photo by Cam Penner

[Editor's note: This video previews Halfwit's concert on Thursday with Trophy Wives, Red Cities and Bogusman at The Bourbon on Thursday, Aug. 15. The show starts at 9 p.m., and cover is $5 for 21+, and $7 for 18-20 RSVP here.]

words and video by Cara Wilwerding

Combine solid metal guitars — physical metal, not the genre — with accomplished musicians from a number of Lincoln-based bands, and the result is Halfwit.

"It is different, everyone plays differently than what I'm used to," lead singer and guitarist Dan Jenkins says. "But you know, it's been a lot of fun. We're starting to get to the point now where we can play really well together and it's a lot easier than it was initially."

Before forming Halfwit in mid-January, Jenkins was the frontman for Ideal Cleaners, who played together for nearly 10 years from 2003 to 2012. Bassist Saber Blazek formerly played in The Machete Archive and drummer Lance Fiedler and guitarist Kev Waltemath both played in Mother Pile and Life Of A Scarecrow.

Jenkins typically takes the reins on songwriting by creating a demo of each song early on. He keeps the instrumentation basic so other members can add their own creativity to the mix.

“I never really go into these things with any goals or expectations,” Jenkins says. “I’m sure we’ll want to record fairly soon. We’ve got new tunes we’re going to start working on.”

See Halfwit play with Red Cities and Bogusman at The Bourbon on Thursday, Aug. 15.

Listen to more of Jenkins' perspective on Halfwit here:

Cara Wilwerding is a Hear Nebraska intern. Reach her at caraw@hearnebraska.org.