No, they鈥檙e not from Nebraska.
In fact, the five members who make up indie folk band Echo Nebraska have never even been to the 鈥淐ornhusker State鈥� before.
Instead, they are named after the movie Nebraska 鈥� which guitarist Andy Schichter had watched while trying to think of a band name 鈥� and the word echo, which front man Devan Christodoulou 鈥渨as into.鈥�
鈥淲e struggled forever coming up with a band name and it wasn鈥檛 until the end of recording our EP that we came up with Echo Nebraska,鈥� Schichter said.
鈥淲e just combined those two words. He (Christodoulou) wanted echo, I wanted Nebraska. And there we go, that sounds like a band name, let鈥檚 roll with that.鈥�
Despite its ambiguity, it鈥檚 a name that has served them well. Since launching their group in 2014, Echo Nebraska, made up of Schichter (guitar and keyboard), Christodoulou (lead vocals and guitar), Carly Frey (violin and backing vocals), Mike Lauder (drums) and Gunn Park (bass and backing vocals), have made CBC Music鈥檚 list of best new music videos, and toured across Western Canada.
鈥淲e did things a little backwards,鈥� Schichter said.
鈥淲e recorded a CD and we wanted to have that ready to go for when we officially launched Echo Nebraska, the band. We had a music video (and) EP (titled Send the Ships). We just wanted everything ready to go so that when we launched in November, 2014, we could say, 鈥榟ere鈥檚 our music video for our song Hey Allison, our EP is coming out in January, our first show is next week,鈥� get a buzz right from the get-go.
鈥淲e thought it would be better to start the band off with a bang.鈥�
Comparable to folk musicians Josh Ritter, Grizzly Bear, Sam Roberts and Father John Misty, Schichter says Echo Nebraska鈥檚 music is 鈥渕elodic, (with an) emphasis on a lot of background vocals and acoustic instruments.鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 pretty digestible. Indie folk-rock is a good overall term for the songs, but there鈥檚 a lot of Neil Young influences, the Beatles, late 鈥�60s early 鈥�70s era,鈥� he said.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a bit of a hybrid of what we grew up with from our parents and what we are experiencing now.鈥�
This Saturday (June 18), Echo Nebraska will play a special performance at Water Shed Arts Cafe in Walnut Grove.
The evening begin at 7:30 p.m. with opener Bre McDaniel. Ticket are $8 in advance, or $12 at the door. To purchase, go to http://enwatershed.bpt.me/. See more on Echo Nebraska at http://echonebraska.com.
