Shelter Belt is a pop band from Omaha, Nebraska

Omaha, Nebraska

Omaha is the largest city in the state of Nebraska, United States, and is the county seat of Douglas County. It is located in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about 20 miles north of the mouth of the Platte River...

 who are eclectic in style and use a wide array of instruments. They are known to switch instruments during shows. They are also known for their DIY work ethic, handling all aspects of the band themselves. They record in their own studio, known as the Beltcave, and they book their own tours without the assistance of a record label

Record label

In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...

 or booking agent.

The band collectively cites Marvin Gaye

Marvin Gaye

Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr. , better known by his stage name Marvin Gaye, was an American singer-songwriter and musician with a three-octave vocal range....

, Gustave Cerati

Gustavo Cerati

Gustavo Adrián Cerati Clark is an Argentine rock musician, singer-songwriter, composer and record producer. He was the frontman, lead vocalist, lead guitarist and lead songwriter of the Argentine rock band Soda Stereo, one of the most influential bands of latin rock music. In the early 90s, with...

, Tom Waits

Tom Waits

Thomas Alan "Tom" Waits is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car."...

, Prince

Prince (musician)

Prince Rogers Nelson , often known simply as Prince, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Prince has produced ten platinum albums and thirty Top 40 singles during his career. Prince founded his own recording studio and label; writing, self-producing and playing most, or all, of...

, Manu Chao

Manu Chao

Manu Chao , is a French singer of Spanish roots . He sings in French, Spanish, English, Italian, Galician, Arabic and Portuguese and occasionally in other languages...

, Willie Nelson

Willie Nelson

Willie Hugh Nelson is an American country music singer-songwriter, as well as an author, poet, actor, and activist. The critical success of the album Shotgun Willie , combined with the critical and commercial success of Red Headed Stranger and Stardust , made Nelson one of the most recognized...

 and others as influences.

History

Shelter Belt's first album, Nothing Makes Me Sad Ever, was released in 2000. In 2002 Shelter Belt was featured on a compilation with Desaparecidos

Desaparecidos (band)

Desaparecidos was a short-lived American emo/post-hardcore band. It was a side project headed by singer/guitarist Conor Oberst, the frontman of the indie folk band Bright Eyes....

, The Good Life

The Good Life (band)

The Good Life is an indie rock band on Saddle Creek records.Started as a solo project of Cursive's frontman Tim Kasher, The Good Life quickly grew to become its own established group. The original intent of The Good Life was to provide Tim Kasher with a vehicle to perform songs that did not fit...

, Cursive

Cursive (band)

Cursive is an American indie rock band from Omaha, Nebraska, on Saddle Creek Records.-History:The band was formed in 1995 by Tim Kasher, Matt Maginn, Steve Pedersen , and drummer Clint Schnase. In 1997, they released Such Blinding Stars for Starving Eyes. After a couple years of touring, the band...

, Fizzle Like A Flood

Fizzle Like A Flood

Fizzle Like a Flood was the moniker Doug Kabourek chose for his one-man recording project. Kabourek drummed in an early version of what would eventually become The Faint, and for Iowa City's Matchbook Shannon...

, Sorry About Dresden

Sorry About Dresden

Sorry About Dresden is a four-man indie rock band from Chapel Hill, N.C. Since forming in 1997, the band has made a modest splash in the national indie scene....

 and Neva Dinova

Neva Dinova

Neva Dinova is an indie band from Omaha, Nebraska. Neva Dinova is named after the grandmother of lead singer Jake Bellows. They have been on crank! a record company , and have recorded a split-release with Bright Eyes entitled "One Jug Of Wine, Two Vessels" that was also released on crank! a...

.

In 2006, Shelter Belt released Under The World Awhile and performed a series of CD release parties throughout the midwest.

Shelter Belt toured the Hawaiian Islands

Hawaiian Islands

The Hawaiian Islands are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, numerous smaller islets, and undersea seamounts in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some 1,500 miles from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kure Atoll...

 twice; in both 2007 and 2008.

Aside from their seven members, Shelter Belt also frequently use guest musicians to further diversify their sound. The late Omaha jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 veteran Luigi Waites

Luigi Waites

Luigi Waites was a jazz drummer and vibraphonist from Omaha, Nebraska. He performed weekly gigs in the Omaha area both solo and with ensembles such as Luigi, Inc. He served the Omaha music community for over 60 years. He toured Europe twice and performed with jazz legends such as Sarah Vaughan,...

 was amongst them, adding depth to their sound by way of vibraphone

Vibraphone

The vibraphone, sometimes called the vibraharp or simply the vibes, is a musical instrument in the struck idiophone subfamily of the percussion family....

 and marimba

Marimba

The marimba is a musical instrument in the percussion family. It consists of a set of wooden keys or bars with resonators. The bars are struck with mallets to produce musical tones. The keys are arranged as those of a piano, with the accidentals raised vertically and overlapping the natural keys ...

. Members Jesse J. Otto and Anthony Knuppel have also worked with Omaha group Fizzle Like A Flood

Fizzle Like A Flood

Fizzle Like a Flood was the moniker Doug Kabourek chose for his one-man recording project. Kabourek drummed in an early version of what would eventually become The Faint, and for Iowa City's Matchbook Shannon...

.

In 2008 Shelter Belt released the short film Extraordinary Leverage, which they collectively produced, starred in and scored. The soundtrack also includes Waites playing the marimbas.

Shelter Belt was invited to play both the 2006 and 2008 Missouri Valley History Conference. The recording of the 2008 performance at Joslyn Castle

Joslyn Castle

The George and Sarah Joslyn Home , is a folly located at 3902 Davenport Street in the Gold Coast Historic District of Omaha, Nebraska, USA. Built in the Scottish Baronial style in 1903, the Castle was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972...

 became their album Live at Joslyn Castle.

In 2009, Shelter Belt released Everyone Might Be A Senator, a rock opera

Rock opera

A rock opera is a work of rock music that presents a storyline told over multiple parts, songs or sections in the manner of opera. A rock opera differs from a conventional rock album, which usually includes songs that are not unified by a common theme or narrative. More recent developments include...

 based on a character who is obsessed with his fear of Senators

Senators

The term Senators can refer to:*The members of a senate*The Ottawa Senators, a National Hockey League ice hockey team based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada...

.

During the summer of 2010, Shelter Belt was featured on the popular music podcast

Podcast

A podcast is a series of digital media files that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication...

 Coverville

Coverville

Coverville is a podcast featuring unusual covers of pop, rock and country songs by new and established performers. The show is produced and hosted by Brian Ibbott out of his home in Arvada, Colorado...

 for a show about rapper Eminem

Eminem

Marshall Bruce Mathers III , better known by his stage name Eminem or his alter ego Slim Shady, is an American rapper, record producer, songwriter and actor. Eminem's popularity brought his group project, D12, to mainstream recognition...

. Their instrumental

Instrumental

An instrumental is a musical composition or recording without lyrics or singing, although it might include some non-articulate vocal input; the music is primarily or exclusively produced by musical instruments....

 cover

Cover version

In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...

 of Dr. Dre

Dr. Dre

Andre Romelle Young , primarily known by his stage name Dr. Dre, is an American record producer, rapper, record executive, entrepreneur, and occasional actor. He is the founder and current CEO of Aftermath Entertainment and a former co-owner and artist of Death Row Records...

's "Forgot About Dre" is also found on their 2010 all-covers recording, "These Songs were not written by Shelter Belt".

During a concert with Neva Dinova

Neva Dinova

Neva Dinova is an indie band from Omaha, Nebraska. Neva Dinova is named after the grandmother of lead singer Jake Bellows. They have been on crank! a record company , and have recorded a split-release with Bright Eyes entitled "One Jug Of Wine, Two Vessels" that was also released on crank! a...

, drummer Anthony Knuppel drank a pitcher of beer as his 'special dance'.

Band members

• Jedediah Vondracek
• Anthony Knuppel
• Nick Pribyl
• Chris Sorensen
• Rachel Hospodka
• NLJ Klosterboer
• Jesse J. Otto

Albums

• Nothing Makes Me Sad Ever (2000)
• Rain Home (2004)
• Under The World Awhile (2006)
• Music from the film Extraordinary Leverage (2008)
• Live at Joslyn Castle (2008)
• Everyone Might Be A Senator (2009)
• These Songs were not written by Shelter Belt (2010)