Four years ago, four friends from Lincoln, Nebraska came together to form The Balance. Nate Green, Jacob Van Noy, Sam Larson and Brett Lofing played their first show together on June 30, 2003… but this event was far from the beginning of their story. The songwriting tandem of Green & Van Noy was forged over ten years ago, while both were in their early teenage years growing up in Scottsbluff, Nebraska. They learned and taught each other to play guitar, mostly favoring the acoustic catalogs of British bands like the Beatles and Oasis.

After graduating from high school two years ahead of Jacob, the musical partnership took a hiatus when Nate headed off to college in Lincoln in the fall of 1999. During that time, Jake’s cousin got him to join an electric band that included Lofing (yet another high school classmate) on drums. Through this, Jake and “Lof” formed a lasting union of their own, as they continued to find themselves as the common elements of several different bands as the years went by.

By the fall of 2001, all three friends were going to school and living in Lincoln. In the months that followed, Jake reconvened playing acoustic rehearsals with Nate in their spare time, as well as jamming with Lof in a basement apartment every now and then.

After a little convincing, Nate was persuaded to join Jake and Lof for some jam sessions in early 2003. The group would play sets at house parties and fraternity parties around town with percussionist Justin Stiers. It was at one of these performances that Sam Larson first heard the group playing together. Because Sam was a friend of Nate’s, the Scottsbluff trio began discussing the prospects of Sam joining them.

After inviting him to sit in on bass during a practice session not long after this encounter, the lineup was established by the summer of 2003. The band adopted their name when a July trip to Kansas for a Phish show determined that such was a simple representation of nothing more than “balance” being a critical essential, which one should strive to attain in all aspects of life.

The Balance soon began playing bar gigs in the Lincoln area. They became a fixture at a particular downtown haunt, Bodega’s Alley, frequently playing sets of original songs (usually revisited and reworked ideas and riffs that Jake had written over the years, which Nate would add lyrics to) and covers that only reflected the group’s diverse backdrop of influences.

The musicians that the band cites as influential to their own appreciation of music range from those made famous for a nuanced, multi-layered, improvisational style of performance, similar to that of their own—the Grateful Dead, Sound Tribe Sector 9 and the Steve Kimock Band have all been likened to the Balance—to acknowledgements of jazz and blues legends like John Scofield and Stevie Ray Vaughan… all in the same breath as bands with styles and sounds as varied as Radiohead, Tool, God Lives Underwater and Pearl Jam.

The Balance is the result of their diverse musical background, with a sound unique unto itself. Attempting to define them is to try and depict that which is in a constant state of evolution.

In early 2004, the band recorded a series of demo tracks that was widely circulated among their growing fan base. Their increasing popularity brought them bigger gigs. Soon they were performing opening sets for acts they’d previously been in the audience for… where once they were fans, now they were part of the show. On August 19, 2005, they warmed up an Omaha crowd for one such band, the Big Wu, which only helped to broaden their regional audience.

The band was invigorated by the new opportunities, and it showed in their performances during this period as they proceeded to play 75 shows in six states across the Midwest. This further energized their dedicated fans, who were quickly approaching frenzied status. Folks from many different walks of life regularly began showing up to observe and enjoy the development of the unique dynamic emanating from the musical explorations of the humble, unassuming foursome.

It is that modest nature that keeps “balance” in The Balance. Their origins trace back to a desire to create music they could enjoy playing and enjoy listening to. The fact that such a broad cross-section welcoming fans also found themselves delighted by their creation was just icing on the cake.

A decade has passed since Nate and Jake came together as individuals who believed in trying to find a way to look at the world from the perspective of others. Finding music as their outlet of expression, they were able to direct this empathetic exploration into a format that allowed them to display how simple and beautiful life can be for us all, if we just stop long enough to pay attention.

The Balance’s first full-length release, On the Sly, marks the dawn of the band’s fifth year together. At such time, they find themselves at something of a crossroads; the group could very well find the album’s release to be a launching pad for even larger success. Whether or not this turns out to be the case will not affect the band, their devoted crew, or their loyal fans. They set out many years ago to discover differing points of view within their own thoughts and minds… to share and communicate a little of their joy and happiness with whoever may be listening…and to attempt to express the inexpressible.

With that in mind, it doesn’t matter what path The Balance finds themselves on; their goals and dreams have long since been accomplished and realized.

Dave Thiele