Nova Labs Release Party

Doctor+Murdock+left+to+right%3A+Jose+Mendez+%28drums%29%2C+Ben+Foster+%28vocals%2C+guitar%29%2C+Will+LaPietra+%28guitar%29+and+Adam+Lyons+%28bass%29.

Courtesy of Doctor Murdock.

Doctor Murdock left to right: Jose Mendez (drums), Ben Foster (vocals, guitar), Will LaPietra (guitar) and Adam Lyons (bass).

Clark Eilers

Local music label, Nova Labs, will be hosting its free Winter Soup Kitchen Release Party for several of its artists at 8 p.m on Jan. 25 at DG’s Tap House.

The self described “younger brother” to Maximum Ames Records, Nova Labs will feature three bands, People with Heads, Beach Toys and Doctor Murdock, from their label for this event, along with Jordan Mayland and the Thermal Detonators and Gloom Balloon.

“This is the third time we’ve done a show like this for Nova Labs,” Bryon Dudley, the owner and operator for the label said. “We’ve done different things each time: tacos, hot dogs, different releases and now we are changing it again with different bands and soup.”

The night will start off with punk/rockabilly band People with Heads and the release of their new CD, “Heads or Tales.” Beach Boys cover punk band, Beach Toys, will play next and is releasing its new CD, “Endless Hummer.” Local favorites Jordan Mayland and his band The Thermal Detonators will perform as well as Gloom Balloon, consisting of Patrick Fleming of The Poison Control Center and Chris Ford of Christopher the Conquered. The show closes with its release of Doctor Murdock’s new album, “A Man From Earth On Mercury.”

“The Ames scene is thriving,” Mayland said. “That gets these bands a lot of attention. It gives them a reason to tighten up their sound.”

Mayland and his band, coming off their own New Year Eve release, “I Wrote It All Down,” feels that each band performing at the show has noticed this change attention to the music scene and improved over the past year. He believes that Doctor Murdock, a psychedelic alt-rock band, has shown even more promise recently.

“They’ve really been tight in their shows,” Mayland said. “They’ve been working hard and tuning up their sound. The band really deserves the attention.”

As with the previous three release shows, Nova Labs will be holding it at DG’s Tap House in downtown Ames. Dudley approached the venue for the show and has been met with positive feedback after each concert.

“DG’s is the best place for us to do this show,” Dudley said. “Having such a professional staff and stage, we wanted to go there.”

Nova Labs hopes that this show will foster more interest for each band, and also plans to have another release party in April. For musicians like Mayland, he believes that having shows like this will only create more interest in what Ames has to offer.

“This show has so many stylistic differences,” Mayland said. “It’s not going to be just a punk show. It’s all different bands and styles from around Ames and Iowa.”