The Vingins
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The Vingins

Lincoln, Nebraska, United States | SELF

Lincoln, Nebraska, United States | SELF
Band Rock Avant-garde

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"The Vingins want to bring back real rock 'n' roll"

Drawing on Jimi Hendrix, Iggy Pop and Led Zeppelin, The Vingins have come roaring out of a basement, bringing a blast of punkish psychedelic rock 'n' roll to Lincoln and, with some luck, far beyond.
Hitting the stage with a sonic blast mixing smart originals with well-chosen cover songs, the trio is on a mission to rock the way it should be done: propulsive, tight, entertaining and fun.
"I think rock is lost in the slime of computer cover up," said singer/guitarist Derek Outson. "Everything is so glossy now. If you can dance to it, people think it's good music. We're all sick of synthesized music."
"Trap set and distortion, that's us," said drummer Shea Carlson.
"We're bringing it back with fuzz," Outson said.
"Loudly, too," added bassist Sam Will.
The Vingins are the definition of a new band. Outson, who had moved to Omaha, returned to Lincoln to study music at Nebraska Wesleyan. He got together to hang out with UNL students Carlson and Will, who all attended middle school together.
"It sort of sprang up from the basement," Will said of the band. "It's sort of hard to explain. We were jamming and when we started to have songs, he (Outson) saw the theory in them and we just kept going."
That was in August. A chance came up for a show at W.C.'s, then the band landed a Zoo Bar gig. More shows followed, including two slots during February's Lincoln Exposed festival.
"That really helped us," Outson said. "That's where most people saw us or heard about us. At the Zoo show, there were lots of 3-year-olds running around. I don't think that's our demographic."
During winter break, the band members got some studio gear, went back in the basement and recorded a six-song EP they will release Sunday at Duffy's Tavern.
On record, The Vingins sound a little like The White Stripes, with lots of distorted guitar, solid rhythms and Outson's vocals coming in the same range as those of Jack White.
Asked if they cared about the White Stripes comparison, Outson replied: "Why should I have to care? I take that as a great compliment, actually."
Then, in true rock 'n' roll fashion, he quipped, "We're acid chic, don't you know."
Speaking of fashion, Outson brings it live, wearing brightly colored outfits that harken back to the psychedelic era and a time when a band didn't look like its audience.
"You don't like to see bands in T-shirts and jeans every time," Outson said. "We want people to take our music seriously. But live, it's entertainment, basically. It's fun to pick out what to wear on stage to shock people, to see how far you can push it."
Following in the footsteps of the New York Dolls, much of Outson's wardrobe for recent shows has come from a girl's closet - "If the shoe fits, wear it, right?" he said. "Except the shoes don't fit. She has tiny feet. It's more like, if the shirt fits."
As for the name, it came after the band members wisely decided to eject their unfortunate first moniker, Vampire Dolls.
"I was sitting in history class one day and we had that stupid name," Carlson said. "We were talking about the Merovingians (a dynasty that ruled what is now France from about 450 to 750 A.D.). I thought we could be The Merovingians or just The Vingians."
The Vingians sounded good, and dropping the second "a" created an even better name.
"If you have a made-up name, it's easier to search for you (on the Internet)," Outson said. "It takes a little while for people to know who you are. But once you get it out, it's your name."
With any luck, The Vingins' name will soon be known outside Lincoln. The trio is booking a summer tour to Colorado, Kansas City, Iowa and Chicago. Until then, The Vingins will rock Lincoln and Omaha in classic style, starting Sunday night. - Lincoln Journal Star


"Omaha expecting blitz of bands for Lincoln Invasion"

Friday night, 23 Lincoln acts, bands and solo artists, will be playing six venues in Omaha. It is the second Lincoln Invasion, an effort aimed at getting local acts out of town and building an audience for them in Nebraska's largest city.
That's easier said than done.
"Getting people out to shows is a whole different thing there than in Lincoln,"Derek Outson of The Vingins said. "In Omaha, it seems like people are scoping out bands, trying out bands to see if they like them."
The Vingins, a young Lincoln band that plays psychedelic, punkish rock 'n' roll, have played Omaha "more times than I can count" over the last year or so, Outson said, including a recent appearance at Slowdown.
That means they've begun to build a fan base there. But they're still excited to be one of the bands invading Omaha.
"It's one shot to show there's some talent going on in Lincoln," Outson said. "Lincoln hasn't attached itself to the stars like Omaha has. People don't know as much about the bands here. I think it's an awesome opportunity. A lot of talk happens about the differences between the two communities. But I haven't seen a lot of effort to cohere the two."
To some degree, that effort started last year when 22 Lincoln acts played three Omaha venues over two nights. The first Lincoln Invasion drew good crowds on the first night, but saw a dropoff on the second.
"I don't think it had to do with the lineup," said organizer Dub Wardlaw of Duffy's Tavern. "It was mostly the two days. So we decided to do it on one night. It's the same number of bands on one night."
Lincoln will be invading the Benson neighborhood that centers on Maple Street from 59th to 62nd streets. The acts are set for appropriate venues with, for example, acoustic singer/songwriter types at the Benson Grind coffeehouse.
The Vingins will play The Sydney along with Tie These Hands, Orion Walsh and the venue's closer, The Machete Archive.
"The Sydney has young, up-and-coming bands," Outson said. "The Waiting Room has bands that have been around a few years or longer. It's a bigger stage, the biggest venue. That's cool because this scene (Lincoln) is about paying your dues."
Lincoln Invasion offers a solid sampling of new and established Lincoln acts in styles that range from alternative country and Americana to math rock, pop and punk. But it's just a sampling, not a comprehensive overview of the Lincoln scene, excluding, among other things, DJs.
"You can't put four DJs on the stage at the Waiting Room and have a successful night," said the Bourbon Theatre's Jeremy Buckley, who put together Lincoln Invasion with Wardlaw. "I'd say it's a pretty good mix, half and halfish of bands that are pretty established and bands that Omaha doesn't know anything about. For every Kris Lager, there's a Husbands."
While Lincoln Invasion is designed to put local talent on display for Omaha fans, last year's festival drew plenty of folks up I-80 from Lincoln. The same is expected on Friday night. Organizers even are offering a limo bus for those who want to ride up in style.
"I'm excited to check out all the Lincoln talent in one night," Outson said. "Once we're done, we're going to check out the other shows."
Reach L. Kent Wolgamott at 402-473-7244 or kwolgamott@journalstar.com or follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/KentWolgamott.
- Lincoln Journal Star


Discography

The Vingins - EP (2010)

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Bio

Bound to music with freakish fervor and delusional spirit, The Vingins are doomed. Doomed to live inside the fourth dimension while pirating their sounds into the third. “Drawing on Jimi Hendrix, Iggy Pop and Led Zeppelin, The Vingins have come roaring out of a basement, bringing a blast of punkish psychedelic rock 'n' roll to Lincoln and, with some luck, far beyond” (Lincoln Journal Star). With their newly released self-titled EP, an intense, melodic collection of avant-pysch garage properties that are spiny to the touch and vastly spacious to the eye, The Vingins reroute the archetypal circuitry of music into an explosive, and electrifying performative experience.

Born out of an acute fever dream in 2009, the trio (Derek Outson - Guitar/Vocals, Shea Carlson - Drums, & Sam Will - Bass) arose from their broken form and came to a collective conscious that music could be painful, impassioned, and humorous all at the same time. At College, the three began sharing their similar musical tastes of 60's psychedelia with each other, and expressed their love for flashy, transformative glitz-punk.

The local music scene became attached to the boys’ penetrative sound and seismic live show; soon after, The Vingins captured the eye of several Chicago venue bookers and festival promoters. Music critic L. Kent Wolgamott interviewed The Vingins after catching their performance at the Lincoln Exposed Festival and wrote, “With any luck, The Vingins' name will soon be known outside Lincoln. The trio is booking a summer tour to Colorado, Kansas City, Iowa and Chicago” (Lincoln Journal Star). And so, The Vingins formed with ardor, having no rules except to be loud enough to scare onlookers, and excite the universe with honesty in music.