Meet The Band: Underwater Dream Machine

Photo by Steve Loftus

Hometown: Omaha
Members: Bret Vovk, Danny Bueno, Cass Brostad, Vern Fergesen,
Craig Reier
On the Web: myspace.com/bretvovk
Catch them live: Dec. 4 at the Barley Street Tavern with It’s True, Noah’s Ark Was a Spaceship, Cowboy Indian Bear.

Bret Vovk is a unique character. From his ruffled hair to his beat-up tennis shoes (which tag along with ragged jeans, holey T-shirt and tattered suede jacket), Vovk is a man who stands on the edge of both agitation and serenity.

Aside from this uniform or sorts he wears daily, it is Vovk’s fragile psyche that functions as a vehicle for Underwater Dream Machine, a musical pastiche of childlike innocence, singer-songwriter vulnerability and kaleidoscopic McCartney-Lennon musings, pairing straight-and-narrow pop sensibilities with reckless experimentation.

For the better part of the project’s two or so years in existence, it has primarily been Vovk playing his songs solo on stages throughout Omaha. After taking a break from performing for several months earlier this year, Vovk took some needed time for personal rumination and also to map out a future for his music. He decided to enlist some friends and make Underwater Dream Machine a proper band.

These friends are familiar faces to both this Meeting the Band series and the Benson-centric music community. Cass Brostad, along with Vern Fergesen (of Cass Fifty and the Familygram, MtB #78), enlisted on bass and lead guitar, respectively. Danny Bueno (who is in Cat Island along with Vovk, MtB #68) tackles drumming responsibilities. Craig Reier, when not touring with Maria Taylor, lends his talents on the keys. Vovk takes on lead vocals and swaps between rhythm guitar and keyboard duties.

As of right now, the band is starting fresh, having only played one live show so far. Naturally, they are still smoothing out their stage performance and tweaking the subtleties of the overall instrumentation, but no doubt the individual talent of each member makes it a safe bet that Underwater Dream Machine will soon be splashing the surface of the local music scene and planted firmly on solid ground in 2010.

And if that’s not indication enough, just remember that last December Vovk’s release show for his debut CD (“Underwater Dream Machine” Slo-Fi) still holds the record as the highest-grossing single day event in the Barley Street Tavern’s history.
Underwater Dream Machine open the show this Friday, so get there early.

Tell me the history of the project.
Bret: So, well, basically, so I was bored. Well, me and Craig used to play in a band (Good With Guns) a long time ago. I was living at my mom’s house and I made that record (Underwater Dream Machine, self-titled) by myself at home and a year later Kyle (Harvey) put it out. Then I was doing a lot of shows, usually not by myself but with someone else, then we kind of started a band with Danny and then that kind of went a couple shows and kind of dissolved. And this (current lineup) is kind of the new thing. I feel good about this. I feel like we’re all a team here. We’ve really only had one show with this lineup. But now I want to focus on it being more of a full-band thing, although the next album that comes out is kind of like half full-band stuff, half solo stuff and half other stuff. It’s three halves.

How’d you choose the people that are now in the band?
Bret: Well you know, Danny’s just great, so gotta have him. There was only like three drummers around and Danny was the last one so we got him. And then we kind of lost our keyboard and bass player. We lost our bass player one day and had a show the next day so I called Cass and was like, “Can you play bass and learn like six songs?” And she was like, “OK.” So then we did that. And then Vern was there.
Cass: I was Vern’s ride.
Bret: They were having Traveling Mercies practice. And (Cass) was just like, “Can Vern play, too?” ‘cause he was just there, otherwise he would have just had to sit and wait. That’s how he got suckered in. Then we ended up losing our keyboard player, so I wanted to play with Craig for a while and I know he wanted to play, I think? Right?
Craig: I did.

How’d the first show go?
Danny: I was afraid everyone was going to quit after me freaking out all the time. You enjoyed it all right?
Bret: I thought it was good.
Cass: I loved how you totally demolished your drums at the end – that’s the most demolished I’ve ever seen them get.
Bret: You know, I mean, I think we have a long way to go as a band, but I think it was a good show. I feel good about it and I’m excited for the future. I think that it’ll just get better. We’ve actually been practicing and working on things, whereas before we just kind of threw it together and went – which is fine, too.

Since Bret writes the songs, does Bret dictate everyone’s parts?
Cass: Um, a little bit. Bret is a really good conductor. That can be hard to do. You can almost look like an asshole, usually.
Danny: But then everybody throws in their own two cents.
Bret: Yeah, you throw in a lot more than two cents.
Cass: You put down a $5 bill!
Danny: I’m a drummer. I just say whatever.

What’s the status on your new recording?
Bret: Well, it’s kind of something I started working on before I was ever playing with any of these people and I kind of wanted – even if I wasn’t going to have a band, I wanted a lot of the songs to be full band and some of them not to be. It’s been about a year now. So, I’m thinking within the next six months it will be out, hopefully sooner.

You recorded some of those with Ben Sieff, right?
Bret: A couple random things (were recorded) on 8-tracks with other people, but mostly with Ben. I think it’s 13 tracks or something like that. Should be neat. Basically we just need to do four or five songs with this band in the studio and piece everything together and it should be about done.

What’s the future hold for Underwater Dream Machine?
Bret: Well, right now, I’m just really excited to put this record out. After we put this out, I’d like to do maybe an EP with the full band. We’ll just play it by ear. Right now, I’m broke as hell and need another job, but I’m trying to save up money for a van. Basically, I just want to play some good shows, get the record out and start touring or at least go out of town for the weekends.

What was the first CD you bought?
Bret: Kris Kross, “Totally Krossed Out.”
Vern: Queen was the first band I started listening to, but I was also into the Rat Pack a lot.
Cass: I want to say it was (Cake’s) “Fashion Nugget.”
Craig: In first grade I think I also got “Totally Krossed Out” for my birthday.
Danny: I had a Beach Boys album. It was on record.

What was your first concert?
Bret: I mean, I’d been to like Weird Al at the State Fair, but probably Craig’s band, Abby and the Twins. And Split Second, I think. I was probably 16, I’m 24 now, so eight years ago.
Vern: Maybe like Pomeroy at the Ranch Bowl. I remember seeing them when I was like 15.
Cass: I don’t know if I’d call it a concert, but my grandpa and Uncle Wayne, they used to sing together a lot and we’d have parties and they’d sing and I’d get to hang out and watch. After that, I went to a battle of the bands where everything me and my friend owned got stolen, so I don’t remember who played there but I remember it vividly. Yay, Sokol Underground!
Craig: I once saw Henry Mancini with my parents at the Lied Center. My first rock concert was probably Edge Fest when that was still around. Matthew Sweet played. The Refreshments played. Smashmouth played, I remember, then Sugar Ray played.