Indecision progresses in sound and equipment
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By MICHAEL McHALE / GZO
The guys laugh at themselves now, nearly two years after playing their first song inside the Scott Village dorms at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. They keep a stock of home videos to remind them of their past, a time when a group of know-it-all underclassmen looked like they were wearing straitjackets on stage.
In reality, the indie group Indecision barely knew anything.
“Now, looking back at it, it’s like, ‘This is awful,’” bass player Corey Friesen said. “It was just awkward.”
What: Indecision
When: 9:30 p.m. Saturday
Where: Knickerbockers, 901 O St.
Admission: $5, 18 and over
Indecision has learned how to work a crowd since then. When the five-man group returns to Knickerbockers on Saturday night, stiff music will have been replaced by stiff necks from all the head banging they like to do. Dry theatrics will have moved aside for custom lighting and a fog machine.
It was simpler in the beginning, when everyone practiced around a single microphone in the center of a room.
They played for the heck of it back then.
As time progressed, so did the band. By July 2007, the guys started to get serious. They practiced a little more and mailed out some recordings. It wasn’t long before they got an invitation from Knickerbockers.
“Two weeks before our show, we had a meeting,” said Jared Dietz, who plays lead guitar. “And we said, ‘We really need to practice — a lot.’ Because we had never really played live before.”
They didn’t know how to act when they arrived. They played with little movement and no dancing. The crowds were quiet.
Indecision needed some solutions.
First, the band dumped its drummer. In came Chris Massara, a friend of one the members, who quickly grabbed attention by wearing a skin-tight gray shirt and a pair of revealing biker shorts as he bashed on the drums during a Halloween concert.
The changes were not finished. Some members traveled to shows and picked up a few tips. They watched Tool, Godsmack and Breaking Benjamin, and they left with ideas to give their own band a boost.
The answer was simple: They needed to win the crowd. But that could be more difficult than it looked.
“Believe it or not,” Dietz said, “head banging and playing at the same time is really hard.”
Soon he and his band were practicing the skill. During one jam session, they were playing on their knees and knocking their heads against the air. They were sore for days.
Wild practices are rare these days. All of the members are still in college, and each has a job. Time is sparse.
But the group is still serious. Now it uses the old home videos for critiquing more than joking.
The single microphone has been replaced by many, an investment that cost them a sleek $400. And the new audio interface cost at least $600.
Not to mention the fresh $3,500 drum set.
It’s a different band now. The group plays for hundreds instead of dozens. It turns down some concert offers instead of accepting every one.
With some work and some time, Indecision became authentic. And it lost those invisible straitjackets along the way.
“It was all in fun at first,” Dietz said as he sat next to some of his band members.
Garret Grooms, the rhythm guitar player, cut him off:
“It still is.”
Reach Michael McHale at 473-7254 or at mmchale@journalstar.com.
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