Death of a Taxpayer
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Death of a Taxpayer

Omaha, Nebraska, United States | INDIE

Omaha, Nebraska, United States | INDIE
Band Rock Alternative

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This band has not uploaded any videos
This band has not uploaded any videos

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"The Beat"

In 2011, Death of a Taxpayer was interviewed by Omaha TV station, KXVO, as part of their online video series The Beat, which features interviews with national, regional and local bands. - KXVO


"Junior's Cave Music Interview with Death of a Taxpayer"

Rock music is definitely not dead. This next amazing band is surely keeping the popular genre alive and kicking ass. Meet Death of a Taxpayer as we learn more about what makes this band tick and where they are heading with their music. The online conversation with Death of a Taxpayer highlights each member of the band’s journey to where they are at now. Enjoy what Junior’s Cave Golden Isles Online Magazine discovered in this super rockin’ spotlight.

Isaac: It’s an amazing time to be a DIY artist/performer/band/musician. What do you feel you contribute musically to the Indie Music Culture?

Paul: I think we contribute an element of personal and social responsibility that has been generally missing from popular and indie music for a while now.

Nate: I feel that we contribute quite a different sound than typical "indie" music. It's good to have options.

Isaac: If you had an opportunity to sign with a major label, would you sign now knowing you may have to give up some of what you have build up over the years about you in the process?

Paul: I think as long as the integrity of the music is maintained, being on a major label isn't by definition a bad thing. I mean, Springsteen, Dylan, and Nirvana were all on major labels, and they maintained their integrity.

Taylor: I’d be all for it. Even if we signed with a major label and it turned out to be the worst decision ever, it would still be a hell of a life experience.

Nate: Yes. I need money.

Isaac: I remembered Simon Cowell from American Idol talking about the “it” Factor that makes a musician/band stand out. What do you think is your “it” factor that makes you stand out from others in the music business?

Nate: I'm not really concerned with standing out as much as just doing what we do in an authentic way. If people draw comparisons to other bands, that's cool as long as they dig what we're doing. If they think we are completely different and stand out, that's cool too.

Paul: Our songs actually have something to say, yet they're catchy enough to still get stuck in your head.

Isaac: Name one of the one important elements that will make you stand out from the rest of the musicians/artists in the music industry?

Paul: See above answer. Plus, the Poe and Melville references in our songs will surely win over the lit majors.

Taylor: We definitely don’t sound like anything you hear on most radio stations today. So I guess that makes us stand out. I think our songwriting perspective is pretty unique. In terms of the Omaha scene, while it’s pretty diverse, most of the popular “scene bands” are more mellow than us.

Nate: Taylor’s beard.

Isaac: Do you feel you have given it your best when pursuing your musical dreams so far? Why or why not?

Paul: Honestly, I don't think I have. The main area I've slacked has to be in the self-promotion aspect. Promoting and advertising yourself takes an amount of confidence/cockiness that I'm afraid I lack. I do think DOAT is worth being cocky about though.

Nate: There is a lot of risk involved with being a musician... especially if you depend on it for a living. Would we make more music if we didn't have day-jobs? YES. But, there's even less money in music now than ever before. There used to be a time when you could make a living making music without "getting signed" or "making it big.” That doesn't seem to be the case anymore. That's why we keep our day jobs. So we don't have to live in cardboard boxes and eat cat food.

Taylor: I feel like I’ve been doing the best I can balancing the logistical side of life and the artistic side of life when pursuing my musical dreams. I’d love to be a full-time musician, but I also know that the beginning of every month, the bills are due. Yet, being in multiple bands over the course of 11 years, I feel like I’ve done a lot of things that seemed impossible when I first started out. Opening for Grammy winners, playing festivals, selling out venues, having people you don’t know tell you how much they enjoy your music...stuff like that keeps you going.

Isaac: Who do you look up to for your own influences and why?

Paul: Pearl Jam, Nirvana, and Springsteen for the passion/intensity; Dylan for the poetry; Against Me! and the Flobots for the message/intelligence; Kurt Vonnegut for the hope; and revolutionaries everywhere for the discontent.

Nate: Springsteen. He's the fuckin’ boss.

Taylor: I’m all over the place with musical influences, but for drumming style probably R.E.M., The Beatles, The Black Crowes, Counting Crows, Phantom Planet, Arlo…I’ve got a pretty simple, straight-forward style.

Isaac: Do you feel that Indie music gets the respect it deserves? Why or why not?

Paul: I think it does in the sense that, while it doesn't usually sell nearly as well as the pop records, the people who respect it actually know what it is and why they respect it.

Taylor: It does and it doesn’t. Indie music appears to be more popular than ever, but that doesn’t mean it puts asses in the seats. There are a lot people out there that enjoy it, but a vast majority of people would rather go to a cover show.

Nate: I think the term "indie music" is supremely overused these days. It seems that "indie" has become a title to explain the type of music that used to be made independently, in spite of little awareness or lack of widespread popularity. But now, "Indie" is cool. So really it isn't "Indie" anymore. Wait.. what was the question?

Isaac: If you could change one thing about the music business, what would it be and why?

Paul: Is it too obvious to say that I'd like to see that success in the music industry is based on the quality of the music?

Isaac: What has been one of your biggest setbacks and how did you overcome it? What lesson did you learn about yourself?

Paul: My biggest setback was when my last band broke up. I had been losing my passion for the music for a little bit, and I didn't know if I had it in me to start all over again. Thankfully, Taylor hadn't lost his passion and wasn't ready to quit, so we started DOAT.

Taylor: For this band, there have been a couple phases where we weren’t sure what was going to happen next. We started out with just Paul and I writing songs, not sure where the road would take us. Eventually, we added a bass player who left the band after about a year and only a handful of shows. Around that time Patrick joined the band, so we had a lead guitar player but still no bass player. Then we stumbled upon Nate and forced him to play bass. There’s been a lot opportunity to say, “hey, this isn’t going to work,” but we always found our way through and I think we’re a much better band for it.

Nate: Shitty bass player. Still working on how to fix that one.

Isaac: What type of feedback have you been receiving about your music from fans and music critics?

Patrick: So far, so good.

Paul: I've heard mostly good feedback from people. Honestly, I'd like to hear more people's honest opinions.

Taylor: A lot of other musicians seem to enjoy our sets.

Isaac: If you knew that you would never gain fame and fortune with what you are doing now, would you continue to make music? Explain.

Paul: At the risk of offending every non-band member in the world, being a nobody in a band is way more fun than being a nobody not in a band. It's not about the fame, it's about the music.

Patrick: There comes a certain strength with approaching the music scene with a sense of practicality. If you accept that you may not achieve that superstar status, but can enjoy writing and performing, then it becomes a more substantial part of life.

Nate: Yes. We will never be famous. I'm ok with it.

Taylor: I play music because I enjoy it. If mild fame comes, cool. If major fame comes, even better. If no fame comes, it doesn’t matter, I’ll still do it.

Isaac: How do you handle negative feedback or negative energy about your music?

Paul: Fuck 'em.

Nate: Guns.

Taylor: Because of answers like that, I try to be the one who deals with negative feedback.

Patrick: Fortunately, the Omaha scene has always been fairly supportive. There usually seems to be a good sense of camaraderie amongst the various musicians in the area.

Isaac: What role do your family and friends play in the equation of your pursuant of a music career?

Paul: They're all supportive. As long as I have health care my parents are all for it.

Patrick: They’re always a source of support.

Taylor: They’re always supportive and encouraging.

Nate: Being successful in a local band is more about getting your friends to come to shows than the actual music itself. It's all about marketing your band to the people you know to get the place filled up as much as possible. That way you don't have to take out loans to make records.

Isaac: What is the best site/s that you can be found on the Internet?

Paul: Now that there are no actual people on MySpace, it's become a great site to hear new bands. We musicians sure do love having free websites.

Patrick: SLAM Omaha has served as a good resource for hooking up with bands locally.

Isaac: The floor is yours; final words & wisdom of thoughts...

Paul: Hey, have you heard about that new Death of a Taxpayer band? Their guitarist can wail.

Band's Website:
http://www.myspace.com/deathofataxpayer - Junior's Cave Online Magazine


Discography

Unplanned Encore Compilation Disc (Onken-Stein Records) - "Nature vs. Nurture"
The Individual - Digital EP

Songs "Nature vs. Nurture," "The Bullet," "City Walls," and "This Is Our Country" have received radio airplay locally.

Photos

Bio

"Our skin is as soft as it can possibly be. Our carpets are clean, our teeth are white, and our erectile dysfunction is under control. The Gatorade is in us, the Gucci is on us, and we're taking our pills for restless legs. Our moms have chosen Jif, we're obeying our thirst, and the M&M's are safely melting in our mouths, not in our hands. And yes, we dare wear short shorts. But we've hit the peak. We're supersaturated. We've reached critical mass. One more marketing hit and it will all come tumbling down. And there we'll lie, at the bottom of the graph - an oozing mass of melting chocolate and restless legs." -Adbusters

The quote above captures the essence of the Omaha, NE band Death of a Taxpayer. Their music takes you back to a time when rock and roll had the gumption to write about the world we live in, not just failed relationships. The music itself is a healthy dose of indie rock, with a smattering of the "stick it to the man" elements of punk, a hint of Dylan, and lyrics that seem to always make you think. Plus, after the recent additions to the line-up, there's now some lead work that would make even the best of men cry.

For a band that evolved from a side project to a main project just over a year ago, it's safe to say that Death of a Taxpayer has hit the ground running. They've already recorded 8 songs with J. Scott Gaeta of Music Factory Productions and released the digital EP titled "The Individual," in 2010. In their short existence, the band has been getting their name out there in the Omaha music scene, playing shows at the Saddle Creek Records owned bar, The Slowdown, as well as the Barley Street Tavern, Stir (Harrah's Casino), Saddle Creek Bar, Barfly, PS Collective, plus regional shows at Knickerbockers in Lincoln, NE and Nutty's North in Sioux Falls, SD. The early incarnation of the band also showcased Death of a Taxpayer music in Tulsa, OK's famous Blue Dome District and Texas at the Northgate Music Festival. They've also received radio play on local station 89.7 the River.

Omaha's Death of a Taxpayer, which formed in 2008 while all three original members were playing in other local bands, began as a side project that wrote songs and didn't really play shows. At the time, frontman, Paul Gedbaw, and drummer, Taylor Stein, were staples of the Omaha and Lincoln music scene as members of the powerpop band Ten O'Clock Scholars. Original bassist, Nate Hall, also played in Omaha bands Third Frate and Edge of Arbor. But, as they say at Arby's, different is good. In 2009, Ten O'Clock Scholars ended their nine year run on the stage and suddenly Death of a Taxpayer became a full-time band. One year later, in August of 2010, Hall chose a different life path and headed for the east coast after two years as the bassist. Around that time Patrick Kelly, of the Omaha band Orem, and Nate Gasaway, of the Omaha band The Big Deep, were added to the line-up. The carousel of bass players continued in 2012, when Gasaway left the band to focus on The Big Deep, and Brian Cole, a veteran of the Sioux Falls, SD music scene, took his place.

Death of a Taxpayer is also part of the independently run Omaha label, Onken-Stein Records, which is home to the bands Ten O'Clock Scholars, Third Frate, PG-13, Brothers Tandem and Fork In The Road.