Omahype: The Omaha Events Calendar

Written by Will Silvey Simons

Omaha-based five-piece Gus & Call might be a new name wafting through your ears right now, but the faces of its members should conjure up barren folk-ballad memories of dry roots and frozen lakes. Yes, the current lineup of Gus & Call is the same as the last lineup of Bear Country — now simply a name of a band and a state of mind whose ship has sailed, never to return.

[A brief moment of silence.]

Ahem. Now let’s all have a listen to the first official release from Gus & Call — their track “Whiskey Train” via Love Drunk and Hear Nebraska:

Gus & Call’s Aaron Markley offered up some words on the reason(s) behind the name change:

We think of Gus & Call as a completely new band. Sure, it can be looked at as simply a name change, but to us it’s something completely new, even though it is the same musicians.

There was a certain stigma people had attached with that name and the music we used to play. We weren’t happy with what Bear Country had become over the years and had actually be talking about changing our name since Frozen Lake came out in January of 2010. We felt like we needed to escape that name and everything that came along with it.

When we began playing new material at our shows this past summer, people would talk to us after a show and bluntly tell us we need a new name because what they had just experienced was not Bear Country. We finally made the decision to implement the change at some point last November.

The first-ever Gus & Call show is this Saturday, May 12th at Slowdown with Miracles of God, Simon Joyner, and Well Aimed Arrows. G&C also just finished recording their debut album at Omaha’s ARC Studios earlier this month. Expect an LP later this year released by Slumber Party Records.

If you head over to the Gus & Call Facebook page, you can hear their song “You Don’t Treat Me Right,” recorded last October at Make Believe Studios right here in Omaha.

-will