Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Apathy & 1980's Omaha Punk Scene Reunion

Back in the 1980's I played bass for a punk band in Omaha named Apathy. We put out an LP called "Out the Window" in 1988 (Fat Bat Records). Apathy went on many regional tours, and one national one. It was the latter that proved to be the downfall, as there was a major falling out on the national tour between two members and we never played together again. The main lineup of Apathy included myself on bass, Seth Kirshman on vocals, Mark Blackman on drums, and my brother Jim Homan on guitar. In its earliest phases Tim Cox played drums and we had Doug Baldwin on rhythm guitar.

Here are a few of the songs off the "Out the Window" album:

My World
After You
Know I In Friend
Forever
Circus Circus
Out the Window
Falling
Six Feet Under

About a week ago I heard from some of the old legends of the Omaha punk scene that there was going to be an Omaha punk reunion concert on March 29th, 2008. After some soul searching I decided that I would be up for coming back to Omaha for this event. In many ways it's like I've lived two lives, one as a punk rocker in Omaha and another as a Theology professor in New Orleans. I put the bass away when I went to graduate school. But it's time to get it out of storage, and so I picked up the phone and called Mark, Jim, and Seth, and they all thought that an Apathy reunion would be pretty cool. So I emailed Tim Cox and now after 20 years, we'll be playing a set in Omaha in just over three months. Other bands playing include RAF, Cordial Spew, The Upsets, The Drunk Cambodian Landlords (A Dead Kennedys Cover Band), and maybe Double-You. The best part will be seeing some old friends that I haven't seen for so many years.

More information about the event can be seen on Tim's Omaha "My Generation" Reunion page or on this yahoo discussion group.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Rock on, Bible dude.

Anonymous said...

apathy is a great band name. still relevant, dude.

Sue said...

Very cool. Take video.

Unknown said...

Damn, first Led Zeppelin and now Apathy! That'll be a blast, Michael.

kathy said...

That is just too cool. Everyone should try to live as many different "lives" as possible.

Anonymous said...

hey man, my band is recoding at warehouse right now, jims a great guy... lookin forward to the show...

Anonymous said...

Hey, that's great news to hear. Myself and my brother (Tim Archer), both from Sioux City had "Out The Window" on vinyl, and I also had an Apathy t-shirt. Looking forward to the show. Take Care! Robin Buddi

It Must Be Aaron said...

Holy CRAP. I bought the Apathy album on vinyl at Drastic about a million years ago. Have searched for it ever since online. I just Googled again and came across this post. Was the album ever released on CD and if so, is it available anywhere?

-Aaron

Michael Homan said...

Hi Aaron. Links to some mp3's are above. I know my brother jim has a cd of it, and he can be reached at
homanj that symbol with a circled a then cox dot net

It Must Be Aaron said...

That's great, thanks man.

Anonymous said...

Dude, this is amazing. I just recently finished ripping all my old vinyl to MP3 and "Out the Window" was one of the albums. I picked it up cheap at a Friends of the Library Sale back in 1998 or so.
And now I find out the bassist is a Theology professor.

Blows. My. Mind.

Thanks for the MP3 files, they're a bit clearer than mine.
Oh, and now Apathy has their own entry on Musicbrainz!!

http://musicbrainz.org/show/artist/?artistid=524416

Michael Homan said...

Thank you so much for your kind words h-postmortemus. And thanks for the entry at Musicbrainz.--Michael

Anonymous said...

I bought this LP in Sioux City when it first came out and I still listen to it today. Thanks for the music

SDID said...

any chance you can post the whole album?

i used to listen to it all the time in high school

anonymous said...

Hi Michael, I happened to meet Doug and Tim in Sioux city in 89. Do you still have a way to contact them? Carlos

Unknown said...

Apathy "Out the Window" Side one is great, side two not so much. I like the singer's yowls. I'm not sure if he is trying to limit them as to stay hard or if there was no room for any melody. Regardless I dig it.The musicians mix it up a bunch on side one. These 1980's Omaha rockers sound like the fast Nirvana circa Bleach. Great score in a Wisconsin Thrift store