Killer new song by Icky Blossoms, "Babes"

I don't take much time to be a real blogger on this blog of mine, but I thought a new track out by Icky Blossoms was a good enough excuse. It's called "Babes" and I think it rules.

  

The band put on an awesome show this past Friday at the Slowdown. You can check out a shitty video I took on my phone. Just tilt your head to left, and you're good to go.

Icky Blossoms has pretty much been a well-kept secret, with Derek Pressnall (Tilly and the Wall, Flowers Forever) and Nik Fackler (Flowers Forever, InDreama) working in the studio and collab-ing with the likes of Jacob Thiele and Clark Blaechle (The Faint) and Teal Gardner (UUVVWWZ). They only have three tracks up on the web as of now, but have many on standby, as their set proved at the Slowdown. 

Meet your new favorite band with the beats, Icky Blossoms

[ICKY DEBUT SHOW/DOUBLE SPLIT RELEASE]
[Icky Blossoms, Conduits, Touch People & InDreama]
[Friday, April 15] [Slowdown, Omaha] 

I've just embarked on an internship with Hear Nebraska, and so far, so very swell. Now I'm playing catch-up. You can check out a story I did on Omaha band Lightning Bug's Summer 2011 EP here. I'll also be giving Nebraska music history lessons with the help of The Band Broke Up, my first post on Frontier Nebraska's Speed Nebraska is here. 


as seen on HearNebraska.org

When I spoke with him, Tilly and the Wall and Flowers Forever musician Derek Pressnall was working his full-time job as a father to his 14-month-old daughter, Willa Sun Pressnall. Duties include "Yo Gabba Gabba" dance parties.    

“She likes to dance,” Pressnall says, wrapping up a father-daughter boogie session to Gabba’s “I Like to Dance.” The little one’s interest is fitting — her mother’s Derek’s wife and eminent Tilly tapper, Jamie Pressnall.

   

Lately, it’s been less about Tilly and Flowers and more about Icky Blossoms — a new project Pressnall describes as a Flowers Forever offshoot. Floral jargon aside, you can be assured that Tilly is subconsciously thriving. More on that later.      

The Icky project bloomed when Pressnall wrote some Flowers songs with a synthesizer instead of a guitar. As the band continued to write and play the new synth songs at shows, the sound became its own.  

“It just felt like it was something different and it wasn’t Flowers Forever,” he says.

Even with a newfound alias and sound, Pressnall is a little weary to call Icky Blossoms a band, because, well, there is no set band.

“It’s always changing. It’s always evolving,” he says. "It’s always growing or breaking down.”

Among the constants stand Nik Fackler of InDreama, who carries out songwriting duties with Pressnall. Blair native Sarah Bohling (Flowers Forever) provides subtle yet polished lead vocals, with which Fackler and Pressnall harmonize. Conduits and former Eagle Seagull guitarist J.J. Idt has also been a regular player.