The Omaha Music Scene Family Tree

Music scenes are always interconnected. Bands break up and other groups form from their pieces.

Friends create record labels to release music and venues to host shows.

But as music scenes go, Omaha's is like one big family tree.

View the PDF, at right, to find Omaha's tree, starting with Saddle Creek Records at the core, and all the vines and branches that stem from it.

Disclaimer: Omaha's music scene involves more people, bands and venues than could possibly fit on this page. This chart covers the big names, but some items inevitably got left out.

Saddle Creek Records

Evolving from Lumberjack Records, Saddle Creek was named after the street that winds through midtown Omaha. The label has provided major cool points and credibility to Omaha's music scene, causing publications like Rolling Stone and Spin to heap praise on our fair city.

Bands on Saddle Creek's roster include Azure Ray, Beep Beep, Bright Eyes, Criteria, Cursive, Orenda Fink, Sebastien Grainger, Ladyfinger (ne), Land of Talk, O+S, The Rural Alberta Advantage, Tokyo Police Club, Two Gallants, UUVVWWZ and Old Canes.

Slumber Party Records

Local label Slumber Party came together when friends from Capgun Coup, Bear Country and the now-defunct April in Andalusia decided to create a record label to release their own music as well as that of other friends.

Slumber Party includes artists Baby Walrus, Bear Country, Honeybee, Noah's Ark Was a Spaceship, Outlaw Con Bandana, Talking Mountain, Thunder Power, Darren Keen, Conchance and Capgun Coup (which is also on Conor Oberst's Team Love label).

ARC Studios

Mike Mogis and Conor Oberst created ARC after Mogis and his brother A.J.'s Lincoln studio, Presto!, was set to be closed. These groups (among many others) have recorded at ARC (“Another Recording Company”): Eagle*Seagull, Little Brazil, Cursive, Bright Eyes, Maria Taylor, Tilly & the Wall, Flowers Forever, Malpais

Benson

Benson is a neighborhood thriving with local music. Every night, someone is on the stage at at least one of these venues: Waiting Room Lounge, Barley Street Tavern, The Foundry, P.S. Collective and the Sydney.

Ink Tank Merch

This subsidiary of Saddle Creek Records provides tour merchandise and screen printing for bands. They handle merch for more than 100 artists and businesses such as locals like McCarthy Trenching, national indie groups like the Hold Steady and non-musicians such as Congressional candidate Jim Esch.

Slowdown Virginia

The band for which the Slowdown rock club was named, Slowdown Virginia had one of the very first releases for Lumberjack Records, the label that would become Saddle Creek. The band was also considered a major source of inspiration for other local groups during Saddle Creek's early years.

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The Faint broke away from Saddle Creek Records in 2008 to self-produce and release its own album under its own label, blank.wav. Faint frontman Todd Fink told The World-Herald at the time that the band wanted to handle marketing, production and distribution costs itself and keep a bigger part of the take. At the same time, the group also created its own recording studio, Enamel, where the Faint and Broken Spindles (Faint bassist Joel Petersen's side project) record all of their material.

Team Love

Conor Oberst created his own label in 2003. The label's first release was Omaha group Tilly and the Wall's “Wild Like Children” back in 2004. Team Love went on to release records from various groups, including Omaha artists such as McCarthy Trenching, Capgun Coup and Simon Joyner.

Want an example?

Jason Kulbel helps run Saddle Creek Records with Robb Nansel, president of the label, who was a member of early Saddle Creek band Commander Venus with Conor Oberst, whose Mystic Valley Band includes Macey Taylor. Taylor's sister is Maria Taylor, member of the band Azure Ray with Orenda Fink, who is married to Todd Fink of the Faint, who is... well, you get the idea. Want an example? Jason Kulbel helps run Saddle Creek Records with Robb Nansel, president of the label, who was a member of early Saddle Creek band Commander Venus with Conor Oberst, whose Mystic Valley Band includes Macey Taylor. Taylor's sister is Maria Taylor, member of the band Azure Ray with Orenda Fink, who is married to Todd Fink of the Faint who is... well, you get the idea.