The following introduction was read on-air during the Monday, January 7, 2019 edition of Hear Nebraska FM, preceding a live performance by Garst.
At the core of most thriving music scenes is a group of self-starters who launched their musical careers before they left high school. These are often kids without inhibitions, who make the music they truly want to, without any hint of music scene self-importance. For instance, Nebraska’s most notable scene of all-time, the Saddle Creek scene, started as Lumberjack Records before its founders even turned 20.
Call it youthful innocence or whatever, but it’s the output that matters. Garst is one of Omaha’s youngest bands and is also easily one of the city’s fastest rising bands, playing DIY venues and clubs around town within the last year or so and bringing all their friends to the crazy dance-party-shows.
Garst celebrated the end of its first year as a band on Dec. 27 by releasing the seven-song Temet Nosce, which traverses psychedelic rock, garage rock, pop and punk all in one breath, but rarely does it feel disjointed. There’s enough energy in the band’s DIY recordings to power a guitar amp or two but enough depth to make clear that Garst is a group of songwriters beyond their years.
