside in 80 degree weather. The Omaha act is at a little club called Cheer Up Charlie’s in Austin. It’s a vegetarian cuisine restaurant and bar — only the band’s second bar stop on their nine-day Midwest/southern tour with Noah’s Ark Was A Spaceship. 

The two bands also toured together in 2008 when they put out a 7-inch split. The old split is still sold at the merch table, as are a few new tracks on CD-Rs (also hosted on MySpace and downloadable at their Bandcamp page). The garage pop-rockers have an album lined up for May/June, afterall.

"Getting Out" and "Sunglasses" by Yuppies
 


Mid-tour, they’ve played two house shows, two bars and one “DIY-art-gallery-sort-of-place” in St. Louis — their nights in between spent in sleeping bags on the floors of nice people. Nine guys (eight musicians and one roadie), two bands and two vans. This is their day-by-day documentation of their tour, as told by a different person each day. Comic book exaggeration included. 

Today, Yuppies and roadie sidekick Crass whiz from state to hotdog-eating state in their trusty tour van, battling snack-stealers and sassy gas station girls. Tune in next week for part two to see if Noah’s Ark and the 5-0 meet again.

Friday, March 18: The Birdcage in Iowa City, Iowa
We grab gear and food, put it in the van and hit I-80 east to our first tour stop in Iowa City, “THE BIG EASY.” The sun is shining and the grass is brown — I’m homesick. 

The concert is at a house named The Birdcage, because it is the home to more birds than humans, which really does a number on their utility bills. The residents of the house play in fantastic rock groups — Solid Attitude, and Wet Hair — who performed after our band. Our band performed to a sedated audience, between 3 and 500 people — the memory has become hazy. Then Wet Hair played — spacey keyboardy, chill, good stuff. Followed by Sic Alps, on tour from San Francisco. They were fantastic — fuzz guitars, banging drums, catchy jamming. 

By then it was 4 a.m., and the band we are on tour with played. The guys in that band are rather unfriendly, I do not know any of their names, but their band is called Noah's Ark was a Spacearc, or something. Anyway, earlier that day they stole some of my snacks, so after they set up I detuned all their guitars. Boy did they look foolish when they tried to go into their first number “Sandman” and it sounded like “Kashmir”. Pretty pathetic for a cover band, but the babes seemed to enjoy it. The next morning we got coffee and left for Chicago, “Sin City.” I think Crass fell in love. — BOOG$, aka Jack (vox/guitar)

Omaha's Slumber Party Records uses local footing and a little help from their friends to thrive

Slumber Party Records band Noah's Ark Was a Spaceship has a new single out, "Warm Eyes," available for download at the label's site. The band will be releasing an album late January/early February 2011.

Check out their show next week:

[Holy Fuck w/ Indian Jewelery & Noah's Ark Was a Spaceship]

[Thursday, Oct. 21, 8 p.m.] [Bourbon Theatre, Lincoln]

[$13 in advance, $15 at the doors]

mp3: "Adult Sized Skeletal" 
from their 2009 EP "My Name Is What Is Your Name"

as seen in the Daily Nebraskan

The Slumber Party Records label out of Omaha can't say that business has always been smooth. But when it comes to support from the local music community and friends, you could say it's been smooth sailing.

It's the "people who go to shows and buy the records locally" that help keep the label going, owner Aaron Markley said. 

Saddle Creek Records in Omaha is also a "huge supporter of the label," Markley said. The greater Omaha label distributes Slumber Party's records through ADA (Alternative Distribution Alliance), one of the largest independent music distributors in North America.

ADA distributes both physical and digital music copies for their affiliate labels that showcase bands from known bands like Arcade Fire and Weezer to lesser-knowns like Slumber Party's roster.

Slumber Party's signed talent seems to showcase the diverse music that can be found in the Omaha area.

The label currently has eight active bands including Noah's Ark Was a Spaceship, Outlaw Con Bandana, Conchance, Honeybee, Talking Mountain and Thunder Power, to name a few.