Meeting the Band, November 5

Hiding behind a mane of hair and a wooly beard is the soft-spoken, contemplative, articulate, genuine, earnest, respectful songwriter known as Brad Hoshaw. Standing at well over six feet tall, with his massive frame he almost resembles the mythical Paul Bunyan, especially in his signature plaid shirt and boot cut jeans.

Appearances aside, Brad is someone whose music takes precedent over anything else in his life – over day jobs and drinking, over women and children, over everyday setups and letdowns. His polished, soothing voice relents tales of the down-and-out, exposes the serendipitous and even uplifts the soul. But most importantly, Brad and his music are honest.

His lightly furnished one-bedroom apartment in Benson isn’t full of crap he doesn’t need, either. Only the essentials: a guitar, a bed, an amplifier, a laptop computer, a massive record collection, leftover pizza, scotch and rum and cola.

It’s here he sat down to talk about putting together his band of Seven Deadlies, with a few Deadlies on hand to add their pieces. It’s a group made up of key role players from a strong music community. The story goes when Brad came calling, no one hesitated to be a part of his backing band. They fell right into line, bringing to life visions of his songs that, up until that point, only resounded in their creator’s head. It might be true that Brad made a name for himself around here as a solo artist, but things are moving fast for the new group; they are already in the studio tracking a debut album, which they expect to have finished in the first quarter of 2009.

The differences between performing solo and with a band are many (one is standing naked before the scourging eyes of many, the other fights the same battle but with the support of your comrades). Regardless, Brad will ride the wind whichever direction it blows. “At this point, I love doing solo shows,” he said, “but I’ve done so many that the band shows are kind of the treat for me.”

What’s your background? For so long, you’ve been known for doing the solo thing. Are you from Omaha originally?

Brad: Yeah, I grew up in Papillion and I started playing guitar when I was 16. The first band I was in, we played at Ranch Bowl and things like that but we were all so young. And when that broke up I went solo and started doing acoustic things, put together a few bands here and there. Nothing stuck together, so, just being kind of frustrated with band politics and trying to keep everybody on the same page, a couple years straight I just did solo gigs until the opportunity came up to have the “dream band.”

So, did you pick everybody out?

Brad: Yeah, everybody was first pick for what I wanted for each instrument. We’ve all known each other through other bands for several years. It was pretty much putting together a group of friends. I’ve played in bands where drummers come and go and everybody’s got a different view of what they want. And so for me I pretty much originally just planned on doing one gig together and so I just wanted it to be various people I respected personally and professionally and just have fun doing that one show.

So it was your intention to put this band together for just one show? How’d it turn into more than that?

Brad: It was going to be a one-time deal. The band that was headlining was American Music Club, and I liked their music a lot and I asked if I could open the show. And Marc Leibowitz (of One Percent Productions) said, “Would you be able to put a band together for this?” I took that as a challenge because I’ve been wanting to do it for a while and I knew it was necessary to progress and make my music more accessible to more people. The response was amazing, all the reviews and everything. We said let’s do this again.

With everyone else involved in separate musical projects, I’d imagine it’d be pretty tough to get all eight people together.

Matt: I know we had (some shows) when a couple people weren’t able to make it, but there’s enough of us when we do things to make it, then it kind of makes it all the more special. Like in the Whipkey Three, I couldn’t do it if Zip wasn’t there, you know. We did one show without Scott playing drums and it was a fun challenge because drums are always essential to a certain feel and we had to work around it. It’s nice that Brad’s got songs that can work on all these different levels.

Scott: That’s a testament to his writing. I think the fact that he did solo acoustic for so long, the songwriting’s developed to such a point where they stand on their own – if something is missing, it still sounds like Brad and it still sounds like a complete song.

Craig: That’s what they are anyway. What, with the full band, a lot of them, three-fourths of the song is just Brad and the band drops in for the big dramatic moment.

Scott: And I think that’s another reason why this works, because some of us used to play in bands with Brad before, but it seemed like the band always overpowered Brad. Playing with this lineup and with the vision he had for band, we’re just complementing what’s already there.

Well, what is that vision?

Brad: I was looking for a band that would support the songs and not become something other than what my personality genuinely is. So I had some clear visions as far as when I wanted other instrumentation there and when I didn’t and how to build up a song and bring it back down and it’s been really fun getting to work with such talented musicians.

Matt: Brad did something kind of interesting, too, because I play lead and it’s kind of weird standing next to Jason (Ferguson), who’s like the best around. And Scott plays drums, but he also plays amazing guitar and keyboard, so it’s kind of weird that we’re all out of our comfort zone a little bit. (The rest agree.)

Scott: He values our creative input, so he’s giving us some leeway to kind of do our thing, and there again, like Matt said, since we’re kind of all a little bit out of our element it kind of a naturally lends itself to a certain creative vibe.

Outside of music, where do you all work?

Brad: Indirectly, I work for Red Bull Corporation. I work for a company that’s contracted by them. I basically manage all the repairs on their refrigerators. It’s one of those jobs you’d never know existed.

Scott: I’ve been a professional musician for 23 years – playing bands, producing projects, recording people. I think I’m the only one without a real job…

Karl: I don’t know. I could definitely say I don’t have a real job; I sell things on eBay.

Craig: I work for a club owner. I take care of Murphy’s, BarFly and the Lift.

Matt: I teach guitar at Dietze Omaha. My other job is playing.

You just recorded a Christmas song for Lash LaRue’s toy drive, what’s it about?

Matt: It’s pretty uplifting. (Laughter.)

Brad: Yeah, I couldn’t write a happy Christmas song. I had to write a song about a guy who’s planning to propose to his girlfriend on Christmas Eve and the whole buildup and everything and he proposes to him and she’s silent. He finds out that she’s been cheating on him and she’s leaving him. So, on Christmas morning, he’s sitting there with a glass of scotch, a cigarette and a gun, just kind of thinking. It’s got a Christmas theme to it. It’s for the children. (More laughter.)

Matt: That’s actually how Brad spends most of his mornings.

When you write a song, why do you do it?

Brad: I write the songs because I feel like I have to. If I don’t write a song for a while, I become a very unhappy person. It’s almost subconscious, you just don’t realize it until you sit down and write a song and you’re like, oh that’s what I’ve been meaning to do for the last month.

This is kind of a clich» question, but what’s your subject?

Brad: I guess when I write a song, I’d say most of them aren’t really about me and exact situations that have occurred to me. I think I relate to every song. Aspects ring true to personal stories of mine, but I’m really interested in watching – I’m a people watcher. I like seeing other people’s lives and seeing the tragedy and the joys of their lives and analyzing why it’s happening and feeling either the despair or the hope that they’re feeling. So a lot of my songs focus on people and their self-destruction, their relationship with God, their despair – drinking, drugs – all that stuff. There’s some love songs, too, but mostly I just like telling stories.

Do you write a lot of songs in your apartment?

Brad: I’ve written a few in here. I like living alone, just having peace and quiet. It’s a good neighborhood, too. I was living in Minneapolis for a while and came back here at the end of ’05.

What’d you do in Minneapolis?

Brad: I was just living and playing music. I loved the city. It was very vibrant, a lot of bands, a lot of venues, a lot of excitement about original music, but it was a lot of cliques and a lot of egos and a lot of style. Fashion was a big part of the music scene. I guess it was probably just because I grew up here, everybody had naturally evolved to whatever style they were.

I played a weekly showcase at the University of Minnesota up there and it was songwriter scene, but I didn’t feel like there was any future for me pursuing local music up there. I wasn’t excepted as a local musician. But when I can back here I came for a couple weeks, I was thinking of moving to New York or Boston, and I sat down and probably wrote three or four songs in a couple days. I just felt energy in Omaha and I decided there’s no way I can go anywhere else.