The Dark Stuff Podcast 113: Dereck Higgins (Part One)

The Dark Stuff

For episode #113, I have part one of an interview with Omaha music legend, Dereck Higgins. Higgins has been making music and playing in bands in the Omaha area since the 1970s. Two of his bands from the 1980s - Digital Sex and RAF - are considered by many to be the foundation of the modern Omaha indie music scene. Most people know about Bright Eyes, The Faint and Cursive. But the Omaha music scene did not start there, obviously; it began decades earlier, and Higgins was right there in the middle of it.

Dereck Higgins is still playing in bands and performing today. He also makes music as a solo artist and releases it through his website: http://dereckhiggins.bandcamp.com.

Dereck has also achived some notoriety from his popular Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/dereckvon. His videos are among the most popular in the "Vinyl Community" - an online group of record collectors and enthusiasts who show the world their collections and offer insights into the artists. Over the years, Higgins' videos have gone beyond the normal "VC" subject matter, and often times venture into politics and social commentary. They are a lot like diary entries that he shares with the world at large.

Since Dereck and I both live in Omaha, I had him come down to the bunker (aka my basement) for the interview. We spoke for over an hour; and because I wanted to include some snippets of music along with the interview, I have decided to make this into a two part episode.

In part one, Dereck discusses his earliest days as a child fascinated with music, his meeting famous jazz musicians like John Coltrane (who used to stop by his childhood home both to "jam" and to "score"), and his early difficulties being a black rock musician in an overwhelmingly white music scene.

Part Two will be the next episode - #114.

This episode contains snippets of two Digital Sex songs - "Dervish Dance" and "When Feelings Change." Both are ©Digital Sex. The music embedded under my voice in the intro and outro of the podcast is "Passing Apparition" from Dereck's album Sonospheres (©2013 Dereck Higgins).

Thanks for listening. Enjoy.

©2014 The Dark Stuff Podcast

Look for The Dark Stuff online at www.thedarkstuff.com and on twitter @davesplash