THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “David Nance and Mowed Sound, the first album by David Nance to be released on Third Man Records, cuts deep.
Memories sprout back, like the sounds of a great rock song blasting from the neighbour’s truck as it revs away into the night. There is a definite connection to the past, but the swinging guitar boogie and snarled blues you might expect from Nance and co. sounds leaner and completely hypnotic. What remains are 10 tracks from a well-oiled group so rhythmically together that the songs on the album seem as connected as links in a chain.
Led by Nance on vocals and guitar alongside Kevin Donahue on drums, James Schroeder on guitar, Derrick Higgins and Sam Lipsett on bass, alongside guest appearances from Megan Siebe, Skye Junginger, and Pearl LoveJoy Boyd, the album brings together a crew of veteran Omaha musicians for a record that showcases Nance’s voracious appetite for anything that rocks, anything that soothes, and all the glorious static and disturbed transmissions in between. “The whole album is a big magic trick,” Nance says, “most of these songs were written as country songs and then were perverted into different forms… but it sure as shit isn’t a country record.”
Nance grew up in Grand Island, Nebraska, played in the marching band and discovered punk and garage rock before moving to Omaha and joining the mid-2000 garage punk scene happening there with the band the Forbidden Tigers. Several years spent in Los Angeles with his wife Anna led to a period of songwriting and home recording before they decided to move back to Omaha, where he began finding his musical identity and started recording his songs with like-minded friends. What developed was a heavy burned-out rock vibe that still somehow fits in the punk universe. Nance also played with Omaha legend Simon Joyner and has continued to record and self-release tapes and cdrs throughout the past decade.
A full length album, More Than Enough, was released in 2016 on Ba Da Bing! Records and featured Nance’s blown-out guitar leads, low-fi sound and great songs and was followed by 2017’s Negative Boogie. Somehow straddling the world you might find on missing link, private-press blues rock albums from the 70’s and the post 2000 punk landscape, Nance takes it further with skilled songwriting and melodic vocals. With Nebraska roots mixed in with his hypnotic blues riffs, Nance’s sound lands on a territory not too far from the country outlaws of the ’70s. This sound was solidified on 2020’s Staunch Honey, Nance’s self described “loner recording” mostly recorded by himself playing all instruments with long-term collaborator Donahue on drums.
Nance is also known for his lightning punk cover recordings of classic albums such as Lou Reed’s Berlin, Beatles for Sale and Devo’s Duty Now For the Future. For this series, Nance will choose a favorite album, learn the songs and record over the course of a week and release it on CDR or cassette on his own Western Records. Nance plans on continuing this project and would like to release 100 of these eccentric, homespun and destroyed love letters to the greats.
Another partnership includes a collaboration with the musician Rosali that has resulted in two excellent albums and subsequent tours with the David Nance Group as her backing band. They had been touring with her band the Long Hots in 2019 and started playing together with mutual affinity. Rosali’s upcoming album was recorded with musical compatriots Schroeder recording and Donahue and Nance playing, as well.
Not content to mine one musical formula, Nance and company continue to explore new sounds and spaces. From the blistered punk blasts of More Than Enough to the introspective stance on Staunch Honey, Nance and his friends find inspiration from the friends and fellow musicians that have accompanied them on their journey. A fruitful one indeed.”
