Interview with Galen of The Damones and Tonight's Events

The Damones perform at The Waiting Room this Saturday

This Saturday, Omaha's return to the 80's band The Damones will perform at The Waiting Room. The band will bring a slew of special guests on stage, all of whom have played a part in Omaha's musical landscape over the years. Benn Sieff, Stephen Sheehan, Matt Whipkey, Cory Pawloski, Kelley RAF, and Jay Hanson will all share the stage on that night, and The Damones will also perform multiple sets in their normal mode.

The Damones have been playing area stages for a couple of years now, and it was the idea of Tony Bazis, who manages the band and is the off-stage ringleader. Bazis has a long history in Omaha radio, managing bands and musicians, and curating and DJing events in clubs and bars, among other endeavors. His sweet spot has always been the underground side of music, with a particular love of 80's new wave, punk, and the darker side of that decade. The Damones are a combination of all of that, and their set lists are filled with well-known songs, deep cuts, and not just the same ole same ole that many bands that cover that decade do. Multiple vocalists take center stage over the course of the evening, allowing a wide range of music and styles to be covered while 80's pop culture bits play behind them on the big screen.

The band has built up a loyal following, and the show on the 30th is their biggest to date, with special guests and a longer show than usual. G3 will start the evening at 7PM with a special 80’s DJ set that is not to be missed. Advance tickets can be purchased here.

I talked with guitarist and vocalist Galen Keith Greer about how the band formed and what has changed in the cover band scene over the years. Greer is an inductee into the Nebraska Music Hall of Fame for his time in the cover band On the Fritz. He also performed for many years with the popular cover band The Labels and the original music project Lovetap.

Omaha Buzz-How did The Damones form? 

Galen: I saw Phil Reno at the gym, and twenty minutes went by, and he was like, 'Hey, would you ever want to be in a band again?’. This is pre-pandemic, and I said, ‘Eh, I don’t know’ and he said, 'Well, can I tell you about it? It’s with Tony Bazis', and I said, 'Yeah, alright,” and he gave me the concept, and I was like, ‘Yeah, that sounds interesting’. Then I think Tony called me, and I knew him from the 18th Amendment, the The Labels and stuff. He said, ‘Can I come over to your house and tell you about it?’ and I said,'sure," and that was a week before everything shut down, and he laid it out and kind of sold it to me, and I was like, ‘Yeah, that sounds good’ I don’t think I was the individual piece or anything, and I don’t know if you are just asking about me individually or the others. Jason (Mateljan) and Yale (Thomas) had been in Oxygen before, so they knew them, and Eddie (Lance)—I think they just kind of knew Eddie, and of course he knew Phil. I am not quite sure how they knew Tony Lamar, but I think that is just the size of the town; everyone knows everyone. I think I was the last one that they kind of talked to about it.

Omaha Buzz- Phil is no longer there, but you now have Erika Hall-Seiff and John Jensen in the band. Was there a song that you had to learn for this group that maybe you didn’t know before or know well that you enjoy now?

Galen- Honestly, most of them—other than "Jenny 867-5309" and "The Breakup Song”. Because of my 80’s exposure—I started playing in bands in 1982, and the stuff like this band does hinges on somebody who can play keyboard, and there have always been not too many guys who could play keyboards, much less that can pull that stuff off. There are always plenty of guys who play guitar and wanted to play guitar and get girls. So, we went through the hair metal and Cinderella and Bon Jovi, and we could wear tight stuff, wear Aqua Net and put make-up on. So, most of this stuff you saw because everyone was watching MTV, but you couldn’t play it. It was interesting to me; it has always been interesting because from that time to when The Labels and Lovetap quit, I was always playing on Friday and Saturday, and so people would say, ‘have you seen that Saturday Night Live skit’ and there was a whole part of my cultural education that I never got because I was always playing or working.

It was that kind of thing where I was playing 80’s hair metal stuff and was never exposed to this stuff, so most of this was pretty new. Some of it, I don’t necessarily care for, because I come at it from a performers standpoint; we do “Love Will Tear Us Apart,” and that thing drives me nuts because I just think it lays there, but other people love it. From my perspective, everything that I do as a musician is as a performer, and if you are playing it live, then people are going to sit there, which is another aspect of why many other bands didn’t do this stuff. This band, I think, is more of a show band, and it works that way. Though the last couple of gigs, people have been getting up and dancing, so it’s kind of cool. The Hoodoo Guru’s song that we do that I sing has a lot of energy: “What’s My Scene?" I like that; I had never heard that song before, and I didn’t know it existed. I like “Alex Chilton," but that one we did in The Labels and it flopped, so I was skeptical if that was going to work, but that has a lot of energy also.

Omaha Buzz- You have been playing in the cover band scene for a long time. You kind of came up in the prime era of cover bands. What is different now in the scene from when you came up?

Galen- I have had a lot of old man conversations about pre-internet, pre-smoking ban, Sarpy County, and the law enforcement down there. My stepson Liam, who is now a freshman in Lincoln, loves music and listens to music. I get in the car with him and there is not much guitar in pop music anymore, and not that that is directly related, but I have heard Billie Eilish talk about how she purposely writes stuff to not have a structure, and I am like, ‘Why would you do that, other than to be different?" I don’t know that the music necessarily lends itself to being played by cover bands as much.

I think probably social media. I tell people that prior to the internet, all there was to do was go out to bars and drink and dance. Hang out with each other. People have become more in, so people will sit at home and watch their great home theater systems or just sit on the couch with their phones. Things have evolved. Unless you are going to see a specific genre. You have a band like Pet Rock that does very well, but their crowd is older, and so it is people that are past the age of having kids that they have to have babysitter, and they maybe have a buck or two, so they are going out and living their younger years. I am not sure if I am onto anything or not, but when you see the band bars closing down around town, there is something going on.

Omaha Buzz-The show on December 30th will share the stage with a lot of special guests. What are you looking forward to with this performance?

Galen-I think it will be chaotic, but I think that will lend itself to entertainment. I think we are going to try to make it as organized as possible. I have never seen anyone do something like this, with all the technical aspects of it. If we didn't have to have electronics and technology, it would be super easy, but when you are trying to get people using different mics and different people singing different levels, male and female, 'What are we going to hear on stage'? It will be a combination of in ear monitors and wedges.  If we could rehearse in the space, that would be better, but that is not going to happen, but that will be the fun of it.

Here are tonight’s events and here is the calendar to plan the rest of the week and NYE.

Wednesday December 27th

Daddy Mac and the Flak at Bogies West 6:30PM 

Stephen Monroe at Pitt BBQ Lounge 6PM 

The Raw Nerve at The Zoo Bar 9PM 

Chris Shelton at Copacabana 8:30PM 

DJ Lay-C at Bar 415 

Open Mic at Down Under Lounge 8PM 

Open Mic at The Tavern 9PM 

Vibe Check at Zoo Bar 9PM 

Open Mic at Razor Wire Productions 6:30PM 

Open Mic at Dubliner Pub 

NOMA Underground Open Jam at North Omaha Music and Arts 7PM 

Georgie and Friends at Down Under Lounge 5PM