Maha fest announces three more acts

Maha is growing.

Planners for the festival, in its second year, recently announced that popular indie rock band Spoon would be this year's headliner.

Now they're adding three more acts to the lineup: alt-country band Old 97's, indie rock band Superchunk and the dance-punk-party band the Faint, which features Omaha natives.

The show will take place at Omaha's Lewis & Clark Landing on July 24. Tickets, costing $33, will go on sale April 24 at 10 a.m. at www.etix.com and www.mahamusicfestival.com.

Superchunk hasn't released a full album since 2001's “Here's To Shutting Up” and the band has played live only sporadically. All of that will change this year as the group plans to release a new record and do a limited number of shows, including the one at Maha.

“I don't think we'll ever do another three-month tour or anything like that, but we certainly still enjoy playing live,” singer Mac McCaughan told Spinner.com.

McCaughan and Superchunk bassist Laura Ballance have been busy running Merge Records, the successful indie label they founded in 1989.

The Faint is well-known to local fans, who routinely buy enough tickets for the band's sweaty, dancy shows to sell out venues from Sokol Auditorium to the Waiting Room Lounge.

The former Saddle Creek Records band released an album, “Fasciinatiion,” on its own label, blank.wav, in 2008.

Old 97's gained popularity in the mid- to late-'90s along with other alt-country bands such as Uncle Tupelo and the Drive-By Truckers.

The band's most recent release is 2008's “Blame It on Gravity,” but, according to singer Rhett Miller's Twitter, the band started recording a new album last week in a Dallas music club.

More national acts will be added to the festival's lineup in coming weeks, and local artists will be selected through a series of showcases.

Contact the writer:

444-1557, kevin.coffey@owh.com

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